Asian American Studies 197A
Winter Quarter 2002

Political Tour of Communities

Pilipinotown Political Tour
By Christine Araquel

I chose to help give a political tour of Pilipinotown. Of all the communities where Asian Pacific immigrants either live or work in Southern California, this one was the one I was most familiar with. Since I’ve worked with some of the organizations in Pilipinotown in the past, like People’s C.O.R.E., Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI), and Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, I felt like I knew the neighborhood well enough to help lead the tour. On Saturday, January 26th, People’s C.O.R.E. was asked by UCLA SPEAR to give a tour of Pilipinotown. I was one of the four people who were asked to assist. So I worked with Al Garcia, Bookie Flores, and John Concordia to help lead the tour of Pilipinotown.

I have only taken one Ethnic Studies class a year ago prior to transferring to UCLA. When I was still at CSULB, I took an Inter-Ethnic Studies class that focused not only on Asian Americans but Latinos, African Americans, and American Indians as well. So since the class didn’t focus on any one group in particular, when we did talk about Asian Americans it was really general. We didn’t cover much about Filipinos. However, we did talk briefly about Pilipinotown. We talked about a book written by Carlos Bulosan called America is in the Heart. His book talked about the struggles of Pilipinos living in America, especially those who settled in the part of Los Angeles that has today become known as Echo Park. That particular area of Los Angeles was where many of the Pilipinos settled during the 1940’s and 1950’s.

I didn’t do much to prepare for the tour. I was called only the day before to help facilitate. I knew a couple things in terms of the community’s history and demographic characteristics from working with and hanging around with the people who actually live in that community and going on tours in the past. I didn’t know too many statistics but I did know bits and pieces of information.

For one thing, I didn’t know exact numbers in terms of population and statistics. In terms of history, I knew that this was where a lot of the first wave Pilipino immigrants settled. In the past, a lot of these immigrants faced discrimination. Pilipino men weren’t allowed to marry white women because of anti-miscegenation laws. There used to be a string of nightclubs along that area. Also there were always a lot of churches. That’s why Temple Street is called Temple Street. Since then, Pilipinotown has always been the place Pilipino immigrants have come to settle. Today there are still many recent immigrants as well as low-income working class people. The neighborhood isn’t safe. The area actually used to have the largest homicide rate in the nation. Now it’s Washington D.C. But the neighborhood still isn’t safe. The youth in the community are struggling. They constantly have to face the reality of death since their peers are always dying. Gangs are still a big issue in the area. Drug abuse is a huge problem. The high school dropout rate is on the rise. Suicide rates aren’t decreasing. In terms of education, the students aren’t given a lot of resources. The community has to deal with the LAPD Rampart Division. Because the living conditions in Pilipinotown are so harsh, a lot of the people there are trying to save up money so that they can move out. All of these things have been called to my attention from working with the community at People’s C.O.R.E. and listening to the stories of friends who live in Pilipinotown.

During our political tour, I think we focused on issues that have been under-studied in Asian American studies. Like I said before, I haven’t taken too many Asian American Studies classes yet. But I think we covered a lot of issues that may have at least been mentioned in some Ethnic Studies classes.

For one thing, we talked about housing. We talked about the Filipino World War II veterans, their struggle for equity, and their living conditions. We passed by the apartments where they live with 5-8 other veterans in one-bedroom apartments. We passed by housing sponsored by SIPA that accommodates many low-income, working class immigrants. The impact of community organizing was covered as well. We visited the different corners where crack was being dealt. We talked about how the women of the neighborhood banded together to drive the crack dealers away from their street. In terms of environmental hazards, we talked about the Belmont High School facility and how the government spent millions of dollars on it but the students can’t use it because the site was built over a toxic field. We covered the community’s relationship to government authorities as well when we talked about the LAPD Rampart Division. The youth and people of color living in Pilipinotown as well as the larger Echo Park community are being targeted by the police. It seems like the police would do anything to incarcerate the youth especially after Proposition 21 passed which tries the youth as adults. Also in terms of education and schools, the students in the area, particularly Belmont High School, are given very little resources. They were given a facility that they can’t even use. Also, Belmont High School is known to be one of the most crowded schools in the district. According to people I’ve known who’ve went to Belmont, the school was so crowded that some of their classes were held in janitors’ closets. All of the people I’ve known that went to Belmont have all dropped out. They left because the quality of their education was so bad.

In terms of community organizations, we visited People’s C.O.R.E., FASGI, the Filipino American Library, and SIPA. We talked about what each organization does. Particularly, SIPA is where a lot of the youth go after school so that they don’t get into any trouble. There they are provided with alternative activities and resources. At SIPA, there’s a computer room, a gym, workshops, a library, etc. FASGI is where the elderly go. It serves as a housing facility and every Friday, they hold weekly food distributions. FASGI is an important resource and outlet for the Filipino World War II veterans as well. People’s C.O.R.E. is where many of the community organizers meet in order to figure out ways to alleviate the harsh conditions of the community living in Pilipinotown as well as the larger Pilipino community in Southern California.

I’ve been on the Pilipinotown tour a couple of times before. But this was the first time that I actually helped to facilitate. Every time I go, I learn something new. This time around I’ve been reminded why community organizing needs to be done. For a while, I’ve taken a break from organizing, but going on this tour helped me to get back into the swing of things. For one thing, I’ve been reminded of why I wanted to organize in the first place. Helping facilitate made me articulate what’s going on in the community. While I was telling people about the things going on in Pilipinotown, I just realized how things haven’t been changing. The people’s living conditions haven’t improved. The quality of life for a lot of people just doesn’t suffice. What it comes down to is this: A lot of people’s basic human rights just aren’t being met. That needs to change because everyone deserves a quality life. The way things are going now, it’s become so convenient for the government to turn its back on communities of color. I want to change things for my community. I want to let people know what’s going on so that people’s lives can be better. I work with an organization called Kabataang maka Bayan (KmB) which translates into Pro-People’s Youth. What we do is educate the community about different struggles and tie what’s going on locally to things going on around the world. We have a chapter in UCLA, so that’s how I plan to share this knowledge with other UCLA students- through our educational discussions and forums.

I plan to increase my understanding of my community by continuing to work within it. I’m already connected to many of the issues my community faces because I’m a part of my Pilipino community. I see the harsh conditions my family, relatives, and friends deal with. I can’t be complacent and not do anything to change what’s going on. I want to be a catalyst that helps other people realize what’s going on in our Pilipino community so others can be inspired to make changes too. I want to work with my community and be able to educate others about why things need to change. I can demand change by organizing. I want to assess what our community needs and demand that our needs be addressed. The only way I can figure out what it is we need is if I talk to the people directly.

Students in our communities need to have an expanded role. Because Pilipinos are underrepresented in institutions of higher learning, students that make it need to do what they can to empower their communities. It isn’t enough for us to go to college, get our degrees and advance ourselves. Our communities need advancement, too. The only way we can do this is through community organizing. As students, we need to be grounded in our communities to know what’s going on. We need a basic knowledge of what is going on in our communities. If we can educate people, maybe others will be inspired to help in the advancement of our people.

Students can’t be forced to care about these issues. But it starts with exposure. Students need to see why there is a need for change so that they can be inspired to help in the advancement of their communities.