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.