Senate Standing Committee on Education

The Senate Education Committee will come to order. Good morning. We have two resolutions on today's agenda. We do not yet have a quorum, so we'll begin as a Subcommitee, and we do have an author for the second of the two amendments, so we'll take these out of order. Assemblymember Kalra, welcome. You may proceed when ready.

Your witnesses are here. Correct, please, and whenever you're ready.

Thank you so much, Mister chair. ACR 211 would encourage the California Interscholastic Federation to recognize cricket as an official high school sport. Cricket is a game that originated in the United Kingdom in the 19th century and quickly spread to many of its former colonies and neighboring countries, including India, Pakistan, and Australia.

Since then, it has achieved immense popularity, cultivating thriving player and fan communities all across the world. This includes the United States, where over 200,000 people play the game.

California has positioned itself as one of the hubs of American cricket, hosting two of the six major league cricket teams and preparing to reintroduce cricket cricket as an official Olympic sport at the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The last time it was an Olympic sport was 1900.

Cricket also holds a particular importance for many members of our state's south Asian diaspora, considered integral to their historical and cultural heritage. Despite this, cricket has not yet been recognized as an official high school sport in the State of California, depriving students of the opportunity to learn and participate in the sport and inter school play.

In response, ACR 211 urges the California Interscholastic Federation to take steps towards officially recognizing cricket if one of its member schools brings it before them for consideration. It also emphasizes that the establishment in high school cricket should support continued cricket play at the collegiate level.

ACR 211 not only celebrates cricket's rich history, but encourages us to ensure that it is never, that it has an even brighter future. With me to provide supporting testimony is Dan Sahadeo, President of the Davis Cricket Club.

Well, Mister Sahadeo, welcome. Please proceed. Your view of two minutes?

Thank you very much. I have been involved in promoting this sport since 1980, was a student at UC Davis at the time, and I recognize that the only way this sport will grow in this area is to have the youth people playing.

We have attempted many times to take it to the PE Department, but a lot of logistics involved in that and how you get clearance to be on school campus and so forth.

But it's something we've been trying with, because if our youth can be taught this sport, then they may have a chance to make the Olympic team someday. We don't want to be left out and let the rest of the country run the show.

So I'm here to support what we have done so far and to ask for your help getting us going forward.

Very good. Thank you. Do we have other witnesses present in support of the measure? Seeing none. Is there any opposition to the measure? Seeing no opposition. Any comments or questions from my colleagues?

Yeah, I have a comment. So my father in law immigrated from Iran, and he never grasped baseball. And so. And I feel the same way about crick. I mean, I've kind of seen it, but I don't know. And I know, like, worldwide is a very, very popular sport. And I think you're right.

The only way it could possibly catch on is to get it. To get the youth to learn about it early on. So I think this is a great idea. Happy to support the resolution today.

I appreciate that. I too am glad to support the measure. We don't currently have a quorum. When we do, I expect Senator Wilk will be glad to make the motion. Happy to make the motion. And with that, thank you very much. And we'll take it up. And we have a quorum. And I'm going to let him close.

Are you going to let me let him close? All right, Assemblymember, if you'd like to close.

I want to thank you, Mister chair, and thanks Senator Wilk, for your support. I think it's a prime opportunity.

With cricket coming back to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2020, we had the opportunity to really share this sport with so many of our young people so that it can really thrive and grow in really the decades ahead.

I want to thank Major Sahadeo, who for 44 years has been advocating for cricket and is one of the local leaders, has really been at the forefront. So I really appreciate his leadership. And with that, at the appropriate time, ask for an aye vote. Thank you so much.

Thank you for your advocacy, and thank you for being here today. Thank you both.

Thank you all for listening.

Very good. All right, Senator Portantino, early bird got the worm. Welcome. We now move back to agenda item number one, SR103 from Senator Portantino. You may proceed when ready.

Thank you, Mister chair. And Members, today I proudly present Sr 103, which designates the month of October and every October there after as Italian American Heritage Month. It also encourages public schools to include Italian American history in ethnic studies courses and other social studies courses to highlight their achievement and contributions to, frankly, California's culture and history.

SR 103 encourages taking steps to promote the inclusion of Italian American's role in the contributions to our culture, our history, in both elementary and secondary school textbooks during the revision process. Again, it encourages, doesn't require Italian Americans were among the first to arrive in California during the gold rush.

Today, they are the fifth largest ethnic group in America, numbering roughly 26 million people, with nearly 1.5 million Italian Americans residing in California.

A lot of folks don't know that during World War two, Italian Americans were the largest ethnic minority to serve in the US armed forces during World War two, including my late father, who was a proud army veteran who was part of that a wave of Italian sons and daughters of immigrants who fought for our country.

We've been instrumental in shaping California's history and culture, from pioneering the state's agriculture and wine industries to establishing the first branch banking system in the US. Pioneers like Andrea Shibaro, who founded Italian Swiss wine company in Sonoma county in 1881, were instrumental in establishing the wine industry in the realm of banking.

Amedeo Pietro Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in 1904, focusing on serving everyday persons rather than just wealth individuals. This new approach transformed the financial industry. Italian Americans have also left an indelible mark on the movie industry. From Al Pacino to Danny Aiello to many directors and producers. The influence is evident in our success of the industry.

Obviously in the realm of politics. This house and the Assembly have been no stranger to Italian Americans like David Roberti, Dominic Canela, the Cortes family, both father and son, as well as the first female speaker of the US Congress. Nancy Pelosi is an Italian American.

So despite these significant contributions, frankly, the role of Italian Americans has been under taught and in my opinion, underappreciated. Many people don't know that Italian Americans were actually interned during World War two, which many people don't even know that that happened. And that's something that people should know happened.

And as I said, we were the largest ethnic minority to serve in World War two, in spite of. Of being interned during that international conflict. So Sr 103 honors Italian American's legacy and encourages schools to include those achievements in history and social studies.

And with me, I have Bill Ceruti who will offer some expert testimony as a Member of several Italian American task force in the local Italian American community here in Sacramento.

So, thank you, Mister chair. Thank you, sir. Mister Ceruti welcome. Well, thank you.

Is this working?

Yes.

Well, thank you. My name is Bill Ceruti. I'm the chair of the California Italian American Task Force, which is a State Commission that was established to represent the interests of Italian Americans at the state level. The task force primary goals are educational. Our singular primary goal is to include Italian Americans in the California school curriculum.

We have not been successful. We've had several bills passed through both houses of the Legislature and to the governor's desk, and neither one made a signature. So we've been very frustrated by that. We hope that this education Committee will support future efforts to include Italian Americans in the school studies that California students are exposed to.

We feel that we did a major textbook study for high schools and colleges in the past and found that there was no mention of Italian Americans in any of them. Just barely. There was a few references to Al Capone, but beyond that, we weren't in the textbooks. As far as World War two.

My own grandfather had a contract with the City of San Francisco to haul garbage, and they took away his contract because he was not an American citizen. Although he was a legal resident since the 1890s in California, he lost his livelihood and never recovered. Nor did my family.

But that's just one of the painful chapters in our history. There are several. The mass lynching of Italians in New Orleans led to the creation of Columbus Day holiday, which is sacred in the Italian community and fairly politicized right now. But we're doing our best to keep it.

Anyway, I would like to explain that the Italian Americans came to California with the gold rush, one of the largest groups that came in the 1850s. We were one of the largest troops in the mines of southern and northern.

I'd like to ask you to finish up, sir. Pardon?

In conclusion, we've been here since the 1850s. We're a very established population, and we have really approved of this resolution which highlights our contributions. And we thank you for that.

And thank you for your testimony. Thank you to Senator Portino for being such a solid advocate for this effort. Do we have other witnesses in support here? Seeing none. Do we have any witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. Coming back to the Deus, to my colleague.

Yeah, I just want to ask a question. So I've never heard about Italian Americans being interned. How many and where were they interned?

So, there's a book called Sunshine and Struggle, which I'll get you a copy of, which details the internment. I want to say, was it 100,000?

Well, the worst part about that period was that 10,000 Italian Americans in California were forced to relocate from the West Coast. The FBI knocked on their doors and said, leave, and they were forced to leave, and they had nowhere to go. We had 90 year old grandmothers living in chicken coops. They were not allowed on the western.

Even Joe DiMaggio's father could not visit his son's restaurant in San Francisco at that time.

I'll get you a copy of the book, sunshine and struggle. Yeah, I'd be really interested in that.

Thank you.

Now, just to follow up on that.

No, we don't have a third vote, so I would love to hear it, if that's. If that's okay with the church. That's true. We got some time. So regalis with stories, please.

So, in the year 2000, for 60 years, the Federal Government denied those events happened. Hundreds of Italian Americans were in turn for the duration of the war, mostly in Missoula, Montana. For 60 years. The government denied, Federal Government denied these events happened. But our scholars on the West Coast put together the story, went to Congress.

In the year 2000, Bill Clinton signed the Italian American Civil War Liberties act, which recognized those events and ordered the Attorney General to conduct an investigation that the report was issued, which verified all the facts. So thousands were imprisoned.

You remember we got a knock on the door at midnight and we were hauled out of our homes and put in front of people, questioning our loyalty. Many of our elder Italians committed suicide. Americans, and they couldn't believe they were loyalty, was questioned and they actually committed suicide.

Let me welcome a great Italian American here in Senator Cortes. Good morning. We're in the midst of. I'm going to let him make the move, Mister. Well, we still don't. It's a seven Member Committee, correct? This gets us to three, so we still have more time.

So please continue. So if I could add real quick there, Mister Wilkinse, Mister Oak. There's a very famous cartoon that was in the New York newspapers at the time, and it had an exaggeration of a ship in the port. And then the rope that the ship was tied on the dock and on the rope were rats.

And one was named Vito, one was named Angelo and Marco. They were. So we were considered the rats leaving the ship. And that was literally published in a reputable New York newspaper at the time to sort of comment on what people thought of Italian Americans coming to this country at the time, which is why we're here.

And by the way, Mister Cortese, I mentioned your family's legacy. You missed the good stuff, but you're here.

Also on tape is a firm commitment by Senator Portantino to give Senator. Book. A book. Yes, it's on the record. Sunshine and struggle. Sunshine and struggle. All right, well, we still don't have a quorum, and so we can do this one of two ways.

We can either hold off, or if you've got other information, Mister, I cut you off because generally we give two minutes to each witness. But if you've got anything else you'd like to add, by all means, educate us. Senator Cortese, go ahead.

First of all, I'm sorry I'm a few minutes late coming in, but since there appears to be a little bit of time here, I just wanted to thank Senator Portantino for his leadership. I mean, this is something that however many or few Italian Americans we have in the Legislature, you know, really should be top of mind.

And when he said it to me, let me know that this was coming and suggested that I co-author, and I'm a proud co-author, honestly, my first note to self was, you know, that should have been top of mind for me as well. So, thank him for his awareness in being astute about this.

And I did catch some of the testimony about what's called LA Storya Segretta, the secret story. And it's called that because there's just been so little information or education about how Italian Americans were treated during World War Two.

Not just those that were interned, but those who were put under severe curfew, separate and apart from, you know, other Americans at the time, including right here in California, including in my hometown, where there were huge numbers of diaspora at the time.

And I know you've covered this ground, but I just wanted to indicate that it's, you know, deep seated with me. And I think, as the chair knows, because we've had related issues come up in previous policy Committee meetings, you know, that are focused on what's going on today with certain ethnic groups.

I haven't had hesitated to at least mention my own experience in, I don't want to impute this, my age or my time on this earth on anyone else, including Senator Portantino, but I'm old enough to have experienced those direct slurs and insults on the playground and everywhere else right here.

We always say, right here in California, how could that occurred? And the movie, not here to do a movie, a plug for somebody's film that's trying to make money.

I don't know if it was mentioned earlier, but the movie that's out and I think available by stream now, Cabrini for Italian Americans, is an extraordinarily painful but accurate depiction of what was going on in New York at that time.

And I would encourage people to watch it for the entertainment value, but also, you know, for the history lesson, because I just think either much of that has remained a secret and, or people just aren't aware. It's been generations now and fortunately, much assimilation has occurred over the years.

So proud to be here as an Italian American and the Legislature and on this Committee, and proud to be associated with Senator Portantino on this resolution. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll say we're still waiting for a fourth.

I'd like to acknowledge that Senator Cortese father was the original chair of our task force and was responsible for its creation.

That's actually. Thank you, Senator. Very interesting. So I'll say to Senator Cortese's point, this conversation, this resolution intersects with a larger conversation about ethnic studies.

And to the point of at least one part of this resolution, the story of California would be incomplete without telling the story of the distinctive contributions to the history and development of the State of the nation of not only Italian Americans, but all Californians. Right.

So I think what you're doing is consistent with the broader intent of the ethnic studies effort. And I guess with that, if you'd like to close. We're probably getting close to a quorum here.

I appreciate the fact that the absence of a quorum gave us an opportunity to have a. We should do this more often. Exactly. Actually have detailed, robust conversations about important aspects of history. And I think, you know, the fact that.

That some of you didn't know about the plight of Italian Americans during World War Two, as a body, emphasizes why it's important to tell all of history and to tell it accurately and to be inclusive in how we do that. So I appreciate Mister Cerutis efforts for his entire life to promote Italian American history and culture.

And Mister Cortese and his family legacy being a big part of that as well. And with that one approach, would respectfully ask for an aye vote.

I'm glad to support it. Thank you. And thank you, Mister Surety. Thank you for being here today. With that, we will recess for the time being as we wait for a fourth Member of this Committee to establish a quorum. And we have a fourth Member of this Committee here. So welcome, Senator.

Let us now, Madam Consultant, please call the roll. No, we don't. We need a quorum.

[Roll Call]

A quorum is now present. I'm looking for a motion on the first of the two items on the agenda, Sr 103. Whether presented or in the file order. In the file order, please. I defer to Senator Cortese. Sr 103. All right, we have a motion. Madam, please call the roll file.

Item one, SR 103 motion is be adopted in order to third reading. [Second Roll]

That measure currently has four votes. We'll leave it open for now. And the second of the two measures, number two, ACR 211.

Senator, I'd like to honor my commitment that I made to the author and move the resolution.

I appreciate your consistency. We have a motion for Senator Welk. Please call the roll file.

Item two, ACR 211. Call. Ruh. Motion is to be adopted in order to third reading. [Second Roll]

Very good. I'm going to give exactly five minutes for any abstinence Members to appear and weigh in on these two measures. But thank you to the Members who are here. And we'll recess for now for the purpose of giving one more chance for our AFC Members to come through that door.

Seeing no opening door, we will then close the roll. And each of the measures is out by votes of 420. And with that, the Senate Committee on education is adjourned.