Beginning in 2025, the Sunnyside School District in Central Washington will move from an at-large electoral process to a by-district voting structure, to ensure compliance with the Washington Voting Rights Act. This change was brought about by a legal challenge filed by the ACLU of Washington on behalf of Empowering Latin Leaders & Action (ELLA) in April of this year. This agreement was publicized Aug. 12.
The deal between the Sunnyside School District, ELLA and the ACLU avoids prolonged litigation, like with the landmark 2014 Montes v. Yakima decision, and alludes to the fact that the Latine community deserves to have a say in community decisions.
The school district, which reports 92.9% Latine enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year per the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, is in a town with a population that is roughly 86.1% Latine. The heavier Latine population cluster reflects a longer history of migration and settlement that extends back to at least the 1920s.
The lack of adequate representation in Central Washington is not a question of fewer numbers (Yakima County is 50.2% Latine) but lies in historical efforts to suppress historically marginalized groups.
In his work detailing agricultural labor organizing in the Yakima Valley in the 1910s, historian Gregory Hall alluded to a fear that migrant workers who were organized by the Industrial Workers of the World would disrupt the budding agricultural industry. This worry was fed by local newspapers, leading to heavy-handed efforts to curtail workers’ rights through outright suppression at the hands of local law enforcement.
Likewise, in the 1920s, as fewer organized itinerant workers were entering these agricultural communities, Asian laborers were recruited en masse to meet the need. Widespread Sinophobia, a long-standing fear of outside workers and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan throughout the U.S., and the Northwest in particular, created more tension. According to historian Trevor Griffey, “Protective Association” groups formed by farmers and businessmen laid the foundation for “associating patriotism and self-government in the valley with extra-legal, violent acts against supposed outsiders.” In 1927, terror aimed at Filipino farm workers in Wapato, Washington, forced many to leave. Vigilante campaigns also targeted Japanese farmers who employed these workers, as well as African American citizens, as vigilantes often colluded with local power brokers.
This larger history is important to consider as we understand why civil rights litigation is important for extending equal rights. Power brokers in Central Washington often colluded with vigilante groups and perpetuated violence to maintain a status quo. These power dynamics were not about to shift on their own volition.
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Oscar Rosales grew up in the Yakima Valley and works and resides in Seattle.
Read more of the Aug. 28–Sept. 3, 2024 issue.