Today, Oct. 18, marks 439 years since Luzon Indios, whom we now know as Filipinos, waded ashore at Morro Bay, Calif., and set foot on the land that would become the United States. They were on an expedition in the name of the Spanish crown and were selected for their brown skin. It was a three-day affair, and on the third day, they traveled along the shore, were attacked, and two died: one Spanish, one Filipino. The Spaniard’s name was Felipe de Contreras; the Indio’s name is forever lost to the annals of history.

Filipinos, the oldest Asian American group, much like the overarching Asian American experience, are often overlooked despite the parallels of our racial, gender, and economic oppressions with those of our Spanish-speaking, Indigenous, black and brown siblings. We lived in segregated houses and were often killed or lynched in broad daylight. Our union leaders were extrajudicially executed or tried and labeled communists — some were — in order to pit us against other workers. We were pitted against our fellow Asian siblings, and they against us. Yet, despite all of this deadly antagonism, we stayed the course and made do with what we had to live in our new home.

Filipino Americans, while some of us are rightfully resentful of the American colonization of our ancestral homeland and distrustful of the larger American society, have fought and are fighting to have a seat at the table and a piece of the American apple pie. We joined the Communist Party’s efforts to unionize agricultural laborers at a time when Asians were actively excluded and attacked. Our thanks go to comrades Caroline Decker, Dorothy Healey, Pat Chambers, and Elizabeth Nicholas.

We even formed our own unions like the Filipino Labor Union and the Cannery Workers’ and Farm Laborers’ Union. We militantly joined the Congress of Industrial Organizations and participated in leading the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 37 in Seattle and Alaska. Our leadership was attacked by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who threatened to deport Ernesto Mangaoang and Chris Mensalvas for their communist activity. Women like Sofia Reyes de Veyra joined the movement for women’s suffrage alongside her Chinese sister Mabel Ping-Hua Lee. Veyra was also a fervent internationalist as she endorsed pan-Americanism. Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, Benjamin Gines, and Pete Velasco began the movement to organize farm workers in 1965, with the Delany strike, across California.

The oldest Filipino Americans even repelled the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

All this is to say, we Filipino Americans have a wonderful history of resistance, which is as American as it gets.

This Filipino American History Month, the author of this article strongly encourages his readers to learn more about Filipino Americans. Befriend us. Try our food. Learn our struggles. Fight alongside us. Invite us to struggle alongside you.

Another world is possible, but if, and only if, we come together as working people. The Filipino American struggle needs the support of our white, Black, Indigenous, and Spanish-speaking siblings, just as we should be helping you all.

The opinions of the author do not necessarily reflect the positions of the CPUSA.

Images: Filipino Heritage Month by Jennifer Thomasma. The Oakland Post. 1953: Filipino Cannery Workers Strike by Madeline Ostrander and Valerie Schloredt. Courtesy of Filipino American National Historical Society. Ernesto Mangaoang, early 1940’s. Public domain.