Celebrating Black Filipino American pioneers

SAN FRANCISCO – Filipino Americans have much in common with African Americans.

Both their earliest ancestors arrived involuntarily. Filipinos who landed in 1587 on the shores of what is now Morro Bay, California, were conscripted into the Spanish galleon trade; in 1763 more jumped ship on the bayous of what is now Louisiana.

Africans were captured by slave traders from what is now Angola and shipped to the British colony in Hampton, Virginia, in 1619.

They speak many languages, Fil-Ams having descended from multiple colonizers, and African Americans from ancestors enslaved from various nations in the continent.

Family is the center of their universe.

They have contributed much to building this country. Filipinos were the lifeblood of Hawaii and California farms, Washington and Alaska fish canning industry and the US World War II effort in the Far East.

Enslaved people were the backbone of this nation’s early infrastructure, agriculture and service industry.

They love food, music and the arts.

These parallel beginnings and shared experiences brought them together in many ways and in the 20^th Century, the first known Black Filipino Americans were born who have further enriched the culture of the United States.

Embracing kin

For its second Black History Month commemoration this month, Filipinos in San Mateo, California-based nonprofit organization Peninsula Family Service (PFS) are embracing their Black Filipino American kin.

In its mission to “strengthen children, families and older adults with the support and tools to realize their full potential and lead healthy, stable lives,” PFS highlights diversity among its agency values.

The DEI team and its D.R.E.A.M Employee Resource group are leading a grand celebration this month with live performances, food and family-friendly activities.  Among the presentations is a tribute honoring some of the many Black Filipino Americans who have broken barriers in politics, public service, sports and the arts.

POLITICAL PIONEERS (from top left): Bobby Scott/Virginia House, Thurgood Marshall Jr./Campaign Legal Center and Glenn Sylvester/Daly City; (from bottom left): John W. Marshall/Library of Virginia, Justin Jones/Tennessee Assembly and Alex Walker Griffin/City of Hercules

Political pioneers

Former Clinton White House Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Thurgood Marshall Jr. also served as chair of the Board of Governors of the US Postal Service and as member of Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation. He is the eldest son of Thurgood Marshall Sr., the first African American on the US Supreme Court, and his second wife Cecilia “Cissy” Suyat Marshall, a Filipina civil rights activist-historian originally from Hawaii.

His brother John William Marshall was Secretary of Public Safety under two Virginia Governors. He was the first African American and 7^th Director of the US Marshals Service. Earlier he was named US Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia after serving with the Virginia State Police.

Virginia US Rep. Bobby Cortez Scott is his state’s first African American legislator since Reconstruction. He is also the first American of Filipino descent to serve as a voting member of Congress. He served with the National Guard before getting elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1978, Virginia Senate in 1983 and the US House of Representatives in 1993.

Tennessee Assembly District 52 Rep. Justin Jones was expelled last year for violating decorum rules by participating in a gun control protest on the House floor.  The lifelong advocate for equality was later reinstated.  Born in Oakland, his Filipina mother Christine raised him and his sister while putting herself through nursing school. He says he is proud of his Black and Filipino families, who taught him community involvement, environmental conscience and spirituality.

Brooklyn, NY-born Glenn Sylvester is Daly City’s first council member of African American descent.  The son of a Filipina mother served 33 years in the San Francisco Police Dept., retiring as sergeant in 2011.  In 2016 he was elected to the Daly City Council and was sworn in twice the same night as council member and then as mayor because the meeting coincided with the council reorganization. The council voted him mayor again in 2019.

Alex Walker-Griffin officially became the youngest elected council member in Hercules, California, in 2020, when he was 23. At age 5 he was introduced to politics when he accompanied his Jamaican-Filipino father, then-Oakland’s Fire Marshal, at an Oakland City Council meeting.  At 13 he worked on then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2010 campaign.

SPORTS STARS (from left) Jordan Clarkson/IG, Sarina Bolden/Wikipedia and Camryn Bynum/IG

Sports stars

Minnesota Vikings safety Camryn Bynum made worldwide news while appealing for help to expedite his wife’s spouse visa from the Philippines.  They were reunited when she arrived in the US in November 2023.

Bynum had played college football for the California Golden Bears and was selected by the Vikings in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in business.

Sarina Isabel Calpo Bolden plays forward for A-League Women club Newcastle Jets. Born in Santa Clara, California, she is a member of the Philippine National Women’s Team, for whom she scored their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup goal on July 25, 2023.  She had led her soccer team in Milpitas High School and then at Loyola Marymount University.

Jordan Taylor Clarkson, a Utah Jazz guard, is the son of Mike Clarkson and Annette Tullao Davis. The Florida native also plays for the Philippine National Basketball Team. In 2015, he and Jeremy Lin became the first Asian American starting back court in NBA history. In 2021, Clarkson was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

SOCIAL JUSTICE INFLUENCERS (from left) Kia LaBeijia/Wikipedia, Leslie Lewis Sword/Facebook and Christina Lewis Halpern/LinkedIn

Social justice influencers

Kia Michelle Benbow or Kia LaBeijia is a fine artist encompassing dance and photography. Her series, 24, is a sociopolitical commentary on growing up as a young woman of color with HIV. She contracted the virus through perinatal transmission from her mother, Philippine-born Kwan Bennett, who passed away from AIDS-related illness when LaBeija was 14.

Leslie Lewis Sword toured the US and Europe performing in “Miracle in Rwanda,” a one-woman show co-created with and directed by Edward Vilga about the true story of genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza.  She is also credited as producer and actor of films that plumb the depths of the heart. She is one of two daughters of philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis and the late Reginald Lewis, who became the richest Black American as chair and CEO of TLC Beatrice International.

Her sister Christina Lewis Halpern is a philanthropist-journalist who founded All Star Code, an education organization for young men of color in technology, and Give Black, a comprehensive database of Black-founded nonprofits. In 2014, the Obama Administration named her a “Champion of Change” for STEM Access.  She is in the midst of producing her industrialist father’s biopic.

POP MUSIC ICONS (from left) Dominic Fike/IG, Sugar Pie de Santo/Wikipedia, Cassie Ventura/IG (center) Joe Bataan/Official Joe Bataan website and Saweetie/IG (bottom) Toro y Moi/Wikipedia; Apl.de.Ap/Apl.de.Ap website and H.E.R./IG

Pop music icons

Vallejo, California native Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson is better known as H.E.R. or “Having Everything Revealed.” The R&B singer/songwriter has received an Academy Award, a Children’s and Family Emmy Award, 5 Grammys and 5 Golden Globes nominations, 3 American Music Award and 4 Billboard Music Awards.

Peylia Marsema Balinton was born in Brooklyn to an African American mother and Filipino father. She grew up in San Francisco and Etta James was among her childhood friends. Johnny Otis discovered her in 1955 and named her Sugar Pie de Santo, R&B star. 

Dominic Fike grabbed attention for his songs on the website SoundCloud. His debut album for Columbia Records, “What Could Possibly Go Wrong,” made the top 50 in the US, Australia and beyond. In 2022, Fike joined the second season of “Euphoria.”

Diamonté Quiava Valentin Harper aka Saweetie began songwriting at 13 in school in Elk Grove, Calif.  After earning a BA in Communication at USC, she focused on her rap career. She is first cousins with Gabriele Union. Their grandfather, Willie Harper, played for the San Francisco 49ers. MC Hammer is their uncle.

Bataan Nitollano or Joe Bataan, was born in East Harlem, New York, the son of a Filipino father and African American mother. He named his first band Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers and in 1973 helped coin the phrase “salsoul,” mixing Latin and Afro elements.

Chazwick Bradley “Chaz Bear” Bundick is known professionally as Toro y Moi.  A singer, songwriter, record producer and graphic designer, he is recognized as a spearhead of the chillwave genre of the 2010s.  Based in the Bay Area, he was honored with the Chaz Bear Day by Berkeley for his contribution to the arts.

Cassie Ventura was born to an African American mother and Filipino father. At 14 she began modeling and co-wrote and recorded “Kiss Me,” a big club hit in Germany. In 2008 she made her film debut in “Step Up 2,” in which she sang the lead single “Is it You.” Recently she sued her ex-producer/boyfriend Sean Combs for alleged sexual abuse that was settled out of court.

Black-eyed Peas co-founder Apl.de.ap, Allan Pineda Lindo was born in Angeles City, Philippines, to an African American airman and Filipina mother Cristina Pineda. The Pearl S. Buck Foundation matched him with a sponsor who later adopted him.

Allan came to the US at the age of 11 for treatment of nystagmus, an involuntary movement of the eyes. He befriended William “will.i.am” Adams in school in Los Angeles and they formed the now world-renowned band behind the monster hit “I Gotta Feeling” and 6 Grammys to date.