May is Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian Heritage Month
Damayan celebrates Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian Heritage month by paying tribute to these communities’ invaluable contributions and sacrifices to building the United States, today and in the past. Damayan recognizes that our communities’ contributions were mostly not voluntary and that the United States promoted through forced labor, fraud or discriminatory laws. Even in the beginning of AAPINH migration, Damayan recognizes that the American government and corporations forced Chinese (and Irish) immigrants to build the Transcontinental Railroad, though the Chinese community battled continuing racism and violence. The United States also forced many of the Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities to fight in US’ multiple wars. The US government promised US citizenship and equal treatment to Filipinos, who fought side-by-side with Americans against the Japanese during World War II. However, after the war, the US passed the US Recission Act which nullified the Filipino veteran benefits.
Damayan also celebrates AAPINH Heritage month by learning from the history and radical organizing of Filipino and Mexican farm workers and their victorious Delano strike in California with the leadership of the great Filipino labor organizer Larry Itliong (and Mexican Cesar Chavez).
We take pride in the Filipino migrant workers’ fight for fair wages in Delano, California in the 1960’s, or the Filipino migrant and plantation farmers in Hawaii who, with Native Hawaiians, also fought for their workers’ rights. Im/migrants are the backbone of America. Just like the Filipino farm and cannery workers, Filipinos continue to leave the homeland to work overseas and majority of them become low wage domestic workers. Without im/migrant labor, US citizens will not be able to complete their daily jobs in corporate America. To this day, the US government still excludes farm workers and domestic workers from the US National Labor Relations Board, which denies workers the right to organize and form a labor union. Nonetheless, Damayan continues to empower Filipino migrant workers through community organizing and mobilization in the fight against labor trafficking, modern day slavery, and anti-Asian Hate & Violence.
On this AAPINH Heritage month, Damayan stands in solidarity among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians, as we advance against our shared struggles of racial discrimination, violence, and labor exploitation. Lastly, we want to celebrate AAPINH Heritage month by inspiring workers about the need to deepen the celebration of AAPI Heritage Month by exposing how capitalism and imperialism both are the root causes and perpetuates the systemic oppression of AAPINH communities, by celebrating the tenacity of our Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities, and by continuing our resolve to seek justice, dignity, and equity!