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Gay Filipino immigrant’s coming of age in ‘Homebound’
Eighteen-year-old Filipino immigrant Nico is in love with three things: New York, music, and his new friend, Jonathan. But nobody knows about that last part. So, when a drunk Jonathan spills a big secret on the night of senior prom, Nico considers telling his own—even if it means risking everything. It’s the night of senior […]
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The power of a count
By Rene Pastor In our American Republic, there are two ways an individual can wield power. The first is by voting, and you have to be a citizen to do that. The second is by being counted in a once-every-10-year census, and you don’t have to be a citizen to participate. Voting allows one to […]
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Taking control of my life (Part 2)
By Ana Bel Mayo Several factors were critical in my taking control of my life in Italy. Initially, I used sign language to communicate. Then, I started to learn Italian from television, cartoons, and magazine. I enrolled in Italian language classes. I also became a student at a European private academy and paid my tuition […]
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Five dollars in my pocket (Part 1)
By Ana Bel Mayo While I was in Iraq, an Iraqi woman read my future in my cup of coffee and told me that I would find my destiny in a country with many flowers. It was 1984. At the middle of the Iran-Iraq war that started in 1980. I worked at the Information Center […]
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Filipinos in NYC: Lowest poverty rate among AAPI, live in overcrowded housing
By the Asian American Federation New York City’s Filipino population was the fourth largest Asian ethnic group in New York City, behind Chinese, Indians and Koreans. Relative to all residents, Filipinos in New York City were more likely to be: • working-age adults, • better educated, • proficient in English, • higher income, and • […]
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No to citizenship question in 2020 Census, insist community leaders
By Rene Pastor Latinos and Asian-American community leaders urged the U.S. Congress to permanently remove any citizenship question in the 2020 Census, a vital count that determines basic demographics – such as age, sex, and race – and ultimately political power in the country. The count, which is done every 10 years, is used to […]
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Atty. Arvin Amatorio: ‘Nothing political’ about visa suspension
By Cristina DC Pastor On January 18, it was announced that countries like the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and Ethiopia are no longer eligible for the H-2A, H-2B visa programs. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State said “overstay and human trafficking concerns” were reasons for the suspension. They noted a “four-fold […]
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Lying, passing, hiding: An undocumented immigrant’s life
By Cristina DC Pastor Pulitzer Award-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas remembers writing his first book –“not a memoir” – as he was kicked out of his ‘Frazier-style’ loft in downtown L.A. shortly after Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. The building manager warned him that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) might show up in […]
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More than 4 million Filipinos now call America home
By Rene Pastor From 3,912,921 Filipinos in the United States last year to 4,037,564 this year. We are now more than 4 million Filipino Americans. We comprise a solid 40 percent chunk of the Filipino diaspora around the world. In this country, we are the third largest Asian American subgroup behind the Chinese (5,219,184) and […]