Our Fil-Am History, Ourselves

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From the time the Luzones Indios set foot on American land on October 18, 1587 to today's officially designated (by the US Congress) Filipino American History Month celebration, Filipinos and Americans have had a rich but tangled relationship. Bloodied by colonization, smoothed over by education, enhanced by immigration and bound together inextricably by the significant and rapidly growing presence of Filipinos in all aspects of life in the US, the FilAm -- and everything that it implies -- is already an integral part of the American tapestry. 

Positively Filipino's Timeline of Filipino American History, updated to include this year's markers, provides the most comprehensive overview of this complicated relationship. Save it for yourself and share it with your family and your community. It's an important document to assert your rightful place in the US.

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We celebrate the lives of two significant Filipinos who recently left this earth: Greg Macabenta, the multimedia icon and community leader, lovingly honored by his friend, Rodel Rodis; and the poet/revolutionary and passionate Christian, Mila D. Aguilar, by her friend, Cecilia M. Brainard.

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The heartbreaking news of three Filipino caregivers, victims of the current Hamas/Israel war, prompted us to dig up a 2004 Filipinas Magazine feature story on Filipinos in Israel. Written by Israeli freelance writer Inacio Steinhardt, the article is timeless in its spotlight on our modern-day heroes, Filipino caregivers.

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Here's a fun story to break the grimness: Alex Fox, a 23-year-old budding entrepreneur in New York, who organizes rave parties for the young and the restless. Veteran journalist Cristina DC Pastor of The FilAm writes about this son of two journalists in "Rave Against the Dying of the Night."

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For our Video of the Week, here's a technologically vintage film (made in 1978) by Linda Mabalot that presents a significant record of the lives of Filipino manongs, a perfect watch for FilAm History Month. 

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Staff

Heroes Old and New

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The recently ended war in Marawi City was an unfamiliar one for the officers and soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It was not guerrilla warfare, the strategy that the communist insurgency had long employed and on which the army is trained. It was urban warfare -- face-to-face, street-to-street fighting, with the enemy well-armed and well-motivated, its troop movements almost as organized and as massive as the republic's defenders. Thus, along with the immeasurable costs of infrastructure damage, lives and properties lost, and intense traumas among fighters and civilians, come tales of spine-tingling heroism from soldiers who had to employ every iota of courage, bravado, military knowledge and quick-thinking each of them possessed to save their lives and those of their troops, and to attain the objectives of their operations.

One such outstanding fighter was Lt. Geraldo Alvarez of the 51st Mechanized Infantry Company, who was tasked early on in the Marawi siege to rescue an officer wounded in the battlefield. What was normally a relatively easy operation transformed into a very intense four-day battle that Alvarez and his platoon never anticipated. Veteran journalist Criselda Yabes, who spent almost ten hours interviewing Alvarez, writes "Escape Through Death's Door," the very detailed narrative of a military operation that reads better than any fictional movie script.

Meanwhile, Heroes from a different war are the focus of Washington DC-based contributor Jon Melegrito, who reports on the long-overdue Congressional Gold Medal award for Filipino veterans of WWII. 

First-time contributor José Esteban Arcellana recalls the day he departed for the US and the variety of emotions it extracted from him and his family. "Departure Date 1973.August.05" is the first of our Immigrant Stories series. I hope we get yours soon. 

Here's our In the Know compilation of stories this week that will pique your interest:

How could Martial Law happen?
http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/10/30/17/opinion-how-could-martial-law-happen

How Scout Ranger commander won hostages’ release
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/941127/philippine-news-updates-marawi-siege-maute-group-islamic-state-terrorism

Migrant Life in Qatar
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/qatar-migrant-life?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=newsbreak

How Daly City's Filipino Mobile DJ Scene Changed Hip-Hop Forever
https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts/videos/1696389433767166/

And for our Happy Home Cook, enjoy Beef Pot Roast, a traditional American dish with a Filipino twist, as shared by my friend, Melanie Q. Suzara.

And for Video of the Week, Catherine Ceniza Choy reads excerpts from her book “Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History” at Berkeley Writers at Work. 

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Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino