Third World Liberation Strikes (1968-69): Comprehensive Study Notes

Historical Context

• Post–World War II trajectories in Chinese American communities
  • Pre-1960s focus: individual professional advancement & acculturation.
  • Late-1960s shift: collective struggle against institutional racism on campus & in ethnic enclaves.
• International influences feeding U.S. campus radicalism
  • Third-world revolutions in Asia, Africa, Latin America.
  • Rise of Black Power & anti-imperialist critiques (e.g., Vietnam War).
  • “Internal colonialism” paradigm → Asian, Black, Chicano, Latino & Native peoples inside the U.S. seen as an oppressed “third world.”

Early Cross-Racial & Pan-Asian Coordination (1968)

• Spring 1968: Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) forum at UC Berkeley (UCB).
  • >90 participants; speakers from Black Panther Party, Chicano movement, Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action (ICSA).
  • Themes: Black identity, Asian American identity, third-world unity.
• Outcomes: set ideological groundwork for later TWLF (Third World Liberation Front) collaborations.

The Yellow Symposium (11 Jan 1969)

• Sponsors: AAPA, Chinese Students Club (CSC), Nisei Students Club (NSC).
• Coverage & attendance
  • Pan-Asian draw (Chinese, Japanese, Filipino) from across CA.
  • Speakers: Stanford Lyman (history of Chinese/Japanese in America); Paul Takagi (U.S. Asian policy); Isao Fujimoto (assimilation critique).
• Unscheduled intervention: ICSA’s George Woo
  • Warned against “identity without action” → called it “mental masturbation.”
  • Pushed for concrete support of SF State TWLF strike & reversing the community “brain-drain.”
• Debates
  • Minority resistant bloc: preferred gradualist integration of Asian Am. courses inside mainstream departments.
  • Majority: embraced Black-Power-inspired “self-determination” (community control over whole schools/colleges).
• Resolution passed
  • Full support for SF State strike.
  • Demand for Asian American Studies & 3rd-world colleges system-wide.
• 12 Jan 1969: statewide AAPA meeting
  • Delegates from 13 campuses (CA, NY, HI) formed a loose national AAPA network; Berkeley AAPA designated info hub.

Organizational Vehicles

SF State

• ICSA (Chinese), PACE (Filipino), AAPA (Japanese affil.), LASO/MASC (Latino), BSU (Black).
• Community-rooted approach (esp. San Francisco Chinatown activism).

UC Berkeley

• AAPA (pan-Asian), MASC (Chicano), AASU (Black), NASU (Native).
• Pan-ethnic ideology crucial because Asian Americans were <1\% of total U.S. population (~2\times10^8 at the time).

Strike Chronology & Tactics

San Francisco State College (SFSC)

• Start: 6 Nov 1968.
• Trigger issues: BSU’s 3-year deadlocked negotiations; suspension of lecturer & Panther member George Murray.
• TWLF structure: 12-member central committee (2 delegates/organization); whites limited to support role per “self-determination” principle.
• Key confrontation points
  • 2 Dec 1968: President Hayakawa personally yanks cables from TWLF sound truck; police riot ensues.
  • Jan 1969: \approx400 white supporters arrested in one sweep.
• Community & labor escalation
  • 300 faculty strike; clerical, commons & library workers honor picket lines; Teamsters refuse deliveries.

UC Berkeley (UCB)

• Start: 22 Jan 1969 (77 days after SFSC action began).
• Pre-strike impasse:
  • AASU Black Studies proposal watered down after 9 months; students excluded from decision channels.
  • MASC’s table-grape boycott & arrests of 11 Chicanos by Pres. Hitch (Oct 1968).
  • AAPA acquired 1 overflow course (Asian Studies 100X) but foresaw similar co-optation.
• Early tactics
  • Informational pickets → escalation: sealing Sather Gate bridge (4 Feb).
  • Police violence: 20 arrests & 20 injuries 4 Feb; beatings of Cordell Abercrombie, Jim Nabors & others.
  • Serpentine marches (5 Feb) to avoid static busts.
• State repression
  • Gov. Reagan: declared “state of extreme emergency”; later deployed National Guard, helicopter-dropped CS gas, martial-law stance.
  • End-Feb: 127 arrests; immediate interim suspensions.
• Internal debates
  • 20 Feb: AAPA vote 20–7 to “cool it” → directive for non-violence at 22 Feb Regents meeting (largest but peaceful rally; 3{,}000 present & >20 agencies arrayed).

Formal Demands (Sampling)

SFSC TWLF (5 points)

1. Establish School of Ethnic Studies with student power over hiring/curriculum.
2. Allocate 50 faculty lines (20 for Black Studies).
   3–4. Open admissions of non-white students spring & fall 1969.
3. Retain George Murray & any faculty chosen by non-white students.

UCB TWLF (excerpted)

1. Funding for Third World College with 4 departments (Asian, Black, Chicano, Native).
2. Third-world representation “from Regents to custodial.”
3. Immediate implementation specifics (e.g., 30 work-study Chinatown/Manilatown; 10 EOP counselors; permanent Center for Chicano Studies).
4. Third-world control over all programs touching their communities.
5. Full amnesty for strikers.

Enrollment & Faculty Statistics (UCB)

• 1966 survey (total 26{,}000 students):
  • African American =226\;(0.87\%)
  • Chicano =76\;(0.29\%)
  • Native American =61\;(0.23\%)
  • Combined non-Asian third-world share: 1.4\% vs CA population \approx19\%.
• 1970 snapshot (total \approx26{,}300):
  • African American =1{,}020\;(3.9\%)
  • Chicano =381\;(1.4\%)
  • Latino =166\;(0.6\%)
  • Native American =89\;(0.3\%)
  • Asian American =2{,}543\;(9.7\%)
  • White =15{,}813\;(60.1\%)
• 1980 faculty: African American =1.8\%; only 2 Black women tenured or tenure-track.

Negotiation Flashpoints (UCB)

• 8 Feb: tentative agreement on implementing committee (2 students + 2 faculty/ethnic group) reached, then disavowed.
• 10 Feb: Dean Knight committee endorsed TW faculty drafting power; TWLF rejected due to student exclusion.
• 19 Feb: Heyns halts talks, citing compromise of “academic integrity.”
• 26–27 Feb: Arrest & severe beating of Manuel Delgado; National Guard first deployed.
• 4 Mar: Academic Senate (vote 550–4) backs interim Ethnic Studies Department reporting directly to Chancellor; promises evolution “toward a college.”
• • President Hitch gives final approval; TWLF suspends strike but warns of reactivation if progress stalls.

Outcomes

• SF State
  • Creation of first U.S. School of Ethnic Studies → degree-granting in American Indian, Asian American, Black & La Raza studies.
• UC Berkeley
  • Budget for single Department of Ethnic Studies with 4 divisions; no autonomous college (viewed by many as stalemate).
• Broader legacy
  • Ethnic/Asian American Studies now in >250 U.S. institutions.
  • Strikes trained future community organizers (e.g., Harvey Dong: Asian Community Center, Everybody’s Bookstore).
  • Model of inter-racial solidarity influenced International Hotel eviction fight, Alcatraz Native occupation, etc.

Continuing Challenges

• Need to balance campus legitimation vs. community linkage.
• Persistent program marginalization & budget threats.
• Post-1965 immigration & 1975 refugee influx reshaped Asian American demographics, testing pan-ethnic unity frameworks.

Key Individuals & Subsequent Biographical Notes

• Harvey Dong: BA 1972, PhD 2002; participant in UCB strike; later lecturer & Chinatown labor organizer.
• Jeanie Dere: Author of “A Wei Min Sister Remembers.”
• George Woo (ICSA): Critiqued hollow identity politics.
• Bryant Fong: Yellow Symposium organizer & oral source for strike historiography.
• Victoria Wong: Co-founder AAPA; articulated “second awakening” of seeing Asian peers sharing radical outlook.
• Richard Aoki: Emphasized egalitarian TWLF decision structure; later interviewed 2001.
• Roz Payne: Photographer (iconic “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power”) with long activist lineage.
• Jon Jang, Diana Hong, Chih-ming Wang, Leland Wong: Artists/scholars extending cultural-political legacies.

Ethical & Philosophical Takeaways

• “Self-determination” redefined education: curriculum driven by, and accountable to, the communities studied.
• Rejects merit-test tracking in 1960 Master Plan as institutional racism.
• Coalitional politics shown effective but fragile; requires ongoing negotiation between particularist and universalist goals.

Numerical & Miscellaneous References (LaTeX-formatted)

• Strike length at SFSC: >5\text{ months}.
• UCB TWLF arrests by 22 Feb 1969: 127.
• Police at 22 Feb Regents meeting: >600 (riot police + highway patrol) + 50 armed guards; 1{,}000 more on standby.
• Teaching Assistants Local 1570 strike vote timeline: 27 Jan (defeated) → 18 Feb (passed).

Study Tips & Connections

• Cross-reference with Civil Rights (SNCC exit of white members 1964) for genealogy of self-determination strategy.
• Compare Master Plan’s standardized testing ethos to modern debates on SAT/ACT equity.
• Review Black Panther & UFW campaigns to understand intersectional frameworks feeding TWLF.
• Trace later Asian Am. immigration waves to analyze evolving definitions of “Asian American.”