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DEDICATION This book is dedicated to my wonderful wife, our cherished daughter and all those throughout history that realized the strength, wisdom, and power of love. Only it can transform the darkness in our world into a source of light for a brighter tomorrow. i My Trip to the Land of Gandhi: A Mexican-American’s Journey to the Legacy of Nonviolent Resistance Erik Olson Fernández COPYRIGHT Copyright © by Erik Olson Fernández 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS BOOK VIDEO TRAILER - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXEAJL9v-X8 INTRODUCTION - POVERTY IN THE RICHEST NATION ON EARTH 4 CHAPTER 1 - POVERTY FOR DEBT 8 CHAPTER 2 - STUDENT DEBT AND ORGANIZING WE, THE PEOPLE 22 CHAPTER 3 - SCHOOL SEGREGATION CIRCA 2000 31 CHAPTER 4 - AMERICA'S FINEST CITY? 48 CHAPTER 5 - DIARIES FROM A COSTA RICAN BUS 111 CHAPTER 6 - A NEW YEAR WITH THE MAYOR AND DR. KING 128 CHAPTER 7 - NEEDLESS CHALLENGES AND HARD LESSONS 137 CHAPTER 8 - NUEVO SNCC 156 CHAPTER 9 - CARRYING ON THE GREAT LEGACY AND INTERCHANGE 193 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF NUEVO SNCC 198 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND MATERIALS 199 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 201 INTRODUCTION POVERTY IN THE RICHEST NATION ON EARTH “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi 1973 was a year that was characterized by great division, prophetically marking the beginning of an era of American decline. The Vietnam War was coming to an inglo- rious end. The Cold War was raging on. The Watergate scandal shook the foundations of our government. The American Indian Movement reminded Americans of the coun- try’s ugly past. The Arab countries refused to sell oil to the U.S. because it supported Israel. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez case that education was not a fundamental right under the Constitution. The World Trade Center officially opened in New York City on the 5th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. And, on September 11th, the U.S. helped over- throw Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, and supported dicta- tor General Augusto Pinochet as his replacement. It was in this context that there was a baby boy born on the margins–literally on the border–of U.S. society to an immi- grant Mexican mother and an American father on February 12th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. This was the mother’s second son. Just a year and a half earlier, her first son 4 was born on the other side of the Rio Grande, today’s equivalent of the Mason-Dixon line, in Ciudad Juarez. Not many years later, when the youngest son nearly reached school age, his par- ents divorced. Not knowing what to do alone, the mother literally gave up everything she had and flew to a far away place in central Ohio with nothing but a few suitcases of clothes and her two sons in her arms. Upon her arrival in this new place, she was greeted with foreign ideas, strange customs, and by sometimes hostile people. Having no other way to provide for her children, she fell back on the only thing she had–her physical might (all 5'1" of it). She worked in hotels, factories, and restaurants, any- where she could find a job. Due to the disrespect and humiliation she often endured on the job, she would tell her sons that she was literally giving her “blood, sweat, and tears” only so other people could become rich. Since she worked very hard, she re- mained hopeful that she too would eventually be recognized and rewarded with more job security and a dignified wage. Unfortunately, that day never came. Often exhausted, facing uncertain futures about how to pay the rent or put food on the table, she sometimes would break down in tears. While cleaning filthy bath- rooms, she would remember her sons. While being disrespected by her boss, she would remember her sons. While being overlooked on the job, she would remember her sons. While angry about not being given the necessary supplies to do her job well, she would remember her sons. Being forgiving, she was willing to accept some to these little forms of disrespect with dignity. However, on issues of great importance, she was never one to remain quiet. Suddenly, a fateful day came. After she and a few friends had worked at a factory for several years, they reached the oh-so-“high” end of the salary scale–slightly more than $8 an hour. One by one, the factory owners strategically demoted the women to lower paid positions doing essentially the same work. The mother spoke out. Having no union, no “just cause” protections, it wasn’t long before she was fired “at-will.” The son came home from school only to see his mother distressed and in tears again. What was she to do? How would she push on? Where would she find work? Through shear persistence and determination, she scraped and scratched and eventually found another low-wage, high-exploitation job in order to provide for her family. Through the years, her sacrifices not only provided the material basics of food, clothes, and shelter but they also provided the spiritual needs of hope and inspiration for her two sons. Eventually, this hope was born out by the fact that both her sons graduated from high school and college even when most of the other children in the neighborhood did not. In fact, the young son continued onto law school and upon his 5 graduation he gave his mother a gift: a gift from the heart, a poem he adapted from something he read along his journey. The anonymous poem is entitled, “A Letter from Mom to Bring that College Home.” It is written as if his mother were writing him a let- ter to bring that education back home. I’ve been sending you to college now for six or seven years, Since that morning that you left me, I’ve been shedding bitter tears. But I thought of that old saying, “sunshine comes behind the storm,” So my young son, when you finish, you just bring that college home. I’ve been scrubbin’ floors, I’ve been sweating on this stinking job, Many times I had to worry, and often had to pray to God. But I hold on to my patience, beat them soap suds into foam, All the time, my heart was saying he’s gonna bring that college home. I don’t mean bring home the buildings or to wreck those good folks place, Bring home real education and the high tone of the Creator’s grace. You just grab them learning habits, hold them tight through wind and storm. Then when you get your diploma, take them all and create a home. But don’t get above the people, settle down, and cease to roam, Be a light in your village, and like Jesus, be a college for those without a home. Thank you, Lord! My son has brought that college home. At this point, the mother could rest: she knew her sacrifices were not in vain. However, the son was still tormented by his early childhood experiences of growing up poor and Latino in the United States and by the fact that under America’s social struc- ture he had simply exchanged poverty for debt–shackling student loan debt of $90,000. He knew that millions of children were still chained in poverty and millions more were in families who were not free but in the bondage of debt. Years earlier, the son had begun to look for a way to make his daily school pledge of “liberty and justice for all” real. Almost accidentally but probably through divine purpose, the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture poster in his elementary school cafeteria with the Statue of Liberty and the words “AND JUSTICE FOR ALL” would remain forever in his heart and mind. 6 His early experiences eventually led him on a journey to systematically study the writings and work of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1959, after the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. King wrote an important arti- cle in Ebony magazine about his journey to India to study the work and life of Gandhi and the Indian freedom struggle and how to apply those lessons back home to redeem America’s democracy. The article was entitled “My Trip to the Land of Gandhi.” In the article, King states, “I left India more convinced than ever before that nonviolent resis- tance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” This book is about this young son’s metaphoric trip to the land of Gandhi and how this journey helped him confront the great issues of today with the majestic legacy of nonviolence resistance. The first item on the agenda was the $90,000 in stu- dent loan debt that was handed to him along with his law school degree. 7 CHAPTER 1 POVERTY FOR DEBT “Today they say that we are free, Only to be chained in poverty. Good God, I think it's illiteracy; It's only a machine that makes money.” ~ Bob Marley lyrics from “Slave Driver” In early May 2000, I graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. Sadly, like so many other young people these days, I had to borrow money from a bank to pay for my education or I would never have been able to go to college or law school. My family simply did not have the money.

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