Fil-ams and the anti-Trump resistance

Donald Trump wasn’t the only one in the news during his inaugural. Three million people were also in the news. They joined the anti-Trump Women’s March all over America, representing voices of whites, blacks, Latinos, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer), other cultural minorities and even Fil-Ams (Filipino-Americans).

My friend Jade Palma Gil, a Davawenyo now based in New York working with Damayan Migrant Workers Association, was also in the news. Jade joined other Fil-Ams in the march to express the worries of immigrant workers, including undocumented Filipino immigrants.

Jade said in an online interview that the undocumented Fil-Ams his group has been helping are very worried with Trump’s statements during and after the campaign that illegal migrants will be sent back to their home countries. Trump also branded Filipinos as “terrorists” and “animals” because of the presence of “Muslim terrorists.”

This angered Fil-Ams, who number 3.5 million across United States, with nearly half or 1.5 million people living in California. A placard in the Chicago rally from the Fil-Am youth group Anak Bayan took a shot at Trump. “We are not terrorists or animals. We are nurses and caregivers.”

Many Fil-Ams work in the health care sector, one of the sectors that will be affected with Trump’s decision to remove Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. Anak Bayan is also concerned of Trump’s pick for education secretary who they say favors cutting down state budget for schools.

The protests were dubbed Women’s March.” Some media people even called it a “pro-Hillary rally.” But these were not about Hillary, or about sexism, which is one of the biggest issues against Trump.

“It is about wage, economic discrimination of women and people of color, jobs and rights,” says Omar Bantayan, a labor activist from Davao now working with unions in California.

The protest actions were about everything Trump is crushing: the American beliefs in freedom and opportunity. The rallies, Bantayan said, were “electric.”

In his inaugural, Trump promised to bring back jobs and industries to America and to build a wall from drugs, terror and immigrants. That means isolation and protectionism of the elite American corporations.

Activist Eve Ensler said in her piece that Trump is the unifier. Indeed, Trump has awakened the people in the US to come together fight for their rights and for freedoms. Let us watch and join them as the energy unfurls.--