{"id":4924,"date":"2020-11-21T04:38:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T14:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=4924"},"modified":"2020-11-21T04:38:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T14:38:34","slug":"getting-out-of-the-trump-hole-plus-a-filipina-buried-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2020\/11\/21\/getting-out-of-the-trump-hole-plus-a-filipina-buried-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting out of the Trump hole; Plus, A Filipina Buried Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Emil Guillermo<\/em>

Americans are buried in a Trump hole. It\u2019s time to get out of it.

The idea of America buried under the dysfunction of a Trump administration is an interesting metaphor that the Filipino American community should know much better.

Especially if you know the story of Cecilia \u201cCeline\u201d Navarro, buried alive in 1932.

Here are the facts of her Filipino American story. \u00a0

Navarro, a native of Carcar, Cebu, first arrived as a young girl in Kauai, then Honolulu. But she was destined for California, first San Francisco, and ultimately Stockton in 1918. There she married Ygnacio Navarro, a farmworker in 1924. They had four kids.

According to historian Dawn Mabalon\u2019s \u201cLittle Manila is in the Heart,\u201d and reports on the subject, Navarro\u2019s life changed in May of 1932, after she witnessed a domestic violence case involving members of the Caballeros de Dimas-Alang (CDA), a Filipino fraternal Mason-like organization in Stockton, California.

Four members were charged with the assault and kidnapping of two men who were aiding a white woman trying to escape another CDA member. Navarro witnessed it and testified against the CDA members in court. It was enough to send four CDA members to San Quentin.

Some published accounts say Navarro was retaliated for her testimony and taken by CDA and punished. But she was released.

Months later Navarro was accused of adultery by the CDA and disappeared on Nov. 19.

One CDA member, Pablo Bustamente, told authorities Navarro was taken and put on trial by the group Nov. 20. She was bound and blindfolded, accused of being unfaithful to her husband, for which she pleaded guilty and made to crawl on her knees over a floor of uncooked beans.

But the punishment didn\u2019t stop there. CDA member Bustamente said for the adultery and for breaking the secrecy of the group, Navarro was \u201csentenced\u201d to be buried alive at midnight.

It was Bustamente who came forward to sheriff\u2019s deputies and led them to Navarro\u2019s body on a delta island near Stockton, April 1, 1933. An autopsy would reveal Navarro died not from her beatings, but from suffocation.

At the time, the Stockton Record called the whole story \u201cJungle Justice.\u201d Three men and four women, all members of the CDA were indicted for murder and plead not guilty. The sensationalistic trial that followed in 1933 made headlines around the world. But in America, the reaction only fueled a raging anti-Filipino sentiment.

The trial ended on July 29, 1933 with a jury voting to acquit all the accused.

Navarro\u2019s story is the subject of a new documentary by filmmaker Celine Parrenas Shimizu who found a personal reason for taking history and bringing it forward. Shimizu\u2019s son, Lakas, died suddenly of a common virus that attacked his heart and died in 2013. Shimizu\u2019s grief had her in a tailspin, until she discovered in Navarro\u2019s story a way to deal with her own pain.

Through history, Navarro found her answer. Her documentary, \u201cThe Celine Archive,\u201d is playing now at film festivals around the country. \u00a0\u00a0

But the dusting off of the story is reminding Filipinos everywhere what it was to be Filipino in America in 1933.

The close-knit Filipino community in the Central Valley remains aghast and offended by the story. One person asked me, \u201cCan we sue?\u201d

Not for the truth.

The film is not perfect. It\u2019s an auteur\u2019s view of Navarro\u2019s story. In other words, it\u2019s Shimizu\u2019s personal journey as she talks to Navarro\u2019s relatives, ending with some closure for their side, and perhaps a little for Shimizu.

But it\u2019s not complete. The story is about Filipino American women of the 1930s. It\u2019s also about the power of our secret societies and how important they were in determining how Filipino American life worked at that time, and maybe even to this day.

There\u2019s a lot to talk about.

As the FANHS museum director, I figured it\u2019s a good time to co-sponsor with FANHS a real send off to Filipino American History Month 2020. On Oct. 31, we held a free online discussion of \u201cThe Celine Archive.\u201d

The filmmaker was there. So was Navarro\u2019s family members and Dr. Dorothy Cordova, the founder and executive director of FANHS. I was there on hand to moderate.

The film, \u201cThe Celine Archive,\u201d is more than a ghost story. It\u2019s her story, and our story.

And there\u2019s so much more to uncover to understand how our community came to be.

THAT LAST DEBATE<\/strong>
And now for that Trump hole.

There doesn\u2019t appear to be a closing argument for this election campaign, not with the pandemic raging out of control throughout the nation.

But America likes pills and likes the idea that a single pill that could solve all our problems. Like our presidency. That\u2019s why that last debate was important. It gives us the whole schmear of a campaign in 90 minutes of muted real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And besides being the best moderated debate (the President wasn\u2019t allowed to bully and interrupt the former Vice President Joe Biden at will), it was also the most Asian of all the presidential debates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cAsian\u201d was used twice! (That is where we find ourselves in the American political rubric. Asian Americans of Filipino descent. It\u2019s the only time we ever get mentioned).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first time, it was a direct question about people of color living near oil refineries and chemical plants in Texas, a classic environmental racism concern. People are worried about pollution killing them and making them sick. Moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump: \u201cYour administration has rolled back regulations on these kinds of facilities. Why should these families give you another four years in office?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great question. But instead of concern for the families\u2019 health, Trump led with his gut. It\u2019s all about the money. Just like the virus. Look at his actions. Don\u2019t wear a mask. Screw your health. Let\u2019s keep our economy going. Good enough for Trump here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe families we\u2019re talking about are employed heavily, and they\u2019re making a lot of money, more money than they\u2019ve ever made,\u201d Trump said without evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the families pay with their lives. But Trump didn\u2019t seem to care. He\u2019s the profit first guy, not the humanistic guy. And it\u2019s the pattern behind all his solutions. He\u2019ll throw money at it. Until the U.S. budget deficit triples to a record $3.1 trillion. That\u2019s the problem with a billionaire businessman who games the bankruptcy laws and pays only $750 a year in taxes. He can\u2019t relate to Americans as human beings in distress. Think of the Trump virus response. The same pattern exists.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any mention of the health of the families living next to those polluting factories? No. But Trump did go on about money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at the kind of numbers we\u2019ve produced for Hispanic, for black, or Asian<\/strong>, it\u2019s nine times greater the percentage gain than it was under in three years, than it was under eight years of the two of them, to put it nicely,\u201d Trump continued, implying he was better than Biden and Obama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know if the numbers are correct, or if he conflated the families next to those refineries in Texas with families in general, nationally. But here was Trump with a real chance to appeal to these voters in Texas, including some Asian Americans, and Trump answered in the most venal, dispassionate way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other \u201cAsian\u201d mention came in the last question posed by Welker, the imagine yourself on your Inauguration Day: \u201cWhat will you say in your address to Americans who did not vote for you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe Trump didn\u2019t hear the question correctly. But he launched into a rap about how \u201cthe road to success will bring us together,\u201d then boasted how under his administration, \u201cWe had the best black unemployment numbers in the history of our country, Hispanic, women, Asian<\/strong>, people with diplomas, no diplomas, MIT graduates, number one in the class, everyone had the best numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an incoherent diversity ramble. I guess he assumed everyone\u2019s voting for him (just like an authoritarian to think that). And why? Because obviously look what he\u2019s done for us\u2013made us all rich? Definitely, not one percent rich. Barely middle class rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, he didn\u2019t exactly answer the question. But he used the word \u201cAsian\u201d again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump says Asian twice not related to coronavirus, and he thinks it\u2019s a way to get the Asian American vote (5 percent of the electorate). But the president\u2019s record, especially on Twitter, is abysmal. According to research by Stop AAPI Hate, the president\u2019s use of \u201cChina virus\u201d and other anti-Asian rhetoric on Twitter was retweeted 1.2 million times and \u201cliked\u201d 4.2 million times. Trump is the super-spreader of anti-Asian American hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden saw Welker\u2019s final question about talking to people who didn\u2019t vote for him as an invitation to unite the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will say, I\u2019m an American president. I represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me. And I\u2019m going to make sure you\u2019re represented. I\u2019m going to give you hope. We\u2019re going to move. We\u2019re going to choose science over fiction, we\u2019re going to choose hope over fear.\u201d He then touched on dealing with the economy and systemic racism, making sure everyone has an even chance. \u201cI\u2019m going to make sure you get it. You haven\u2019t been getting that the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why Biden won the all-important last debate. He was clear, direct, empathetic. And for the most part, he was in command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those two questions where he mentioned \u201cAsian,\u201d the message was clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After nearly four years of federal dysfunction we need to right the ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American governance needs a grown up that all its people from every persuasion can trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden isn\u2019t the radical left-wing Trojan Horse that the fear monger Trump endlessly warns us about.

Biden is just the person we need to get us out of our Trump hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong> is a journalist and commentator. He was a columnist for the Star Bulletin, and a member of the Advertiser\u2019s editorial board. Twitter @emilamok\u00a0 See\/hear him\u00a0 at <\/em>www.amok.com<\/em><\/a>, or on your favorite podcast app<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emil Guillermo Americans are buried in a Trump hole. It\u2019s time to get out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[29,26],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1",2560,1706,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1",2048,1365,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1",1200,800,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=870%2C570&ssl=1",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C900&ssl=1",600,900,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=1077%2C715&ssl=1",1077,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=522%2C500&ssl=1",522,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1",1024,683,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=540%2C285&ssl=1",540,285,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?resize=375%2C250&ssl=1",375,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Candid Perspectives<\/a> Columns<\/a>","tag_info":"Columns","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/editorial1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4925,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4924\/revisions\/4925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}