Watsonville apologizes for 1930 riots against Filipinos

Sparked by the Watsonville riots, Filipinos were hunted and beaten.

The City of Watsonville passed a resolution Nov. 10 issuing an apology for the anti-Filipino riots that took place 90 years ago that started in the agricultural city. The resentment against Filipinos spread to other California towns and resulted in anti-Filipino laws.

Watsonville's resolution recognizes the many contributions of the Filipinos who were recruited  to the US to work on America's farms in the 1920s and 1930s.

The formal apology for the attacks against Filipino farmworkers was spurred by  the interest of younger Filipino Americans, many of whom are descendants of the farmworkers.

One of the farmworkers' descendants is Watsonville resident Roy Recio who spoke at the city council meeting.

“[They] came here in the 1920s and ‘30s to work the land… they were brought here as cheap labor,” he said. “They did the jobs that no one else wanted to do… 10 hours a day, hauling irrigation pipes, picking strawberries, making people rich. They sacrificed, they struggled and persevered to bring us here today.”

Recio helped establish the website, "Watsonville Is In the Heart" that is collecting family stories of the Filipino farmworkers.

White mobs, who accused Filipinos of stealing jobs and dating white women, hunted and beat Filipinos. In one incident, mobs shot at a farmworkers' bunkhouse, killing Fermin Tobera.

After the riots, a peace settled on Watsonville, and the Filipino American community became part of the city”s multi-ethnic mix. For many years, Filipino businesses flourished in the city. Their descendants became a vital part of the city's culture, economy and social life.

Among those who urged passage of the resolution was Manuel Quintero Bersamin, a former city council member who was also Watsonville’s first Filipino American mayor,

“There are a lot of old-time Watsonville names her,” at the council meeting, he said. “Filipino American names, but also white names, Latino names. It’s a wonderful thing. I want to thank the council for taking this on.”

Other speakers asked for the city and school district to establish a physical memorial or naming a school after a Filipino American.

Agriculture is still an important part of the economy of Watsonville, California.
Today, most of the farmworkers harvesting the area's produce are from Mexico.

The Watsonville City Council approved the following resolution:

RESOLUTION NO.__________ (CM)

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WATSONVILLE FORMALLY APOLOGIZING FOR THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE CITY'S RESIDENTS AGAINST THE FILIPINOS IN WATSONVILLE, PARTICULARLY IN THE 1920S AND 1930S, AND COMMENDING THESE FILIPINO NATIONALS AND THEIR CHILDREN, THE FILIPINO AMERICANS FOR THEIR NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PÁJARO VALLEY

WHEREAS, the United States having colonized the Philippines Islands in 1898, Filipinos were American Nationals from 1898 to 1935; and

WHEREAS, as Carlos Bulosan wrote in his book, America is in the Heart, the United States sent farm and fishing labor contractors to the Philippines Islands to recruit and contract with young Filipino male nationals to come to the United States to provide physical labor in Hawaii and California in the 1920s and 1930s; and

WHEREAS, thousands of young Filipino male nationals came to reside in the Pájaro Valley in the 1920s and 1930, in order to work to help their families left in the Philippines and by their manual and intellectual labor, they assisted in developing the agricultural and material wealth of the Pájaro Valley; and

WHEREAS,during this period, 1920 to 1950, there existed numerous governmental policies and laws that unjustly targeted the Filipino Nationals, including school segregation and anti-miscegenation Anti-Asian Land laws, tight quotas on Filipino immigration, even though the Philippines was under the sovereignty of the United States until the end of World War II in 1946; and

WHEREAS, locally, in Santa Cruz and Monterey County, Filipino male nationals faced discrimination and racism, until in 1930, racial tensions boiled over and led to the infamous “Watsonville Anti-Filipino riots” of 1930, which resulted in violence against hundreds of Filipinos and the terrible death of Filipino laborer Fermin Tobera; and

WHEREAS, these Anti Filipino riots soon spread to other cities including Salinas, San Jose, San Francisco, and Stockton; and

WHEREAS, the City of Watsonville has not acknowledged this terrible historic chapter in the City's timeline for ninety years; and

WHEREAS, the Watsonville City Council will finally act to sharply repudiate the shameful treatment Filipinos received, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, in Watsonville and in Santa Cruz County; and

WHEREAS, the City of Watsonville would like to formally apologize for the actions taken by the City's residents and formally recognize the great contributions made by the Filipino American Community of the Pájaro Valley, including indelible contributions to the history of Watsonville, the state of California and the United States that include, but are not limited to, organizing the first Asian labor unions in the US, serving honorably in the Armed Forces, fighting for the United States in many foreign wars, co-organizing the United Farm Workers, and advocating for civil rights; and

WHEREAS, the majority of these Filipino nationals, many of who became naturalized United States citizens and continued to live in Watsonville and the Pájaro Valley, and they left thousands of descendants, many of who still live in the Pájaro Valley; and

WHEREAS, celebrating the great contributions of these Filipino nationals and their Filipino American children, provides the City of Watsonville with an opportunity to recognize the achievements, contributions, and history of these Filipino nationals and their children, the Filipino Americans, including endured hardships, including unjust working conditions, prejudice, and discrimination in our state’s and nation’s history.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WATSONVILLE, CALIFORNIA, AS FOLLOWS:

1. That the City Council, now after ninety years, formally apologize for the actions taken by the City's residents against the Filipinos in Watsonville, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s in Watsonville and commending these Filipino Nationals and their children, the Filipino Americans for their notable accomplishments and contributions to the Pájaro Valley.

2. That the City Clerk is hereby directed to transmit copies of this resolution to the Filipino American Community for appropriate distribution.

City Council to vote Nov. 10 on an apology for the anti-Filipino Watsonville Riots

A local newspaper headlined the Watsonville Riots.

A resolution apologizing for the infamous anti-Filipino Watsonville Riots that occurred 90 years ago is being heard by the Watsonville City Council today.

The riots began Jan. 19, 1930 in California and lasted about a week. One of the violent incidents was a frenzied mob of white men shot indiscriminately at farmworkers' living quarters  wounding several of the Filipinos and killing 22-year old Fermin Tobera.

The Watsonville City Council moved the apology resolution to the top of it's agenda to receive public comment during which members of the community can speak supporting or against the item. The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m.

A Filipino American, Roy Recio, wrote in a Facebook page, "Watsonville is in the Heart," that descendants of the farmworkers are hoping that the city will do something more substantial than a resolution to memorialize the riots.

"The apology is welcome and long-overdue. However, the Filipino community, particularly we descendants of the Manong generation feel strongly that this is just a start. If the City of Watsonville is sincere in their effort, we would like to advocate for a more substantial historical marker in the city like a street, building or school named after a Filipino and / or a plaque or statue in the city’s plaza that truly depicts our history and our vital role and contributions in the Pajaro Valley," Recio posted on Facebook.

During the Great Depression, Filipinos were recruited to provide cheap labor for Hawaii's plantations and the farm fields of California. The vast majority of the workers were young men, who outnumbered Filipinas 30 to 1, wrote Recio.

Beginning on Jan. 19, 1930, mobs of up to 500 white people roamed Watsonville and the surrounding towns and farms, attacking Filipino farmworkers and their property after Filipino men were seen dancing with white women at a newly opened local dance hall.

In the days and weeks local newspapers and politicians ramped up the anti-Filipino sentiment before the rioting, calling the farmworkers “a menace,” and demanding that Filipino residents be deported so “white people who have inherited this country for themselves and their offspring could live.” 

“The worst part of [the Filipino man] being here is his mixing with young white girls from thirteen to seventeen,"said a local judge to reporters. "He gives them silk underwear and makes them pregnant and crowds whites out of jobs in the bargain.”

According to the Equal Justice Initiative, a mob of white men was initially turned away from a Watsonville dance hall by security guards, but returned in full force to beat dozens of Filipino farmworkers. The beatings continued elsewhere in the area, and on the night of Jan. 22, a mob ransacked Filipino farmworkers’ homes and shot into the dwellings, killing Tobera. No one was ever charged with that murder. Seven men were later convicted of rioting, but received either probation or 30 days in jail.

The anti-Filipino frenzy continued in California in the months after the Watsonville riots, with violence breaking out in Stockton, Salinas, San Francisco, and San Jose.

In 1933, California enacted a law to prohibit marriages between Filipino and white residents. Prior to that change in the law, the anti-mesegination laws applied intermarriage between Blacks and Whites. That was amended to include members of the "Mongolian" race to include East Asians. 

In 1934, answering in part to pressure coming from California's government led by prominent citiens and leading newspapers, Congress reduced Filipino immigration to the United States to just 50 people per year. 

In September 2011, the California legislature officially expressed regret and apologized for these events and actions. This pending apology is the first time the City of Watsonville addressed this shameful chapter in its history. 

FilAm History: An unexpected lesson awaits in Monterey, California

The three laborers' shacks have a fresh coat of paint and made to look appealing to tourist are at the real locale, across the street from the office of the real-life Doc Ricketts, immortalized in John Steinbeck's 'Cannery Row.'

HERE'S A WAY to give your young ones a lesson on Filipino American history without the pain of it turning into just another boring classroom assignment.

After visiting the Monterey Aquarium and wandering through Monterey's Cannery Row amidst the seemingly endless souvenir shops and restaurants on the south side of the street, about 100 feet east of the aquarium's entrance, there's a little alcove with steps leading up.

It looks like another shortcut to the walking path and the parking structure about a block away, but take it anyway. On the second level, you'll find three ramshackle shacks. Go to the one nearest to the next flight of steps. 

RELATED: Things that were never taught in history class

Peer inside the windows and you'll see a neatly made, single bed, a desk and a chair. On the wall there could be a poster advertising an upcoming fight between a Filipino boxer and his opponent. It purportedly is the "typical" living accommodations for cannery workers who canned the sardines that made cannery row a bustling, multi-ethnic locale for John Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row. 

Near the door of the shack is a plaque that reads:

Filipinos were attracted in large numbers to California after the 1924 Immigration Act, excluded the Japanese, who had been a major part of the state's agricultural labor force.

By 1930, as many as 35,000 Pinoys -- young, single, male Filipino laborers -- were working California fields, hotels, restaurants and private homes. During World War II, a number of Filipinos from the island of Luzon, north of Manila, worked in the canneries and reduction plants.

When Filipino laborers weren't operating screw-cookers, rotary killns or grinders, they might be found playing cards with friends or socializing in one of the Monterey Chinatown flower-dancing clubs. The Salinas-based newspaper Philippine Mail reported on life in the larger Filipino community.

The innocent visit to a tourist attraction could be a jumping off point for a history lesson -- especially important to first-generation immigrants who through no fault of their own -- don't know how Filipinos were treated before World War II and the foundation the pre-WWII Filipinos provided so that later immigrants could pursue the American dream.

The shack has been prettied up to cover up the real living conditions of the cannery workers. 

What the cannery row shacks looked like when they were still in use.

Indeed, residents were usually single men who worked in the canneries or fished sardines during the season. Even though rent was cheap, sometimes as many as four men lived in one cabin. The little homes were a multi-cultural stew made up of men from Mexico, Spain, Japan, the Philippines, Sicily and other parts of the world. They may not have spoken each others' languages, but they shared an understanding of the work to be done.

I can easily see two to four Filipinos sharing that living space, cooking their adobo or fried fish. The living conditions would be similar to their Filipino brethren working in the nearby fields of  Watsonville and the Salinas Valley.

Inside the cannery workers' shack, there is only had one bed and it is much, much too neat.

Watsonville, of course, was the center of the anti-Filipino riots that culminated on Jan. 23, 1930 when 500 armed white men went to the farms and shot indiscriminantly into farmworker shacks, killing one Filipino farmworker, Fermin Tovera, and injuring 50 others.

Eight men were arrested but only four were brought to trial. One assailant received a one-month jail sentence and three were released on probation.

On January 23, 500 armed local whites went to the farms and shot indiscrimantly into the farmworker shacks, killin one Filipino, Fermin Tovera, and injuring 50 others. After five days of rioting, the violence ended when the local American Legion branch and a group of local citizens calmed down the white mob. Eventually, eight rioters were caught but only four were tried; one was given a maximum sentence of one month in jail, and the others were released on probation. The murderer was never caught despite the fact that there were concrete leads and a confession by the assailant.

In 2011, the State of California recently passed Assembly Concurrent Resolution 74 where it formally apologized for the past mistreatment and unjust laws against Filipino immigrants beginning in the 1920s.

Assemblyman Luis Alejo initiated the bill which was unanimously approved by the California Senate. Though not a Filipino, Alejo grew up among Filipinos in Watsonville.

In the 1930s, resentment grew among white laborers who accused Filipino workers of working for low wages. 

What really incensed white men was that Filipino men -- dressed in their dashing zoot suits and pomade hair, shiny shoes and broad-brimmed hats worn at a tilt -- were often seen dancing with the white women who worked in the local dance halls for 10-cents a dance.

“Never has the state government recognized what has happened in the past,” said Alejo. “It’s never too late to do the right thing, and I’m glad the legislature in California approved that resolution.”

The real-live marine biologist Doc Ricketts, who was a friend of Steinbeck and was immortalized in the author's Cannery Row, had his office across the street in the Pacific Research Institute. It is said that he often opened his window at the end of the work day and played Mozart so that the cannery workers would have some music as they made their way home. It is not hard to imagine that occasionally, he would catch a whiff of fried fish and adobo.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. Photos by Ed Diokno.