Equity on the Mall was organized by the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund and The Center at the Sierra Health Foundation, with the singular goal to improve San Joaquin Valley communities’ health outcomes.
According to their full press release:
Rooted in the legacy of the farmworker movement, more than 70 community organizations demonstrated their unified voice and collective power by attending this year’s Equity on the Mall, advocating for a healthier Valley and California for all.
Now, it took me a while to write this up because I was conflicted about how to begin this article. This topic is personal, and I care a great deal about the place I call home. I know once I start writing, it will be hard to stop. Where to even begin???
The San Joaquin Valley of California is a beautiful place -- full of unimaginable riches, but it is also a place of immense inequity that tear at the fabric of our diverse communities.
I’ll start with what I know best; my personal experience. My grandmother worked well into her senior years, tipping onions and picking grapes in the thick fog of the Southern Kern County crops. I later came to learn that the fog was caused by nitrogen that had leaked into the fields from old decommissioned oil wells.
El campo, or the more commonly used anglicized version of the word, los files was the place I was fortunate enough never to never break a sweat in, unless it was to train for the next cross country race. McFarland wasn’t exactly my story, but there are many shared truths.
Farm labor was always used as a threat to make us work harder in school. To perform not just our best, but the best. “We work hard so that you can go to school and get a good education. So you don’t have to suffer like we do. We don’t want you to end up working in the fields like us.”
They thought working in the fields was the worst that could happen to us, but like many of the stories shared at Equity on the Mall, worse was yet to come. Incarceration, addiction, abuse, extreme poverty, mental illness, environmentally induced sickness, and eventually death. I have personal and familial accounts for them all. Over burdened and tortured lives, that didn’t have to be, but were, because of decades of oppression and an insatiable amount of greed for money and power by a few.
To fulfill the purpose of Equity on the Mall was to bring these stories to the ears of elected officials, to address the needs of disparate communities in the San Joaquin Valley.
In addition to the personal accounts that were shared, here are some of the facts and statistics shared with participants at the event:
- One in three children lives in poverty, and in some counties nearly half of all children live in neighborhoods with high poverty rates.
- Tap water is unsafe to drink for students in one in four schools.
- There are significant disparities in educational opportunities and performance between the diverse racial and ethnic populations in the Valley.
- More than one in four children doesn’t have access to nutritious foods.
- San Joaquin Valley children ages 10-17 face a greater risk of being incarcerated, with the felony juvenile arrest rate higher in every county than the statewide average.
Before the Equity on the Mall event this year and over the last 3 years, a policy committee met to develop an annual policy platform to assist in directing elected leaders in the priorities of valley communities. The 2018 Policy Platform was unveiled at the event and strives to call the attention of elected officials along with the work of over 50 community organizations to address the inequalities in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
See the policy platform for full recommendations which include:
- Support funding, incentives and technical assistance to ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water;
- Continue expanding and strengthening Medi-Cal;
- Prioritize increasing the supply and quality of affordable and sustainable housing and rehabilitation of existing housing through incentive availability;
- Increase outreach and support for quality early childhood education;
- Ensure literacy for all students by the third grade - literacy instruction must be culturally competent;
- Ensure that all children and families have access to nutritious foods.
- Support full implementation for SB54 to ensure immigrant rights through the enforcement of California laws, and protect immigrants while they are receiving quality health care
I applaud the mission and concrete policy outline and framework detailing policy that can be adopted to address these urgent issues. I also see value in taking activists to the capitol to advocate on behalf of their own communities. I would be remiss if I did not point out one of the most glaring issues: acknowledging the fact that California is great because of our diverse communities, but that these communities are being robbed of their fair share. Although I was glad that it was mentioned in numerous ways by advocates and leaders. The fund touts $4.7 million since 2015 to 71 organizations spent on activities to address health disparities and equity. The San Joaquin Valley alone generates produces $8.1 billion in crops (just crops, other counties tout economic wealth in the oil and other industries). Most of the grants given to the CBOs by the foundations involved are very small. Organizations are starved and trying their very best to address immense societal issues with very little resources. These causes need MUCH more resources to create long lasting changes towards equity.
I was very pleased to see that Equity on the Mall included many cultural aspects. The most noticeable was the diversity of food that was provided for participants. Breakfast and lunch was provided on the well manicured capitol lawn. It was a refreshing change of pace to see people of color enjoying the space, having picnics on the picturesque white benches, under the shady tree canopies, while enjoying music, and activities with their families. Usually what is seen are tall white men in suits speed walking to the next meeting while on their cells. It took me to a hopeful future where our state capitol is a place for all Californians, not just lobbyists with the power and money to afford it.
Some highlights of the event included speeches from high profile iconic human rights activists, such as Dolores Huerta, several notable elected officials such as Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Senate pro Tem Kevin de León, Speaker of the House Anthony Rendon, City of Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs (first black mayor of Stockton and the youngest mayor of a large city, also was a leader of developing the 2018 Policy Platform), a multitude of community based organizations, and hundreds of local valley community activists.
The highlight would have to be Hummingbird’s performance of the Healing Dance from Fresno, CA. Here is a short clip.
Lastly, I wanted to share this parent-child duo singing and playing el cajon. I couldn’t help but see a great deal of symbolism between songs sang about back breaking farm labor and the need to bend the back to play el cajon all while including and balancing family.
For more information about Equity on the Mall or to get in touch with organizers, visit their website at www.shfcenter.org/…
Thank you for taking the time to read more about work being done to bring equity to the San Joaquin Valley.