BONUS EDITION: This Filipino American History Month, Build Stronger Connections With Other Communities

We will not survive without each other.

When I first moved to Dallas, Texas, in 2017, the segregation immediately struck me. I saw that ethnic events, whether business, political, or even food-related, had little community overlap. Why weren’t there many Latinx people celebrating Lunar New Year? Or many Asian Americans at Día de los Muertos events? Not even for the food???

I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of my family is mixed-race. My family speaks French, Spanish, and Tagalog. Some days, my mom would wake us up cooking chorizo and flipping tortillas with her bare hands for breakfast. On other days, she made eggs and longanisa. Even though I was never confused about my identity, I always felt self-conscious in Latinx and Filipino American spaces: I’m not fluent in Spanish as a fourth-generation Mexican American (thanks to the discrimination Mexican American children experienced in the 1960s). People don’t know I’m Filipino, even though I grew up in a Filipino American community. As a result, I always notice who is left out.

As we commemorate Filipino American History Month while Filipinos in the Philippines protest corruption, I’m reminded of moments of real, tangible solidarity. Like when Filipino American agricultural workers in Delano, California, held a strike with Chicanx workers in 1965, ultimately leading to higher wages for workers. Or when David Fagen, a Black American soldier, deserted the US Army to fight alongside Filipinos during the Philippine-American War—look up how white America treated Filipinos to understand why Fagen’s act of defiance was so important. Rumor has it that Fagen lived out the rest of his life in the mountains.

This Filipino American History Month, break out of your silo.
When we stay segregated, we give greater power to fascism to pit us against each other. This is not abstract: limiting yourself to your issue area weakens your credibility on inclusion and your power in a moment when many leaders lack the leadership skills to push back on attacks on DEI.

You might be thinking, “But that’s not our lane.” It is your lane.

The police who brutalize Black Americans are the ICE agents who target Asian and Latinx immigrants. The voters you’re trying to register, the children you’re trying to feed, and the teenagers you’re trying to get into college live multi-issue lives.

You can’t do all the things, but you can extend support to organizations that work on issues different from your own.

3 Steps to Build Stronger Connections

Step 1: Audit your calendar.
As a leader, what kind of relationships do you have? Are there folks you can spend more time building community with? For example, if your issue focus is immigration, are you building relationships with Palestinian American student groups in your community who ICE might target?

Step 2: Find opportunities to collaborate.
Identify new organizations you can collaborate with to advance your causes. For instance, if you’re a reproductive justice organization, do you see opportunities to work with trans advocacy groups or disability justice groups who also fight for bodily autonomy?

Step 3: Show up for those new organizations.
Go to their events. Get coffee with those leaders. Break bread with their staff. Fundraise with them. If the government comes for them, help pay for lawyers.

How are you showing solidarity with communities different from your own right now? Hit reply and let me know.

-Dr. Danielle Lemi, PhD
Founder & Principal of Kapwa Sol Insights