With Information from Laura Rubio and Gerardo Herrera
Every year the different associations that protect the rights of tenants hold the Bay Area Tenants Assembly to share information, progress, achievements and the possibility of joining forces to achieve their goals. This year the venue for their assembly was Chabot College in Hayward.
The place was full of culture and inclusion, the attendees were from diverse communities, Spanish speakers, Asians, Afro-descendants and Caucasians, so the well-planned organization managed to have simultaneous translation into three languages: English, Vietnamese and Spanish, so that all the public could have access to the same information.
What we are looking for with this assembly is "inspiration and confidence, in ourselves as an organization, "Power". That's what we want, more collective power, for the tenant class, right? We're against the landlord class because they already have too much power," said Chad Bolla, one of the main organizers of the event and a member of the Sonoma County Tenants Union, in an interview with Peninsula 360 Press.
For his part, Gabriel Manrique, another of the organizers of the Bay Area 2022 Tenants Assembly, shared that he hopes that after the meeting "people will have been empowered, that they will have heard different ideas, opinions, that they will return to their communities and be able to organize their own neighbors."
Manrique is also an organizer fighting for housing justice and tenants' rights. "We are organizing people, not only in San Jose, but also in East Palo Alto, so that they can fight against injustices to prevent the displacement of people, especially the Hispanic Latino community," said the nonprofit organization. Latinos United for a New Americabetter known by its acronym LUNA.
"LUNA is working for the past two years on tenants' rights, during the pandemic they were the pioneers to help the community fill out their applications for rental assistance and they also had schools to talk about their rights as tenants," noted Yurina Guzman, a member of the organization.
"The pandemic "caught" us all off guard, and that was when there was the most abuse and displacement in the San José area, which is where we work," Guzmán stressed.
He also pointed out that one of LUNA's greatest difficulties is fear.
"Spanish-speaking people or people who don't know their rights are afraid to stand up for themselves or go up against landlords," he said.
However, he said, LUNA has held workshops and "worked hard in each neighborhood where it has planted and given them the tools for self-organization. "From not wanting to open the door and being afraid, now they already have their own neighborhood committee, they already have their board of directors and they are going with the lawyers?" shared Guzman.
For his part, Keith Ogden, attorney and manager of Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, emphasized the importance of these assemblies and the community's participation in them.
"I am here because it is very important in my work as a lawyer protecting tenants' rights, to also be connected to the organizations that are working and with these tenants that are organizing so we have a better idea of everything they are facing right now, because we know there are a lot of things going on and a lot that tenants are doing for themselves," he pointed out.
During the event there was a brief presentation of the participating organizations ranging from the City of Sonoma to San Jose, who shared advice, experiences, ideas and feedback. In addition, tenants' rights, difficulties in each area, problems or legal situations they have had to deal with were discussed, all from the margin of respect and diversity.
Watch the video of this event:
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