Carey McWilliams' Southern California as an island on the land

Carey McWilliams, Southern California: An Island on the Land

Southern California, Southern California: An Island on the Land

Carey McWilliams' title of his history of Southern California, Southern California: An Island on the Land, suggests that Southern California encapsulates a unique culture, as distinct from the rest of the United States, almost like an island nation. Although tied to the land, the colorful constellation of cultures, political personalities, and economic speculation that influenced the region caused it stand apart from the rest of the nation. McWilliams attempts to explain some of the extraordinary developments that occurred during the region's history, even before it became a state. However, rather than an affectionate tale, or a tale of adventure, or even a tale of history, McWilliams' work has a clear ideological thesis, namely that this golden state of great wealth was built by exploiting individuals who never enjoyed its riches, and were often unjustly denied the name or rights of Americans.

McWilliams concentrates on the period from the 1920s through the 1940s, when his book was written. However, he gives ample discussion of the exploitative origins of California, reminding the reader that California, although Caucasians may associate the territory with freedom, was a land ultimately founded upon eradicating the land's native inhabitants and culture. He calls the early missionary efforts of the Spanish conquistadors cultural genocide in unsparing terms. Later history was to eradicate the terrible cultural destruction and population decimation caused by the efforts to create Christian communities in the Carolinas, as the Franciscans called the Indians "poor, foolish, gentle, and lovable" dehumanizing them and forcing them to labor for a pittance, in exchange for the supposed benefits of having their souls 'saved' (22). The Indians provided the labor for mission enterprises, clearing the ground, building the structures themselves, and making the canals that would prove so critical in later efforts to transport goods across the region but their sacrifice went unremunerated and unrewarded (25).

From the exploitation of the Indians McWilliams moves on to discuss the exploitation of the Mexicans inhabits of Southern California. "I? A Mexican? I am Californo! said I" (49). The idea of a Californian was once a fused Anglo-Hispanic personality, but no more, now that American citizenship held sway over a state-centric identity. The war of cultures, of Anglo and Spanish was rewritten during the 19th century, but while the conquistador's faith and culture reigned supreme over the Indians, now the Anglos triumphed over the Mexican's influence in the region. This rivalry was sharpened by the conquest of Mexico by America, and cultural resentment grew, intensified by the class tensions between upper class and lower class Mexicans themselves, or "native Californians" from Mexicans who would later be derogatorily called wetbacks (53).

Crimes of violence between the Anglos and Mexicans had been unknown prior to the Mexican War, but Mexicans became increasingly disaffected, the result of political and economic discrimination (59). Crime began to rise, but even more pervasive than crime was the myth of the Mexican bandit, preying upon hapless gringos. McWilliams makes it clear that far more than actual violence, fear of violence in the Anglo community created the divide between white and brown peoples. As late as 1883, a tourist to the region sniffed that "the Spanish language is heard on all sides," yet in actual demographics the number of "swarthy faces" and broad-brimmed hats grew less numerous (67). Christian missionaries returned, and California became fully politically integrated into the nation, although still something of an American curiosity. By the eve of the first real estate boom in California, one of many economic fevers to hit the land, from the Gold Rush to the boom of the twenties, Mexicans and Mexican culture had been reduced to a picaresque element rather than a real, cultural force (69). Not until 1944 was Spanish taught as a foreign language in Californian schools (321).

Climatology, in "semi-tropical" Southern California, a place that was as dry and hot as Italy although mercifully "without the Italians," tourists even from the United States "discovered that umbrellas were useless against the drenching rains of Southern California but that they made good shade in the summer; that many of the beautifully colored flowers had no scent; that fruit ripened earlier in the northern than in the southern part of the state; that it was hot in the morning and cool at noon...jack rabbits carried water on their backshere, in this paradoxical land, rats lived in the trees and squirrels had their homes in the ground" (96; 105) Economic fortunes seemed as unstable as the weather -- wharfs, railways, hotels sprung up only to be abandoned after the bubble of expectation in the real estate market went bust (116).

However, almost despite itself, the booms and busts increased the population density of the region, as many people who came seeking prosperity remained to stay in the state, and it also created wealth that remained within California, sustaining the promise of the golden state, where strange fruits grew from the trees (125). The economic roller coaster of rapid development of the economy unstable and it was partially made possible because of "depraved and crooked politicians" like Harrison Gray Otis who dominated the legislative landscape. Politically, California was just as colorful as its citrus crop (275). Early on, evangelicals and health food zealots were attracted to the state, and the free-for all atmosphere spilled into politics. However, the common worker seldom benefited from the struggles -- California had an open-shop, or non-union policy that made it attractive to manufactures, but its cheap labor force of exploited Mexicans and Whites alike generated wealth for some, but misery for others (277).

The Japanese-Americans and Asian-Americans in general were one, final influential ethnic group to shape Californian culture, bringing new culinary exotics like canned fish, and other products that are now staples of the state and national economy. The Japanese immigrants made remarkable progress in the Southern Californian economy, soon shirking the availability of working on farms for the opportunity to toil on their own plot of land, a move that proved lucrative, but also generated much resentment in the Anglo community. Sadly, the tale of the Japanese ends with another story of racism gone amuck, although McWilliams notes parenthetically that after their 1942 removal to internment camps Japanese-Americans begin to return in 1945.