As promised, here's the full video recording of Positively Filipino's tribute to our Manongs and Manangs held in San Francisco on August 31, 2024.

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One of the reasons we think highly of Bicolanos -- beyond Leni Robredo and laing -- is their unified and passionate piety for Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the designated patroness of the Bicol region, honored every third Sunday of September with a fluvial procession in Naga and celebrated by Bicolanos wherever they may be in the world. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Bicolanos from various cities would gather for mass, food and entertainment in a park every year without fail. It's heartening then to find out from PF contributing writer Ronald Salazar that the tradition continues in New Zealand, proof that the universal reach of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, protector of seafarers, farmers and fisherfolk, knows no bounds.

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In the pantheon of internationally acclaimed photojournalists, the name of Hannah Reyes Morales is already etched in stone. Winner of a growing number of photo awards and recognition, including being finalist in the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for the New York Times, the 33-year-old Filipina who is also a new mother of a baby girl, has come a long way from her days when she had to sell ukay-ukay (used) clothes to support herself as an undergraduate at the University of the Philippines (UP). Read about Hannah's journey as told by Laurel Fantauzzo, herself an acclaimed novelist and writer.

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So-called "martial law babies" -- those who came of age in the early days of martial law (1972) in the Philippines -- are a different breed and mindset from millennials and Gen X, Y, Zs. They have lived through massive civil protests and authoritarian repression, experiences that have defined the rest of their lives, whether they like it or not. For the Maryknoll College (now known as Miriam) Class of '74, their years as students in that small campus on Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City cemented their sisterhood. Now in their 70s, the class gathered last week for their golden jubilee celebration of lives (mostly) well spent. PF Correspondent Cherie Querol Moreno, a class '74 stalwart, writes their story.

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Our Video of the Week, a poignant, both heartbreaking and heartwarming, 23-minute video on Manila's elderly gays: Manila’s famous ‘Golden Gays’ search for a forever home

[Partner] Commit a Hate Crime: Serve No Time?

[Register Now] Anti-Asian Hate Webinar: Caring for Ourselves, Family & Friends

In The Know

After New York closure, Purple Yam Manila lives on with uniquely Filipino pies
https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/food-drinks/purple-yam-manila-lives-on-homemade-filipino-pies/

Japan, Thailand, and South Korea rank as Filipinos’ most revisited countries
https://www.bworldonline.com/arts-and-leisure/2024/08/30/617101/japan-thailand-and-south-korea-rank-as-filipinos-most-revisited-countries/

One of the masterminds behind the viral Dubai chocolate bar is actually a Filipino chef
https://pop.inquirer.net/366631/one-of-the-masterminds-behind-the-viral-dubai-chocolate-bar-is-actually-a-filipino-chef

Beauty queen indicted in scheme targeting Filipino Americans
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/06/ponzi-fraud-maria-dickserson-dulce-pino/

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Hate incident at Chinese restaurant in Boulder, CO
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/10/anti-asian-hate-racial-slurs-restaurant-grand-opening/

Hate crimes deepen divide between Hindus & Sikhs
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/10/increased-hate-crimes-indian-americans-sikhs-hindus/

Man sentenced for intentionally running over Asian pedestrian
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/05/hate-crime-vietnamese-american-family-children/

NY State Sen. warns of anti-Chinese sentiment amid Sun case
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/09/john-liu-backs-linda-sun-amid-investigation/

Funding provided by the State of California.

On this Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we Filipino Americans join our brothers, sisters, and forebears, who originally came from across, or within, the Pacific Ocean, in celebrating our presence in our adopted country and our uniqueness from one another. We also stand strongly against the voices of hate who would ignore our contributions and deny us the right to be here.

This year’s heritage month has brought a sharper focus on AAPI achievements in mainstream news media, entertainment, literature, government, and in American society as a whole. Kamala Harris became the first Asian American to be elected vice president. There have been several Asian American appointments, including Filipino Americans, to high national, state, and local offices. These contributions stand in sharp contrast to the racist attacks, including physical violence, against Asian Americans since the pandemic began. By March this year there had been some 3,800 reported incidents of racism directed against Asian Americans. The bigotry has been so appalling that no decent person can remain unmoved.

Asian Americans have not taken these unwarranted attacks lying down. Protests against bigotry and xenophobia are being held across the country. Prominent Asians are speaking out against anti-Asian hate. Webinars are buzzing with discussions on racism, on our place in U.S. history, and with efforts to understand the roots systemic racial prejudice in the evolution of American democracy.

These bracing developments indicate that we Asians are asserting ourselves as fully contributing members of American society, no longer the silent, self-effacing, "model" minority that we have been perceived to be.

But where does the Filipino American fit in the emerging AAPI narrative? Our doctors, nurses, and hospital workers keep America’s health care system running, and our professionals and clerical workers keep corporations humming. Where is the Filipino American in the "best of" lists that have included Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian names?

We are steadily getting there, as our new generations come to their own; but we must still persist in our collective quest to make our voices heard. We need to build comparably strong political muscle that can help bolster that of other Asians. But we also need to rid our consciousness of vestigial colonial mentality, of our own animus against other people of color, of wanting only to fit in. Only then we can become a more visible strand in the fabric of the social construct called Asian America.