MAY IS ASIAN AMERICAN HERITAGE APPRECIATION MONTH - LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - IT STARTED IN ASPARAGUS FIELDS

 

   I have always wanted to write inspiring little books for middle school students (to give them hope in this tough world) about unknown heroes of our country and our world.  The first I thought about was Charlotta Bass, the first African American woman to own her own newspaper. Then I thought about Philip Veracruz and Larry Itliong - unknown heroes of people who work in the fields.  It was Filipinos who organized first in the fields.  Who knew?  Did you?
   [ONE OBSERVATION AFTER ALL MY READING ABOUT LARRY ITLIONG AND PHILIP VERA CRUZ - THERE ARE EVIDENCES OF A DIVISION BETWEEN THEM, AND PEOPLE TAKING SIDES ABOUT THE TRUE STORY. SOME FEEL LARRY ITLIONG DID ALL THE WORK, SOME PHILIP VERA CRUZ.  I think one was the fighter and the other the philosopher.  I HOPE THAT PEOPLE WILL SEE THIS AS A STORY OF TWO HEROES WHO WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN WINNING RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE IN THE FIELDS.]
   Philip Vera Cruz was a Vice President of the Farmworkers union, the highest ranking Filipino in the union.  My friend Kent Wong:  "Although I was active with the United Farm Workers, Philip had to teach me that it was the Filipino Americans who first organized a farmworkers union in the San Joaquin Valley. He proudly shared the story of how the Filipino Americans launched the historic Delano grape strike. He explained that the establishment of the United Farm Workers Union was a merger between two separate unions, one representing Filipino American workers and the other with a primarily Mexican membership."

   Larry Itliong -  "An unsung hero, hard around the edges, Larry Itliong never bragged about his work and always put the cause above everything else, says San Francisco State University history professor Dawn Mabalon. Before he moved north to Delano, Itliong spent the spring of 1965 fighting alongside grape workers in the Coachella Valley to raise their hourly pay from a meager $1.10 to $1.40. "  The workers - but only the Filipino workers - went out on strike. Latino workers kept on working and the owners took advantage of this.  "Itliong, along with other Filipino leaders like Philip Vera Cruz, Pete Velasco, and Andy Imutan, realized that if they were going to win the strike, they could not proceed alone. Together, with Itliong as regional director, these men led and organized the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). They reached out to Chavez and Huerta, who had formed the mostly-Chicano National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)."

   "After several years of unsuccessful picketing, the movement called for a national boycott of table grapes. It was at this point that Delano attracted international attention, along with that of much of America’s sympathetic white middle class. The big businesses were finally taking a hit where it hurt: their wallets.

“Cesar became the face of the movement,” says Gadiano. “And then look at Larry. He had dark glasses, a Fu Manchu, and a cigar. He looked like a tough guy—and he was.” Itliong was relegated to a secondary role within the UFW, and Chavez emerged as the leader of the farm workers labor struggle."

Words from the workers who were there:  (Yes! Magazine article)
   "It took years to resolve the strike. The first union contracts were signed on July 29, 1970. Chavez said 95 percent of the strikers had lost their homes, cars, and most of their possessions. But in losing those things, they also had found themselves. Despite all the disagreements, a powerful bond existed. “The cause is always above a single personality, that’s what Philip [Vera Cruz] used to say. It was beyond him, beyond me. It’s crazy to think about. I lived it,” says Gadiano."
   "Agtang agrees: “That grape strike and boycott would not have succeeded without genuine solidarity” between the two groups. “And that lesson is as important and meaningful today as it was five decades ago,” she explains. “Larry and Cesar insisted that the workers eat together and hold joint union meetings. They insisted grape strikers from both races share the same picket lines. As a result, people got to know one another and friendships grew.”

   

   "When the strike was finally settled and when union contracts were won, one of the first projects that Cesar Chavez launched was the construction of a retirement home for Filipino farmworkers. Plans were unveiled at the United Farm Worker’s first conven- tion held in 1971. At this convention, Cesar Chavez was elected president, Dolores Huerta was elected first vice-president, and Philip was elected second vice-president, the highest-ranking Filipino officer. "  Kent Wong

Here is more from Kent Wong explaining one reason why Vera Cruz has been somewhat marginalized:

"Although he invested his life building the union, Philip had some disagreements with the leadership of the United Farm Workers.

"One disagreement involved the union’s position on undocumented workers. The UFW feared the growth of the undocumented workforce in the fields. They feared the growers’ use of undocumented workers as strikebreakers, and on occasion even called the fed- eral immigration authorities when undocumented workers appeared to cross the picket lines. Philip ve- hemently disagreed with this position and firmly be- lieved that the union had a responsibility to organize all workers, regardless of their immigration status. The UFW position was an early position on organiz- ing undocumented workers that is different now, and has been for many years.

"Philip also disagreed with the leadership of the UFW on the issue of the Philippines. In the late 1970s, Filipino American activists throughout the country were mobilizing to oppose the dictatorship of Fer- dinand Marcos, president of the Philippines. Philip joined other Filipino Americans in calling for an end to martial law and widespread political repression.

"In 1977 Marcos invited Cesar Chavez to visit the Philippines. In spite of Philip’s opposition, Chavez accepted the invitation to travel to the Philippines, where he received a special Presidential Appreciation Award. Philip thought it was contradictory for the UFW convention to oppose some repressive regimes and not the Philippines. He said, “I cannot under- stand why a resolution was passed to condemn the dictatorship of Nicaragua and at the same conven- tion, to praise the dictatorship of the Philippines.”

There is much more to this history of both men - and I'd like to share more. But if you go online you'll find lots of links about them. Not enough of course.  And books about them:

Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement ...By Craig Scharlin, Lilia V Villanueva

A Village in the Fields by Patty Enrado.

Little Manila Is in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o American ...By Dawn Bohulano Mabalon

The Original Writings of Philip Vera Cruz...By Sid Amores Valledor    

LINKS:
Article by Kent Wong in Asian Americans Advancing Justice  http://advancingjustice-la.org/what-we-do/leadership-development/untold-civil-rights-stories/united-farm-workers-ufw-movement 
"Your Asian Wasn't Quiet"   http://asianamericanactivism.tumblr.com/post/26156394240/philip-vera-cruz-larry-itliong-forgotten-heroes 
Little Known Farmworkers - Yes! Magazine - http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/the-little-known-farmworkers-who-sparked-the-biggest-labor-movement-in-us-history-20160501?utm_content=bufferd5889&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer 
Larry Itliong's Story Now Emerges - http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/eclipsed-cesar-chavez-larry-itliongs-story-now-emerges-n423336 
Grapes of Wrath - forgotten story of Filipinos Who Led a Farmworker Revolution - http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/16/440861458/grapes-of-wrath-the-forgotten-filipinos-who-led-a-farmworker-revolution