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‘Painful discussions need to happen:’ NaFFAA Chair Brendan Flores on Barkada debate
By Cristina DC Pastor NAFFAA National Chairman Brendan Flores was in Mexico when the Barkada controversy blew up in the last few days of July. The Barkada Wine Bar in Washington D.C. opened on July 29, with segments of the Filipino American community accusing the bar owners of ‘cultural appropriation.’ In an instant the community […]
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Little Manila Avenue: ‘Let’s make this official’
Will the Filipino American community get its honorary street sign Little Manila Avenue by October 2020? Organizers are hoping that would happen. The street sign will be placed at the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 70th Street in Woodside, Queens. “It would be particularly meaningful to be able to install this historic Little Manila Avenue […]
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My beautiful biracial ‘apos’
By Laura Garcia, DNP, RN It fascinates me, sometimes, when my daughter Teza styles my granddaughter Layla’s thick, frizzy hair. Teza lovingly applies an assortment of oil and hair creams to the hair, brushes it in long strokes, and gathers it into a ponytail. Most often, though, she just let Layla’s hair hang loose and drop into […]
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Mabuhay mural unveiled in Queens
On June 12th, the Filipino community in Queens unveiled the colorful mural ‘Mabuhay’ (meaning ‘To life’) on the corner of 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue known as Little Manila. According to the organizers, the ceremony was dedicated to businesses and health care workers risking their lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our […]
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Biracial FilAms reflect on race and Blackness
By Cristina DC Pastor Ayana Owens experienced racism at an early age when her family entered a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Pennsylvania and overheard customers asking not be seated near them. She remembered another bitter memory when kids in her Baltimore neighborhood taunted her to “go home to China” because they didn’t want to play […]
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#BLACKLIVESMATTER: A Filipino immigrant’s perspective
By Paulo K Tiról Against the backdrop of the #BlackLivesMatter upheavals over the past days, I’ve thought a lot about my relationship with anti-Black oppression — specifically, as a Filipino immigrant who came to the United States as an adult. I spent the first 34 years of my life in Manila, where American history is […]
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Why calling it ‘China virus’ stigmatizes our community
By Cristina DC Pastor The virus called Covid-19 is a public health pandemic that has darkened many countries around the world. Broadway in the city of our dreams has turned eerily quiet since the outbreak, and Times Square, the tumultuous heartbeat of New York, is silenced as the disease tightened its claws on the gasping […]
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‘Kabilang Ka, Pabilang Ka’ census campaign to launch on Mar 21
The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) will host a Census Community Engagement Launch in partnership with the 2020 Census at the Philippine Center in New York City on March 21, Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public The launch will gather over 100 Filipino American leaders […]
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How should LGBTQ people navigate the Census questions?
By Meghan Maury Q: Will the 2020 Census collect data about LGBTQ people? A: The 2020 Census will collect information about same-sex couples who are living in the same household. For the first time, the “relationship to householder” census question will include the response options “Same-sex husband/wife/spouse” and “Same-sex unmarried partner.” These response options will […]