The veiled history of Filipino Americans
From Luzon Indios to the Delano Manongs, the Filipino American story goes way back to 1587.
Welcome to The Breaking Point, a weekly newsletter that explores the historical legacies of injustice based on the news cycle and culture trends to understand what in the world is going on.
Source: “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana” (A Golden History, A Golden Legacy) mural art by Eliseo Art Silva at the Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, California.
César Chávez is not exactly a new household name. Across the country, public parks, streets, schools, and libraries have been named after him. The famous Chicano labor hero is known for leading one of the first farmworker unions in the country, spending his whole life fighting to improve labor conditions for farm workers out in the field.
But the predominantly Latino narrative eclipsed the real story: Chávez did not start the United Farm Workers union (and movement) alone.
In 1965, Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong started the revolution. Itliong played a pivotal role in leading about 2,000 Filipino grape workers in the Central Valley town of Delano to start the grape boycott, known as the Delano Grape Strike of 1965, to demand a raise in wages. Itliong recognized the strength in numbers, so he approached Chávez and Dolores Huerta to convince their fellow Mexican farm workers to join forces and create the union.
Throughout history, this has been a pivotal moment for Filipino Americans, yet it also has been a forgotten part in the overarching farm workers movement. Although Chávez may have been the voice and body, Itliong was the heart and soul. Just take a look at some of the archived photos of Chávez, you’ll see Itliong always by his side.
Here is what Johnny Itliong, Larry Itliong’s son, told NBC News in 2015, during the 20th anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike:
“It’s very important getting (Larry Itliong) recognized for what he did. He didn’t do it himself, but he initiated it all. How did Cesar Chávez become the founder of a union he was asked to join? That’s on him for creating the fallacy, doesn’t mean he didn’t do any good. Just a matter of setting the record straight.”
Figure of the week: 37
The percentage increase in the collective net worth of the wealthiest North Americans — those with a net worth of at least $30 million — from the end of March to the end of August. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
Filipinos have always been eclipsed throughout history
It wasn’t just the farm workers movement. Did you know that Filipinos were the first Asians to arrive in the United States? No, it wasn’t the Chinese *ahem, Google*.
October is known as Filipino American History Month, honoring the 18th day in October 1587 when the first Filipinos, also known as “Luzon Indios,” arrived on a Spanish galleon near what is now Morro Bay, California. This was roughly 30 years before Pilgrims from England arrived at Plymouth Rock.
But even in 2020, despite the vast diaspora of Filipinos around the globe, our history is hardly visible.
As a Filipino American, I do recognize the uniqueness of our identity. Often, I find it unusually complex to the point that I find myself amid an identity crisis. Some Filipinos see themselves as Pacific Islanders, but native Pacific Islanders argue otherwise. Most Filipinos identify as Asian, but even then we are often excluded in the larger Asian narrative. Meanwhile, thanks to Spanish colonization, most of us are seen as Latinos on paper due to our last names (see: Ramirez). Even most of our dialects are rooted from the Spanish language. It’s complicated. (Don’t even get me started with US colonization and imperialism in the Philippines).
(Here’s me dancing tinikling, a Filipino cultural dance, during Pilipino Cultural Night in 2018)
And when it comes to passing the microphone within Asian American circles and discussions, Filipino perspectives and history often get overshadowed the most by East Asians. Even with the pandemic, as I previously wrote about in this newsletter, Filipino Americans are disproportionately dying from COVID-19 compared to other Asian Americans. And because of how Asian American data has been aggregated historically, this fact is rarely known outside of our community.
From the farm workers movement to the fight for ethnic studies in San Francisco as well as the significant amount of Filipino health care workers currently helping patients during a deadly pandemic, Filipinos are used to making history behind the shadows. Resilience is in our blood. With patience, I believe our time will come. And if you’re a non-Filipino reading this, you could also help by boosting and passing along Filipino American history. What I wrote in this newsletter is just the short version of it. Just watch this video:
Happy Filipino American History Month!!!
Some books/films/resources on Filipino American History:
Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS)
Delano Manongs: The Forgotten Heroes of the UFW, a documentary
My absolute FAVE books by Filipino American authors:
Gun Dealers’ Daughter by Gina Apostol
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe
In the Country by Mia Alvar
Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History by Catherine Ceniza Choy
Story breakers 📖
California kept prison factories open. Inmates worked for pennies an hour as COVID-19 spread by Kiera Feldman, Los Angeles Times
How Leaving America Is Saving Black Women's Lives by Hauwa Otori, ELLE
The Tenants Who Evicted Their Landlord by Matthew Desmond, The New York Times Magazine
Filmmakers unearth a long trail of racism in 'Driving While Black' by Channon Hodge, CNN
'Poisoning the Pacific': New book details US military contamination of islands and ocean by me, Rachel Ramirez, The Guardian
thanks for reading, and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already. see you next week!