Yesterday Alpha Kappa Omega was hosting 'Vision'. This event was to help support the Filipino Vertans who served in World War II. The Filipinos in the Philippines were asked by the United States to fight along side them. In turn the U.S. would give the Filipinos U.S. citizenship and full military benifits for serving. Unfortunatly they weren't given any of it. In return they instead got welfare, weren't given U.S. citizenship, and were only given apartments in San Francisco where there were 7 people living in one room.
I'm not really the person to look to for this topic. I only have written what I heard from the people of PACE (Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor). You should check out the Full Equity Now site because they are the people who are the ones taking action and trying to pass H.R.4574 and S. 146. They have apparently already have been pushing for the act for the equality for the Filipino Veterans. The Veterans do not care for the money that they weren't given, they are looking for the recognition that they served the U.S. and that they deserve the rights of any verteran. I was able to signature a letter that was going to the president, George W. Bush, along with all the other supporters. I not really sure on what my entry is about, but I think it is just about awareness. Cause not even I was aware of this situation and I just want others to find out and see if they could participate.
♦ For a good way to take action and find out information is to go to this site and find out what you can do to help. ( http://www.fullequitynow.com/ )
♦ The next best thing that you could do is go to the PACE website and see if you could contact them on anything. ( http://www.pace1967.com/ ) ♦ If you are around the San Jose Area you can try to contact the San Jose State University Akbayan club. You might be able to get one of those letters so you can send it to the president and the other people. ( http://www.akbayansjsu.tk/ )
On a fun note I did have a good time there listening to the poetry, singing, and bands. A list of most of the performers were: Rancho Middle School Filipino Club, Bobby Ramon, Self-Axis, SJSU Akbayan, Those Kids (awesome!), Stephanie San Juan, Ann Reginio, Philtered Soul, and Native Guns. The poetry had mostly to do with the situation of the Veteranos. The singers were able to sing one song in English and the other in Tagalog. One of the singers was Ann Reginio from Silver Creek, and she was just as good singing as I remember. I was glad that I got to meet her again and she remember me. She said she remembered cause I was one of the most active freshmen in FSU. Also, seeing 'Those Kids' was one of the best things there. They were so cute. They were even better then when I saw them at the Fil-Am Unity Jam. (If no one knows who they are, they are a group of 'Filipino' kids who sing and dance. Not like crappy kid singing, they really sound amazing for kids. The boy singer I think is from America Juniors. And the girl is really talented as well. After the singing kids go off the dance kids come out, and they are AMAZING! They do hip hop dances just as well as adult dancers.) The band that I came out to see there is Philtered Soul. I just love them and their music. I wish I could say they are one of my favorite bands but I have only seen them twice and they have no cd out. They are good anyway =}. At the end was Native Guns. They are a Filipino duo with their dj, DJ Phatrick, who do a Hip Hop Indie type of music. From tonight I have become a fan, and am planning on buying their new album.
I am glad that I got to participate in this event. Hope there are more events like this to come.
Was that the 5-10 thing you texted me about a couple days ago? If so, and if I didn't have work, yeah, I would have came out. I remember discussing the Filipino Veteran situation in the Asian American Experience class I took last summer.. It's good that there are groups out there who are helping with the cause and getting people aware of the issue, since the veteran generation is an old one, and I'm sure few of the filipino youth know about it.
Comments (3)