Springtime and Justice

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Now that we're inching to spring, it's time to make travel plans. How about visiting Amsterdam, whose fascinating windows, artistic displays, cobbled streets, environmentally sound transport (bicycles) and intoxicating whiffs of legal substances guarantee a wondrous vacation for anyone. PF correspondent Criselda Yabes, now France-based, writes about this tourist friendly city that beckons and lures.

The fight against anti-Asian hate requires special efforts by various states to stem the insidious crime. In New York recently, as assault victim Vilma Kari, a Filipino American senior, was accorded justice with the sentencing of her attacker to 15 years in prison, NY Governor Kate Hochul pledged $30 million in support of the AAPI communities' (including the Fil-Am community) efforts to protect its constituents from hate crimes. The Filam.net founding editor Cristina DC Pastor reports.

It's never too early to teach children the principles of justice, and books such as Ang Hukuman ni Sinukuan are on hand to provide parents and educators the tools to explain the complicated concept via mundane and familiar stories. Contributing writer Ian Layugan elucidates.

We close Black History Month with two stories that solidify the solidarity between Fil-Ams and Blacks.

Justin Jones, an elected member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, made headlines in 2023 when he joined two other representatives in breaking decorum on the House floor in a gun control protest. Long before that incident, PF featured him as a community activist actively embracing his Filipino roots in https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/justin-jones-black-filipino-civil-rights-activist

A little-known but significant history: in 1925, the Pullman Company hired Filipinos as scabs when Black porters were trying to form a union. The train company didn't anticipate that the Filipinos would eventually join the Black porters in forming the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Read all about it in https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/how-black-and-filipino-unity-was-forged-in-the-pullman-workers-union 

[Video of The Week] EDSA On My Mind

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

California Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua Bill Would Establish Greater Penalties for Felony Hate Crimes
https://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/54302-california-assemblymember-carlos-villapudua-bill-would-establish-greater-penalties-for-felony-hate-crimes

Group launches new campaign to fight anti-Asian hate
https://www.aol.com/group-launches-campaign-fight-anti-204000574.html

Seattle police officer who struck Jaahnavi Kandula won’t face charges
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/seattle-police-officer-who-struck-jaahnavi-kandula-wont-face-charges/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BNA_022124201042+BREAKING+No+charges+for+officer+who+struck+Jaahnavi+Kandula_2_21_2024&utm_term=Registered%20User

Man Pleads Guilty To Hate Crimes For Attacking Asian Family, Blaming Them For COVID-19
https://www.aol.com/man-pleads-guilty-hate-crimes-224853882.html 

Asian hate: Attacker of elderly Filipina sentenced to 15 years
https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/558378/asian-hate-man-who-attacked-elderly-filipina-in-ny-sentenced-to-15-years

A New Chapter in Hell's Kitchen: The Resilience of Vilma Kari and the Fight Against Hate
https://bnnbreaking.com/breaking-news/crime/a-new-chapter-in-hells-kitchen-the-resilience-of-vilma-kari-and-the-fight-against-hate

More than half of Asian New Yorkers report feeling isolated or anxious, yet many don't seek mental health services: report
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/more-than-half-of-asian-new-yorkers-report-feeling-isolated

Funding provided by the State of California.

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Staff

Days of Poems and Prayers

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Lent takes a deeper meaning to our world this year as we wake up each morning to dreary news -- a war in Ukraine that threatens to go nuclear, a pandemic still not completely waned, a crucial election that will define the future trajectory of our motherland.

As we do our personal reflections in these 32 days until Easter, we can get some guidance from the art of Fr. Rey Culaba, a Redemptorist priest and artist who recently celebrated his golden anniversary in the priesthood. As a gift to his parish, Our Lady of Mercy in Daly City, California, Fr. Rey painted his interpretative version of the Stations of the Cross, and we have the images here.

A major what-if for political junkies this May: if the next president has a pending liability totaling $2.3 billion for a US court judgment in effect from 2005 to 2031 (currently preventing him, his mother and his elder sister to set foot in the US or they get arrested), what will it do to US-Philippines relations?

As for other questions, existentialist or not, that we have to ponder, political activist/academic Ed Garcia invokes Bob Dylan: "the answer is blowin' in the wind."

More stories on Filipino women who matter:

Paulynn Paredes Sicam on Gilda Cordero-Fernando http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/gilda-cordero-fernando-forever-groovy

Robby Tantingco on why women rule Pampanga http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/why-women-rule-pampanga

Gemma Nemenzo on the poet Angela Manalang-Gloria http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/gemma/the-enigmatic-poetess

 Cook It Again:

The Happy Home Cook: Pompano with Chili and Pineapple — Positively Filipino | Online Magazine for Filipinos in the Diaspora

Book Launch: 100 Poems for Leni

Video of the Week: Gayyam Ben

In The Know

How Juan Luna became the first Filipino art superstar in Europe
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/art/03/03/22/how-juan-luna-became-the-first-filipino-art-superstar?fbclid=IwAR3gDVRSfTihP8u590gbaGso3Q6tgl4dLmLaHeK9InpNngqe75ppZD7VO4k 

The Invisible, Afflicted Spy Who Led the U.S. Army Into Occupied Manila 
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/josefina-guerrero-spy-philippines-world-war-ii?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fa168b0448-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_03_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-fa168b0448-70947933&mc_cid=fa168b0448&mc_eid=15cc48d2de

The Fascinating Life of Nick Joaquin
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/nick-joaquin-life-a00293-20190507-lfrm?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20220306-fbnp--nick-joaquin-life-a00293-20190507-lfrm-fbold&fbclid=IwAR046GOUTexCI96sdJXkj9r_k1SRPZWgcircJpfh1BPutSEzka1qXVt5MiQ 

FEAR AND LOATHING IN DUTERTE’S PHILIPPINES: AN INTERVIEW WITH VICENTE RAFAEL

https://fpif.org/fear-and-loathing-in-dutertes-philippines-an-interview-with-vicente-rafael/?fbclid=IwAR1-NNnyIhmTLYw7qs0iZmjrSwRXFbcHjJVJAeybZKLjrVLxen-H834lSw8

This Filipino Visited 160 Jose Rizal Monuments Around the World
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/filipino-visited-160-jose-rizal-monuments-a00293-20201002?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20220301-fbnp--filipino-visited-160-jose-rizal-monuments-a00293-20201002-fbold&fbclid=IwAR2I1E6SN0TWGGNoUfjSer07q1QfnCIIACFiBwXlhSlJKK2LWzmeYdZleBg

This Filipina farmer turns heads in Canada—and not just ‘cause of her striking beauty
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/03/07/22/why-this-pinay-farmer-turns-heads-in-canada

Filipino visual artists showcase work in Paris exhibit
https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/04/22/filipino-visual-artists-showcase-work-in-paris-exhibit/?utm_campaign=sharedpost&fbclid=IwAR1PQ7Ru5pxOCpi1WhjcYvrJ50Uu0VMIP8gK1L_o0rgatX6s-Qr38ONxPQg

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Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino