First Blood martyrs: ILWU Local 13 President Ramon Ponce De Leon (left) remembers Dickie Parker and John Knudsen, the first martyrs of the 1934 strike, at a small graveside memorial. The Bloody Thursday remembrance in Southern California also included a car caravan. Pictured next to Ponce De Leon from left to right are: PCPA President Greg Mitre, Local 13 member Angel Blanco, SoCal pensioner Jerry Garretson, and PCPA Poet Laureate Jerry Brady.
Picnics were canceled this July 5 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but ILWU members and pensioners along the West Coast organized socially-distanced Bloody Thursday remembrances to honor the sacrifices of workers killed during the 1934 West Coast strike that led to the establishment of the ILWU. (Read ILWU historian Harvey Schwartz’s history of the “Big Strike” here.)
SoCal caravan
Southern California ILWU members, pensioners, and family gathered on Sunday, July 5, to mark Bloody Thursday with a car procession that concluded with a graveside memorial at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena, where the first two martyrs of the 1934 strike, San Pedro High graduate Dickie Parker and Lomita resident John Knudsen, are buried. This year’s memorial was scaled down to observe proper social distancing protocols and ensure everyone’s safety. There were over 100 cars in the procession, including several beautifully restored classic cars. Most people remained in their vehicles while a small number conducted the service. Among those in attendance for the graveside memorial were Local 13 President Ramon Ponce De Leon, Local 63 President Mike Podue, Local 94 President Danny Miranda, Local 13 Vice President Jesse “Nacho” Enriquez, Local 13 member and event coordinator, Angel Blanco, Pacific Coast Pensioner Association (PCPA) President Greg Mitre, Southern California Pensioner President Jerry Garretson, and PCPA Poet Laureate Jerry Brady who opened the memorial with a poem about the 1934 strike. “There is no greater love than this—for one to lay down their life for their friends,” Ponce De Leon said of Parker and Knudsen “We wouldn’t have the lives that we have if it wasn’t for these men to start it off. The fight is not over. We still have issues that we need to deal with and we’re still fighting every day.” “The most important thing we do all year is to pay tribute to these men who gave their lives so we could have this union,” said Blanco. “They did what they had to do for us, so this is the least we can do for them.”
Bay Area Bloody Thursday featured new and old
The official Bloody Thursday ceremony sponsored each year by the Bay Area Longshoremen’s Memorial Association (BALMA) at the Local 10 hall usually attracts a large crowd with many pensioners and families. That kind of event was too dangerous this year, so BALMA organizers had to search for a different way of honoring the union’s founding events in 1934. Video celebration BALMA leaders brainstormed and came up with a new way to honor past sacrifices and educate a new generation – by producing a video that celebrates and educates a new generation of ILWU members about the meaning of Bloody Thursday. The home-made video draws on commentary from current BALMA leaders, including BALMA President John Castanho, who introduces the video. He’s followed by BALMA Treasurer Mike Villeggiante, and cameos by International Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris, Local 10 President Trent Willis, and Local 34 President Keith Shanklin. The production borrows heavily from existing footage to explain the 1934 strike that gave rise to the ILWU – at the expense of seven men who were killed in the struggle. “We produced this video on a shoestring,” said John Castanho, who thanked the entire BALMA team for getting the project done ahead of schedule, despite the COVID-19 crisis. It has already attracted nearly 2500 viewers on YouTube. The video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/ v78Ik8Ix4kQ
“We realized that a video is no substitute for our annual ceremony that brings together so many pensioners and families with their kids,” said Villeggiante, “but it was a great alternative when the ‘usual’ was impossible because of COVID-19.”
Modest memorial in Seattle
ILWU Local 19 President Rich Austin, Jr. said ILWU members and pensioners in the Seattle area held a modest memorial at the gravesite of Shelvy Daffron. Shelvy was shot in the back on June 30th while checking on a rumor that non-union crews were about to sail two oil tankers in Point Wells just north of Seattle. The names of the other 1934 martyrs were read by Carl Woeck of the Seattle Pensioners Club.
Rally at the Port of Oakland
Leaders from Locals 10 and 34 decided to go forward with another way to celebrate Bloody Thursday— with a protest at the Port of Oakland on July 5. The four-hour event connected current struggles for racial and economic justice with the “Big Strike” of 1934. “Eighty-six years ago, workers in the Bay Area were struggling to overcome racism used by employers to divide waterfront workers and weaken the strike,” said Local 10’s Willis.
“Employers failed because workers rejected racism and built a powerful alliance with the Black community that strengthened the union then and now,” he said. Willis and Shanklin planned an action that reduced the risk of COVID19. It was a relatively small event, with all participants expected to wear masks and observe social distancing. Another risk-reducer called for holding a car caravan instead of a march. The modest rally at the Port of Oakland was held in front of the SSA Terminal.
Shanklin served as the emcee, working closely with Willis to keep the crowded agenda of speakers moving through the two-and-a-half-hour program. ILWU Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris attended the event. While the crowd of 50 was smaller and younger than most Bloody Thursday events, this one had no less passion and featured a diverse array of speakers, including many community members. It was billed as a rally against racism, police violence, and the need for social justice. Speakers tended to be young, and the majority were people of color. One of the speakers was Chicago bus driver Erek Slater, who, in his capacity as a union representative for Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 241, was disciplined after raising concerns about Chicago Transit Authority bus drivers shuttling police around during the protests of the murder of George Floyd. Slater and his union are fighting back against efforts by the employer to discipline him. Veteran Local 10 activist Clarence Thomas, now a pensioner, made the case against efforts to build a luxury condo and commercial complex in the Port of Oakland, something Local 10 members are opposing with a coalition of business and community groups.
“The Fisher family, who owns the clothing retailer GAP and has backed anti-union candidates around the country, wants to build a playground for the rich at the Port of Oakland. If anyone wants to invest, it should benefit the people of West Oakland. The Fisher plan is like someone who wants to build an amusement park on an assembly line – it’s just nuts,” said Thomas. After the rally, dozens of cars lined up for the ten-mile ride to the Oakland Coliseum – the home of the Oakland A’s baseball team – which Fisher wants relocated to the Port of Oakland property on the docks. Fisher owns the ball team and has hired a troupe of lobbyists to win support from politicians and community leaders – an effort that now faces resistance from the ILWU and the coalition to save the Port. “Our rally and car caravan were a good way to combine important issues of today with important history from the past,” said Shanklin. “Each generation has to keep moving the ball forward,” he said.