PETER’S PINOY PATTER — AUGUST 2019
Bridge Generation
The Jamero Family Biennial Reunion was held for the second straight time at South Lake Tahoe CA and Stateline NV on June 8-9. Family members came from as far away as New Orleans LA and Salt Lake City UT as well as California and Nevada to savor the catered BBQ pork spareribs and chicken, pulled pork, and eight sides plus countless desserts and refreshments. Highlights: (1) The family history panel by the five surviving 
BG Jamero elders — Herb, George, Luna, Joe and your faithful blogger, now in our 80s and 70s — were enthusiastically received by younger family members, now comprising six generations. Topics discussed by the panel were: tribal origins of the Jamero name, stories of our ancestral home of Garcia-Hernandez in Bohol, and why/how our parents immigrated to America. Most entertaining were panelists’ humorous stories of growing up at the Filipino farmworkers campo and forty acre ranch in Livingston operated by our parents, Ceferino and Aplonia Jamero. (2) Family tree photo boards and collages helped increase knowledge of who’s who and who belonged to which family. (3) The family history skit by fifth generation members brought fond memories and misty eyes. (4) The 15-page Jamero Times newsletter that contained updates on all family members. (5) Games involving the whole family, such as family trivia, were fun and highly competitive. Based on points accumulated for various competitions/events, the winner of the reunion championship trophy –the Peter Jamero family. (6) Best reunion highlight — opportunities for family members to catch up, to express their love of family, and to continue traditions began by our parents in the 1930s. Kudos to Jamero Inc. President Janel Jamero and Reunion Chairperson Danielle Sexton for their hard work and leadership…………………. Nice to hear from old friend, Joe Talaugon, of Santa Maria. He reports that the Margie Talaugon Cultural Center — named after his late wife — is scheduled for its grand opening in January 2020 in nearby Guadalupe. I’ve known Joe since 1945 when he and his brother Santos spent the summer at the Jamero Campo in Livingston to pick grapes. Remembered Joe, “It was the hardest job I ever had.”……………… It was great to see Bobby and Susie Moreno at the 2nd Annual 7 Mile House Jazz Festival in Brisbane CA. I hadn’t seen the San Francisco couple since several oldtimer reunions more than twenty-five years ago. Incidentally, the JazzFest was a top-notch event featuring straight-ahead jazz musicians along with good food — all at a reasonable cost…………….. Rey Urbano was better known as a villainous professional wrestling headliner who went by various Japanese names beginning with “Taro Sakura”, “Tokyo Tom”, “Tokyo Joe”, and finally by his most famous wrestling name “The Great Kabooki.” He saw action in World War II with the U.S. Army’s First Filipino Infantry Regiment and the famed Alamo Scouts. He didn’t start wrestling until his mid-twenties under the tutelage of Manong Generation star Pantaleon Manlapig and “rassled” until the age of 54. Some may also remember Rey as a lineman with the San Francisco City College football team that won the mythical 1948 national junior college championship and for his appearances at several oldtimer reunions. He died in 2007 at the age of 84 in Las Vegas.……………… So sad to report the passing of wonderful women: Aurelie (Aguda) Garcia, 88, of Pacific Grove CA on June 17 and Wilma (Bucariza) Aguinid, 87, of Sacramento on June 25. Aurelie was born on September 15, 1931 in Monterey, attended local schools, and moved to Pacific Grove in 1958 after her marriage in 1950 to Samuel Garcia of nearby Salinas. A spiritual leader of her community and a working Mom, she is survived by seven children, twelve grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren. Wilma was born on May 25, 1932 into the only Filipino family residing in Whitefish, Montana. The family moved to Stockton in 1950 where she would marry World War II and Korean War combat veteran Alex Aguinid in 1954. She leaves two children, four grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren………………. On Memorial Day “homie” Libby Bacaylan, U.S. Army — killed in action on a cold winter day in Korea in 1952 — was remembered. His is the first name listed on a plaque in the City of Merced’s Courthouse Square Park memorializing Merced County residents who made the ultimate sacrifice defending America…………….. From Al Acena of San Mateo: Four relatively new Filipino cuisine venues are listed among the “Top Bay Area Restaurants — “Chibog” in Daly City, “FOB Kitchen” in Oakland, “Mestiza” in San Francisco, and “Pinoy Heritage”, a pop-up also in SF……………. Happy August Birthdays: Beverley (Cabalar) DeToro, Carmen (Carido) Griggs, Connie (Dacuyan) Gin-Alcordo, Richard Gacer, Herb Jamero, Mike Nisperos, Tony Ogilvie, Nemisio Paredes, Roni (Roslinda) Calibjo.
Pinakbet — News Across America
Big 7 Travel, a travel and food website, recently conducted a survey of the sexiest nationalities in the world; Filipinos came in third among fifty nations surveyed. Cited in the article were: boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, singer-songwriter Bruno Mars, and Miss Universe queens Pia Wurtzbach (2015) and Catriona Gray (2018)………….. Did You Know: Spanish culinary scientist, Borja Sanchez was quoted in a recent Esquire Magazine article, “Filipinos were eating adobo before the Spanish came to the Philippines.”……………….. Meet Michael Golamco, award-winning playwright and screenwriter for film and television. Currently staff writer for TV’s “Grimm”, he also has compiled an impressive list of Broadway stage plays and screenplays…………. Anne del Castillo was recently appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for Media and Entertainment. Philippine-born and raised in New York City, she has 20 years’ experience in film production, public media, arts, and nonprofit administration………………. After nearly half a century of persistent efforts by San Francisco Filipino Americans to correct language on the Union Square monument plaque honoring Commodore George Dewey’s 1898 naval victory in Manila Bay, the city approved the posting of a corrected text. The revision clarifies that Filipinos had already risen up for their independence from Spain and that Filipino revolutionaries resisted the U.S. decision to seize the archipelago for itself, leading to the Philippine American War.
Musings
Donald Trump’s July 14 xenophobic tirade against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was not only “anti-foreigner”, it was also “anti-People of Color”. While Trump routinely denies being a racist, his words are definitely racist — the latest in a long list of similar attacks against People of Color. Remember his “birthing” lies about Barack Obama, calling Mexican immigrants rapists, and depicting Africa as “sh**hole countries”? His diatribes also attack Congresswoman Omar’s POC Congressional allies — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. On July 17 he said the four women should “go back” to their countries even though all are U.S. citizens and three are native-born Americans. In attacking the congresswomen’s criticizm of his policies, Trump said, “If you hate our country, if you’re not happy here , you can leave.” Trump is hypocritical. During the 2016 campaign and in his subsequent inaugural address, he made highly negative criticisms of America considered inaccurate and inappropriate. Moreover, he appears to believe only People of Color that criticize his policies should leave the country — never saying White persons who criticize America should leave. Underlying Trump’s ugly comments is his seeming belief that People of Color should be excluded from America. Rather, he champions White Nationalism/White Supremacy as suggested by his comments after the Charlottesville violence. American exclusionary policies are not new. Beginning in the late 1890s and into the early 1900s Congress passed laws banning Chinese, Japanese, and Asian Indians. And because of White America’s fear that Filipinos were taking away their jobs and their women, Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act in 1924 — aka “The Filipino Exclusion Act”. I ask, Is excluding People of Color in favor of White Nationalism/Supremacy in America’s future?…………………. On September 17, 1998 the Filipino American Experience Research Project at San Francisco State University wrote: On May 16, 1929, the California State Senate passed without opposition a resolution by Assemblyman E.G. Adams of Livingston, memorializing Congress to restrict Filipino immigration into the United States. Assemblyman Adams offered the resolution on the grounds that Filipinos are undesirable as citizens and offer a menace morally and hygienically to California. Adams’ anti-Filipino resolution ultimately led to the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934. (Editorial note: I am proud to call Livingston my hometown; I am not proud of all Livingstonians.)………………. In case you missed last year’s formal apology of the State of California Assembly to the Filipino American community: On behalf of the people of the state, for violations of the civil liberties and constitutional rights of Filipino Americans caused by antimiscegenation laws that precluded marriage between Filipinos and Caucasians, and its regret, on behalf of the people of the state, for the suffering and hardship endured by Filipino Americans as a result of governmental actions taken because of various policies and laws it enacted.……………… Countdown — Now minus 1 year and 3 months and growing: When will the Board of Trustees, Filipino American National Historical Society — who have program and fiduciary responsibility — provide critically needed financing to assure keeping open the Filipino American Museum in Stockton, the historic center of Filipino immigration?
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