Anti-Filipino violence
Anti-Filipino violence refers to racially motivated acts of aggression and discrimination against Filipino individuals, primarily observed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. This violence emerged against the backdrop of significant Filipino immigration, which began in the early 20th century when the United States sought agricultural laborers. The influx of Filipino workers, predominantly men, led to tensions with White Americans, particularly concerning competition for jobs and interracial relationships. Notable incidents include riots in California, where mobs targeted Filipino labor camps and social venues, reflecting deep-rooted prejudices and societal fears.
While the intensity of anti-Filipino violence diminished after the 1930s, Filipinos continued to face discrimination, particularly during periods of heightened anti-Asian sentiment. The impact of events such as the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a resurgence in hate crimes against Asian communities, including Filipinos. Advocacy groups and local officials have highlighted these trends, underscoring the ongoing struggle against racial violence and the need for solidarity and awareness. As society continues to grapple with these issues, the legacy of anti-Filipino sentiment remains a critical part of the broader narrative of racial relations in the United States.
Subject Terms
Anti-Filipino violence
THE EVENTS: Racially motivated riots and assaults directed against Filipino agricultural laborers
DATE: Late 1920s to early 1930s
LOCATION: West Coast of the United States
SIGNIFICANCE: Although Filipinos have been generally less well-known in the United States than immigrants from other parts of Asia, they have suffered much of the same discrimination and mistreatment as members of other Asian groups.
The Pacific island group that now constitutes the independent republic of the Philippines came under American control after the Spanish-American War in 1898. The archipelago had been a Spanish colony since the sixteenth centuryits people fought for independence from Spain at the same time the United States was fighting Spain in a war that had been triggered by a conflict over Spanish rule in Cuba. However, instead of recognizing the independence of the Philippines after defeating Spain, the United States entered into an agreement with Spain to transfer possession of the islands to its own rule. Afterward, American forces replaced Spanish forces in the bitter fighting with Filipino insurgents.
Origins of Anti-Filipino Prejudice
As Americans fought the Filipinos, prejudicial attitudes toward Filiponos arose among American soldierswho applied derogatory terms, such as "Goo Goos" to native Filipinos. Even American officials who were favorably disposed toward the Filipinos after the fighting ended often took condescending attitudes toward Filipinos. For example, future U.S. president William Howard Taftwho was the first American governor-general of the Philippinesfamously referred to Filipinos as "our little brown brothers." He maintained that these new subjects of the United States would need special guidance if they were to rise toward the level of Anglo-Saxon civilization.
Large-scale Filipino immigration to the United States began during the early twentieth centuryafter the Filipino insurrection was suppressed and in response to American demand for agricultural workers. By 1920, the West Coast of the United States was home to an estimated 5,600 Filipinos. Within a decade, this number grew to more than 45,000 immigrants. Filipino migrant workers provided much of the seasonal labor for fruit and vegetable farms in California, Oregon, and Washingtonwhere they harvested asparagus, grapes, strawberries, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, and beets. The racial attitudes of White Americans sometimes prompted violence against Filipino farmworkerselationships between the sexes were frequently the source of such violence. Most Filipino agricultural laborers were men. In the absence of comparable numbers of Filipino women, these men sometimes took up romantic relations with White women. Many White American workers not only resented competition from lower-wage Asian workers but also were angered by the thought of "Brown" men with White women.
First Violent Incidents
On October 24, 1929, an anti-Filipino riot erupted in Exetera farming community in central California’s San Joaquin Valley. A mob attacked the local labor camp in which Filipino workers lived and burned it to the ground. In early 1930, an anti-Filipino riot occurred in Watsonville, another California town nearer the coast, where a mob of about five hundred White youths marched on a Filipino dance hall. Around the same time, about four hundred White vigilantes attacked a Filipino club in nearby Monterey, where they severely beat a large number of Filipinos. When police attempted to stop the beatings, the vigilantes called them "Goo Goo lovers"—the racist term for Filipinos that had originated among American soldiers.
In his 1946 autobiography, America Is in the Heart, the celebrated Filipino American writer Carlos Bulosan wrote of the harsh treatment and violence he endured after arriving in the United States as a laborer in 1930. One California mob even tarred and feathered him and chased him out of a town as he was traveling from place to place seeking work.
Anti-Filipino violence never again reached the intensity of the late 1920s and early 1930s. However, Filipinos were still among the victims of an apparent rise in anti-Asian prejudice during the 1980s and early 1990s. In early 1991, for example, fights broke out at a party at the estate of Chicago mayor Richard Daley, Jr., when White guests called two Filipino Americans racist names and attempted to force them out of the estate.
The beginning of the twenty-first century saw a surge in anti-Asian hate crimesespecially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and 2020ncluded violence against Filipinos. For example, in January 2022, an elderly Filipino woman named Vilma Kari was assaulted in New York City in a hate crime incident condemned by the Philippine Consulate. The assailant, 43-year-old Brandon Elliot, reportedly yelled "You don't belong here" as he struck her. The Consulate noted twenty-six specific incidences of violence against Filipinos between 2020 and 2021. The Philippine Consulate in New York City suggested this wave in hate crimes threatened to impact relations between the two countries. In 2024, Elliot pleaded guilty to a hate crim assault on Kari and received a sentence of fifteen years in a New York state prison. Following the attack on Kari, the Asian advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate, noted 3,795 such incidents between 2020 and 2021.
In 2021 Rob Bonta became California's first Filipino American attorney general. As a child, Bonta had been born in the Phillipines and later became a naturalized citizen. Nine years earlier, he had been the state's first state legislator. In assuming his office, Bonta stated fighting Asian American and Pacific Islander hate would be a priority for his term in office.
Bibliography
Bankston, Carl L. “Filipino Americans.” Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues, edited by Pyong Gap Min. 2d ed. Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press, 2006.
Bulosan, Carlos. American Is in the Heart: A Personal History. 1946. Reprint. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1974.
Bulosan, Carlos. On Becoming Filipino: Selected Writings of Carlos Bulosan. Edited by Epifanio San Juan Jr., Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1996.
Caña, Paul John. "Over Half of Filipino Adults in the U.S. Have Experienced Racism, New Report Finds." Esquire, 12 Apr. 2021, www.esquiremag.ph/politics/news/filipinos-racism-america-a00289-20210412?s=59r0qkofnb18g7d181umrttk3p. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.
Ichimura, Anri. "Brutal Attack on Elderly Filipino-American in New York City Will Affect Foreign Policy." Esquire, 31 Mar. 2021, www.esquiremag.ph/politics/news/eldery-film-am-attack-foreign-policy-a00304-20210331?ref=article‗related‗1." Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.
Karnow, Stanley. In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines. New York, Random House, 1989.
Kitigaki, Paul. "California’s First Filipino American AG on Addressing Anti-Asian Hate, Priorities." NBC News, 17 May 2021, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/californias-first-filipino-american-ag-addressing-anti-asian-hate-prio-rcna913. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.
Magaso, Jose. “Filipino Victim of Anti-Asian Hate in Stable Condition; Asian-American Community Condemns Brutal Attack.” Philippine Consulate General, 15 Mar. 2022, newyorkpcg.org/pcgny/2022/03/15/filipino-victim-of-anti-asian-hate-in-stable-condition-asian-american-community-condemns-brutal-attack. Accessed 11 Mar. 2023.
Tagala, Don. "Suspect in Hate Crime vs 65-Yr-Old Filipino Woman Gets 15 Years in Prison." ABS CBN News, 22 Feb. 2024, news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/22/suspect-in-hate-crime-vs-65-yr-old-filipino-woman-gets-15-years-in-prison-1022. Accessed 5 Sept. 2024.