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A Season Where Hispanic, Asian and A Little Black History Converge

We all have some Hispanic heritage in California, whether we own it or not. The style, the language, the names of our cities and streets. All an homage to our link to Spain.

Published

3 years ago

October 1, 2021

Christy Price

September 15 - October 15, National Hispanic Heritage Month - handwriting in Huun paper handmade in Mexico, reminder of cultural event/ iStock

And so here we are in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month which began on September 15 and continues on through October 15. It’s a strange straddle over two months, but what do you expect from an imperial culture that went in and dominated lands and people?

We’re not just talking about being born “Hispanic” in that positive, “let’s go out and have some flautas and margaritas” kind of way.

There’s that nagging negative side, too.

We all have some Hispanic heritage in California, whether we own it or not. The style, the language, the names of our cities and streets. All an homage to our link to Spain.

But as an Asian American Filipino, born here in California, the link to Spain goes back more than 500 years when the Spanish conquered the Philippines.

My Hispanic heritage? As a colony of Spain, the Philippines got the full imperial treatment. My name? Spanish. My food? All sorts of Spanish influences. My beliefs? Spanish and Catholic to the core.

The Spanish colonization gave way to the American colonization, which started after the Spanish American War ended and the Philippines was sold to the U.S. for $20 million.

I like to say that’s slightly less than Draymond Green makes for the Warriors.

The colonization process continued as the U.S. taught English to the Philippines, and then brought Filipinos like my dad to California in the 1920s and 1930s to work the fields.

Born under the American flag as a colonized Filipino, my dad was allowed to enter the U.S. as an “American national.” No papers necessary. But he wasn’t a citizen. Nor a slave. He was a colonized ward of the state. About 30,000 of them, mostly men, came to California to be a labor force, working the fields for ten cents an hour.

They also found out just how unwelcome they were. They couldn’t vote, own land, and they couldn’t intermarry. There were anti-miscegenation laws that prevented the mixing of races.

If a Filipino was caught with a white woman, he was shot, killed, and even lynched.

Filipinos? Like Blacks? Yep.

My father chose to stay in the Bay Area to work in restaurants. He lived in the Fillmore. Most of his Filipino townmates went to work migrant agricultural jobs up and down the Central Valley. That was their life for decades.

Grape Strike: The Filipino-Mexican Merger

In Delano, north of Fresno, Larry Itliong led the Filipino agricultural workers in a strike against the table grape growers on Sept. 7, 1965. They wanted $1.45 per hour.

But the Filipinos were mostly elderly in their 50s and 60s. They realized they needed to join in coalition with Cesar Chavez who ran a community organization for Mexicans at the time. Chavez wasn’t a unionist. He didn’t want to strike.

Five years ago, on the 50^th anniversary of The Great Delano Grape Strike, I talked to Gil Padilla, a co-founder with Chavez of the National Farm Workers Association. He told me Chavez was persuaded by Itliong.

“He was the one who made the negotiations,” Chavez had said. “Larry was the one who made sure we became a family and we merged.”

The 1965 merger of the Filipinos and the Mexican workers in solidarity in the United Farm Worker strike against the grape growers also symbolized the merger of the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement.

That’s what I think about when I think Hispanic Heritage Month, which overlapscFilipino History Month which starts on October 1.

There’s some complicated history intertwined, both positive and negative, with a lot more diversity than you think.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He vlogs at www.amok.com

Facebook: emilguillermo.media ; Twitter@emilamok

Christy Price

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”

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WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.