Description

Learn the reason the TV Show producer wanted to make a series about Filipino immigrants and the Little Manila section of Stockton.

Transcript

Learn about the Filipino Community in California Part 8/8 Marissa: I remember reading a magazine article on the Filipinos magazine. It’s a magazine that’s distributed here in the United States and it was all about Little Manila. It was actually written by Doctor Dawn Balan who’s into documentary. And I got a call from Center for aging America Media to work on this project with KVIE and I jumped at it. I did not know that much history about Filipino American in the Untied States. What I knew like it got from one class and college and so, in researching the documentary, I learned a lot more than I had originally known, they do not tell you this stuff in California history that you taken fifth grade or unless you take college class really that specializes in Filipino American History. You do not find the stuff out. It’s interesting as well to see how my own family history is involved in this California Filipino American History. How my own grandfather who just passed away was 102.He started out in Hawaii as one of the sugarcane plantation workers. Moved over and settled in Delano California. He was one of the guys who started the business, had a bar, gambling ring in the basement and a barbershop and he pay off the City Officials so that he could have a legal gambling downstairs. So I learned more about Little Manila and some of the sides of Little Manila were interesting to me. I think their social life was definitely the only release that the Filipino men during the bachelors society years had was after a long day in the fields to be able to go out there and show their style and be able to dance and have some type of recreation outside the workers way are important to them. And I found it was also entertaining and an important part to put in to the documentary. I do not think this documentary wouldn’t have been possible without the Filipino American National Historical Society. They have kept amazing archive material of lot the families that were here in California in the West Coast and actually they have chapters nationwide now and it was important for this documentary and just for us in general as Filipino Americans to be able to see the faces of this manongs and the Filipinos who come here and to be able to identify with them and see that they were just young people who are trying to have an adventure to better their families lives in the Philippines and to see what they could accomplish here in the United States. There were some surprises and researched on this documentary. The racism that was here in California in the West Coast, I knew about it. I knew about the Watson bill Rights but reading the headlines from San Francisco chronicle, or contribute Stockton records; it surprised me just how much there was racism and people’s feelings about Filipinos at that time. Male: Well, thank you very much for lending your talents to this production. Marissa: Thank you. It’s been a great opportunity.