The Gang of Four. Bob Santos
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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later years, was often. Much of our conversations were socially directed, or ‘mis-directed’ might I say, with much teasing between Bernie and Roberto or Roberto and me. And we all liked to ‘mess’ with a gullible Larry.
The bond that we shared was unique. We realized, as time went on, that our shared vision and collective influence needed to be preserved. Soon after Bernie passed away in 2000, Roberto, Larry, and I decided that because our relationship was so unique and potentially inspiring to others, we should document our collective experiences.
Each of us contributed to the development of this book. Roberto was interviewed and shared his insights before he passed away. with the assistance of Estela Ortega, Roberto Maestas’ wife, and Lawney Reyes provided childhood stories of his brother, Bernie Whitebear, through his two books about Bernie, “Bernie Whitebear: An Urban Indian’s Quest for Justice” and “White Grizzly Bear’s Legacy: Learning to be Indian.”
Indeed, working on this book was a labor of love.
Gary Iwamoto is a life-long resident of Seattle graduating from Franklin High School, and earning degrees in communications and law from the University of Washington.
Gary became active in the local Asian community soon after he graduated.
He was a member of the coram nobis legal team, which worked to successfully overturn the World War II convictions of Gordon Hirabayashi, who defied a military curfew and internment order.
He was a member of the legal team which held the Philippine’s Ferdinand Marcos regime responsible for the murders of Seattle political activists Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo in 1981.
Gary is a contributing writer for the International Examiner, a local community newspaper. He has written plays produced by the Northwest Asian American Theatre and has written skits for the Gang of Four, which they performed at the Northwest Asian American Theatre’s Community Show Off.
Gary co-authored with Bob Santos, Hum Bows, Not Hot Dogs, a memoir of Bob Santos’ life, in 2002.
While this book is written in a “third person” voice, it was taken from the individuals’ direct experiences. To write this story, Gary relied on several sources of information over an extended period of time. Larry Gossett, Bob Santos, and Roberto Maestas were interviewed together for several sessions and each were interviewed separately as well as provided written responses to interview questions.
Lawney Reyes provided childhood stories of his brother, Bernie Whitebear, through his two books about Bernie, “Bernie Whitebear: An Urban Indian’s Quest for Justice” and “White Grizzly Bear’s Legacy:
Learning to be Indian.”
Gary also obtained many newspaper accounts of the historical events that are featured in the book.
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By Larry Gossett, One of the Gang Of Four
It has been good for me to reflect upon the story about the historic impact the “Gang of Four” had on the greater Seattle community. It is even a more exciting phenomenon when you are privileged enough to be a member of such an awesome foursome! Though our lives were filled with many tough struggles for minority community empowerment and involved many personal sacrifices, I feel blessed that I was part of such a magnificent team of brothers who valiantly helped lead the social justice movement in the Pacific Northwest for over forty (40) years!
Sometimes, people have also affectionately referred to us simply as the “Four Amigos.” Regardless, of the term one uses to describe us, it remains a fact that our individual and collective political work had a profound impact on our surrounding environment.
The other three members of this remarkable formation of community leaders and activists are Bob Santos, Roberto Maestas and Bernie Whitebear. When I wrote this preface, I was almost 70 years old and the year before (2013), I was lucky enough to attend Bob Santos’ 80th birthday party. Bernie died in 2000 and Roberto passed away in 2010.
This book arrives in the market place as the “Gang of Four” has begun to fade away, and as such, is an extremely timely production. I hope it is destined to inform generations of readers about the community issues and struggles we successfully mobilized people of color around. It is a book that will inspire folks because it chronicles the history of how we collectively rallied people of all walks of life around common causes that helped change the political landscape of Seattle and Martin Luther King, Jr. County for more than four decades.
Another factor I think helps make this book a must read is the fascinating description of how the “Gang of Four” all grew up extremely poor, but never doubted their abilities to build unity through the love they had for their people and for each other as brothers, and as political comrades. The “power and unity” we created and maintained among African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American people in our community was something to behold. This book clearly presents our lives, successes and the struggles we had forging a viable coalition that allowed us to stick to our plans of action, even when the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and other conservative law enforcement entities, were trying to disrupt our unity.
I remember people of color, liberal as well as progressive whites from throughout the Pacific Northwest, generously responded to our calls for mass action and involvement on many fronts over the years. It did not matter much what the issue was --if we were active in organizing it, many people were always ready to accompany and support us. For example, every fall we would put out the call for activists from both minority and white neighborhoods throughout Puget Sound to come out by the thousands to join us in building Seattle’s annual salute to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s. legacy. These great events (educational workshops, marches, rallies) took place on the third Monday of January at Garfield High School. As a result of our MLK events, the city of Seattle has the reputation of being the only locale in the nation, that for 35 years straight, has launched a massive grassroots salute to the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Finally, In reflecting back on the lives of the Gang of Four, I think our best organizing effort occurred when the four of us rallied activists from the Black, Latino, Asian American, Native American and progressive white communities to support Tyree Scott and Todd Hawkins. With