I'm happy to say that my dad was able, in some way, to help the Filipinos, and if his dream of the Filipino having a better image than what it was then, that is his legacy. World War II was a turning point for Filipinos. Eager to prove their patriotism, Filipinos volunteered en masse to fight against the Japanese. The 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry regiments were formed, and these wartime efforts led to improved status for Filipinos. My grandfather, Delvin Bohulano, he volunteered, and he was in the Filipino infantry regiment.
And he was involved in that mass nationalization ceremony that you see pictures of thousands, of Filipinos lined up taking their citizenship oath. With citizenship, now you can buy land, (and) now you vote. This is an incredible change for Filipinos. After World War II, the Filipino community, like the rest of the nation, flourished and took new shape. A larger number of Filipinas start coming in because they are (were) war brides. Men who fought overseas in the 1st and 2nd Filipino regiments, when they go back to the Philippines there is an opportunity for them to meet and marry young Pinays https://casinoslots-sa.co.za/citadel. Young families, better financial possibilities and a new identity as American citizens all created a sense of community and belonging that hadn't existed before. Little Manila was no longer a bachelor society. It became a gathering place for Filipino families. Well, the sports that the Filipinos had back in those days, was very few. So we decided to get our own team up. And so each town would get their own basketball team: Livingston, Sacramento, Vallejo, San Francisco, (and) L.A. We'd get together and have a tournament: all of us guys. It was we'd get to know each other, (and) meet new girls, you know? My dad had this queen contest going on for a Miss Philippines. The queen contests were popularity contests: you had to sell votes, and they were a dollar a piece. The fraternal organizations would use this as a fundraiser. Actually that was a big moneymaker at that time. Anita was one of the most beautiful mestizas that I have met, and Anita was one of the candidates. And she won. What did I do with the money? I actually bought furniture for our home. I bought a stove, a dining room set, and a living room set with the 800 dollars. The work of thousands of Filipinos went into making California's heartland what it is today, a multi-billion dollar agricultural industry that makes California the fifth largest economy in the world. Yet few people are aware that Filipino farm workers played a crucial part in one of the great labor movements of American history: collaborating with Cesar Chavez. The conditions in the fields were amazing (for) what these guys put up with. A gentlemen by the name of Larry Itliong was in Stockton, and he was part of the labor movement to get Filipinos involved in this whole issue of unfair labor in the fields. (In) 1965 where (when) people think, wow, United Farm Workers, Chicanos, started this movement. But actually it was the Filipinos that dragged the Mexicans into the labor movement. Filipinos from Sacramento, Stockton, (and) the central valley are basically following the crop rotation. They're down in Coachella Valley. They get to Delano. And so the workers were kind of upset already about what's happening, considering that they came from Coachella, and they were getting $1.40 there. And here in Delano it was $1.10. (If) Filipinos go out on strike, (then) big problem. The Mexicans are going to become the strike breakers, So Itliong goes up to Chavez and says, "Look, we need your support." And Chavez says, "No, I can't give you my support." Itliong says, "Why not?" Chavez says "I'm not ready. We'll wait 2-3 more years." Itliong says, "No.
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But later on you found out that you couldn't go the other side of Main Street, or you couldn't own property. In the Fox Theater, which is the main theater in Stockton, we were not allowed. Filipinos were not allowed to sit in the center part of the movie theater. They were relegated to the side aisles against the walls. And that went on through probably the 40's and maybe even the 50's. Well, to understand racism and to understand the ways that Filipinos were treated, you have to really understand racism and the construction of race relations in the United States at the turn of the century.
Filipinos are essentially the only Asian immigrants entering at this time in which the U.S. essentially said, we are closing our doors to anybody who does not fit this racial stock that we imagine Americans should be made up of, which is white Anglo Saxon protestant racial stock. And so Filipinos are also coming into an area that is populated by people who have migrated from the Midwest and the South, and brought with them (Midwesterners and southerners) to California their ideas of racial superiority (and) rigid segregation, and so Stockton is an extremely segregated city. Why do they (the Filipinos) feel they can wear these suits and drive these cars and date anybody they want to? Well, that's what their American teachers tell(ing) them (what) they can do (as American residents) in the Philippines. It's important to remember that they grew up in an American colonial culture, and they come to the United States in part because of the extreme poverty that capitalism in American colonialism brings, that's for sure. But they also come to the United States because of the movies they see; because of stories that they hear; because of the teachers who tell them that America is this land of opportunity. They don't tell them about the racism in the United Sates. They don't tell them they're not allowed to go to certain places; that they're not going to be able to become citizens. In 1934, motivated by anti-Filipino sentiments, Congress passed the Tydings McDuffie Act which later granted independence to the Philippines, but restricted immigration of Filipinos to America to just 50 per year. (The) 1934, Tydings-McDuffie Act changed the status of Filipinos from nationals, which was this kind of in between status of colonial subjects, to aliens. One year later, Congress attempted to deport Filipinos from the U.S. with the Repatriation Act: a one-way ticket back to the Philippines. For many of these Filipinos to go back home on this one-way ticket and to have to promise to never come back was really seen as a slap in face from the American government. Filipinos knew what was happening. They knew that congress was essentially trying to stop Filipino immigrants from coming to the U.S. And then with the repatriation act, they saw that Filipinos were essentially being told to get out. And this becomes a rallying point for Filipinos to come around and another reason why Filipinos feel they need to create community organizations in order to give themselves, you know, give each other support. There was a Masonic Order brought over from the Philippines called the Gran Oriente. There was the Legionarios del Trabajo, there was the Caballeros de Masalan, and there was the Filipino Federation of America. And so Filipinos from Stockton could choose from any number of these fraternal orders to find companionship, to find support, (and) to find family. Stockton leaders like Claro Candelario sought out justice for the Filipino community. He spoke against racism, the gambling halls and other businesses taking advantage of Filipinos, as well as the unfair labor practices against farm workers. I think, really and truly, my dad felt that there has to be something better from the Filipinos, also. But when he came to Stockton, he found out how these agricultural workers were really treated, (and) where they lived. And, well, he just got involved in the movement. In 1939, Filipino labor leaders organized an asparagus strike in Stockton demanding the restoration of higher wages. Their strike was so successful that all but two growers agreed to their terms. It was some kind of entertainment for them. My dad got girls from San Francisco, Los Angeles, (and) Sacramento: about 20-25 girls working there. But they were all Caucasian girls. And these pinoys, they were all young guys from the islands, they had never danced with a Caucasian woman. It was something for them.
And they'd come in the dance hall dressed up like peacocks. Taxi dance: you'd grab one girl, (and) go from one girl to another. It's like a taxi cab, and then here in Stockton we'd call 'em dime jigs . 10 cents a dance. A jig was the dance. They loved to dance. They would do the fox trot, the jitterbug, the swing, the tango, any of that, and they prided themselves in being dancers. I appreciated the role of the taxi dancers and the ladies of the evening, because they took the sexual drive of the Filipino men and kept it away from us. They (the Filipino men) treated us like relatives. They would feel that our family was their family. And so these gals did us a favor. They saved our souls from damnation. Because migrant farm working was not conducive to family life, Filipina women and children were not encouraged to immigrate. Limited to a ratio of 14 Filipino males to every 1 female, Filipino men instead often found relationships with women of other races. Though many states prohibited Filipinos from marrying whites, a new generation of mestizos, mixed-race Filipinos, was born. My father came from Luzon, and my mother is white. So they were not able to get married in Arizona, 'cause in 1931 Arizona had an anti-miscegenation law. My mother and father had to go to Lordsburg, New Mexico to get married, because they allowed Filipinos to marry whites. On my mom's side it's black, Irish and native American. And on my father's side it's Ilocano from the Philippines. When I stop to think about it, at our family reunions and different family gatherings, it's every color of the rainbow. Whites in Stockton are absolutely shocked and angered that Filipinos would dare date white women. My god, the affront these young Filipino men wearing these incredible suits that they worked so hard in the fields to buy. You know, walking around downtown Stockton with these white women on their arms, really incited a lot of racist anger. These boiling racial tensions along with fierce competition for jobs during the Depression culminated into race riots and clashes between whites and Filipinos all over the West Coast. On January 29th, 1930, a bomb shattered the front of the Filipino Federation Building in Stockton. Well, during those days that (type of) racism was something that wasn't against the law. We were never allowed to go beyond Main Street, north of Main Street, where you could be spotted because you were dark skinned. My father would never go into town unless he had his brother or his cousin or some of his town mates with him. And that was mainly for protection. If anybody wanted to come up to you and just make a derogatory remark, then they would do it, and there was no recourse. It would only make things worse. Back in the 30's early 40's there was a feeling of discrimination back then. I remember one time this guy, Johnny Mokado, and I we went to some hotel. And right there on the steps: No Filipinos Allowed . Man, I was shocked to see that. That really amazed me. But it just didn't dawn on me at that time of being discrimination. We just said you don't want us, you don't want us. So we just took off. |
AuthorMike created this blog to help people in finding a good job. Mike is a guest writer and online gambler player at Crasinoslots https://casinoslots-sa.co.za/ . He likes hunting, hiking and extreme sports, esport, poker. Archives
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