Melissa Arechiga - "Their Pain Is My Purpose"

An oral history of Melissa Arechiga, founder of Buried Under the Blue, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the histories of Palo Verde, La Loma, & Bishop & fighting for reparations for displaced families. (https://www.buriedundertheblue.com)This interview highlights her childhood in Echo Park, her journey from middle school dropout to UC-Berkeley graduate, her family’s history in Palo Verde, the ways her family resisted & were impacted by displacement, & more. She also shares her thoughts on the Dodgers, ICE raids, reparations, & how she wants this history taught going forward.(0:00:41) Discusses her childhood in Echo Park & her journey from middle school dropout to UC-Berkeley graduate.(0:08:51) Traces her great-grandparents' path from Zacatecas to Palo Verde; describes Palo Verde; recalls how her great-grandmother earned the nickname “Two Gun Brooks.”(0:19:54) Explains the problem with the term "Chavez Ravine."(0:24:04) Recalls the letters residents received on 6/24/50 saying their homes would be torn down to make room for the 13-story Elysian Heights Public Housing Project; notes residents’ options were limited due to legalized discrimination.(0:26:25) Discusses her family's reaction to the termination of the public housing project in January 1951 in the wake of the Red Scare; claims LA didn't give the land back because "it was never about housing or solving the housing crisis," but profit & power.(0:28:49) Says her family was offered less than market value for their home; insists their resistance was less about money than dignity, justice, & the right to exist.(0:32:50) Discusses her family's lawsuit against the CHA in October 1953.(0:33:38) Says the Dodgers' move to LA was "like adding insult to injury. The city had promised the land was for public use, & now it was being handed to a private baseball team."(0:34:36) Speaks on Proposition B, the city’s 1958 referendum on the Dodgers' move to LA; claims the media portrayed the neighborhoods as slums to justify their destruction.(0:36:51) Breaks down how a Superior Court ruled the Dodgers contract illegal before the team appealed to the California Supreme Court, which sided with the Dodgers in 1959; says their appeal invalidates the narrative that they had little to do with the evictions.(0:40:01) Describes the ways her family resisted displacement.(0:41:01) Talks about 5/8/59, when cops forcefully removed her family from their home before bulldozing it; notes her mother was just old enough to remember the day; says her family “became symbols when all they wanted was to live in peace” & that “the spotlight never brought justice; it just put their suffering on display.”(0:42:51) Describes a front-page story in the Mirror News about her family owning 11 properties across LA; calls it a smear campaign to justify the injustice; discusses her grandparents’ witty responses to the article.(0:45:27) Explains how her family was impacted by displacement.(0:46:33) Describes how “Fernandomania” changed Chicanos' views of the Dodgers; bashes the Dodgers for investing in private prison corporations that operate ICE detention centers.(0:51:44) Argues the Dodgers' success has come at her family's expense, calls it an empty gesture to condemn the team's history while rooting for them.(0:55:06) Recalls how she learned about this history.(1:02:17) Discusses how & why she founded Buried Under the Blue in 2017.(1:07:14) Makes her case for reparations; criticizes Wendy Carrillo, author of the vetoed Chavez Ravine Accountability Act, for using the neighborhoods' whitewashed name, failing to mention the Dodgers, & taking photographs with a Dodgers foam finger after meeting with descendants.(1:12:44) Proposes a 5-part reparations model.(1:20:16) Criticizes the Dodgers for their weak response to ICE raids in LA & around Dodger Stadium.(1:23:39) Explains how she would like this taught in & out of schools; shares how folks can support Buried Under the Blue.