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Published in the Brownsville Herald on May 22.
The local political season just ended and like many of you I am politicked out. I now have the opportunity to focus on another of my passions.
In the Brownsville Herald, Education Section on May 4 there was an article describing May as “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month”. In the article contributions of the people of many nationalities were noted such as Chinese, Irish, India, Japan and the State of Hawaii. While I am convinced that the Irish are capable of great things, moving the Emerald Isle to the Pacific isn’t one of them.
Not to diminish the achievements mentioned or those of Australia and New Zealand there are many peoples and places, that should be honored during the Month of May, that were not mentioned.
I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Pacific Area thanks to my government service. Places like Chi Chi Jima, and Iwo Jima, in the Ogasawara Islands (Formerly the Bonin Islands); Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, in the U.S. Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands; The U.S. Territory of Guam; Yap, Ulithi, Truk, Eauripik, and Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia; Enewetak, Bikini, and Kwajalein in the Republic of The Marshall Islands, and The Republic Palau are not just names on the map; to our soldiers in World War II they were places where their friends and comrades remained; to me they are places where so many warm friendly people made me feel welcome, and places where in many cases they are just as they have been for hundreds if not thousands of years. The People of Yap for instance still preserve the loin coverings and “grass skirts” of old times, as well as the famous stone money that is too large to move. I remember visiting one island where they had not seen an outsider for decades. At the same time in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Bikini and Enewetak Atolls stand there still, in evidence of the horrors of the Atomic Bomb, despite many years of attempts to clean up after the tests. On the other side of the coin, due to the “free association agreement” with the United States and flexible business laws the Marshalls are becoming a popular place of convenience to register Corporations.
Palau is a beautiful vacation destination, Guam, the crossroads of the Pacific, is the “Niagara Falls” for Japanese newly weds and Chi Chi Jima is a renowned ecological tourism destination. Some others are peopled by races that don’t seem to exist anywhere else on earth; all are unique and hold a prominent page marker in our growth from a fledgling country to a world power and deserve to be recognized.
A country that I believe contributed as much or more than any mentioned was America’s only colony, from the end of the Spanish American War until its independence in 1946. I have worked and lived in the Philippines at different times over the last forty years; and must admit to a considerable amount of positive bias.
The Philippines and Mexico share a common history and family names, as many of the same Spaniards or their relatives colonized both places.
Unknown to many people, Filipino American history began on October
18,1587 with a landing party consisting of Filipino seamen, sent to the California shore to claim the land for the Spanish king. They arrived in an area known as Morro Bay, California. From 1565 to 1815, during the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, Filipinos worked as sailors and navigators on board Spanish Galleons and were probably the first Asians to cross the Pacific Ocean, fifty years before the first English settlement of Jamestown was established.
In 1763, Filipinos made their first permanent settlement in the bayous and marshes of Louisiana. As sailors and navigators on board Spanish galleons, Spanish-speaking Filipinos-jumped ship to escape the brutality of their Spanish masters. They built houses on stilts along the gulf ports of New Orleans and were the first in the United States to introduce the sun-drying process of shrimp.
In 1781, Antonio Miranda Rodriguez Poblador, a Filipino, along with 44
other individuals was sent by the Spanish government from Mexico to establish what is now known as the city of Los Angeles.
During the War of 1812, Filipinos from Manila Village (near New Orleans) were among the “Batarians” who fought against the British with Jean Lafitte in the Battle of New Orleans.
For over 300 years, Spain had colonized the Philippines using Manila Bay as their great seaport, trading silver and rich spices with other countries surrounding Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. The Spaniards gave Filipinos Christianity and were called Filipinos after King Philip II of Spain. This is why they have Spanish surnames like Garcia, Lopez, Lucio, and Escobido. The Spanish connection came to an end after the Spanish-American War in 1898 when Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.
American school teachers came to Philippines to establish a public school system similar to American public schools. These educators brought the American version of education and added the English language to the thousands of others commonly spoken in the Philippines. English probably remains the most widely spoken language in the Philippines, and is still the language of the court system. They in effect pioneered a workable bi-lingual education system and to this day one of the leaders in the field is Filipino Alan Lado.
Even though Filipinos have been a part of “American History” since history began here, ignorance and bigotism has also plagued them as with other “foreigners”. During the Great Depression, white Americans claimed that Filipinos “brought down the standard of living because they worked for low wages”. Does that not sound familiar? Filipinos now had joined nearly all the other pioneer groups who “brought down the standard of living” like the Irish, Italians, Blacks, and other Hispanics.
This all changed with the onset of World War II; Filipinos from the Philippines joined the U.S. Navy to fight against the Japanese. Filipinos were allowed to join the navy because they were so-called “Nationals”. They were not U.S. citizens, nor were they “illegal or undocumented aliens”. But despite their status, Filipinos fought side by side with American soldiers for freedom against the Japanese.
Some Filipinos that have contributed to America are:
The late, Larry Dulay Itliong, labor organizer (1965 grapes strike
leader), a 1st Vice-President of the United Farm Workers union, and the late Philip Veracruz, a co-founder, of the United Farm Workers.
Others include celebrity Emilio Estevez, and the beauteous Victoria Principal, as well as so many more.
In my admittedly biased opinion I believe that the Filipinos, especially those that cure our ills, teach our children, design our software, engineer our buildings and crew our ships most assuredly deserve to be honored during this Asian and Pacific Islanders Month.