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
uclaliwanagatdilim2016.wordpress.com 