A HISTORICAL moment for Filipino-Americans in the United States took place Friday, Dec. 18, when a middle school in Union City, California was officially renamed in honor of Fil-Am labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.
Alvarado Middle School is now officially Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School, and is believed to be the first school in the nation named for Filipino Americans.
“We’re very honored,” Johnny Itliong, the son of Itliong, told the Asian Journal on behalf of his family. “We’re also honored to have Philip Vera Cruz’s name alongside Larry’s even though they didn’t see eye to eye on many occasions. But they both stood up for the rights of people, first and foremost of their Filipino brothers and sisters, the manongs, and then for all others.”
Itliong and Vera Cruz were key leaders who helped organize the United Farm Workers union in the 1960s and led Filipino farmworkers who were the first to walk out in the Delano Grape Strike on Sept. 8, 1965.
“I think it’s so important that we recognize Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz [who] inspire all of us to be change makers that we need in our community, our state our nation and our world,” state Assemblyman Rob Bonta said during the school’s dedication ceremony on Friday.
Although the renaming of the school gives recognition to Itliong and Vera Cruz, Johnny acknowledged that there were others who helped them.
“There were many other Filipino labor leaders and union organizers who stood and fought with my dad … it wasn’t just my dad and Philip. It was also Andy Imutan, Pete Velasco and there were many others,” he said.
Talks of naming a Union City school in honor of Filipino-Americans date back to 1992, said Joe Angeles, who is part of a coalition that urged the school to be renamed, according to the Contra Costa Times.
“We had two schools named Alvarado: Alvarado Elementary and Alvarado Middle. Alvarado Elementary has more history; it’s one of the first elementary schools in the area,” Angeles said, the Times reported.
Though Itliong and Vera Cruz primarily worked in the Central Valley advocating for the rights of farm workers, Angeles said Itliong spent some time organizing in Union City and worked with some residents from the area in the 1960s.
Approval for renaming the school came from a split 3-2 decision in 2013 by the New Haven Unified School District board. Some wished for the school’s name to remain Alvarado, which was in honor of 19th-century Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. Others said he was already well-represented in Union City, with an elementary school, two streets, a park and a neighborhood bear his name, according to the Times. The issue resulted in staged demonstrations and full school board meetings.
In the neighborhood surrounding the middle school, 38 percent of residents are Filipino-American, said Joe Angeles, who is part of a coalition that urged for the renaming of the school, according to the Times.
Renaming the school is estimated to cost $60,000. The bulk of the price tag, $57,440, will be covered by Alameda County Supervisor Richard Valle, state Sen. Bob Wieckowski, Assemblyman Bill Quirk, and Bonta.
Separately, an overpass in San Diego that intersects State Route 54, which is known as the Filipino-American Highway, was also set to be renamed in honor of the labor leaders to the Itliong-Vera Cruz Memorial Bridge. The celebration was scheduled to take place on Friday.
“These [renamings] are huge strides for our Filipino community to be recognized in American history, and we are basically indebted to the manong generation, [which] has made our lives much better,” Johnny said.
In June of this year, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill designating October 25 — Itliong’s birthday — as a day dedicated to recognizing the late labor leader’s contributions to the state of California.
