May 14, 2013
I am proud to report a story about the work my stepfather Nino Maida has been doing all of his life. Not only does he work for the union, but he is a freedom fighter. Revolutionary spirited, and at the same time he is loving and compassionate. He has remained with my family ever since I was in kindergarten. Being African American, I never felt different around him, because from the beginning of our relationship he identified that everyone is from Africa, so he is black too. I just think that is profound and it should be written about because society sets up barriers between black and white when we should be equal. My stepfather has helped people from all ages and all backgrounds no matter what. He fought for the civil rights movement and various other things people of color had to go through. I chose to write a story because he affected my life in a lot of ways. He's like the rainbow when it comes to his personality, because he is gifted in so many different ways. He works for FREE and alone half the time. As you will read about his opinions in life and his story of being a successful freedom fighter will change hearts for every culture, not just black or white. He shows integrity and considerable knowledge to those of poverty stricken issues.
Leontyne Smith: Give me a history of where you were raised, and how poverty affected you.
Nino Maida: I was born in 1946 to a Sicilian father and a Russian mother. In my family I have three sisters, three fathers, and two brothers. All parents worked but they never made a lot of money. My family was careful with expenses and that's why we had food on the table, and enough to eat. Poverty affected me because people made fun of my clothes, because they were second hand.
LS: What motivated you at a young age to become a freedom fighter?
NM: Because of my politically aggresive family, I usually found myself outside of people's popular opinions. For instance I did not believe in God, war, and was essentially blind to cultural differences. I remember my Mom sent me to talk to a person. My Mom asked me if he was an African American and I never thought I was an outsider. up As i grew up I easily identified with others who were forced by poverty, injustice, or other circumstances.
LS: Do you feel as if the work you are doing now with UPTE [University Professional and Technical Employees] union coincides with your heartfelt spirit in the sixties where you marched and fought for integration and peace?
NM: Yes, because I find myself defending members' livelihood. They're the same types of injustice that we see in the union's fights are seen in everybody's fights for justice. These types of fights are essentially against those who have power to harm others and the use of this power to harm others in an unjust manner. Without the unions defending against injustices, the workers would not be individually able to defend themselves.
LS: What obstacles did you face being that you are of European decent, yet you help all peoples and not the majority?
NM: I view myself as Afro-Eurasion genetics, because Sicily as an island in the Meditteranean was an important commerce location. It was ruled by successive cultures including North Africa, the Mongolian tribes, the Romans, etc.
LS: What was your degree in, and how did it help you?
NM: I got a Masters in Science in Medical Labratory Science. This ultimately provided me with a good job at UC in head and spinal cord injury research.
LS: You fell in love with someone who has disabilities, yet your heart and/or attitude remained beautiful.
NM: I didnt fall in love with her because of her disabilities, but because she had infenctious grin and three kids.
LS: Describe any situations of racial profiling you experienced during your fight for the civil rights movement? Why did they arrest you?
NM: When I was a kid my parents took us to my mom's union strike picket lines. Folk music, folk dance, and progressive politics meetings... they also denied television so we had to read, and as I got older it encouraged me when I participated in anti-war demonstrations and equal rights demonstrations, which included integrating San Francisco Auto row, the Hilton Hotel, SF banks, and my 1964 teaching summer in Mississippi and the Selma-Montgomery march. During this time I was arrested a few times. My parents bailed me out each time. Later in my life when applying for jobs, perspective employers did not seem to think these arrests were bad. I have continued my involvement in these progressive movements througout my whole life with the addition of joining a labor chorus in the last seven years. The chorus provides an intellectual challenge of singing in four parts together with making something beautiful with others. The only racial profiling I experienced happened because I was a hippie.
LS: How do you feel about peoples of color whom you advocate for? What class jobs does your clients usually have? Do you work for poor people or do you work with immigrants and etc?
NM: I don't view people of color as any different from everyone else. What I view as different are the problems people have and the difficulties they have in trying to fix these problems. What I'm trying to do is to help provide an equal amount of justice for everyone. The employer has an unfair advantage over the individual worker, mostly because the employer has so much more money than the worker even if the wages are good. The union has animal care technicians, research scientists, social workers, and up through physician's assistants: a whole variation in pay rates. Some of our members get food stamps, and some of our members have a relatively high salary.
LS: Despite all your difficulties in life, what has made you such a passionate and loving person, who cares about the people and not the corrupt government?
NM: I am who I am because of my personal experience and the way I was raised. I do what I do because it makes me feel good. For instance I am the volunteer chief steward for the union, and I get paid by feeling great. Since I have a small pension, and because I live cheaply, I can do this work.
LS: ...Your wife's children are of African decent yet you claim us as your own children, and you consider yourself of African decent even though it may not look like it. How do you feel about looking European yet you consider yourself African?
NM: I am a minority of one.
LS: After you retired, why did you want to work for the UPTE union? Can you give me a brief description of what type of work you do?
NM: When I was working as a research scientist at UC I hit my head on an unsafe building structure. UC management refused to fix the hazard. The union helped me get it fixed, and asked me if I wanted to be the safety steward.
LS: Can you give me a scenario of what everyday life is, working with people in low income jobs? Did you have to study rules and regulations for migrants, or people with disabilities?
NM: I learned on the job the rules and regulations and how to use them for the benefit of the workers who needed help. It's not only migrants and disabled people, it is all the workers who could benefit.
LS: If you had to give someone advice of how to live their life dealing with poverty and classisfication issues, what would you say?
NM: I would say, number one: be careful with your money. Secondly, make sure you keep looking for and getting help to improve your life.
LS: In conclusion, what makes you keep on pushing with all the difficulties you encounter with these corrupt corporations who pay low money, yet the workers enduce hard labor?
NM: First, at UC some of the pay is low, some is medium and some is high. So the problem is that UC is run by executives who get so much money that they don't have any feeling for those with less. I doubt if they think about the people actually doing the work at all. Unfourtanetly these executives make the decisions, which affect everyone. The union has to fight to make sure that the workers are not crushed by blind business practices.