PETER’S PINOY PATTER — MAY 2017

Bridge Generation News

Born in 1935 in Brooklyn NY but growing up in San Francisco, Sugar Pie DeSanto is a legend, not only in the blues community but also in the broader American music world.  Her story is also a sad one; the memory of her incredible journey has been fading. Few Filipinos know who she is, even though her given name — Umpeylia Marsema Balinton — should be a dead giveaway for a pinay. Her father was a Filipino seaman from Manila. Her mother was an African American from Philadelphia. Umpeylia, derived from ampalaya (bitter melon) was her paternal grandmother’s name. Sugar Pie never knew her grandmother; she has never been to her dad’s homeland. Her father, however, loomed large in her life. Sugar Pie would spend hours talking about him — the pinoy immigrant with a thick accent who raised his children based on strict Catholic rules. Her mother was a pianist and an artist. She took after her. They were hard working parents who raised their children in a poor San Francisco neighborhood during Depression era hard times made harder by prejudice against blacks, against Filipinos, and against immigrants and people of color. Sugar Pie grew up in a tough world. Among her friends was a girl named Jamesetta Hawkins, who would become famous as Etta James. They were childhood friends who eventually explored the music world together. Etta James would become famous. Sugar Pie, while considered a pioneer in blues, would not enjoy the same kind of success. Ironic, because she was an even more exciting and pioneering performer and artist. Her career flourished during the 1950-60s when she toured with James Brown and the Johnny Otis band. It was Otis who gave her the stage name of Sugar Pie DeSanto.  Today, Sugar Pie still performs, including periodic appearances at the International Hotel in historic Manilatown. (From Benjamin Pimental‘s article “The Untold Story of Sugar Pie DeSanto” in Positively Filipino.)………….. On July 22, 2010 Mary (Gorre) Cantil, a close friend since our teenage years, beamed proudly as her daughter, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, was appointed to Chief Justice of California’s Supreme Court.  On March 16, 2017 Mary was again made proud by Tani. Now California’s top judge, she criticized federal immigration agents for using courthouses as “bait” — a place for “stalking” immigrants who “pose no risk to public safety.”  The Chief Justice wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly following reports of federal agents going to courthouses and looking for immigrants who are not in the country legally. In the letter, Cantil-Sakauye requested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stop arresting immigrants at courthouses.  “I am deeply concerned about reports from some of our trial courts that immigration agents appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests,” she wrote.  Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our country’s immigration laws.”. (On April 14 the U.S. District Court agreed — federal agents cannot use California courts to stalk immigrants)…………… Your faithful blogger has an Oscar-winning cousin, albeit through marriage.  Nilo Rodis-Jamero, the art director of “Star Wars” fame, adopted his Jamero step-father’s last name when he was a youth in the Philippines and has kept it throughout his professional career.  This trivia item was reported by Rodel Rodis, the noted San Francisco activist-attorney, and a cousin of Rodis-Jamero.  Thanks, Rodel.  I guess that makes us cousins too……….. Did you catch 12 year old Elha Nympha on the March 6 season premier of Steve Harvey’s show on NBC’s “Little Big Shots”? Thanks Rosemary Figueroa of Auburn CA for the tip………….. Good to see Kurtis Townsend, University of Kansas Jayhawks assistant basketball coach in action during the “March Madness” NCAA basketball tourney. Kurtis is the younger brother of Raymond Townsend, UCLA All-American and former pro-basketball player. When the Jayhawks won its 13^th consecutive conference title on February 22, it tied the record UCLA achieved forty years earlier when Raymond was the team’s point guard, thus enabling the Townsend brothers to play a small part in one of college basketball’s most impressive records. In my mind’s eye, I can still see Kurtis and Raymond as kids playing basketball with their father, Ray Townsend, and mother, the late Virgie (Rugnao) Townsend.  A gifted athlete in her own right, Virgie dominated women’s basketball and volleyball teams in Filipino Youth Club tournaments and in San Jose and Stockton City Leagues……….. Best wishes: (1) for Walter Yuponco of La Palma CA for continued progress in his rehabilitation after suffering a stroke earlier this year.  Born and raised in San Francisco, he is an alumnus of the SF Mangos, the premier Filipino Youth Club of the 1940-50s; (2) for a quick recovery for the immediate past president of the FANHS Stockton Chapter, Letty (Bantillo) Perez of Stockton, after her hospitalization on March 8; and (3) for Pio DeCano of Seattle WA who is rehabilitating from surgery on both legs…………Thoughts and prayers are requested for the family and friends of my dear cousin Franklin Ladaga of Modesto CA who passed away on March 2 at the age of 74; and to Albertine Theresa Potter, 88, who died peacefully at her home in Pacific Grove CA on March 12……………. Happy May Birthdays to: Wilma (Bucariza) Aguinid, Irene (Plaza) Edralin, Jose Fidel, Plorenze “Jack” Hipolito, Frank Irigon, Jeannette (Castilliano) Tiffany, Walter Yuponco.

Pinakbet — News Across America

In honor of Women’s History Month, “A Pinay Gathering” was celebrated at the Philippine Expressions Bookshop in San Pedro, California on March 25. Erika Valasquez, representing Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, presented Certificates of Recognition to Filipina American authors: Rose Estepa Ibanez, Herminia Coben, Cecilia Brainard, Ludy Ongkeko, Lucy Miller, Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier, Carmen F. Davino, Leslie Ryan and in absentia, to Carina Montoya and Myrna de la Paz.  The event, hosted by Bookshop co-owner Linda Nietes-Little, is part of the bookstores’s more than three decades of ongoing community outreach programs to promote books written by Filipino American authors to inspire Americans of Filipino heritage of all ages to discover their roots………… Arkipelago Books, a bastion of Filipino literature in the heart of the Filipino Cultural Heritage District in San Francisco for over 20 years, was sold by founder-owner Marie Romero on March 18.  The bookstore will now be run by a quartet of dedicated young pinay bibliophiles.  Good luck to new owners Lily Prijoles, operations director; Golda Sargento, publishing director; Chesleyann Ebrada, financial director; and Charity Ramilo, community liaison and outreach……… Thanks to Patty Enrado, author of the heartfelt account of Filipino farmworkers “Village in the Fields”, for letting me know of the March 30 celebration of Cesar Chavez Day at the University of California at Berkeley.  The event gave full recognition of the role of Filipino farmworkers in the 1965 Delano strike — recognition that is too often missing in media depictions………… Filipinos Americans and the publishing world are mourning the unexpected March 23 death of Alex Tizon, 57, author of the thought provoking autobiographical book “Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self”.  With two other journalists, he was also a “Pulitzer Prize winner in 1997 for investigative reporting” for stories of widespread corruption in a federal program for Native Americans…………. The world’s second youngest billionaire, Filipino American Bobby Murphy, will be even richer as a result of Snapchat’s recent public offering.  Snapchat stands to make $24 billion with its $15,000  seed money investment  in 2012. CEO Evan Spiegel may be the public face of Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc., but Murphy, born in Berkeley CA in 1988, also wields considerable power as its Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. Now that the company has gone public, Murphy has an estimated net worth of around $5.4 billion……….. On March 8 a post office in Chula Vista CA was named in honor of J.D. DeGuzman, a San Diego police officer who was shot and killed during a pedestrian stop last summer…………… For those celebrating Vietnam Veterans Day on March 29, I hope you had the chance to view the 2016 FANHS documentary “Seattle Filipino American Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project”………….. Filipino American History Trivia —  The tiny Washington State town of Pateros was named after a barrio in the Philippines by Charles Nosler following his acquiring the townsite in 1900.

Musings

Countdown: 10 months – For the Board of Trustees, Filipino American National Historical Society, to provide critically needed financing to ensure keeping the FANHS National Museum in Stockton………….. In his January 25, 2017 Executive Order about building the Mexico wall, the President included a provision vastly expanding the definition of who is considered a “criminal”. A “criminal”, under the order, is anyone who has been charged with a criminal offense — even if it has not led to a conviction. It also includes anyone who has “committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense,” which means anyone authorities believe has broken any type of law — regardless of whether that person has been charged with a crime……………. The number of Americans killed on U.S. soil by the seven Muslim nations banned from sending refugees to America by a Trump Executive Order — zero; the number of Americans killed by Muslim nations not on Trump’s list — 3,000 (on 9/11).

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