California

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/16/2020
  

  Liberals Envisioned a Multiracial Coalition. Voters of Color Had Other Ideas

  Since the dawn of the 21st century, it has become commonplace for party leaders to talk of a rising demographic tide that is destined to lift the Democrats to dominance. The party should look at the defeat of California's affirmative action referendum as a caution that things won't be so simple. 

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• 11/15/2020
  

  Affirmative Action Goes Down to Defeat in Deep Blue California

  by James Thornton Harris

  The defeat of California's Proposition 16 exposes some significant fault lines in the multiethnic coalition the Democratic Party hopes will support its future success. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/27/2020
  

  California Tax Revolt Faces a Retreat, 40 Years Later

  Mr. Jarvis, who died in 1986, framed his campaign as a way to make the tax system more equal, but Proposition 13’s legacy has been the opposite.

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• 10/11/2020
  

  Corporate Money Turns Democracy Upside Down in California Initiative Process

  by James Thornton Harris

  Intended as a tool to circumvent the power of big business in the state legislature, California's ballot initiative process has become yet another channel for the political influence of big money.

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  9/20/2020
  

  California finally sweeps away most of its tributes to the Confederacy. What took so long?

  by Kevin Waite

  California was home to a substantial secessionist community in the 1850s, and white migrants to the region in the early 20th century brought the Lost Cause mythology with them. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/16/2020
  

  52 Years Ago, Thelonious Monk Played a High School. Now Everyone Can Hear It.

  Digitally restored and widely available for the first time on Friday, “Palo Alto” captures a band hitting a high note, even as Monk battled personal and professional turmoil. Historian and Monk biographer Robin D.G. Kelley puts the gig in context.  

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• SOURCE: City of Glendale (CA)
  9/15/2020
  

  Glendale, CA City Council Debates Resolution Acknowledging History as a "Sundown Town"

  HNN contributor Jim Loewen encourages readers to watch the Glendale, CA City Council discuss a resolution acknowledging the city's history as a "sundown town." 

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• SOURCE: CAPRadio
  9/13/2020
  

  As Newsom Weighs Reparations Bill, A Scholar Has A Word Of Caution For California

  An economist and leading scholar of the racial wealth gap urges California legislators to consider the bill as an effort at atonement, because full and proper reparations require a national and federal response from Washington. 

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  9/14/2020
  

  Where Kamala Harris’ Political Imagination Was Formed

  by Tessa Rissacher and Scott Saul

  A Black cultural center in Berkeley introduced Kamala Harris to activism and the connections between culture and politics. 

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• 9/13/2020
  

  Prop 16 and the "Chinese Virus" Bring Two Views of Asian American History into Conflict

  by Hao Zou

  Many Chinese Americans oppose California's Proposition 16, which would reinstate race-based affirmative action in state university admissions. This support stems from a meritocratic interpretation of Chinese American experiences that is challenged by the xenophobic "Chinese Virus" discourse around COVID-19.

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• 9/6/2020
  

  Will California Voters End a 24-Year Ban on Affirmative Action?

  by James Thornton Harris

  Voters in November may reverse California's constitutional ban on affirmative action, which was passed by ballot measure in 1996. The state's electorate has changed considerably in a quarter century and passage seems likely.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/20/2020
  

  For Japanese Americans, Housing Injustices Outlived Internment

  After enduring internment, Japanese Americans were forced to resettle in a changed society with a dire housing shortage. The government's response was grossly inadequate. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/21/2020
  

  A Detailed Look at the Downside of California’s Ban on Affirmative Action

  Ending racial preferences in a state university system harmed Black and Hispanic students while doing little to lift whites and Asian-Americans, a study asserts.

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• SOURCE: Zócalo Public Square
  8/19/2020
  

  For 100 Years, El Monte Has Celebrated A Blatant Historical Falsehood. Why?

  by Romeo Guzmán

  The city of El Monte in southern California has embraced a false origin story--that the town was the end of the Santa Fe trail--to focus public history on white/anglo settlers and not the Native, Mexican, and Asian immigrant people who have also built the city. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/16/2020
  

  A Saint's Sins

  Columnist Elizabeth Breunig consults historians including James Sandos, Robert Senkiewicz and Steven Hackel to evaluate how the canonization of Father Junipero Serra among Catholics and his memorialization by Californians squares with recognition of atrocities committed against Native Americans by Spanish colonizers. 

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• SOURCE: artdaily
  8/12/2020
  

  A Black Nurse Saved Lives. Today She May Save Art

  Graduate student Laura Voisin George discovered an image of Biddy Mason, a Black woman born in slavery who became a founding figure in Los Angeles's African American history, in a set of WPA murals in an auditorium at the University of California-San Francisco. The discovery may help preserve the murals. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/12/2020
  

  Kamala Harris isn’t the First Black Woman to Run for VP. Meet Charlotta Bass

  Historians Martha S. Jones, Eric McDuffie and Denise Lynn identify the Los Angeles newspaper publisher and civil rights activist of the mid-20th century as a key figure paving the way for Kamala Harris and contemporary women of color in politics. 

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• SOURCE: South Bay (CA) Daily Breeze
  8/9/2020
  

  Manhattan Beach to Present Bruce's Beach History, Community Awaits Historians' Voices

  Alison Rose Jefferson had been scheduled to brief the Manhattan Beach City Council about how to commemorate a stretch of beach historically used by Black Californians barred from other parts of the coastline. Her participation ended under disuputed circumstances. 

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• 8/2/2020
  

  What's in an Un-Naming? Berkeley's Kroeber Hall

  by Tony Platt

  Alfred Kroeber built the University of California's anthropology department into a world leader literally with the bones of the Native peoples of California. It's time to honor them. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  7/12/2020
  

  San Gabriel Mission, a Symbol of Faith, History and Oppression, is Badly Damaged by Fire

  Historians Yve Chavez, Philip Ethington and William Deverell comment on the conflicted legacy of the historic mission structure.