Bridge Generation

(Today’s Bridge Generation – now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s – are a rapidly declining population. Over the years, most members of these American-born children of the first wave of Filipino immigrants have passed away.  In order to remember their contributions to the history of Filipinos in America, a deceased BG individual will be a recurring feature.)  Sumi Haru, 1939-2014.  You may not remember that former President Ronald Reagan was the president of the Screen Actors Guild during the 1990s.  You also may not remember that Bridge Generation Filipina American Sumi Haru was named Interim SAG president a few years later — the first and only woman of color to hold the position.  As remarkable as this event may have been, Sumi was better known for her pioneering work against the use of white actors filling Asian roles.  Shortly after launching her acting career, she found her true calling in her protests against a musical that had white actors playing Asians and against a movie starring Peter Ustinov as the fictional Charlie Chan.  Said Asian friend and actor Jack Ong, “Her activism sometimes got in the way of the progress she might have made in her acting career. Haru refused to audition for parts she believed smacked of stereotyping. She would not play the part of dragon lady or maid.” Haru told the Los Angeles Times, “It’s insulting to our sense of logic and fair play. White actors, with their eyes taped, can portray us on the screen, but we as Asian-Pacifics are not permitted to portray them.” Sumi Haru was not her given name.  Born to Philippine immigrants on August 25, 1939 in Orange NJ, her birth name was Mildred Sevilla.  The Sevilla family moved to Colorado a few years later where she attended the University of Colorado.  On a 1963 vacation, she met the cast of a movie being filmed and decided to move to California to launch her movie career.  On the advice of her acting coach, she changed her name to Sumi Haru to improve her chances of getting movie roles.  While she landed such film and television roles as Krakatoa:East of Java, MASH, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hill Street Blues, she increasingly focused her efforts on working against the stereotyping of Asians in movies and television. She joined the Screen Actors Guild and after the 1995 resignation of SAG President Berry Gordon  (the movie producer and founder of Motown Records) she became Interim President of the Guild.  She subsequently was elected to First Vice President and served for ten years on the SAG Board of Directors. I first met Sumi at the national conference of the Council of Social Work Education in Seattle in 1971.  It was during the heady years of the 1970s when West Coast Asian Americans began to organize themselves.  Sumi  was part of a vocal Los Angeles Filipino American delegation that included activist leaders Roy (Uncle Roy) Morales and Al Mendoza. While subsequent meetings with Sumi would be infrequent, I kept abreast of her activities through Roy and Al.  She died from the effects of emphysema on October 16, 2014 in North Hollywood and is survived by two daughters.  Her passing drew formal expressions of gratitude and condolences from the Screen Actors Guild and the National AFL-CIO for which she served as Vice President…………… “Uncle Bob’s Place” is a low-income housing project in Seattle being developed by the InterIm Community Development Association. The project is named after late community leader Bob Santos. Set to open in the middle of 2021, “Uncle Bob’s Place” will be an eight-story building with one-third of the space devoted to 126 housing units. The building will also feature public art, a community room, and space for businesses. Said Bob’s widow, Sharon Tomiko Santos, “I chose the name for the building to commemorate Santos’ legacy forward in an active way – not just as a statue or exhibit.”……………. Joan (Mercado) Aquino, 85, of the Bay Area community of San Bruno was born in French Camp CA in 1933.  Affectionately known as Jonesy to her family and friends,  she spent most of her early life in and around Stockton.  Typical of Filipino families of the times, she worked in the hot fields alongside her family.   After attending San Francisco State and University of California, she married the late Ed Aquino of San Francisco — a key member of the San Francisco Mango basketball team of  the 1940-50s which dominated the Filipino American Youth Club circuit.  Joan passed away on February 25 and is survived by her daughter Joelle Del Canizo, son John Aquino, and two grandchildren…………….. Surrounded by his loving family, Donald Joseph Maghoney, 83, of Galt CA died from the effects of leukemia at the UC Davis Medical Center on April 12.  Born in Stockton on November 6, 1935, Don was third in a family of twelve (eight boys and four girls) and grew up in the Delta hamlet of Isleton.  Following completion of his education and a stint in the army, Don’s entire employment career was spent as an Operating Engineer for companies in Redwood City and Sacramento from where he retired after 37 years.  He married his fellow Delta inhabitant wife, Connie Yapo, in 1962; shortly after they moved to Galt where they resided for the past 45 years.  Don and Connie brought three children into the world who, in turn, brought them seven grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.  Like his father and brothers, Don was a dedicated sabongero — an American-born credit to sabong, the popular Philippine sporting pastime of cockfighting……………..  Former SF “Mango” Youth Club members, Emil and Adele Urbiztondo, now deceased, would be so proud of their grandson, Josh Urbiztondo, 36.  Josh recently announced his retirement from professional basketball. His retirement comes after eleven years of playing with the Philippine Basketball Association and the Asian Basketball League where he earned a number of awards and championships………………  Happy June Birthdays to:  Joe Cabrillas, Virginia (Velez) Catanio.

Pinakbet — News Across America

Meet Dr. Elenita Fe (Leny) Luna Mendoza-Strobel — retired professor at the American Multicultural Studies Department of Sonoma State University and former Project Director of the Center for Babaylan Studies.  Not only is she a professor, but she’s also an eminent scholar, author, activist, and a babaylan-inspired woman (babaylan — a Visayan term which means healer, mediator between spiritual realms, counselor and therapist).  Leny is the author of the breakthrough book Coming Full Circle: The Process of Decolonization Among Post-1965 Filipino Americans…………….. Did You Know? In 1944, before the U.S. Army First Filipino Regiment departed for action in the Western Pacific and the Philippines during World War II, soldiers seeking marriage with their white girlfriends were thwarted by California’s anti-miscegenation laws. After learning of the soldiers’ plight, Commanding Officer Colonel Robert Offley sent the men and their future wives on chartered buses to Gallup, New Mexico where marriage between Filipinos and whites were legal.  Problem solved!…………….. Hydra Mendoza, former president of the San Francisco Board of Education was recently appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as Deputy Chancellor of the NYC Department of Education…………….. Gil Quiniones, President and CEO of the New York Power Authority, has been selected as the 2019 “Energy Thought Leader of the Year.” He is the highest-ranking Filipino American in the cabinet of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo……………. A Filipino American Trump supporter has pleaded guilty to 65 felonies for mailing improvised explosive devices to CNN-TV and prominent Democrats he considered anti-Trump. Luckily, all 65 packages failed to explode. Cesar Altieri Sayoc, an exotic dancer and deejay, issued his guilty plea on March 21 in a Manhattan federal court……………. Carson CA native Jordan Molina’s defense led Long Beach State University to the 2019 NCAA national volleyball championship on May 4. His team rallied to defeat Hawaii in three sets. It was the 49’ers second straight national volleyball championship having beaten UCLA in five sets in 2018.  The 5’9” Molina wants to play volleyball professionally overseas and try out for the USA Olympic volleyball team after college. If successful, he would be the first Filipino American libero (the only defensive player wearing a different color uniform) on an American Olympic Men’s Volleyball  team………….. George Conway, Filipino American attorney and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, recently called for a “serious inquiry” into President Donald Trump‘s “condition of mind.”

Musings

Countdown — Now minus 1 year and 1 month and growing: For the Board of Trustees, Filipino American National Historical Society — who have program and fiduciary responsibility — to provide critically needed financing to assure keeping open the Filipino American Museum in Stockton, the historic center of Filipino immigration…………….. It is refreshing to witness the increasing visibility and success of today’s Filipino Americans in American society.  It is laudable they invariably attribute their successes to earlier sacrifices of the Manong/Manang Generation while enduring discrimination in America’s workplace, education, and housing.  The Bridge Generation also grew up before the protections of anti-discrimination legislation and civil rights laws; they too endured discrimination and mistreatment as their Manong/Manang parents.  Hopefully, the sacrifices of the Bridge Generation can also be acknowledged by today’s Filipino Americans.

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