PETER’S PINOY PATTER — November 2021
Bridge Generation News
(Today’s Bridge Generation – now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s – is a rapidly declining population. Over the years, most members of these American-born children of the first wave of Filipino immigrants have passed away. To remember their contributions to the history of Filipinos in America, a deceased BG individual is a recurring feature of this blog. This issue features Antonio Dixon Campos who passed away on April 19, 2003.)
Known as “Tony” at work but “Dixon” by his Bridge Generation contemporaries, Dixon was born in 1924 in San Francisco — the eldest of eight children of Filipino immigrants. In Filipino families the eldest child is looked upon by parents to look after his or her siblings — i.e.: to lead. Thus, it is not surprising that throughout his nearly eighty years of a life well-lived, Dixon was looked to as a leader.
As a youth, Dixon was one of the first members of the San Francisco Filipino-Mango Athletic Club established in 1939. The club was organized by Bridge Generation residents of the city’s “People-of-Color” Fillmore District to respond to the systematic exclusion of Filipino youth from sports and other leisure time activities. While not necessarily the outstanding athlete on the basketball court or softball field, Dixon’s congenial manner in relating to club members soon earned him respect as leader. By 1947 along with other established club members, he helped the Mangos increase to more than 100 members — enabling the Mangos to dominate youth club competition for years. At the same time, he was instrumental in growing the Filipino American youth club network in California.
With the advent of World War II, like other young Filipinos eager to demonstrate they were as American as anyone else, Dixon enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the First Filipino Infantry Regiment and subsequently promoted — first to platoon leader, then to company commander, and finally to battalion executive officer. After seeing combat with the First Fils in the liberation of the Philippines, he was awarded the World War II Victory Medal and the Bronze Star for Valor. Following his separation from active duty, he joined the Army Reserve — eventually rising to full colonel before he retired.
However, Dixon’s military service and medals did not protect him from the pains of racial discrimination when he returned home as a civilian. He and his bride, Elisa, were denied the right to purchase a home of their choice because of their color. Civil Rights and Affirmative Action legislation were yet to be enacted. Without legal protections, the newly married couple had no choice but to seek housing elsewhere.
Dixon’s leadership on behalf of youth continued into his retirement years. In 1988, he received KRON-TV’s “For Those Who Care” award in recognition of his many years as a volunteer for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children). He also immersed himself into Filipino American causes. In 1989 along with Adele (Bautista) Urbiztondo and Fred Basconcillo, he helped establish the San Francisco Chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society. In the early 199os, his was an early community voice that led to the 2006 dedication of the Victoria (Manalo) Draves Park in SF in honor of the 1948 Olympics diving champion. In 1991, Dixon and Terri (Romero) Jamero co-chaired the Grand Reunion of Filipino American Athletic Clubs that drew more than 700 attendees. In 1994, he served on the organizing committee hosting the Fifth FANHS National Conference in San Francisco, where he was honored by the organization with its VIP (Very Important Pinoy/Pinay) Award.
The deep respect Dixon earned from his contemporaries throughout his life was reflected by the overflow crowd at Duggan’s Mortuary in Daly City that paid their last respects on May 14, 2003. At the time of his passing, he was survived by his sons, Tony and Don; daughters, Cristine and Elaine; seven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; his brother, George; and sister, Louise. He was preceded in death by Elisa, his wife of 54 years; brothers, Edward, Rudolph and Henry; and sisters, Frances and Flora.
First And Only Paid Job:
Most people know Dorothy (Laigo) Cordova as the longtime volunteer Executive Director of the Filipino American National Historical Society. But did you know her first and only paid job was as Project Director for the Demonstration Project for Asian Americans in 1971 — when she was 40 years old?
Happy November Birthdays To: Gabe Baltazar, Connie (Adlao) Suan, Gregg Bambo, Carol (Labuga) Holcomb.
Pinaket —News Across America
Filipino American History Tidbits:
The first recorded history of Filipinos arriving in Alaska was in 1788. Today, persons of Filipino descent represent the largest Asian American sub-group in the state — a unique distinction among the nation’s states………. On October 24, 1929 in the small town of Exeter CA, Filipino farmworkers were attacked by a white mob and forced to flee while their campo burned to the ground. (A personal note: When I was growing up at the Jamero campo in Livingston during the 1930s, I listened to several Exeter survivors as they recalled the attack. Told after many years had passed, their stories were still vivid in the memories of these farmworkers. To this little boy, however, their stories were frightening.)
Did You Know:
On October 8 Maria Ressa, a dual citizen of the U.S. and the Philippines, was awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize — the first Filipino/a to be so honored. She shares the award with Dimitry Muratov of the Russian Federation for “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” Among previous American winners of the peace prize were former presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter and civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Ressa, a respected journalist and former Southeast Asia investigative reporter for CNN for more than twenty years, also co-founded the Philippine online news site Rappler. Under her leadership, Rappler has been a longtime critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, especially his policies on the war on drugs and the widespread violence carried out by police with Duterte’s approval………. Filipino American trailblazer Larry Asera of Vallejo CA was the first Filipino American to be elected to public office on the U.S. mainland. At age 24, Larry was the youngest person elected to the Vallejo City Council in 1973. At 27, he became a member of the Solano County Board of Supervisors and eventually the board chairman at age 29 — the youngest board member and chairman in the county’s history. In 1981, he was appointed by California Governor Edmund “Pat” Brown as Deputy Secretary of State and chairman of the State Building Standards Commission — the first Filipino American to serve in a state cabinet-level post in the nation………….
Congratulations to Fatima Angeles for her recent appointment to Executive Director of the Levi Strauss Foundation in San Francisco. She will be overseeing LSF’s global philanthropic strategy. I worked with Fatima during the 1990s when she served as Vice President of the California Wellness Foundation, where she was responsible for the grantmaking program — including program design, strategic planning, and evaluation. I am confident she will be as successful, if not more so, at LSF. Foundation work is a family affair — Fatima’s husband Raymond Colmenar works for The California Endowment where he is responsible for shaping the foundation’s statewide strategy for promoting Inclusive Community Development………. Congratulations also go to Aaron Versosa and Amber Manuguid, the husband and wife owners of the Archipelago Restaurant in Seattle. On October 11 the unique twelve-seat fine-dining restaurant was named by the New York Times among fifty restaurants in America the newspaper was “most excited about.”……… Suggested reading: “Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia Manansala of Chicago IL, a fictional account of a Filipina chef forced to play amateur detective. The author weaves Filipino culture, family relationships, and cooking into her story.
Musings
Is Excluding People of Color in Favor of White Supremacy in America’s Future? (aka) It Has Always Been About People of Color. Part XX:
Your faithful blogger has wailed for twenty months against America’s failure to live up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence….. “All men (and women) are created equal.” Recent events, such as the following, reaffirm my anguish: (1) The Biden Administration’s rushed deportation by air of more than 2,000 Haitians to their ancestral home many had not seen for decades. (2) The U.S. Congress’ inaction on two anti-voter suppression bills — For the People Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Advancement Act — that would end the proliferation of state voter suppression legislation. I ask, “Would it be different if these targeted groups were not People of Color?” Other recent events: (1) The continuing success of four white high ranking officials of the Trump Administration to ignore subpoenas issued by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (2) Despite the widespread destruction and violence we all saw on television, most of the January 6 Insurrectionists that were arrested to date only received “slap on the wrist” minimum sentences or were released without jail time. I ask, “Would it be different if these individuals were People of Color?”
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