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by Bob Santos

Co-Author & Gang of Four Member

This is a story of how an American Indian, African American, Mexican American, and Asian American came together to form a powerful political alliance. We became known as Seattle’s Gang of Four--Roberto Maestas, Bernie Whitebear, Larry Gossett and myself.

In the late sixties, I witnessed progressive movements beginning to emerge - around employment discrimination, equal education, exclusionary private “whites-only” clubs, and neighborhood preservation. The continuing unpopular war in Vietnam gave rise to a locally active anti-war movement.

The struggles faced by Native American fishermen, prevented from fishing on their traditional tribal fishing grounds in the rivers and open waters, led to the Indian Fishing Rights Movement. The fight for the Native Americans’ right to fish in Washington waters began with the leadership of Bob Satiacum, a Puyallup Native American and fisherman by trade. Satiacum met Bernie Whitebear, a young inland Native American, and inspired Bernie to join the Indian Fishing Rights Movement.

Satiacum, Whitebear, other Native American leaders such as Billy Frank, Jr. and Al Bridges gained support from prominent national figures such as Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Buffy St. Marie and Dick Gregory. They helped bring the struggle for Indian fishing rights to national prominence on the evening news. Bernie’s involvement in the fishing rights struggle was just the start of a lifetime of activism, serving the needs of urban Native Americans.

Larry Gossett, while a young VISTA volunteer, was assigned to serve in Harlem, New York. He learned the art of organizing and followed the writings and teachings of Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, which called for pride in the black power movement. Working in Harlem served as an awakening of Larry’s political consciousness.

Upon his return to Seattle, Larry met with Elmer and Aaron Dixon (two brothers who started the local chapter of the Black Panther Party), E.J. Brisker, Carl Miller, Eddie Walker, Richard Brown, and Cathy Halley and together they formed the Black Student Union (BSU) at the University of Wasington (UW). In 1967, the BSU, under Larry’s leadership, occupied the offices of University President Charles Odegaard, to force the administration to include African American studies and to hire more Black faculty members on staff. It wouldn’t be the last time that Larry was involved in occupying buildings and offices in service to the community.

Roberto Maestas, a young teacher fresh out of UW, was an interested bystander when Larry Gossett and the BSU occupied Franklin High School. The BSU occupation at Franklin had a profound effect on Roberto. The demands made for a curriculum that included historical contributions by people of color and for hiring more minority teachers resonated with Roberto. It was soon after the occupation at Franklin that Roberto went back to school to join other Chicano activists involved in social and political movements.

When each of us were hired as Executive Directors of our respective community-based, non-profit agencies, we assumed a leadership role not only in the four organizations -- El Centro de la Raza, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF), the Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP) and the International District Improvement Association (Inter*Im) -- but in our respective communities as well.

We each spent decades working in our own communities, organizing the elderly, students, working people, property owners, business owners and activists to preserve culture and, in some cases, preserve entire neighborhoods, while fighting for equal rights in educational opportunities, employment, housing, women’s rights, voting rights and immigrant rights.

Our paths often crossed at different times during the turbulent civil rights era that spanned the late sixties, seventies, and eighties up to the present time.

We joined each other’s political and social justice causes. We met often to share our accomplishments and to socialize, which in

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