In honor of Filipino American Heritage Month, LBCC held a panel about Filipino community struggles and highlighted what the community has dealt with for the past 100 years.
The event started with the assistant professor of ethnic studies and host Stef Lira asking what it meant to be a Filipino and a Filipino American.
A lot of people had many different answers like karaoke and workers movements.
Lira talked about the U.S methods of benevolent colonization such as the Pensionado Act. Under this act, the U.S gave scholarships to Filipinos so they can go to school in the states. This was the U.S way of recivilizing Filipinos.
“It is very important for people to understand the struggles the Filipino culture has had to deal with for a long time,” Alex Liong, director of the FYE said.
Lira moved on to talking about Filipino forced migration. The Filipinos were forced to do labor overseas.
Despite trying to fight back, the Filipinos unfortunately had to accept that they were being forced to leave their home for work.
Over 6,000 Fillipinos leave the country everyday with 17% of them being either refugees or indoctrinated.
“When we think about the message I want to get across in this talk is to talk to each other, to other communities and start an organization because it can help the people out a lot,” Lira said.
After discussing migration and colonization, Dr. Lira asked “how do Filipino people reconnect with their roots after many years living in the U.S?”
A lot of people came up with many different answers like eating at Filipino establishments, learning and teaching about Filipino culture, continuing cultural practices and prioritizing their culture.
Before the panel was over Lira led a Filipino chant that is very significant to the Filipino community.
Over 2 million Filipinos live in the U.S. today.