People Power.

I'm back tracking and this entry is going to be dedicated to an event that was held in San Jose, CA this past Thursday (March 29, 2012).

I'm part of this club called "Cambios" which means "change" in Spanish at Evergreen Community College, and we recently attended the first Annual Student Success Conference at the South Bay Labor Council.

There were different workshops where we had a chance to interact with several different community leaders and activists about events that were taking place that affect the education and success of students, and workers. I met one of the leaders of CAFE J(Campus Alliance for Economic Justice), Leila McCabe, who told us about an upcoming event where they would be turning in the petitions of signatures that were collected in the past six weeks by the San Jose Living Wage Coalition (formed from several organizations including CAFE J, Next Generation Bay Area, South Bay Labor Council South Bay Pride at Work, Silicon Valley Young Dems, and Sacred Heart Community Service), for the rights to a working wage that would would increase San Jose's minimum wage of $8 to $10. The people of San Jose are struggling to make ends meet, and pay for the basic necessities to live decently, therefore we need to increase our minimum wage. We needed around 19,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot, we managed to get over 35,000.

We met at San Jose State University (SJSU) near the Tommie Smith and John Carlos statues. Tommie Smith & John Carlos are honored alumni of SJSU and the university built these statues representing their gestures at the award podium at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. At the award podium, Tommie Smith and John Carlos took off their shoes, and raised their fist in a silent protest to identify with the impoverished, and oppressed American black community. The raised fist of course means black power, but more importantly people power and symbolizes concerns for social and racial justice. Based on what one speaker said about these men Tommie Smith and John Carlos were banned from the Olympics because of this. It is hard to comprehend how these men forfeited their professional athletic careers to identify for social and racial injustice; they gave up making bank to having to work several minimum wage jobs to compensate. To read more about these men, their statues, and what happened that day in 1968, click here.

So as commemoration to the gestures of Tommie Smith & John Carlos, we marched without our shoes to turn in our petitions and fight to improve peoples lives and a right to a living wage. Yes, my socks, and my shoes were mismatched that day.

I was torn whether I should go or not because I had class that day, and it was the last class meeting before I started Spring Break. However, when I woke up that morning I decided to go because I already knew how it feels like to be in a classroom, but I had never experienced something like fighting to change something that could affect your life and the lives of people in your community. I'm so glad that I ditched class, some things can't be learned in a classroom like the union and solidarity of the oppressed as a form of power to fight for social economic justice.

It was also awesome how every person who marched was able to walk into City Hall, and turn in some of the 35,000 petitions in boxes in a room on the second floor where the signatures would be counted. These were some of the many boxes that were filled in that room.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take many photos since I was holding signs, banners, and petitions. If your interested in looking at more photos check out this Working Partnership's USA flickr account to see a slide show. I'm the one with bright blonde hair, bright teal jeans, and shades.