PETER’S PINOY PATTER — FEBRUARY 2020
Musings
Is excluding People of Color in favor of White Nationalism/Supremacy in America’s Future? Part VII: I need to walk back the seeming optimism of my last blog indicating that White Nationalism/Supremacy’s demise may be sooner than first thought. Although the current Senate impeachment trial may result in diminishing Impeached President Donald Trump and his followers, their earlier assaults on People of Color must yet be dealt with. A prime example — voter suppression. In 2013 the Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act; ruling that states (mostly in the South) with histories of racial discrimination no longer were required to pre-clear changes in voting laws with the federal government before going into effect. Immediately, many states enacted voter suppression initiatives — purging voting rolls, closing polling places in majority People Of Color communities, curtailing early voting and same-day registration, and imposing voter ID requirements that disproportionately harm POC and poor communities. Another example — POC immigrants. Trump calls them “animals and invaders”; his administration has put immigrant children in cages and packed parents into filthy, overcrowded prisons at the border. Yet another example — hate groups. The respected Southern Poverty Law Center documented 1,020 hate groups operating in America — a record high and a 30% increase coinciding with Trump’s 2016 campaign and subsequent presidency. What about Trump Administration initiatives specifically impacting Filipinos? Last year, the Trump administration suddenly and quietly terminated President Barack Obama‘s 2014 World War II Filipino Veterans Parole Program that expedited the process for family members residing in the Philippines to join their husbands and fathers in America. Clearly, there is much work ahead………….. Is there any doubt that Trump’s drone assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani on January 3 is to distract attention away from his impeachment by the House of Representatives and subsequent trial by the Senate?………… The following advice by Elie Wiesel, Jewish American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor is pertinent and timely: “Always take sides, Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”………….. Filipino American Museum in Stockton, Funding Countdown — minus 1 year, 9 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?
Bridge Generation News
(My December blog reported on the untimely passing of Professor Albert Acena. I’m gratfeul to Dr. Acena’s College of San Mateo colleague, writer Lisa Suguitan, who sent me a copy of his personally written obituary. Following is what Al wrote:) Albert Acena Obituary — In His Own Words Seattle native and San Mateo resident for over fifty years, I departed this life on October 28, 2019 in Burlingame. I am the son of two pioneer Filipino nurses in America, Rodolfo Eladio Acena & Felicidad Nolasco both of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, and graduates of the nursing program at Manila’s Philippine General Hospital. I grew up in Seattle and attended Cathedral School, O’Dea High School, and Seattle University where in my senior year I was the editor of The Spectator, the school weekly. After graduating with a degree in history, I went on active duty from the Army Reserve and following training at Fort Ord, California, was assigned to duty in Germany during the Cold War era. My tour of duty in Europe was one of the formative and influential experiences in my life. After working as a Department of the Navy civilian, I entered graduate studies in the history department of the University of Washington. My Master’s thesis was on a phase of Nazi Germany’s history and my Doctoral dissertation was on the New Deal era movement in Washington State. I served as a teaching assistant at the University of Washington. I joined the faculty of College of San Mateo in the fall of 1966 and retired 41 years later. During my 17 year tenure as Social Science Division Dean, I continued to teach history. My most rewarding moments were being with the students in my classes, with my associates and friends at the college and as an advisor for the campus Alpha Gamma Sigma chapter of the state honor society. It was my privilege to be involved twice in the College’s overseas program in Paris, 1987 and 1989. To be actually residing in France was a memorable experience both for the students and myself. New long-lasting connections were forged. Besides my love for history, Western Civilization, Filipino American, United States, California and local history, I enjoyed traveling in Europe, the Yucatan and the East Coast. I made at least 21 visits to Paris beginning with my army days. I was a San Francisco Giants fan we well as a fan of the University of Washington Huskies athletic teams and the Seattle Mariners. I served on the boards of the Filipino American National Historical Society, the San Mateo County Historical Association, the Alvarado Project and Alpha Gamma Sigma, the state community college honor society. For two terms, I was on the board of the San Mateo Public Library and in 1979-81, I was the Academic Senate President at College of San Mateo. Early on, I abandoned thinking of a career in music, probably as an organist. I realized there were others more gifted than me and instead, history became my deep interest. I satisfied my musical interests by collecting recordings and being a season ticket holder for the San Francisco Opera. During my grade-school and Catholic high school days, I was a Mass server at Seattle’s St. James Cathedral. I was again an alter minister for the Gregorian Mass at St. Ann’s Chapel and St. Thomas Aquinas, both in Palo Alto from the 1990’s until present hospitalizations curtailed my volunteering. I felt it was an honor to participate in the Novus Ordo with the schola directed by Prof. William Mahrt of Stanford University. Survived by cousins Marcella Wilson; Sergio, Ronald, Terry, Kenneth & Jadine Acena; and other cousins in Seattle, Southern California and the Philippines. Also survived by foster-brother Francis Toledo (Norbert) and godchildren: Emily Wilson and Jennifer Landry…………… (Thanks to woodturner artist Don Velez of Rohnert Park CA for the following story; his beautiful works can be accessed on www.woodjammin.etsy.com). To connoisseurs of fine wine: meet Jeff Mangahas, of the Williams Selyem winery of Sonoma. He was the winemaker of the pinot noir that was named by the Sonoma Press Democrat as Wine of the Week on December 31, 2019……………. On December 17 board members of the Stockton Unified School District Board approved naming the new school in Quail Lakes as “Flora Arca Mata School” — the only SUSD school named for a Filipina American. Born in 1917 and passing away in 2013, she was the first Filipina/Asian American to teach in the school district. Flora was hired in 1948 and retired in 1978. Flora taught only at predominantly minority South Stockton schools until late in her career since it was rare for minorities to be assigned to schools in White North Stockton. She was not bitter about the discrimination, “My mother embedded in us the idea that you cannot hold hate.”………… Happy February Birthdays: Lydia (Antiporda) Galian, Gloria (Carido) Nomura, Marya (Castillano) Bergstrom, Bob Flor, Lillian Galedo, Dorothy (Laigo) Cordova, Rosalie (Salutan) Marquez, Larry Samson, Joyce (Tibon) Balandra.
News Across America
According to Filipino writer Wilfredo Pasqual, the first Filipina to appear in Hollywood movies was Elena Jurado who migrated to America from her Sibonga, Cebu hometown in 1922. She had a number of roles in silent movies during the 1920s that starred such well-known Hollywood stars as Victor McLaglen, Robert Armstrong, and Fay Wray. (Thanks to Edward Brotonel of Chicago and to “Positively Filipino” for this item)………….. Since its opening in Seattle last year “Archipelago”, the unique eight-seat fine-dining restaurant, has drawn critical raves. Owned by married couple Aaron Versosa and Amber Manuguid, the open kitchen restaurant features a 10-course menu that weaves a culinary tapestry of Filipino food with Pacific Northwest ingredients. Perhaps just as critical to its success is the storytelling the couple engages in with guests over the common eating area as they chat about history and family through the universal language of dinner…………… Assemblyman Rob Bonta, the only Filipino member of the California Assembly and California State Senator Scott Wiener, co-sponsored a Joint Resolution officially recognizing October 20th as “Leyte Landing Commemoration Day” on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary. The First Filipino Infantry Regiment’s role in liberating the Philippines was prominently featured………….West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon is understandably proud that his city has been named by the American Association of Retired Persons News among the five American cities demonstrating the most “innovative work towards increasing livability.” Cabaldon, then 24, became Mayor in 1998 and has won successive reelections since. He is the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history…………… The U.S. Senate on December 12 confirmed Patrick Bumatay, a conservative, openly gay prosecutor to the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court in San Francsico. Bumatay was opposed by California U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris who asserted he did not have enough experience working on appeals to do the job.
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