a local school in the South Bay...
A friend of mine who works there had asked me to check out the mural honoring the Farm Workers movement on the east side of the school. What was cool about the mural design was the inclusion (rightfully so) of Filipino farm labor activists, Philip Veracruz and Larry Itliong alongside the more well known Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. The muralist was Albert Songalia, a young Filipino American artist with ties to the Childrens Museum downtown as well as his own arts foundation based in National City. For me, it was great to see that this young Filipino American artist is contributing to the narrative of the Farm Workers history to include the role of the Filipinos who have been overlooked, overshadowed and underplayed in US History books.
The mural was sketched out and outlined by late March of this year. It was scheduled to be painted by the artist and a crew of volunteers from the middle school itself and the local community. It was a privilege to view the mural before it was finally completed.
"Si, se puede!" (Yes, one can" or "Yes, it can be done") is the motto of the United Farm Workers (UFW), a labor organization formed after the Delano Grape Strike of 1965. Filipino and Mexican farmworkers banded together for this strike which lasted years. Both ethnic groups had their own labor unions, NFW (National Farmworkers for the Mexicans) and the AWOC (Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee) for the Filipinos.They later joined forces and formed the United Farm Workers (UFW). The phrase "Si, se puede" has a lot of political significance, was meant to inspire the people and served as a rallying cry for the UFW in the 1970's.
So that was March.
Fast forward to December of this year. I was in the area for errands and wanted to take photos near the fence. It was still winter break and I wasn't sure if the school gate would be open and lo and behold it was.
I saw two parents walk through the open gate and behind the open doors in the middle of the mural. South Bay Community Services uses the room inside to package food items for the needy and they were volunteers from what I gathered.
It was really great seeing the finished product in person. The colors were so vibrant. The leftmost portion of the mural was of a farm field with signs crediting the artist, the sponsors and the community. The mural depicts inspirational phrases, the four labor activists mentioned earlier and a wall of multicultural faces and more words of encouragement for the students.
Did you know there is a middle school in the New Haven School District in the Bay Area named after Larry Itliong and Philip Veracruz? It was formerly known as Alvarado Middle School (see story here); I have a friend who works at that school.
There is a push to name a school in Long Beach after Larry Itliong as well. In San Diego's South Bay, the Woodman Bridge (which crosses over the 54 over a stretch of road known as the Filipino American Highway) was renamed the Itliong Veracruz Memorial Bridge" (as of December 2015).
"Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures"
I like that the figures were "personalized". One person is wearing a "KISS" t-shirt for example!
That same day in March, I also gave a mini-talk about the contributions of Filipino Americans to the Farm Labor movement to the students who were attending tutorial classes during Spring Break. In addition, I had the students and parents view the short film by Marissa Aroy, "The Delano Manongs" (featured in these two previous posts). I wanted them to understand who these activists were and make a connection from what they saw in the film to what they would see on the mural.
"Never give up. Dream big. Believe in yourself".
Video:
Embedding is disabled for this video, but here is the link, Larry Itliong (excerpt from "The Filipino Americans", 1974) posted by Professor Theo Gonzalves.
Here is a video from October 25, 2015 (declared as Larry Itliong Day by Gov. Brown), from a Santa Maria news channel. It's a nice and short, but informative video:
The image of Larry Itliong on the mural is based on this photo (but without the cigar), which can also be seen in the video.
This is the first mural in San Diego to depict BOTH Filipino labor activists that I know of. There is, however, a mural on one of the walls of UCSD's Che Cafe featuring Philip Veracruz (far left below):
(photo from my "UCSD - The Sun God, Stonehenge, the Che Cafe and a free lunch" post, Aug 2014)
There is also another mural featuring both Itliong and Veracruz but it is in Milpitas, CA. I'll have to make a trek to see that next time we go up to the Bay Area. That mural also features Chavez and Huerta.
"Mural paying home to Filipino leader of 1965 Grape Strike unveiled in Milpitas" GlobalNation, Oct 2013
Articles:
"Chula Vista celebrates Chavez" La Prensa, April 1, 2016
"Eclipsed by Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong's story now emerges..." Emil Guillermo (a Filipino America journalist by the way), NBCNews, Sept, 2015
The artist Albert Songalia's art organizagtion:
areasontosurvive.org
It was an unexpected bonus that I was able to view the mural up close during the winter break. I had assumed it would be closed. It's great that the mural is there and serves as an inspiration and also a point of reference in educating those who have questions about the activist depicted in the mural.
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