THIRTY SIX years ago, early in the new year of the tiger, the Filipino people deposed a hated dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, who had to flee for his life, like a coward, under cover of darkness. Aided by the U.S. Government, Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii, where he would spend the rest of his…
Education is critical in the campaign against anti-Asian hate especially today as Asians have become the face of the coronavirus. All Asian Americans have a stake in this education project. Since the beginning of the year, as awareness about the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes has grown, so have public displays of condemnation and protests….
The fatal shootings in Atlanta, Georgia of six women of Asian descent at businesses known to employ Asian workers are frightful and terrifying. It marks an escalation in the level of violence associated with the spike in anti-Asian aggressions during this pandemic. How can a minority group that was touted as a “model minority” turn…
Jeremy Lin, an Asian American basketball star who helped add “linsanity” to our vocabulary a few years back, now adds “coronavirus” to our glossary of racial slurs against Asians. Lin disclosed that he has been called, “coronavirus” during a game, revealing this incident in a social media post denouncing racism against Asian Americans, Lin’s experience…
The vaccines are finally here! And they are excellent at preventing symptoms from COVID-19, including those severe and life-threatening cases that require hospitalization. I am grateful for having received my two doses since the vaccine is still in short supply. Friends in our circle who have received it are happy. But others have expressed hesitancy,…
THE majority of folks who experience racism are African Americans. But the pandemic has seen an upturn in incidents of racism, hate speech and hate crimes against Asians largely from the coronavirus’ association with Asia, particularly China, where the virus is said to have originated. Many of these incidents, especially hate speech and related behavior,…
IT has almost been a month since the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, yet a pre-occupation on this event lingers as reports of who got identified and arrested mount. As journalists and scholars continue to examine aspects of this event, it is disturbing that participants, while predominantly white, come from a broad cross-section…
The phrase describes an ancient Chinese torture method to kill a person slowly and painfully by ‘a thousand cuts.’ Maria Ressa, founder and CEO of online news site Rappler, alluded to it in reference to the state of Philippine democracy, saying that it is being slowly undermined through violations and curtailments of civil liberties. The…
During the initial pandemic wave of the spring and summer, we were lucky not to have anyone within our family and social circle get COVID-19. But during the current wave, our social circle has been breached as infections have happened. I would like to share their stories to show how stealthy this virus can be….
“My generation in Germany were always asking our parents and grandparents how Adolf Hitler could have happened in a democratic state—I think, now we all know it from firsthand [watching the United States]” -Hartmut Mueller, Germany SHORTLY after major media organizations called the elections for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris folks came out in jubilation, complete…
A WORKSHOP that I enjoy leading, pre-COVID-19, is one I developed for our Filipino immigrant community. It is based on Stanford University’s Chronic Disease Self Management Program, a program that is now widely adopted by several organizations including AARP. The focus of this program is to assist those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, asthma and…
THE Philippines once had two presidents but only for a few days. On Tuesday, February 25, 1986, Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino held dueling presidential inauguration ceremonies, each being sworn in as President of the Philippines. Each claiming to be duly elected by the people in “snap elections” held a few weeks before. With Trump’s…
“Being a black person in this world doesn’t kill you, but being a black person in America clearly can.” — Mustapha Okango, Nairobi-based anthropologist In September, President Trump through Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought issued a ban on federal funding for “spending related to any training on ‘critical race theory,’ ‘white…
A palpable sense of loss overcame me upon hearing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s (RBG) passing last Friday, September 18. Like many others, I turned to the internet to get confirmation, and was struck by the outpouring of posts about her. This made my sense of loss even more palpable. It’s like what one feels,…
In a previous essay, I wrote that the passage of AB 1460 and its signing into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom provided a measure of protection against certain forms of censorship, such as the statewide ban in Arizona schools against ethnic studies classes. There are actually more nuanced forms of censorship in California’s public…
“What we do echoes through the generations…” —Former President Barack Obama in his 2020 Democratic National Convention Address On August 17, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill, AB 1460, that requires all California State University students to take an ethnic studies class, in order to graduate. The class must be focused on one of…
Commenting on my previous essay entitled “Utang na Loob,” (published in the Los Angeles Asian Journal issue on July 29, 2020), a family friend wrote: “Why did Asians rise a bit higher than Blacks? Is it their thirst for a good education, a lot of self-esteem and pride in their heritage as well as close family…
Engaging in a conversation about the current fight against racism, discrimination, and police brutality is most likely a difficult conversation among Filipino families. There is a reticence among Filipino Americans who were born and educated in the Islands, to participate in militant political activities such as protests here in the United States although they might…
Shortly after the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag started to appear over social media, I overheard an Anglo say in riposte, “Well, all lives matter…” (I have also heard “white lives matter too.”) I do not quite remember the context of this conversation, but the remark stuck with me. The BLM campaign is not meant to minimize white…
I came to the United States in the late 1960s to pursue graduate studies at UCLA. Like almost everyone who was college-educated in the Philippines, and immigrated after the passage of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, we were beneficiaries of the removal of race-based immigration policies from the lawbooks. Many of us and…
“In the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?” – Martin Luther King, Jr. All over social media, especially Facebook, folks are posting media stories and pictures of protests, vandalism, looting, and police violence in response. Looking through these postings and the…
The fight against the C-19 pandemic is a war, a war of global proportions. It is World War III, although it does not follow our stereotypes of combat in wartime; think World War II, or even, the many regional conflicts since. World War III does not follow our familiar paradigms about war. We do not…
President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would put an end to “chain” migration as a feature of immigration law is worrisome and ill-advised. What he really means is that he would eliminate “family reunification” — a proviso which enables naturalized citizens to petition for immediate family members to immigrate — as a feature of U.S….
Last week marked the 45th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law over the Philippines by Ferdinand Marcos. While the day itself may not have been as eventful, as say, 9/11, the Marcos declaration, did change the arc of many Filipino lives, both in the Philippines and abroad; it certainly changed mine. While organizing against…
The Los Angeles riots of 1992 are among a few moments that are seared in my memory. It was mid afternoon on Wednesday April 29, when I got a call from my children’s after school program to come and pick them up, as they were closing early. As a parent, when your children’s day care…
A photo essay by Rick Rocamora, with an introduction by Rene Ciria-Cruz Quiapo is a photo essay by award-winning photojournalist Rick Rocamora. Quiapo, is actually two interrelated photo essays, in one book. The first story is about the people who live in and about Quiapo, a commercial district in the heart of Manila, many of…
The killing of Dallas police officers by sniper fire marks a new escalation of race wars here in America and signals a higher level of frustration with the unabated killing of blacks by police under questionable circumstances. It is unimaginable anywhere else but in this country how a simple traffic stop for a broken tail…
Barely a year into his presidency, Barack Obama was awarded the most prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace. In its citation, the Nobel Committee noted that: Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international…
