Searching for Legacy

April 17, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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Our Town By Jon MelegritoBy Jon Melegrito
Embarked on a commendable effort to document Filipino student activism in the East Coast are Filipino American alumni and students from George Washington University. They’ve a good story to tell.
Billed as a “legacy” project, it aims to house in the Library of Congress (LoC) a pilot collection - photographs, newsletters, souvenir programs, videos of rough footage, and bibliographies of past and present members - documenting the student organizing achievements of the Philippine Cultural Society (PCS). I’m honored to have served as its adviser when we formed it in the 1980s. The social club gradually evolved into a cultural arts group, maturing into an influential campus organization in the 90s.
I had the privilege of working with the Maralits -Marybelle, Jojo and Marlan - Joe Montano, Rodney Salinas, Randy Lizardo, RJ Diokno and other stalwarts of the budding student movement at GW. They called me “Tito Jon,” an honorific bestowed a mentor. I learned as much from them. Those were heady times.
Marlan, Jojo and Joe were among those who organized in 1993 the first spring conference at GW of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND), a defining moment in student activism here in the East Coast. To this day, FIND continues to draw Filipino American students to share experiences and tackle such topics as political advocacy, cultural identity and community empowerment.
I bring up this bit of history because of an e-mail I received recently from Kay Fabella, current president of PCS. She has been contacting alumni members enlisting their help to put together an exhibit at the Library of Congress. And since I helped start the group back in 1986, I may have artifacts, original documents, scrapbooks, etc. that I could loan or donate to this collection.
Of course I’d give, I wrote back. There’s a basement full of “stuff” and I know someone who lives in the same house who would be more than happy to give them all away. Being the pack rat that I am, I’ve never thrown out anything of historic value. They are all stored in boxes and file cabinets - souvenirs and memories of days, days of thunder and lightning as one historian would say.
And so the search is on. But as described by Marlan, the scrounging for “odd relics” has now turned into “a search for the kind of legacy we want to leave behind.” Knowing Marlan, I expected to hear this profound insight.
“I remember when I first got turned on to student organizing,” he writes in an e-mail broadcast. “I discovered the Far West Conventions of the early 1970’s. These momentous events brought the best and brightest Filipinos activists from every region of the country to discuss critical issues of identity to politics. What impressed me the most was the clear vision organizers had of what they wanted to leave behind. I can remember documents that summarized the convention proceedings and created a framework for action that ultimately led to building community, much like the spirit that shaped the Chicano movement.
“When we organized the 1993 FIND conference, that sentiment was reinforced when a dozen students from UC Berkeley brought with them journals that explored critical issues facing Filipino youth in the Bay Area. That inspired those of us who had roots in student activism, due to our leadership in PCS, to write a few of these journals. PCS was a time and place where we became conscious of social and political issues affecting us the most, shaping our efforts to build community here in DC.”
The LoC collection will be available in the future to researchers, says Reme Grefalda, artist, author and curator of this project. And she has posed a serious challenge “to fire up the community to initiate documentation projects. We are the English-speaking Asian group and yet we have very little literature to show for it.” She plans to “beef” up the Asian student/youth collection of the LOC to coincide with the 40th anniversary of student activism in California.
Reme, and her mother Remy Cabacungan - who turned 100 in January - have been at the forefront of establishing a strong presence of Filipino American history, culture and literature at our nation’s library. We are grateful for their passion and commitment.
In time for spring cleaning, I will do my part to dig up relics from my PCS past. To others who may have something to contribute, Reme’s guidelines are clear: “Think Future: what would researchers be interested in if they knew they could get their hands on the life of ‘foreign’ students or minority groups in the university? What motivated the students of the 70s to form societies? What documents would provide answers to these searches?”
If you have them, LoC needs them. The answers may be in those boxes and book shelves.
@9PTCA = ***
DAY OF VALOR. Speaking of legacy, we’re still fighting to win justice and equity for our Filipino veterans. We hope to get the bill passed in Congress by September. This is both a pitch and plea to support a fundraiser to benefit our nationwide campaign:
On Monday evening at 6:30, April 7, Margaret Lacson’s documentary film, “In Servitude with Honor and Dignity” will be shown at the Human Rights Campaign building on 1640 Rhode Island Avenue, NW . This 30-minute film depicts the inspiring service of Filipino men and women in the U.S. military.
We hope you will come. Tell your friends and co-workers to see it and encourage them to dig deep in their pockets for a worthy cause. If you are unable to be at the screening, your generous donations will be most appreciated. Please e-mail or call me, 202-361-0296, so we can acknowledge your much-needed contributions in this column.
Let’s honor our legacy of pride and resistance. Let’s tell our stories.
E-mail your comments to jonmele@aol.com

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