Message from Kayla Isaac, President of Pacific Islander Student Union and VP of Sisters of Color

Happy Filipinx American History Month!

The month of October was established as Filipinx American History Month to commemorate the first documented landing of Filipinx people in what is now known as the United States at Morro Bay, California. Today, the Filipinx American community is the second largest Asian American ethnic group in the U.S. and the third largest ethnic group in California after Latinx people and African Americans. Despite widespread erasure in American history and media, Filipinx Americans have consistently persevered and fought against systemic racial oppression. The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) chose “The History of Filipino Activism '' as this year’s theme for Filipinx American History Month. Filipinx Americans have been crucial to social and racial justice movements throughout our country’s history, including but not limited to, “the United Farmworkers Movement, the fight for Ethnic Studies, Hawaii Sugar Plantation strikes, Washington Yakima strikes, and Anti-Martial Law Movements'' (FAHNS). Furthermore, Filipinx Americans have stood in solidarity with other marginalized communities in their fights for justice, such as the “Black Lives Matter Movement, American Indian Movement, Civil Rights and Voting Rights, Women’s Rights, LGBTQ Rights, and Environmental Justice.” (FANHS).

In the name of equity and justice, we should celebrate and honor Filipinx Americans and their invaluable historical, cultural, educational, medical, artistic, political, and social contributions to the United States. Filpinx American history is American history!