Little Manila’s Big Triumphs
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Dillon Delvo, co-founder & executive director of Little Manila Rising, standing in front of a blank space in Little Manila. In 2020, the building where the Rizal Social Club once stood was demolished by the City due to its collapsing roof, which made it structurally unstable. (Photo by James Sobredo)
The lawsuit alleged that SAT/ACT test requirements for college admissions to the UC were discriminatory, especially against students with disabilities, and favored privileged, non-disabled students. The case occurred in the midst of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and state-wide “shelter-at-home” closures, which made it almost impossible for disabled students to take the SAT/ACT college entrance exams.
The other nonprofit organizations in the lawsuit against UC were the Chinese for Affirmative Action, Dolores Huerta Foundation, College Access Plan, College Seekers and Community Coalition (Kawika Smith vs. Regents of the University of California).
On August 31, 2020, the Court agreed with the plaintiffs. Judge Brad Seligman, Alameda County Superior Court, ruled that the University of California would be prohibited “from using SAT and the ACT test results for admissions or scholarship decisions.”
Earlier in the year, the UC Regents made SAT/ACT tests “test-optional” as a criterion for UC admissions, which the student applicant can still choose to submit. However, with the Court’s decision, it ordered UC to drop the SAT/ACT tests completely since it discriminated against disabled students.
How did a Filipino community organization from Stockton—a working-class agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley, with a racially diverse population of 312,000 and where Filipinos comprise the largest Asian American group—reach such influence and prominence to affect major policy changes that has nationwide ramifications?
“We are a historical preservation organization,” said Dillon Delvo, co-founder and executive director of Little Manila Rising, in a recent Board of Director’s meeting. Little Manila currently has ten paid staff, and its office occupies a two-story building. Then he added rhetorically, “How did we ever become involved in all these major policy issues?”
Little Manila Rising was originally founded in 1999 by Delvo and Dr. Dawn Mabalon, a professor of History at San Francisco State University. Both Delvo and Dr. Mabalon were born and raised in Stockton and graduates of Edison High School. Both their parents were part of the Manong/Manang (Filipino elder) generation that came to America prior to the 1965 large-scale immigration wave. Delvo’s father, Cipriano “Rudy” Delvo from Cebu, was a labor and community organizer who knew and worked with Larry Itliong. Cipriano Delvo recruited Itliong to come back to the labor movement after McCarthyism devastated Filipino farm labor unions.
Little Manila's "Fight the Blight" campaign in 2005. Dr. Dawn Mabalon (right) with Dillon Delvo with Stockton Mayor Ed Chavez (middle, white shirt). Dr. Mabalon and Delvo founded Little Manila to preserve the Filipino American community. Front, L-R: Vergie Navarro, Debbie Louie, Mayor Ed Chavez, Dillon Delvo, Dr. Dawn Mabalon. Back: Elena Buensalido Mangahas and Antonio Somera. The building being cleaned and painted is the Iloilo Circle in the Little Manila historical district. (Photo by James Sobredo)
Dillon Delvo was initially accepted to study film at the prestigious New York University’s film school, one of the top film schools in the country. But he decided to stay in California and attend San Francisco State University, so he could be close to his elderly father. He eventually graduated with a B.A. in Film, continued on to graduate school, and earned an M.A. in Asian American Studies. Delvo was one of the early creative pioneers who wrote, produced, and directed a short film in Stockton that told the story of a young Filipino American woman who had a Manong-generation father and who went on to get a college degree.
Dr. Mabalon’s father, Ernesto Mabalon, was also farm worker in the asparagus fields. Ernest Mabalon was from Aklan province. He earned an M.D. degree in Manila from the University of Santo Tomas and immigrated to Stockton in 1963. However, racial discrimination prevented him from practicing his medical profession, and he spent his life working as an asparagus farm worker. Dawn Mabalon went on to college at UCLA and earned a Ph.D. in History from Stanford University. She became a tenured history professor at San Francisco State University and wrote Little Manila is in the Heart, a landmark book that tells the history of Filipinos and the Little Manila community in Stockton.
Mabalon’s book details how Little Manila was a victim of racism, of discriminatory “red lining” and urban development, similar to what happened to other Filipino communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Her book has become a classic and is used in college courses across America. Tragically, in 2018, Mabalon died while on vacation with her family in Hawaii, and Delvo was left with the heavy responsibility of running the Little Manila organization and continuing Mabalon’s legacy.
Both Delvo and Mabalon grew up as the Little Manila district in downtown Stockton was slowly disappearing. It was the original and largest Filipino American community in California prior to the 1960s. At one time it was a vibrant four square-block area filled with Filipino restaurants, social halls, community centers, and other businesses. But, by 1999, there were only a few buildings left of that original community. Alarmed that their community was on the verge of completely disappearing, they started the Little Manila organization to preserve what little historical Filipino buildings remained.
They were able to have several buildings designated as historical landmarks in downtown Stockton, and have the area recognized as a historical district by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, designating Little Manila as one of 11 most endangered historic sites in America. But their efforts were not enough to preserve the buildings. Little by little, these continued to disappear. While Little Manila still believes that the remaining buildings can be saved, it also shifted its focus to a broader meaning of historical preservation.
Dillon Delvo, co-founder & executive director of Little Manila Rising, in downtown Stockton, the location of historic Little Manila. Behind him are the Interstate 5 freeway and the Port of Stockton. (Photo by James Sobredo)
Their historical preservation efforts evolved into teaching high school students about the history of Little Manila. This was how “Us History” (a multicultural ethnic studies program) and Little Manila After School Program (LMASP) were formed, focusing on Filipino Americans. Both classes were open to any student at Edison High School. The teachers in LMASP were also from different ethnicities, which would be important organizational traits for the sustainability of Little Manila Rising.
Us History was founded by Delvo and Alma Reigo, a credential Edison teacher. In order to preserve the memory of Little Manila and other ethnic communities in Stockton, students were taught ethnic studies courses which included the history of Filipinos in Stockton.
Among its teachers were Philip Merlo, a newly minted history graduate of UC Berkeley. Merlo was recruited by Lange Luntao, a young Filipino American member of the Little Manila Rising board. Luntao, at that time a teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, would eventually get elected to Board of Trustees of the Stockton Unified School District. He would later be co-founder and director of Stockton Scholars, a non-profit with a $20-million gift fund meant for college scholarships for Stockton high school graduates.
Ethnic Studies students from Sacramento State University on a field trip to Little Manila historic district. College students from Berkeley, San Francisco State University, UC Davis, UCLA, CSU East Bay, and other colleges and universities in California often come on field trips to visit Little Manila. Lang Luntao, Little Manila Rising board of directors member, is giving the students an orientation. (Photo by James Sobredo)
Both Luntao and Merlo left Stockton and earned degrees at prestigious institutions: Harvard for Luntao and Berkeley for Merlo. Both had international corporate jobs waiting for them after graduation. Malaysia for Luntao, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and Shanghai, China, for Merlo. Both, however, decided to return “home” to Stockton to serve their communities.
Merlo is not Filipino, but he was drawn to the social justice work that Dillon, Luntao, and Little Manila were doing. “Among all the social justice organizations, Little Manila was one of the organizations doing real work in Stockton,” Merlo explained. “It was the most grounded in the root causes of our society’s problems. Little Manila was going directly to the source of the problem of white supremacy in our social institutions.”
Us History classes and the LMASP program led to Little Manila playing a key role in getting Ethnic Studies incorporated into the high school curriculum of Stockton. Students in the LMASP classes participated in the Stockton school board meetings, testified on the importance of ethnic studies, and were instrumental in convincing the Stockton Unified School District to approve and adopt an ethnic studies curriculum. Today, Stockton high schoolers can take Ethnic Studies classes as part of their curriculum.
“If LM did not pick up the Ethnic Studies fight we would not have such a robust Ethnic Studies program in the Stockton School District,” said Merlo, who works as the Director of Education at the San Joaquin Country Historical Museum.
Mentoring young Stocktonians is an important aspect of Little Manila Rising’s success. Hannah Rhea Divino went through four years of Us History and LMASP at Edison High School. She went on to earn two bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from UC-Davis. Like many Stocktonians who felt the commitment to their home communities, Divino returned to Stockton and was hired by Little Manila Rising. She is currently a full-time staff member as Holistic Health Director for the organization’s Healing PUSO program.
Divino explained her role: “Under Healing PUSO, I oversee two major programs including Tai Chi in partnership with the San Joaquin County Department and the Filipinos Feed the Frontlines Campaign in partnership with Kultivate Labs in San Francisco.” She is also responsible for Little Manila Rising’s ever-expanding programs, including, 209 APIC Health & Wellness Committee, Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, and the Little Manila Afterschool Program.
Many of the former students of Little Manila’s LMASP program and members of its Kulintang Dance Collective would go on to college. Many also returned to Stockton, so they could “give back” to their community. For Delvo, Luntao, Divino, Merlo and many of the key members of Little Manila, the message is consistent: go on to college and come back and give back to your community.
By 2020, one of the few remaining buildings in downtown Stockton was demolished since it became structurally unstable when its roof collapsed. That building was the former location of the Rizal Social Club, a multi-use building for community meetings, dances, and other social events.
Members of the Little Manila Dance Collective. In a tribute performance for Dr. Dawn Mabalon in Stockton’s Barrio Fiesta Festival. (Photo by James Sobredo)
The historical preservation roots of Little Manila taught Delvo some very important lessons. Among those lessons were to have institutional and financial viability and sustainability. Another is to work with youth and a diverse group of people with the same goal and to form alliances. But, throughout it all, and, at its core, Little Manila is and remains a community-based organization that fights for social justice. Delvo felt that he and Dawn were not able to save Little Manila as a physical space; however, they continued to fight the good fight against racial discrimination and environmental racism.
That fight led Delvo and Little Manila to become key participants in Stockton AB617 Community Steering Committee (CSC) and the fight for cleaner air and against environmental racism. Environmentalists argue that often the most polluted areas are also working-class communities with a predominantly non-white populations. This seems to apply to Stockton and the area around the former Little Manila community.
In California, because of poor air quality and persisting air pollution, Stockton has the highest rate of asthma, a potentially life-threatening pulmonary condition. The San Joaquin Valley also has some of the most socio-economically disadvantaged communities in the state. It is a classic case of environmental racism: racially diverse and economically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately living in highly polluted environments.
In the midst of this public health crisis landscape sits the Port of Stockton, which is located next door to the downtown Little Manila community and is a major source of air pollution.
“The Port is a major employer in Stockton,” said Florence Quilantang, a retired Filipino American professor from Delta College and CSC member. Quilantang was born and raised in Stockton and grew up in South Stockton, close to the Port. Quilantang also serves on the Little Manila Rising board of directors: “The Port district did not always play fair with the surrounding community.”
The Lincoln Village West Marina is located far from downtown Stockton and where motor yachts come from as far as the San Francisco Bay Area to dock and spend their weekends. In the summer, the Lincoln West marina is a popular destination for boaters. Stockton is a heavily class-divided community, with a large socio-economically disadvantaged community near the downtown area, where Little Manila historic district is located, and small, privileged communities that come complete with yacht harbors. (Photo by James Sobredo)
At a recent CSC public online meeting in Stockton that I attended, residents voiced their frustration that, for many decades, the Port of Stockton had been a major source of air pollution from all the trucks, trains, and ships that transited through the Port, but they mainly did nothing about the problem. Quilantang explained, “People were tired of being uninformed about Port decisions. They felt that the Port always had the upper hand, and they felt that it is time for a change.”
AB617 requires California communities and their air district boards to “develop and implement additional emissions reporting, monitoring, reduction plans and measures in an effort to reduce air pollution exposure in disadvantaged communities.” California State funds were allocated to implement this air quality mandate. The Stockton CSC committee was responsible for the allocation of those funds. During that meeting, the AB617 CSC committee voted to reject $5 million slated by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD for the Port of Stockton.
The $5 million, which is a huge sum given that the Port has an operating expense of roughly $50 million (2019 report), were intended to purchase more environmentally friendly vehicles (e.g., electric forklifts). But the CSC Committee felt that the Port was not transparent enough, that it did not demonstrate the ability to create true community engagement to work together with the City and its residents to create a green port.
“It’s really amazing the amount of impact that we were able to make on air quality policy in just such a short time,” Delvo said, when he reported to the Little Manila Rising Board on the results of the AB617 CSC meeting. He added with a note of irony, “We’re a historic preservation organization.”
The original mission of the Little Manila organization was to address the racism and injustice faced by Filipinos who lived in the Little Manila community. A major part of that mission was to save and preserve what little was left of the original “Little Manila” Filipino community in downtown Stockton.
Because of racism and red-lining restrictions, Filipinos were not allowed to live beyond certain city and county boundaries, to areas that were further away from the Port and its pollution. As a historical preservation organization, Little Manila Rising was hoping to save the remnants of the old Filipino community. Now, it is affecting a larger community and having a greater impact on educational, air, and public health policies that affect all of Stockton and the entire state of California. But, more importantly, it is also making Stockton a better place for asthma patients.
Dr. Dawn Mabalon spent her life battling racism and social injustice. As a resident of Stockton, she also fought a personal life-long battle against asthma. It was an asthma attack in Hawaii that led to her tragic and untimely death. Now, in coming full circle, the Little Manila Rising organization is fighting to make Stockton’s air quality cleaner and less polluted. It is a fitting tribute to Dr. Dawn Mabalon’s vision and legacy.
Members of the Little Manila Dance Collective in a performance at Delta College in Stockton. The performance was dedicated to Dr. Dawn Mabalon who tragically lost her life in Hawaii. (Photo by James Sobredo)
James Sobredo
James Sobredo, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of Ethnic Studies at Sacramento State University. He is a journalist and documentary photographer who lives in Stockton and Sausalito.
