AANHPI Heritage Month: This land is your land, too, says our Nat'l Parks Service

The  National Parks Service has created a list of historic sites and monuments describing
the role of  AANHPI in the making of the United States.

One of leading misconceptions that haunt AANHPI folk is that of a "perpetual foreigner." No matter how many generations AANHPI families have been in the United States, other Americans tend to label them as outsiders. The National Parks Service seeks to correct that.

The National Parks Service, under the directive signed by President Biden, recognizes that despite what history school books say -- or, more accurately, what they don't say -- is that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have been here for centuries. 

From the well-known sites such as the camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans during WWII, to a ship's hold where laborers from Asia were transported to our shores to harvest sugarcane, to a town in the California Delta where Chinese workers helped build the levees protecting rich farmland, evidence of our presence is all around us and should be taught as part of American history.

The Department of the Interior, which includes our national parks and monuments, recognizes the role AANHPI have played and have gathered them together on their website. You might be surprised, some of these sites might be near you.

The AANHPI communities make our nation more vibrant through their diverse cultures, languages and religions. 

There is no single story of the AANHPI experience, but rather a multitude of contributions that enrich the country. The American story as we know it would be impossible without the strength, voice and legacies of AANHPI individuals who have helped build and unite this country.  

As we celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month, we also acknowledge the shameful parts of our history including the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as well as the many challenges these communities face today.  

Throughout the month, we encourage you to take the time to reflect on our nation’s history, visit a historic district near you or learn more about what the Department is doing to preserve and protect these communities to build a more inclusive and equitable future.   

The Department of Interior is committed to supporting AANHPI communities by protecting important archeological areas, preserving the loss of Native Hawaiian language and providing infrastructure investments to facilitate conservation, resiliency and economic growth. The DOI recognizes the unique impacts that climate change and coastal erosion have on our island communities. 

Additionally, the Department’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations recently announced $1 million in NATIVE Act funding through the HŌʻIHI grant program for Native Hawaiian Organizations that aim to build more sustainable tourism models and protect the natural and cultural resources of local communities. 

As more states make teaching AANHPI history part of the public school curriculum, the DOI has even developed material to help develop lesson plans, series of articles titled Finding a Path Forward: Asian American Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study for visiting these historic sites. 

FYI: To learn more about AANHPI heritage and history, visit the National Park Service’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage website.  

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

Bill introduced to make AANHPI history a part of the nation's curricula; DeSantis signs mandate in Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (seated) signed a new law to teach AANHPI history in public schools.

Florida joins a growing number of states mandating that Asian American history be included in the curriculum of its public schools.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1537 into law requiring Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history in the state's K-12 curriculum.

The May 9 signing makes Florida the first Republican-led state to pass such a law. Mimi Chan, director of Make Us Visible Florida — a nonprofit community advocacy agency that pushes for the inclusion of AANHPI studies in public schools — led the effort for two years to make it happen.

“It took a lot of work and determination in order to get this passed,” Chan said, according to The Independent Florida Alligator. “Asian American history is American history.”

As the nation continue to observe Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, US Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) announced May 11 that they introduced legislation to promote the teaching of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in the nation's schools.

Throughout America’s history, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have made immeasurable contributions to our nation, helping to make the United States the country that it is today. However, AANHPI history has been ignored or poorly represented in our K-12 education system and social studies textbooks.

The lawmakers’ Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act would help change this by increasing awareness of the history, contributions and experiences of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in the United States so that more students across the nation understand and appreciate the role that AANHPIs have played in shaping and building America.

“From the heights we’ve reached to the struggles we have faced, future generations must know and understand all that the AANHPI community has given to our country>" said Meng, the First Vice Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.  "For too long, our schools have ignored or diminished this vital part of our nation’s past, and it is finally time for that to change. 

"A greater understanding of our story would also help address anti-Asian hate and discrimination at its roots, and combat the stereotypes and negative perceptions that for generations have existed about Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. I thank Senator Hirono for partnering with me on this important legislation and look forward to our bills moving through Congress.”

“Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is an opportunity to recognize AANHPI individuals and communities that have contributed to the development and enhancement of American life and culture,” said  Hirono. 

“But too often, the teaching of AANHPI history has been limited to passing references or minor footnotes that barely scratch the surface of our diverse and resilient communities,” she said.

“The inclusion of AAPI histories in education is crucial as it allows AAPI students to see themselves and their communities represented in the curriculum, while promoting mutual learning between students of all backgrounds, and helping to dismantle harmful stereotypes by exposing all students to the richness of all the contributions the AAPI community has had to our country,” said Soukprida Phetmisy, Senior Managing Director of Teach For America’s Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Alliances."

The drive to include Asian American history in US schools began in response to the growing number of anti-Asian attacks since the beginning of the pandemic in 2021 when Trump administration began blaming China for the spread of the coronavirus that included the use of racist rhetoric. Though COVID-19 is no longer a pandemic, the virus is still claiming about 1000 lives every week. 

One of the reasons Asian Americans has become an easy scapegoat is because of the stereotype that paints Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners, even though history tells us  Asian Americans have been in North America before the United States was even a country.

“Had I seen myself reflected in history and had others been able to learn about the civic contributions, I feel that the feeling of other or the perpetual foreigner syndrome could have been prevented,” Chan said.

Reports by the FBI, find that the racist attacks against Asian Americans appear not to be slacking. Of the eight lives lost in the recent Texas mall shooting, four the fatalities were Asian Americans. 

“The anti-Asian violence that escalated since the pandemic began illustrates how harmful believing these stereotypes can bem" said Phetmisy. "To fight back against this prejudice and violence, it is essential to understand and acknowledge the inextricable role of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in shaping the nation's story and identity. By teaching this full history, and celebrating it, we dispel the harmful narrative that suggests Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are not an integral part of the United States.”

“Now, more than at any time in recent memory, it is crucial that students have the opportunity to learn the rich history of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities,” said Margaret Huang, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund. 

"The United States has a long and shameful history of discrimination against people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent — and just this year, the FBI documented record levels of hate violence against our communities. Hate crime laws must be enforced, but equally important are prevention and education.”

"The teaching of Asian Pacific American History in our education system is critical for the progress of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities,” said Gregg Orton, National Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA). “The consistent neglect of APA history in our curriculum has led to the erasure of many generations of our communities. This bill would allow our students nationwide to be seen and feel empowered, while educating others in understanding our roots and cultural history."

The Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act would require grant applications from Presidential and Congressional Academies to include Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history as part of their American history and civics programs offered to students and teachers.

Presidential Academies are designed for teachers seeking to strengthen their knowledge of American history, and Congressional Academies for students who aim to enrich their understanding of the subject.

The bill, which Meng previously introduced in 2020 and 2021, would also encourage the inclusion of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history in national and state tests administered through the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and promote collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's Asian Pacific American Center to develop innovative programming regarding Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history.

Besides Florida, the Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Connecticut have already passed legislation mandating AANHPI history be taught in the states' public schools. A bill has been introduced to include similar requirements in New York schools. 

The Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act  "represents a historic step in prioritizing Asian American and Pacific Islander histories in our education system," said John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC. "Recent events have shown that teaching diverse curricula is ever more important to building a more inclusive future, and public education of AAPI histories will play a crucial role in ensuring that we can move forward as a country."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

AANHPI Heritage Month: Chinese American chronicler gets his own 'Google Doodle'

Today's Google Doodle honors Corky Lee.

Today is Cory Lee Day in New York City. The late Lee, who chronicled the history of Asian Pacific America through his work as a photographer, journalist and activist, received another honor as the subject of today's Google Doodle.

In 1988, May 5th was proclaimed to be "Corky Lee Day" in honor of his lifelong contributions to New York City’s communities.

"Throughout our childhood, our parents expounded upon the importance of doing the right thing. Simply because it was the right thing to do and carried with it an implicit call to action," said his brother John "Johann" Lee.

"Perhaps they were prescient in giving Corky his Chinese name (Lee Young Kuo). Loosely translated it means, 'to praise,' 'uplift the nation,' and so he did. Through his lens, he gave Americans of Asian descent their history, pride, and dignity and reminded all Americans of Asian contributions to the national American mosaic. Corky raised the consciousness not only of his camera's subjects but that of the nation as well."

Corky Lee was born in Queens, New York City to Chinese immigrant parents on September 5, 1947. When he was in school as a young boy, he learned about the transcontinental railroad in social studies class. During the lesson, he saw a photo that celebrated the completion of the railroad—but noticed a lack of representation for the thousands of Chinese laborers who helped build it. Lee later shared that this event inspired his life’s work.

He went on to teach himself photography and attended Queens College to study history. After graduating college with a degree in American studies, Corky Lee photographed events in Manhattan's Chinatown and the AAPI community more broadly. His parents worried that an artistic career would not be a lucrative path, but he was convinced that photography could be a catalyst for their common politics and activism.

“I didn’t want the AAPI community to be invisible,” he told Curtis Chin, filmmaker of the documentary "Dear Corky."

Lee began photographing community festivals, parades, protests and performances, as well as robust local activism in the area. In May of 1975, he took one of his most famous photos showing the protest of Chinese Americans, in which tens of thousands marched to protest police brutality after a Chinese man named Peter Yew was strip-searched and beaten without just cause.

CORKY LEE

One of Corky Lee's best known photographs was of a 1975 protest in New York City.

Across his life, Lee’s photos were included in countless publications like Time Magazine, The New York Times, New York Post, and more. He also won many awards for his works, and his life has been covered in movies like Not on the Menu: Corky Lee’s Life and Work (2013) and Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story (2022).

Later in life, Lee often visited Promontory Summit in Utah to recreate the photo that had been taken when the transcontinental railroad was completed. He invited several descendants of the Chinese laborers who were not pictured back in 1869 in an effort to show that Asian American history is American history.

While photographing an event during the pandemic in 2021, Lee caught COVID-19. He tragically died at the age of 73 on January 27, 2021, at a hospital in Queens. The community mourned this loss, lining the streets during his funeral procession and staging multiple exhibitions in memoriam of the late photographer.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

New Department of Interior policy seeks to strengthen bond with Native Hawaiians

Some Native Hawaiians want to secede from the United States.

The Federal government took a small but significant step towards healing the wound created when the US took part in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy.

The Department of the Interior announced Oct. 18 that, for the first time in the agency’s history, it will require formal consultation with the Native Hawaiian community. New policies and procedures, subject to formal consultation, will further affirm and honor the special political and trust relationship between the United States and Native Hawaiians.

“The Interior Department is committed to working with the Native Hawaiian Community on a government-to-sovereign basis to address concerns related to self-governance, Native Hawaiian trust resources, and other Native Hawaiian rights,” said Secretary Deb Haaland.

“A new and unprecedented consultation policy will help support Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination as we continue to uphold the right of the Native Hawaiian Community to self-government.”

The draft consultation policy and procedures seek to, among other things:

• Bolster the Department’s consultation efforts to encourage early, robust, interactive, pre-decisional, informative and transparent consultation;
• Require that Department staff undergo training before participating in consultation;
• Establish bi-annual meetings between the Secretary and Native Hawaiian Community leaders to consult on matters of mutual interest;
• Clarify that the Department’s decision-makers must invite Native Hawaiian Community leaders to engage in consultation; and
• Require a record of consultation.

The draft requirements help further the spirit and intent of President Biden’s “Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships,” which outlines the Administration’s efforts to engage Indigenous communities early and often in federal decision-making.

 

The changed in relationship might stem to the growing movement that wants Hawaii to secede from the United States.

In 1893, with a contingent of 300 US Marines behind him, businessman Sanford Ballard Dole overthrew Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, and establish a new provincial government with Dole as president. In order to avoid bloodshed, the queen surrendered. The coup occurred with the foreknowledge of John L. Stevens, the US minister to the Kingdom of Hawaii.

On February 1, Stevens recognized Dole’s new government on his own authority and proclaimed Hawaii a US protectorate. Dole submitted a treaty of annexation to the US Senate, but most Democrats opposed it, especially after it was revealed that most Hawaiians did not want annexation.

President Grover Cleveland sent a new US minister to Hawaii to restore Queen Liliuokalani to the throne, but Dole refused to step aside and instead proclaimed the independent Republic of Hawaii. Cleveland was unwilling to overthrow the government by force, and his successor, President William McKinley, negotiated a treaty with the Republic of Hawaii in 1897.

In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal US territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.

Unlike Native American tribes and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians are not federally recognized by the US government as having their own sovereign nation.

During the Obama administration, the federal government attempted a more formal government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians but the process got mired by the deep divisions in the Native Hawaiian community.

This new consultation policy appears to be a renewed attempt by the Biden administration to put Native Hawaiians on similar footing as other Indigenous groups that are federally recognized.

The Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) will host two virtual consultations on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 9 to 11 a.m. HST and Monday, Dec. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. HST to gather feedback from the Native Hawaiian Community on the new policy. ONHR discharges the Secretary's responsibilities for matters related to Native Hawaiians and serves as a conduit for the Department’s field activities in Hawaiʻi. 

More information about the consultations is available on ONHR’s website.

Senator Brian Schatz, D-HI, chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, praised the new path created by the DOI.  The policy was a “very big deal and a vital first step,” Schatz said.

“One of the most important principles in policymaking, especially as it relates to Native communities, is: ‘nothing about me, without me,’” said Schatz in a prepared statement. “This policy update recognizes that consultation with Native Hawaiians is an essential aspect of decision-making for the federal government and key to upholding its trust responsibility. We have a long way to go, but all progress starts with listening.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

#FAHM2022: FilAm history society celebrates triple anniversaries

FANHS

Dorothy Cordova and her late husband Fred Cordova founded the Filipino American
National History Society 40 years ago.

Three events that have lasting legacies for Filipino Americans are being celebrated this October as suggested by the Filipino American National History Society, the organization that launched Filipino American History Month.

Every year FANHS selects a theme to help tits chapters and any other organization who want to stage a celebration this month. 2022 marks the anniversaries of:

• 50 Years of Filipino American Studies;
• 40 Years since the founding of the Filipino American National Historical Society;
• 30 Years of observing Filipino American History Month.

First, 50 years ago, the first Filipino American Studies (FAS) classes were taught at UCLA and UC Davis. With classes previously established at San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco, 1972 was the year in which FAS began to be taught across multiple institutions and states. Over the past 50 years, college-level FAS classes became instituted at colleges and universities all over the country – from Oregon to Michigan to Virginia. More recently, FAS curricula have been established in K-12 public schools in California, Hawai’i, and Seattle. 

Second, in 1982, Dorothy Laigo Cordova founded the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) – the oldest national Filipino American organization and the only national group committed to promoting and preserving Filipino American history. For the past 40 years, FANHS has educated Filipino and non-Filipino people – through conferences, workshops, lectures, films, artwork, and other media – about the Filipino American historical experiences and contributions to the US In 2016, the FANHS National Museum opened in Stockton, California, and as of 2022, there are 42 FANHS chapters across the United States.

Finally, October 1992 was the first time that Filipino American History Month (FAHM) was celebrated in the United States – a year after FANHS passed a proclamation (spearheaded by Fred Cordova). Since then, FAHM has been celebrated annually all over the country – with initiatives by FANHS chapters, local community nonprofit groups, government organizations, and college student organizations. In 2009, US Congress declared October as FAHM, and in 2015, President Obama celebrated the first FAHM at the White House.

FAHM suggests some activities that could be implemented:

• Read Filipino American Studies books of the past and present. For example, 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the edited text Filipino Americans: Transformation and Identity, (edited by Maria P. P. Root) – regarded as a foundational comprehensive text in Filipino American Studies.

• Support arts and media that advance Filipino American Studies, such as Lumpia with a Vengeance (film) or Larry: The Musical (theater).

• Learn about the history of the Luzones Indios who first set foot in California on October 18, 1587 (435 years ago), as well as the historical oppression and resilience of Indigenous Peoples from the Philippines in both the motherland and in the United States.

• Conduct and share oral histories that highlight regional experiences of Filipino American history. For example, our newer FANHS chapters in Ohio and Georgia have uncovered untold stories of migrants, pensionados, and laborers in their states.

• Curate a panel of Filipino American artists to describe their contributions to the arts (e.g., music, dance, theater, hip hop).

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Rhode Island is 4th state to require teaching of AANHPI history

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (2nd from left) with some of the state's community leaders.

This time next year, Rhode Island students will be learning about labor leader Larry Itliong and the laws that kept Asian immigrants from becoming US citizens and owning property.

“Rhode Island’s strength is in its diversity, and this important legislation will do so much to highlight the rich history and heritage of the Asian American community and the positive impact they’ve had on our state and country,” said Governor Dan McKee.

McKee was joined Saturday by Senator Sandra Cano and Representative Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, and other community leaders to ceremonially sign legislation which requires all public elementary and secondary schools in Rhode Island to provide at least one unit of instruction on Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander History and culture.

With the signing, Rhode Island now joins New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois in requiring Asian American studies in the public school curriculum.

The ceremonial bill signing took place during the opening ceremonies of the Rhode Island Chinese Dragon Boat Races and Taiwan Day Festival in Pawtucket on Saturday morning.

The legislation (2022-S 2910A, 2022-H 7272A) requires every public elementary school and secondary school, beginning in the 2023-24 school year, to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) history, including the history of AA and NHPIs in Rhode Island and the Northeast, as well as the contributions of AA and NHPIs toward advancing civil rights.

“Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have been a vital part of Rhode Island’s history dating back to the 1800s and continuing through today, and our state is stronger for it,” said Lt. Governor Sabina Matos. “Let’s keep working to ensure that every Rhode Island student can learn about each vibrant culture that makes our state unique.”

“According to the 2020 Census, Rhode Island’s Asian American community has grown 28% over the last decade and in order to ensure that our society respects the dignity of all races and peoples, it is important that our children learn about the history and contributions made by the various different cultures within our state,” said Senator Sandra Cano (D-Dist. 8, Pawtucket), bill sponsor.

The move towards mandating teaching about AANHPI culture and history comes on as attacks against Asian Americans continue. Since the beginning of the pandemic, anti-Asian attacks have increased because of the link towards the virus' origins in China that had been emphasized by the Donald Trump administration.

Educators and social scientists believe the absence of Asian American history in public schools has contributed to racial bias and fear directed at AANHPI.

A recent survey  by STAATUS (Social Tracking of Asian Americans in the U.S.) found that almost half of Americans could not name one prominent Asian American, completely forgetting that Vice President Kamala Harris is Indian American.

“When talking to Asian American students about this bill, they told me they had never been assigned material to read by an Asian American author and that they had never learned about their history or culture in school," said state Representative Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung (R-Dist. 15, Cranston), bill sponsor.

"Combined with the rising bias against Asian Americans, there is a clear need to break this cycle of cultural misunderstandings and this legislation is a good first step in that direction, acknowledging and celebrating the instrumental role that Asian Americans have had in our state, country and culture,” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

SF's Bessie Carmichael School / Filipino Education Center keeps gentrification and the pandemic at bay

When I began covering events at Bessie Carmichael School in San Francisco as a writer for the Philippine News I remember how excited I was at being surrounded by the Filipino students and the mostly Filipino American teaching staff. 

Coming from a suburban community where Filipino students were a minority, being at Bessie Carmichael was an eye-opening experience for me. Hearing Tagalog being spoken by kids in the playground and the teachers in classroom brought permanent gring to my face even though I understood only a fraction of what was being said.

It was at Bessie Carmichael, a few blocks from the PhilNews office, that I attended the Far West Convention, an annual gathering of students and activists from the West Coast discussing and developing strategies around issues such as bilingual education, the fight for affordable housing in Manilatown, fighting for the rights of farmworkers, hearing the latest developments to bring justice to the Filipino WWII veterans and the fight to create ethnic studies at the college level.

I followed with stories about the threat to shut down the only public school in SOMA and the only school in the San Francisco Unified School District with a majority Filipino American student body; the fear that the Filipino education Center might be shut down; and the Filipino American community's efforts to stave off those threats.

Since those days, Bessie Carmichael has been rebuilt into a modern facility and the staff; the school has been paired with the Filipino Education Center, one of the first of its kind in the nation, to help immigrant Filipino students adjust to the US.

Due to shifts in demographics and rising rent, Filipino students are no longer the majority of Bessie Carmichael's students, but the Pinoy influence is still dominant and extends beyond the campus into the alleyways and apartments serving as homes to a sometimes neglected and forgotten Filipino American population. The school has taken on the role of one of the most influential and stable institutions in the Filipino district south of Market Street dubbed SOMA Pilipinas - Filipino Cultural Heritage District.

Bessie Carmichael students take part in a program in conjuction with the American Conservatory Theater.

My recollections of Bessie Carmichael Elementary and the FEC was sparked by the following article by Helena Gabrielle Ong, originally published in Prism.

* * *

By Helena Gabrielle Ong

REPRINTED FROM PRISM

In San Francisco, the Filipino cultural heritage district is celebrating its sixth year of recognition. Located in the city’s South of Market (SoMa), the district has street banners featuring Filipino Americans, utility boxes designed with the Filipino Abakada alphabet, and a park named after Victoria Manalo Draves, the first Filipino American Olympic gold medalist. It’s a community that has struggled with xenophobia, economic challenges, gentrification, and a pandemic.

However, at the heart of the district lies the Bessie Carmichael School/Filipino Educational Center (FEC), which provides not only academic education, but also programs and events to encourage students and adults to learn more about and connect to Filipino-American culture. Bessie Carmichael has a long history of serving immigrant populations in the SoMa district. Filipino Americans settled into the district post-World War II after being pushed out of San Francisco’s Manilatown in retaliation for organizing protests over tenants’ rights. SoMa eventually became a “gateway” neighborhood for Filipino immigrants.

Today, San Francisco-Bay Area is the second most populous region for Filipinos in the U.S., and Filipinos make up 4.6% of San Francisco’s population. Filipino students account for 4% of San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and at Bessie Carmichael, which serves pre-kindergarten to eighth grade students, 27% students and about a third of teachers and administrators identify as Filipino. The programming and support offered by the school are especially critical for Filipino students, many of whom face financial and housing insecurity and the pressures they create for mental health and academic performance.

Nearly 80% of Bessie Carmichael/FEC students are socioeconomically disadvantaged and have struggled academically for several years, performing below the state’s standards for language and math. Parents of students are also worried about their children’s mental health, citing high rates of suicidal ideation among Filipino girls. The instability and isolation of the pandemic has only exacerbated these issues, making Bessie Carmichael/FEC services all the more crucial. In helping students navigate their journeys into adulthood through these challenging circumstances, the Bessie Carmichael/FEC community is leaning into a deeply rooted history of celebrating Filipino American cultural education, grassroots organizing, and nourishing intergenerational ties. 

The "Tuloy Po Kayo" (Welcome) mural overlooks the school playground

Preserving the history of San Francisco’s Filipino community

Many immigrant families face immense pressure to leave behind their cultural identity to fully acclimate to their adoptive homes. Assimilation into the American “mainstream” is not only considered a method of survival, but a gold standard for “being American.” It forces many immigrants to abandon their heritage, the effects of which still reverberate for successive generations.

Christina Alejo feared that loss of connection to Filipino cultural identity when her family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s. She enrolled her children into the FEC, which, at the time, was a separate feeder program for Bessie Carmichael. The program’s intent was to acclimate non-English speaking students, but instead of pushing students to speak only English, the FEC promoted both Filipino language maintenance and English language learning.

“[The FEC] accepted the kids for who they are [and] their background; it embellished and even enriched their bilingualism,” Alejo said.

But when the FEC threatened to close down due to declining numbers of Filipino students, Alejo was one of several mothers who advocated for preserving Filipino education. The parents passionately lobbied the school board to retain the FEC, eventually resulting in a merger of the Bessie Carmichael school and FEC program that was completed in 2000.

Today, Bessie Carmichael/FEC is the one of two schools in the country to offer Filipino Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES). Alejo is now a parent of two Bessie Carmichael/FEC alumni and has been active in the SoMa community ever since. She’s been joined by more mothers like Antonina Real and Ruby Turalba, who continue to advocate for an expanded language program at Bessie Carmichael/FEC. Real is working on becoming a teacher herself, hoping to teach in a Filipino language program. Turalba, an adjunct professor for public health at SFSU, believes that language and cultural education is important to students’ mental health.

“Students feel like it’s important to know who they are,” Turalba said. “It’s the way of decolonizing because by learning our language, history, and culture, we don’t have to be embarrassed about who we are.”

Bessie Carmichael/FEC also hosts Galing Bata, an afterschool program that offers Filipino language and cultural education that Alejo helped establish in 2001. It teaches a variety of subjects such as language support, Filipino history, folktales, and workshops with the American Conservatory Theater, where students study eskrima (Filipino martial arts) and kulintang (Filipino music and dance). Students also learn about Filipino-American authors and the city’s history with Manilatown. Some are training to give “ethno tours” of the district with SOMA Pilipinas. It’s such a unique program that students from as far away as New York have inquired about joining virtually, though it is currently limited to Bessie Carmichael students.

“We have a huge pool of Filipino-American history,” said Valerie Fernandez, a fifth grade teacher at Bessie Carmichael/FEC. “Our hope for the next generation of Filipino students is to remember that a lot of the changemakers have not been necessarily fluent in the language, but they’ve been fluent in our history and the history of our resilience in this country.”

Maintaining identity in the face of rising costs and the pandemic

However, Bessie Carmichael/FEC is struggling to fund these programs as the area’s Filipino community is shrinking. While Filipinos still account for 27% of Bessie Carmichael’s student population, that percentage has fallen significantly over the past decade—in 2010, Filipinos were 47% of the student body. Raquel Redondiez, a project manager at SOMA Pilipinas, attributes this to rising housing costs. A mother to three Bessie Carmichael/FEC students and a third-generation San Franciscan, she has watched many Filipino families struggle to maintain a foothold in the neighborhood.

“We’re very much rooted in our experience as immigrant people, but also in the neighborhoods and the Filipino-American experience,” Redondiez said.

For Redondiez, sustaining the Filipino-American identity is about survival. For decades, Filipino Americans have faced and surmounted countless obstacles to establish their enclave in SoMa. But being able to survive, never mind thrive, is immensely difficult in a city where wages aren’t rising to keep pace with the rapidly increasing cost of living.

Housing valuation in San Francisco has gone up by 290% since 2000. In the 2010s, tech companies began moving en masse into the city, especially in the SoMa district; as of 2015, 60% of office spaces were owned by tech companies. According to Redondiez, the tech boom wiped out many of the Filipino-owned businesses in the neighborhood. The COVID-19 pandemic has also hurt San Francisco’s cultural districts, including the SoMa, as it forced more small businesses to close.

The multiple economic and social punches of gentrification hit home for many Bessie Carmichael/FEC families. In fact, Bessie Carmichael/FEC has one of the highest rates of unhoused students in SFUSD, at 21.7%. Socioeconomic and housing insecurity are risk factors for mental health issues and lower academic achievement, both of which Bessie Carmichael/FEC teachers know their students are struggling with.

While Bessie Carmichael/FEC hires social workers through the SFUSD to work with students and families, they’ve also developed partnerships with local organizations such as SOMA Pilipinas, SOMCAN, United Playaz, West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, and the Bayanihan Community Center. Some of these organizations work with Galing Bata or afterschool support, while others assist families with affordable housing, employment, and health services. Additionally, the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Francisco partners with Galing Bata to teach mental wellness.

“Cultural education focuses on building, not only language and culture, but a healthy Filipino identity,” said Charity Ramilo, a third-grade teacher at Bessie Carmichael/FEC.

Students, community and staff lobbied for this crosswalk that connects Bessie Carmichael
campus with the Victoria Manalo Draves Park.

Similar to past efforts, where mothers like Alejo were the primary advocates for the FEC, these organizations are heavily staffed by Bessie Carmichael/FEC parents and alumni, forming a tight-knit network. Taking on the role of both a parent and community advocate is not easy, but it’s necessary because “you have to be at the table,” says Alexis David, one of founders for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative-SF and a Bessie Carmichael parent.

“My children are just part of the process, and we just have to keep them engaged in it,” David said.

Keeping students engaged isn’t easy with many parents and teachers concerned for their students’ mental health. However, Ramilo emphasized the importance of afterschool programs and local organizations, and how students have responded well to these efforts, both academically and actively engaging in the community.

“When you hear the backstory, why [students] can’t focus, and what’s going on at home, it’s sad, we could cry,” Ramilo said. “[Students] are hungry for mentorship, and they’re hungry for connections.”

This struggle between mental health and education is an experience that resonates with Turalba herself. Having to deal with teachers who didn’t understand why Filipino culture was important to her and feeling disregarded led her to drop out of high school and be hospitalized for suicidal ideation as a teenager. As a parent, she homeschooled her children for several years to protect them from having the same educational experience that she had, until she found a supportive community at Bessie Carmichael/FEC.

“I didn’t feel like my experience was reflected in the curriculum,” Turalba said. “I didn’t have teachers that respected my own cultural background.”

However, students aren’t the only ones being supported by these collective efforts—parents and other adults have also been struggling, and the Bessie Carmichael/FEC community refuses to leave them behind. During the pandemic, Galing Bata hosted a chikahan support group for parents and guardians with wellness checks and needs assessments. The school also ran a food bank with volunteers from the community, alumni, and staff delivering food to senior adults.

Underpinning these initiatives is the vital role of an interactive community in Filipino culture and the idea that one can’t be of service to others without taking care of oneself as well. David stresses the importance of actively cultivating wellness and self-care as an integral part of what it means to be Filipino and part of a Filipino community.

“There is a level of care that has really helped us survive as people,” she said.
Strengthening generational ties

Ramilo was just a teenage volunteer at Bessie Carmichael/FEC in 2003 when the school director approached her and said she saw a teacher in Ramilo.

“I said, ‘I have no patience!’” Ramilo laughed.

Now, she’s celebrating her 13th year as a teacher at the school. Ramilo is one of many volunteers and teachers at Bessie Charmichael who are part of a Filipino mentorship “pipeline” that’s become a staple of the community. Fernandez also volunteered at Bessie Carmichel/FEC as a teenager and has been a teacher there for 10 years.

“We chose to teach in elementary schools and high schools with the purpose of not having [students] wait until college—if they even make it to college—to learn about [Filipino-American] histories,” Fernandez said. “It makes us think about what’s important for the next generation.”

In addition to nurturing students’ understanding of Filipino-American history and identity, the emphasis on Filipino community ties through mentorship programs helps encourage students and alumni to give back to the school in various ways, whether financially or by giving their time and talents. For instance, Galing Bata runs a mentorship program for seventh and eighth graders to become junior counselors. As alumni, Alejo’s daughter volunteered at Galing Bata for three years, while Alejo’s son is a tenant counselor for a community program in the SoMa neighborhood.

“They know that this community raised them to be who they are,” Alejo said. “It’s really out of profound respect, to give back to the community that raised them.”

Four staffers at Galing Bata are alumni as well, including Mark Belocura and Mittee Tuason, both of whom describe the organization as family.

“[Bessie Carmichael] provided that space for me to accept myself and not just forget my native language,” said Belocura.

Tuason hopes to become a teacher at Bessie Carmichael someday and “give back to the community that I was raised in,” she says. Alumni have also expressed the desire to become social workers, which Ramilo says the community needs as well.

That emphasis on connections to community, culture, and history has bolstered the Filipino community in San Francisco through ongoing challenges like racist hostility, gentrification, and the pandemic. While SoMa and Bessie Carmichael/FEC have historically served as a “gateway” for immigrant families and English-learning students, it’s an open door in both directions. It’s allowed students and alumni to connect back with their heritage, culture, and Filipino community. It’s a continuing process that the community hopes will sustain them, moving forward to future generations.

“It’s a Filipino philosophy: ‘Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makakarating sa paroroonan,’ which means, ‘If you don’t look back to where you came from, you’ll never reach your destination,’” Alejo said.

About the Author: Helena Gabrielle Ong is a writer, currently based in New York. She is also an editorial producer at The New Yorker. Her past work has appeared in NBC4 News, The Tempest, San Francisco Public Press, and more. You can find her on Twitter @hihellohelena.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

Biden launches process establishing the national museum about AANHPI

WHITE HOUSE

President Biden signs a bill Monday  that starts the process of establishing a museum about Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

A new museum about Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to help tell America's story took a major step towards reality Monday.

President Biden signed a bill, H.R. 3525, Monday that seeks to create the first national museum dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians  and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs).

"It’s about time for a national museum to capture the courage, the character, and the imagination," said Biden. "And maybe, from my perspective, looking from a little bit from a distance, is the dreams and the heart and the soul of the generations of our fellow Americans who came before you and all of you. 

"That’s what this law is going to do. That’s what it’s going to do. It going to create a commission that will examine how to make the museum a reality, including whether it should be part of the Smithsonian."

RELATED: Remarks of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris

Biden made a point of crediting Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, for sponsoring the bill and pushing through Congress.

“I am ecstatic and overjoyed at this historic moment and honored and proud to have championed this crucial effort, especially after fighting for this legislation in Congress over the past seven years,” said Meng.

"Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have shaped our nation since its founding," Meng continued. "From the struggles we’ve endured to the accomplishments we’ve made, it’s time for more Americans, and our future generations, to know our story. And a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture would provide the physical space for people to learn how we have helped make America the country that it is today. 

"It would help ensure that more Americans understand that Asian Pacific American history IS American history," said Meng. 

Meng’s bill will follow a similar path used to create the National Museum of African American History and Culture which opened in 2016, and the National Museum of the American Latino and National Women’s History Museum, both of which are in the process of being established.

 

Entitled the “Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture Act,” the legislation will create a commission of eight individuals with various expertise in museum planning or AAPI history and culture to examine the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, funding and operating such a facility in the nation’s capital, possibly as part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. which is the world’s largest museum and research complex. 

 

Meng's measure will require the commission to:

 

• Report recommendations for a plan of action on the establishment and maintenance of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture;

 

• Develop a fundraising plan to support the establishment, operation, and maintenance of the museum through public contributions;

 

• Obtain an independent review of this fundraising plan, including an analysis of the resources necessary to fund the construction of the museum and its operations and maintenance without reliance on federal funds;

 

• Report on the availability and cost of acquiring collections for the museum, identify potential locations for the facility in Washington, D.C., and determine its regional impact on other related museums; and

 

• Submit to Congress a legislative plan of action on whether to and how to establish and construct the museum.

 

The legislation will also direct the commission’s recommendations to address whether the museum should be part of the Smithsonian. The commission will have 18 months to complete the study and its members will be appointed by the House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader.

Although the Meng law doesn't formally establish a museum, the Commission study and report is the same process other museums have had to undergo before building a physical facility.

Before Vice President Kamala Harris introduced Biden, she said as the daughter of an immigrant from India, the occasion had a special meaning for her. 

"This is also American history, and we must teach it as it really happened so that we can learn from our best moments and learn from our darkest moments, and in particular, then, to ensure they are never repeated, our darkest moments," said Harris.

"By equipping people with knowledge and historical context, then we can fight ignorance, dispel misinformation, and work toward a future where all people can live without fear and a future where all people — all people can help write the next chapter of American history."

 

A copy of Meng’s legislation and additional details about the measure can be viewed here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.