Filipino family dynamics in a nutshell:

1) If there’s a huge conflict/elephant in the room, never address it directly ever. Instead, just tsismis about it with every single person (except for the parties involved obviously) and hope it goes away. Filipino family dynamics in a nutshell:

2) If someone does open up about some hurt or trauma, just stare at them in silence or avoid saying much, because you don’t want to get involved or take sides. Even if there is clearly harm that has been done, it’s best to stay out of it.

This week, I learned about the death of #JaxonSales- a young queer Asian American who was found dead in an older white man’s apartment in San Francisco in 2020. The family started a petition because a proper investigation was never conducted. change.org/justiceforjaxo… The family was told that because the drug Jaxon overdosed on (GHB) is popular among gay men that it was an accidental overdose. They also learned that there was an overdose in the man’s same apartment just a week prior, but that the man was never questioned. #JusticeForJaxonSales

Tonight, the CUNY Board of Trustees approved my promotion to Distinguished Professor - making me the 1st Asian American & youngest at John Jay College & presumably the 1st Filipino American Distinguished Professor in CUNY. #FilipinoAmericanHistory #ThisIsWhatAProfessorLooksLike It’s not lost on me that this all happened during #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth & on #LarryItliongDay. Manong Larry came to the US in 1929 in search of a better life. While he wanted to be a lawyer & fight for justice for all, he was forced to work the fields & canneries instead.

In case IG & Facebook go down again, here is some content for #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth!

Throughout the month of October, I’ll be sharing my #FAHMSyllabus, which will include some of my favorite resources for learning about Filipina/x/o American history and experiences. Today, we begin with history books and historical memoirs! These are books that are written about (and in) different time eras - all by Pin@y authors! #FAHM #FAHM2021

October is Filipino American HISTORY Month, NOT Filipino American Heritage Month. The distinction is important!

Created by @fanhs_national in 1991, #FAHM was always intended to be HISTORY Month. Not sure when/why people renamed something that wasn’t theirs to change.

#FAHM2021 History is political; it means acknowledging the truths of a time period. It involves honoring people and the struggles they overcame. It means acknowledging violence, colonization, slavery, and oppression. It means recognizing the triumphs AND the traumas of a people. #FAHM2021

Now that we are almost halfway through #AAPIHeritageMonth, I genuinely hope you’ve been celebrating the true diversity of #AAPI communities - from Pacific Islanders to queer/trans AAPIs to #BrownAsians and more.

Today, let’s talk more about Brown Asian American Movement. If you don’t know about the #BrownAsian movement, here’s an article I wrote in 2019 about its history and current context. It’s titled “The Brown Asian American Movement: Advocating for South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Filipino American Communities”.

aapr.hkspublications.org/2020/02/02/the…

Through the years, people have asked me what they should say as “comebacks” to verbal microaggressions. I usually tell them to respond with something like “What do you mean by that?” as a way of getting the person to reflect on whatever it was they just said. #AcademicChatter Recently, a friend asked what to tell people as alternatives to microaggressions. I liked this question better bc it takes responsibility away from target (typically of marginalized group) & encourages enactor (typically of privileged group) to reflect on/ change their behavior.

A journalist friend informed me that a major national mental health organization provided a list of “Psychologists available to discuss Anti-Asian Racism and Violence”. It included many people who have mentored me or have been invaluable to @AAPAonline & #AsianAmericanPsychology. Please follow all of these amazing Asian American Psychologists and their work: @seachellez @drmichifu @gnhall2 @HelenHsuPsyD @RichLeePhD @DrWillMingLiu @drpriscillalui @deraldwingsue @DrSherryCWang & Dr. Jenny Wang (IG: @ asiansformentalhealth)

With the attack of Vilma Kari (65yo Filipina American in NYC), I am reminded of a different attack in NYC. Kitty Genovese was a 28yo White woman who was raped & killed in Queens in 1964. 38 people allegedly heard her scream, but didn’t do anything to intervene or stop the murder. It’s easy to shame people who don’t do anything in crises. But the truth is that most people don’t do anything to intervene, and there are lots of reasons why. We must prepare ourselves and decide what kind of bystander we want to be, before we are ever put into these positions.

Food for thought: A common way people perpetuate anti-Blackness is when they post pictures of suspected criminals, especially after they’d been arrested. If the suspect no longer needs to be identified, sharing images only contributes to harmful stereotypes about Black people. One image then becomes the public representation of all Black people. It feeds the bias that makes people clench their purses or cross streets when Black people approach. It feeds similar stereotypes used to demonize George Floyd & Trayvon Martin & Michael Brown & Eric Garner.

Most people know about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. But did you know about the Page Act of 1875? It was the first federal law to restrict immigration in general, and it specifically targeted Asian women who were believed to be entering the US for prostitution or polygamy. “Chinese women were seen as a threat to the institution of marriage, and a danger to white males (even stigmatized as being unclean and giving white male children as young as 12 syphillis).”
reproductiveaccess.org/2017/03/womens…

If history teaches us anything, it is that these violent acts will NOT be charged as a hate crime. Legally, hate crimes need overt evidence of bias (a dossier of writings/audio) in order to be charged as such. For example, Orlando Pulse was not considered an anti-LGBTQ hate crime Even though the perpetrator traveled 100+ miles and chose a LGBTQ club in advance and killed 49 people who were mostly queer/Latinx/Puerto Rican, there was not any “evidence” that the Orlando Pulse Massacre was a driven by hate.

Random thought: When I’m reading a bio about a historical figure who had an amazing career & changed the world & then I read they “never married or had children”, my first thought is whether they were queer, and if so, if they were happy & got to live some of their truth. One of the paradoxes about queer history is that most of it isn’t documented because it was not safe for queer/trans people to be their authentic selves. And unlike other history that can usually be uncovered via archives, LGBTQ folks are experts at concealing their identities.

At first, these historic photos coming to life were scary & uncanny. But I soon appreciated them as opportunities to further imagine history. Here are some of my favorite pinays and pinoys throughout history. We begin with Jose Rizal - national hero of the Philippines. #JoseRizal Dr. Fe del Mundo was the first woman to study at Harvard Medical School. She opened the first children’s pediatric hospital in the Philippines, was first woman of Philippine Medical Association, & was the first woman to be named National Scientist of the Philippines #FeDelMundo

It is clear some people are not aware of some core concepts many scholars in fields like #EthnicStudies, #CriticalRaceTheory, #QueerStudies, or #MulticulturalPsychology have been writing about for DECADES. So, here are some graphics I hope are helpful in your learning processes. Some key takeaways:
1) White supremacy is a system that our country is founded upon. The US was established on stolen indigenous lands, and the country’s various structures were built from/by/through the labor of people who were enslaved and violently forced to do so.

For all of my social justice friends who are anxious about #Elections2020 right now, here are some pro-tips.

1) Turn off your TVs. They’re presenting you with a lot of unnecessary information that is likely increasing your anxiety. They want you anxiously glued. #Ratings 2) Go to print media (via their online platforms). They’ll give you the info you’re looking for. Refresh it when you want the updated data. @nytimes and @WSJ are pretty quick in their updates. @538politics is great too. Unlike TV, you get to control what you consume. #SelfCare

A recent article on NBC highlights “The Decade in Asian America”. But it didn’t highlight ONE Filipina/o/x American. Not a great start to 2020, but in true pin@y resiliency, we create our own lists... AGAIN #FilAmDecade nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame… 1) The Brown Asian American Movement has been around since the inception of Asian American organizing. But this decade is where pin@ys yelled that #BrownAsiansExist, thanks especially to @ejrdavid @ErnabelD @anthonyocampo
huffpost.com/entry/an-open-…

This is huge! Not only is this case important for all students of color, it is important in advocating for Filipino Americans, who are still significantly underrepresented in UC system. I salute @littlemanila for leading this initiative. #DawnMabalonIsInTheHeart #FAHM2019

https://twitter.com/fanhs_national/status/1189227748155375618

For #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth, let’s unpack why @littlemanila suing UC Regents is important for Filipino Americans. Filipinos make up 26% of CA’s Asian American population, but comprise only 11% of AA students in UC System (compared to 25% of Chinese who comprise 45%) #FAHM

Filipino Americans & the Trauma of Being Asian American: A Thread for #FAHM2019.

Being Filipino American means being marginalized within a marginalized group. It means not being Asian enough, while knowing you’re not Latinx or Black, even though you may relate better w/ them. The first time I learned I was Asian American was when I was in high school. There was an API student club, & I thought I could join because of the PI part. I’d later find many Filipinos felt more PI than A. But I’d also learn PI should be reserved for actual Pacific Islanders.

#DearFilipinoAmericans Since FB & IG are down, let’s have a conversation on Twitter. Many people have asked me if we should start using #Filipinx. I’ve shared my answer privately, but maybe we should talk about it publicly. Here’s a thread of some initial thoughts. 1/17 The pros of #Filipinx are obvious. It is an acknowledgement of looking beyond the gender binary; it models after the #Latinx movement; and it moves beyond the tradition of centering masculine/male identities. For these reasons, some say the term is a sign of decolonization. 2/17