Manilatown or Little Manila - Research Paper Example

Introduction SAN FRANCISCO Manilatown' will rise again 2 blocks of Kearny designated to honor Filipino immigrants by Cicero A. Estrella, Chronicle Staff Writer Manilatown or little manila is a small town found in the California state. California State is a host to the largest Filipino compared to any other state in the USA. Generally, about 2 million residents of the State are of Filipino background. Manilatown was predominately Filipino America who majorly agricultural workers during the 1930’s. Because of the attractive agricultural jobs in California Central valley, numerous young Filipino men found their way in Stockton (Rao, 2006). The discriminatory and racism laws that existed until the mid 60s discouraged these young active men from undertaking the American dream of a United States Education, higher economic status and a family, even limiting them from crossing main street into the then considered white section of the city. Responding to these discriminations, the Filipino American pioneers constructed their own community on the south of the main street. They started business premises and organizations of all kinds so as to meet their own social and economic needs. These businesses included: grocery shops, hotels, restaurants, barber shops, the Daguhoy lodge, the Rizal Social club, a rescue mission and many others, hence the rise of the Stockton’s Little Manila (Rao, 2006). Filipino labor leaders such as Andy Imutan, Larry Itliong, Ernesto Mangaoang, Philip Vera Cruz and Carlos Bulosan all worked out of Stockton at one point in time. Meetings of the historic labor unions were held at the Mariposa Hotel on Lafayette Street. Mangaoang and Mensalvas were influential to the ground breaking asparagus strike that came to an end in 1939. These courageous labor leaders and farm workers are the unsung heroes that were behind the success of the UFW and its most iconic leader Cesar Chavez. The population inhabits an area of only 38.55 Square kilometers making the City the most densely populated in the world. Filipino is the vernacular language, based mostly on the Tagalog of the neighboring areas, and this Manila kind of speaking Tagalog has developed to become the dialect of the Philippines. In the meantime, English is the language most widely used in business, education, and greatly in daily usage throughout the Philippine as a whole and Manila specifically. Quite a number of old people in the city are able to speak in basic Spanish this because it was a compulsory subject in the Philippine colleges and universities. Many children of Latin America, India, Arab, Europe or other migrants also speak their parents’ languages at home besides Filipino or English (Nederveen, 2007). Because manilatown mostly borrow from Manila City, Christianity as a religion dominates the town with Roman Catholic comprising of 93.5% of the population. Manila city host Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila which is the oldest in the country. Because it is the seat of the Spanish colonial government in the past centuries, the city has been used as the base of many Roman Catholic missions to the Philippines. The city also hosts other faiths. There are many Taoist and Buddhist temples constructed by the Chinese community in Manila. There exists a large Hindu temple for the Indian population. The nightlife in Manila offers everything from casinos, discotheques, fashionable cafes and entertainment lounges. The city celebrates both national and civic holidays. It also hosts the Feast of Black Nazarene which is celebrated on 9th January every year. As a tourism and cultural center of Philippine, the city acts as a home to numerous museums such as Museum Pambata, the Museum of Philippine Political History, the National Museum of the Philippines, the UST Museums of Arts and Science and the DLS-CSB Museum of contemporary Art and Design (Laguerre, 2002). Manilatown features a tropical savanna climate that borders on a tropical monsoon climate; that is according to the Koppen climate classification system. It lies entirely within the tropics just like the rest of the California (Rao, 2006). The temperature range is very small; rarely going below 20 °C and going higher than 38 °C because of its proximity to the equator. The high humidity levels make it much warmer. The short rains are mostly experienced as from January through April with the long rains coming from May through December. The enjoyment of the area in which people live is sometimes affected by climate (Habal, 2007). Each person has a diverse and unique perception of what climate or weather patterns will make them most happy. Some people love the seasons, others enjoy the warm temperatures all over the year while others may fall in love with the snow. The weather provided for Manila town is based on data that had existed for 50 years. This article helps us to understand Filipino Americans because it focuses and discuses on the earlier influences on Filipinos to improve their welfare and economic status. Because of the current hardships in life, especially during the depression when violence motivated by racial abuse was at its peak, few women came to the United States of America from the Philippines. This and racist anti-miscegenation laws keeping out marriage between colored men and white women subjected many Manongs to remain single but not throughout their lives. A small number among the group were able to marry Mexican or white women by eloping to nearby states, mainly Texas and Colorado. This article focuses on the motive behind the success of the Filipinos in the US. This article gives the readers a chance to visualize the sentiment among the Filipinos- likely fearful about going to a new nation, hitherto thrilled about the knowledge they are about to receive- to enable to do the best they can to receive acceptance and success during their courses of study. By 1946, the little Manila has developed to be the home for most Filipinos across the United States. During 1950s and 60s, a section of Manilatown were bulldozed by the city with the aim of improving Stockton’s downtown area. Some fast food restaurants and freeway displaced many Filipino homes and establishments and interrupted community life. An extraordinary Filipino-American community effort thrived in raising funds and hence helping in constructing the Filipino Plaza that was completed in 1972. This completed plaza acts as home to once-displaced some business, neighborhood families and the Barrio Fiesta and the yearly cultural event held in mid-August. This makes it even more interesting when studying about Manilatown. In August 1977, over 50 Asian immigrants, most from the Philippines were ejected from the international hotel that was established in the Kearny and Jackson streets in San Francisco. Due to this, much history of the Filipinos was lost, as claimed by many people who witnessed the event. This article by Cicero A. Estrella is an interesting one in that it focuses on the history and life experienced by Filipinos immigrants in the USA. The article reminds people of the core part of the Manilatown and also celebrates the diversity of the Filipinos (Nederveen, 2007). This is the reason why I chose to analyze the article. My main point of interest was the obstacles that the Filipinos experienced in their attempts to achieve status in the community. The writing techniques of the author easily enable readers to understand her main focus and hence maintain the interest of the reader throughout the article (Habal, 2007). The author presents the historical data in a narrative form that helps in describing the plights of numerous statuses of the Filipinos in the USA. Nevertheless, she does not present many vital historical facts, such as the actual number of immigrants allowed at the time. The author uses section headers to emphasize the point of building the cultural heritage of the Filipinos through reconstruction of The New International Hotel Senior Residences at Jackson and Kearny. She argues that: "The name of a place creates cultural, physical and historical identity that permeates in the minds of all who come," One of the notably biases is that the author maintains gender neutrality throughout the article. Instead of speaking of a Filipino she says Filipina without clear distinction of men or women. The article reminds people of the I-Hotel evictions that lead to the area being called Manilatown. For the tens of thousand of people who visited the town by then have realized how interesting history can be. For the most of the article is not logical enough. She introduces the essay being stating that: “The New International Hotel Senior Residences is under construction at Jackson and Kearny. A two-block stretch of Kearny Street (between Washington and Columbus will be designated as "Manilatown" and declared an historic landmark by Supervisor Aaron Peskin. The area includes the site of the original International Hotel and the new International Hotel Senior Residences which are under construction” (Habal, 2007). However, as you read throughout the article, it focuses more on the history and culture of the Filipinos. Towards the end of the article the author goes back to discuss the main topic of the article. That is why I am attempted to argue that the article does not come with more logic with it. Another notable weakness of the article is that it has inadequate information. Despite the fact that it mainly focuses on the reconstruction of the cultural site of the Filipinos that was demolished by the police, the article does not give us extensive reason why the site was demolished and effects after the demolition. But the truth is, the article is an interesting one and the author’s opinion coincides with mine to claim that history and culture are important parts of societal development and could be preserved at all means. Despite the challenges, ranging from racial and marriage discrimination, the Filipinos were able to breakthrough these challenges and make their ‘voice be heard’. They managed to preserve their culture and somehow managed to assimilate other local communities into adopting their culture hence the name manilatown (Habal, 2007). This article contributes to an understanding of early Asian American. As earlier mentioned, the authors writing style make possible the imagination of what the Filipinos went through. References Habal, E. (2007). San Francisco's International Hotel: : mobilizing the Filipino American community in the anti-eviction movement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Laguerre, M. S. (2000). The global ethnopolis: Chinatown, Japantown and Manilatown in American society. Basingstoke [u.a.: Macmillan [u.a.. Nederveen, P. J. (2007). Ethnicities and global multiculture: Pants for an octopus. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Rao, C. P. (2006). Marketing and multicultural diversity. Aldershot [u.a.: Ashgate. Read More