BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County Library is continuing with their celebration of Black History Month, presenting speaker sessions to educate the community about the historical movements that happened right here in Kern County.
This month, KCL has invited broadcaster and labor and civil rights activist James Mason to speak at the Beale Memorial Library in Bakersfield. In 1966, Mason was asked by local sanitation workers to help them strike for better working conditions.
Mason told 23ABC's Dominique LaVigne that he sees the struggles for justice continuing today across the nation.
"It's astonishingly pretty much the same. As much as it's changed, it hasn't changed. Black Lives Matter. We're still getting beat down by the police. We're still getting killed by the police," said Mason, adding, "Well, back in the day, we were getting killed by the Ku Klux Klan and getting beat down by the Night Riders, so really it's a different time, but the struggle goes on."
Mason worked in radio in the 1960s, at the start of the Civil Rights Movement in the Central Valley. He says the local sanitation workers asked him to lead the strike because he couldn't be fired by the city for organizing city workers.
"The change that came from the strike was monumental. It set the precedent nationwide that workers had that right to strike against the municipality, and that's the change and the good that came from that strike, and that still exists," said Mason. "That continues until today."
Following the sanitation workers' strike, Mason partnered with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to organize the Black farmworkers' strike.
Lynne Kemmer, Community Outreach and Workforce Librarian for Beale Memorial Library, says she met Mason in the library's Local History room, and says his speaker session will continue conversations about Black history in Bakersfield.
"He led the sanitation strike in the 60s, and through that effort was able to make changes to working conditions for sanitation workers, so he's going to be coming and speaking," said Kemmer. "He's currently working as a DJ for Stanford Radio, and he'll be talking about his life story. He's in his 90s and we're really excited to be hosting him."
Mason says his efforts paved the way for justice in this community, and have continued beyond Bakersfield. Two years after Mason led Bakersfield sanitation workers, another sanitation strike began in 1968, this time in Memphis, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leading the group.
Mason says it's important history for the community to know.
"You're standing on somebody's shoulders. It's not for me. I want to do ti for Gray Hearst, for Johnny Calloway. For Perry who had the barber shop. For us, for our community," said Mason. "It's our history, and it's been denied for years in Bakersfield until now."
If you would like to attend James Mason's speaker session at the Beale Memorial Library, it is free to the public. The session begins at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, February 21.
