International Hotel Residents Speak At Human Rights Commission

KRON-TV news footage from March 20th 1969 featuring brief scenes of residents from the International Hotel on Kearny Street in San Francisco speaking to members of the Human Rights Commission. Three residents (who are predominantly elderly Filipinos) died in a fire at this residential hotel on Sunday 16th but they can't afford the rents anyplace else in that part of the city and do not want to be evicted, on any grounds. One man states: "I am a disabled veteran [of World War II] who is responsible father of a family in the Philippines ... and I want that I have to stay there in that hotel, so that I may be able to support my two kids who are's in university." Note that the International Hotel had been targeted for demolition from the mid 1960s onwards, as part of urban renewal and tenants had begun to receive eviction notices as early as 1968. The final tenants would not be removed by police until August 4th 1977, after large public protests in support of the occupants. Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.