Musings

Are Brown Filipinos Next?  Make America White Again? Part 3:  (Suggest reviewing Parts 1 and 2 in my July/August blogs.) To those who still doubt America would ban Filipinos from immigrating to the U.S. in favor of Whites, following is a brief history of discriminatory immigration:  At the beginning of the United States when America’s settler-citizens were exclusively Anglo Saxons, there were no restrictions. But when non-Anglo Saxon Whites began immigrating, Congress enacted a law that declared only naturalized citizens could be citizens, thus preserving Anglo Saxon’s exclusive rights to citizenship.  In 1898 the Chinese Exclusion Act kept out an entire national group.  Similar exclusion laws — the Japanese Exclusion Act and the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which ended Filipino migration — soon followed. In 1924, a law based on eugenics was enacted establishing nationality rankings that placed whites at the top and restricted the immigration of People of Color.  The 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act repealed nationality rankings — greatly increasing Filipino immigration.  (Yet, the law continued to restrict immigration from Mexico and Latin America.)  Moreover, remember Trump’s statement favoring (white) Norwegians to immigrate rather than people from (People of Color) “Shi*ho** countries?” Also remember, restricting citizenship is not limited to immigration. In 1942 the Japanese Relocation Act committed all residents of Japanese ancestry, of which 70% were American citizens, into relocation (concentration) camps.   Given this history what are Americans who deplore the direction our country is heading to do?  VOTE IN THE NOVEMBER MIDTERMS –REGARDLESS OF PARTY AFFILIATION.  YOUR VOTE AGAINST THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ANTI-PEOPLE OF COLOR POLICIES IS CRITICAL, NOT JUST FOR YOU, BUT ALSO FOR YOUR CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND GENERATIONS TO COME.  I AM IMPLORING MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS  TO VOTE IN NOVEMBER — WILL YOU JOIN ME?………………… The media (aka “The Fourth Estate” or “The Free Press”) is not the “Enemy of the People” nor does it produce “fake news” as declared by Donald Trump.  What the media contributes to the nation is a check on government — to hold the government accountable.  The Constitution created a system of checks and balances among the executive, congressional, and judicial branches of government to assure accountability.  Today, that system has deteriorated. Congress has become complicit with the Trump Administration’s policies; the Supreme Court has become a Republican-leaning partisan.  But in its wisdom, the founding fathers created another check on government when it enacted the First Amendment to the Constitution (Freedom of Speech) — thus insuring the media’s role to hold government accountable .  History tells us that the media does its job well.  Or have we forgotten that investigative reporters were responsible for taking down Richard Nixon?  A sad outcome of Trump’s War Against the Media is an uptick of violence against journalists.  Reporters are increasingly subjected to verbal, sometimes physical, abuse — especially during Trump’s frequent rallies.  The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a nonpartisan website, documents press freedom incidents around the country. Its database logged 20 arrests and 21 physical attacks on journalists just this year — most of them at public demonstrations. Recently, Katy Tur, a respected MSNBC host, received a message stating, “Wish you were raped.”………………….. Countdown: Minus 5 months 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 FANHS Museum in Stockton, the historic center of Filipino immigration.

Bridge Generation News

(The Bridge Generation — now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s — is a rapidly declining population. Over the years, most members of these American born children from 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 has been a recurring feature of this blog. This month’s featured person is Rizaline Raymundo: July 14, 1929-August 13, 2017.)  Riz is  best known as the editor of her mother’s recollections,  “Tomorrow’s Memories: Diary of Angeles Monrayo, 1924-1928”.  The diary, written in simple but vividly descriptive words when her mother was just a girl of 11-15, chronicled her migratory farm worker experiences in Hawaii and California during the 1920’s.  But Riz’s life was just as eventful.  She was born in the dusty California Central Valley farming community of Modesto, 90 days before the 1929 Wall Street Crash.   The ensuing Great Depression began nine years of a migratory farm worker existence for the family. In following the crops, Riz remembered, “We lived in bunk houses, shacks, barns, tents, and in an abandoned railroad junction box car.  We lived with friends or friends lived with us.  We ate everything from chicken feet to fish heads, rice and mushrooms, rice and mustard greens. Thankfully fish was plentiful in the rivers.” The worst thing about the constant moves for her was going to so many schools.  The family’s move to the Central Coast town of Salinas CA in 1929 put an end to their migratory life.  However, Riz’s work in the fields did not end.  During weekends and vacations, she worked alongside her parents in the lettuce fields, bunched carrots, and hoed a variety of vegetables in “America’s Salad Bowl.” Her subsequent work experiences as an adult were often as exhausting.  At a time when there were no civil rights protections or affirmative action programs, she experienced workplace discrimination — like many Bridge Generation Filipino Americans.   During the 1950’s while working at a naval shipyard she was threatened with demotion for questioning why she also had to do the work of her immediate supervisor.  In a subsequent interview for a position for the county she was told she turned down the job when in fact she did not.  In yet another example, she was informed that the county did not have a vacancy for the position when in fact there was.  Despite these experiences, Riz maintained an enlightened attitude regarding discrimination commenting, “I only fought discrimination or prejudice if I thought it blatantly affected my life or my job.” Riz retired in 1995 after 36 years with the County of Santa Clara.  After her retirement, she co-founded with Esther (Navarro) Romero, the FANHS Santa Clara Chapter in 1989.  Affectionately cared for by her only child, Patricia Schmidt, she lived her last years in Lakeport CA before passing away in 2017…………….. In July Northern California’s first Filipino American judge announced he will be retiring.  San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay served on the bench for 35 years. Known affectionately to many as “Judge Q,” he was appointed in 1983 by Governor Jerry Brown to San Francisco’s Municipal Court and was elevated to Superior Court in 1998. As a student he was a founder of the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) that helped establish the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University……………… Also entering retirement life was Mel LaGasca of Tracy CA  — from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  He devoted twenty years leading the development of the Filipino American National Museum located in Stockton, which opened several years ago………….. Among Los Angeles area young pinays serving as extras in the 1945 war movie “Back to Bataan” starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn were: Connie Marasigan Baning, Tawa Desuacido, Connie Dizon, Marcy Jacobe, Delnia Gersalia, and Jessie Celaya……………….. It is with a heavy heart to report a sad “double hit” that befell Art Suguitan of Palm Desert CA.  In a space of two weeks he lost his son to liver cancer and his beloved wife, Nadene, after a long illness.  I first met Art when he was an outstanding center on the San Francisco Mango basketball teams of our youth.  He went on to be a successful university and non-profit executive.  By a happy coincidence, we served as United Way vice presidents in different cities, which gave us the opportunity to periodically renew our friendship at national meetings ……………….. Oops! Wartime pilot Gregg Bambo did not “dead stick” his Skywarrior bomber to a carrier landing as I reported in my last blog. After losing his remaining engine, he calculated he could make a nearby airport and maneuvered to land there. It would have been an impossibility, of course, to try an unpowered dead stick landing on 200 feet of a moving aircraft carrier. Happy September Birthdays to:  Mardena (Ambon) Ragsac, Peter Bacho, Pam Bulahan, Ernie Cabreana, Gloria (Carido) Nomura, Pastor Engkabo, Jerry Salac, Aurelio Simon.

Pinakbet — News Across America

On July 29, Clark Kent Apuada, a 10 year old Filipino American swimmer from Salinas CA broke Michael Phelps 23 year old record set in 1995 in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 1:09:38 at the Far Western Long Course Championship – more than a second faster than Phelps did at the same age. His friends call him “Superman” (of course).  His goal – to swim in the 2024 Paris Olympics…………….. On July 30, long lines queued up at the International Hotel Manilatown Center in San Francisco for applications to the I-Hotel Senior Housing.  Its opening marks the culmination of a 36 year struggle over the International Hotel, which drew national attention in August 1977 when its mostly elderly Filipino residents were evicted by Sheriff Department officers in a violent raid………….. Did You Know? Arizona native Sharon Leal starred as Miss Martian in television’s “Supergirl” and in the Oscar-winning film “Dreamgirls” as Michelle Norris.

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