Fil Am Bruins in Solidarity with Black Bruins Matter Movement

 

Interview by Melo

Melo interviewed one of Samahang Pilipino’s student leaders, Kevin Casasola, for his involvement as an ally in the Black Bruins Matter movement. Kevin is currently pursuing a degree in B.S. Statistics here at UCLA.

Black Bruins Matter rally against the racist Kanye West-themed frat party at UCLA. Source: dailybruin.com/images/galleries/black-bruins-matter/0001BG.jpg

What is the Black Bruins Matter movement? How/when did it form?

The Black Bruins Matter movement from my perspective really started to gain momentum in Fall 2015 when one of UCLA fraternities was caught supposedly practicing black face.From the Kanye West-themed party African Student Union decided to organize a rally in response and that was when I truly saw the Black Bruins matter movement create solidarity across all communities and throughout campus.  The purpose of the movement in my opinion is to really understand the fact that my feelings continue to be under represented at UCLA summer in terms of admission & retention numbers compared to the General UCLA population as well as black students continuously experiencing racism and microaggressions on the individual and systemic basis.

As a Filipino American, why do you think it is important to participate in this movement? How is the Black Bruin struggle relevant & similar to the Fil Am Bruin struggle?

Are the filipino-american I think that it is imperative for a community to participate in the black Bruins matter movement and the black lives matter movement because of the shared struggle and solidarity that we can see in our history. Like the black Bruins and the black community Filipinos have also experienced discrimination and racism. In Stockton they found the door that said “positively no Filipinos allowed.”  so there was a time that Filipinos truly experienced discrimination maybe not to the same extent as Black Folk but because of the color of our skin and misunderstandings between our culture we were ostracized alienated. Their Community has attained some level of socio-economic stability and class privilege I still truly believe that our solidarity with the Black bruins is rooted in the similar struggles of colonization and American imperialism

Example of Fil Am in solidarity with the Black struggle. Source: gabusabackup.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/third-world-4-black-power-pic-2.jpg

What is your vision for higher education, in terms of overcoming institutionalized racism and other issues in our American college campuses?

My vision for higher education is twofold:

1)  the university should prioritize getting  under-represented communities access into higher education specifically by revisiting proposition 209 and Allowing affirmative action in higher education specifically the UC system.

secondly the state of California needs to prioritize the empowerment of marginalized communities and communities of color by transforming the disparities that we see between communities especially between more white communities and traditionally more people of color communities.

This twofold approach from the community level and admission into the university through affirmative action I believe will address a lot of these issues we face on college campuses

Samahang Pilipino Exposure Trip 2016

ni Kevin Casasola

 

Last week PIlipinx visibility Week at UCLA. We planned an Exposure Trip to NorCal for the last event. Our members were from Samahang’s internship. I went to some historic Pilipino towns with 22 general members We visited Oakland, Stockton, and SOMA in San Francisco during our visit. We learned about the rich Pilipino history in these towns and their fight against problems of gentrification, limited resources, and small communities. In my experience north, I saw a resilient Pilipino community, that even though there were a lot of hardships, they survived. While in Stockton we toured the town with a professor from Sacramento State and then we ate at a local Pilipino restaurant.

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The name of our tour guide was MC. He is a community organizer in the South of Market. Their current campaign now is to give the designation of Cultural Heritage District to SOMA. After our exposure trip, we learned that it passed! In San Francisco, MC presented about the how Pilipino communities form. MC let us walk around South of Market. He pointed at the different places of cultural significance. I am sure that he is the fastest tour guide. On our last day, we ate with Samahang Alumni and watched Berkeley’s PCN before heading home.

Ashra Tugung is one of our general members said the following about our Exposure Trip.

In one word I would describe exposure as investment: Investment in yourself, your community, and your future. Don’t try to run away from your roots, because I did that for quite some time and I’m figuring it out now. It makes me sad that I didn’t know the information I know now, because it is a way for me to connect to my community and a way for me to support my community better by making a change.