{"id":9337,"date":"2021-11-06T04:56:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T14:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=9337"},"modified":"2021-11-06T04:56:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-06T14:56:50","slug":"larry-itliong-had-principles-gen-powell-had-medals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2021\/11\/06\/larry-itliong-had-principles-gen-powell-had-medals\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Itliong Had Principles, Gen. Powell Had Medals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

by Emil Guillermo<\/em>

November is the month everyone stands back recovers from October, Filipino American History Month.

I can\u2019t let it go without one last note on a Pangasinan native and Filipino American of note, Larry Itliong. It was his birthday on Oct. 25, an official \u201cday\u201d in California. Just not a holiday \u2013 you still had to work. But then Itliong was far from a \u201choly man.\u201d He was just principled.

I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about Itliong and General Colin Powell who died October 18. Smack dab in the middle of our month.

Let\u2019s consider the two icons.

Unlike Powell, Itliong had no medals. He had seven fingers (lost three when he migrated to Alaska and worked in the salmon canneries). And you could usually find him holding a cigar. He wasn\u2019t a soldier. Just a fighter. But he was part of history.

For a time in the late \u201860s, he was seen as the most powerful Filipino American in the country, with politicians courting him for endorsements \u2013 most notably, Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in their runs for president.

Itliong\u2019s fame came from starting the Delano Grape Strike in 1965, leading a group of Filipino farmhands in California\u2019s Central Valley that ultimately formed the basis of the United Farm Workers Union.

Cesar Chavez\u2019s union? That\u2019s the problem. It was Itliong who started it all, demanding that growers pay workers $1.40 an hour.

Chavez and his group joined days after the strike began, but it was Itliong and the Filipinos who were affiliated with the AFL-CIO that essentially merged labor rights with the civil rights movement in the U.S.People remember Chavez as a national hero, naming schools and parks after him. Not Itliong.

But that\u2019s starting to change. This weekend in the Central Valley, where Filipino and Mexican Americans still work the fields, they named a community center for Itliong.

One thing that happened is a statement made by Dolores Huerta, a UFW leader with Chavez. Huerta told a group of Larry Itliong Day celebrants that she \u201corganized\u201d Itliong.

A joke, right? Let\u2019s hope. Huerta, who has been honored by the Obama Administration with a medal knows the real history. Itliong was the leader of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) which was affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

I\u2019ve spoken to everyone involved in starting the strike. Huerta knows better. Itliong was the leader of the Filipinos who made up AWOC and forged that merger in 1965 with Chavez\u2019s National Farmworkers Association which wasn\u2019t even a union. But they had people. That\u2019s how the UFW was created.

It\u2019s been said that historians and journalists overlooked Itliong and looked uncritically at Chavez because of the latter\u2019s charismatic sense that came from adopting the non-violent tactics of Gandhi and Dr. King.

That was a stark contrast to a battle-hardened Itliong, who saw decades of often violent racism in the fields but who still evolved into a principled union man.

So, Chavez may have been the man who said yes, \u201cSi Se Puede.\u201dBut Itliong knew the power of the strike and just saying no to the growers; no to those who would attempt to buy him off. And ultimately, it was also no to the UFW when Itliong disagreed in its strategy and tactics.

Filipinos wanted to fight and strike. Chavez wanted to do hunger strikes and march from the fields to the state capitol in Sacramento.

As one Itliong loyalist, the late Ernesto Mabalon, said of Chavez, \u201cMarching 366 miles behind a statue of the Virgin Mary is not a strike.\u201dChavez needed Itliong to show him the way. Itliong may not have had medals. But he had principle.

Here\u2019s a story he told to Asian American history students at UC Santa Cruz in 1976.\u201cA lot want to buy me off,\u201d Itliong told the students. \u201cOne of the biggest organizations that I grew up with in this country offered me $200,000.\u201dItliong described the offer: \u201cThey said, Larry Itliong, we know you need money. You\u2019re doing a good job in California. We\u2019ll give you $200,000 to do whatever you want to do.\u201dBut then he described the conditions.

The money would be his \u201cif you\u2019re going to help Cesar Chavez run the service center,\u201d Itliong said on the tape.

This was after he left the United Farm Workers union as a VP to Chavez. It was as if the union acknowledged Chavez needed Itliong to unify the two biggest groups in the fields, the Mexicans and the Filipinos.\u201cYou know what I tell them,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t need that $200,000. I can eat rice and pusit (squid), bagoong (anchovy paste), mango. I don\u2019t need $200,000.\u201dHe said young Pinoys with him were amazed by his refusal.

\u201cI said, $200,000 to sell out my countrymen?\u201d Itliong asked rhetorically. \u201cI figure we have about 350,000 Filipinos in California. That\u2019s only $200,000. That\u2019s not even $1 a head. No, I don\u2019t want your money. If I want to sell my countrymen, then give me $50 million. I\u2019ll take it.\u201dItliong would never sell out his fellow Filipinos. And that\u2019s why we don\u2019t forget him and not just on Filipino American History Month.

More principled than Colin Powell?
<\/strong>Surely, principles come into play in Powell\u2019s story. Recently when considering Powell, I may have given him too much credit when I was writing as a human being at the moment.

The news had broken of Powell\u2019s death, and I was simply reacting at face value, in sympathy and sorrow at the loss. A man of uniform and medals, a BIPOC American success story had died.

I did not thoughtfully consider his mistakes.

I did mention how Powell himself admitted a \u201cblot\u201d on his record: his speech before the United Nations Security Council in 2003, in which he falsely declared Saddam Hussein had the capability of producing weapons of mass destruction.

It was used to justify the Iraq War, but we now know Saddam had no such capability. Powell should have known better. And he should have resigned instead of playing into the \u201cgood soldier\u201d role, following the dictates of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, et al.But as it turns out, it was just the most egregious of a few blots.

Last week, a friend asked, \u201cWhat about My Lai?\u201dThe rape and massacre of hundreds of innocent Vietnamese people took place in March 1968. Dozens were charged in the murder, but only one man was convicted, Lt. William Calley, Jr., the platoon leader. His life sentence turned into just 3 \u00bd years under house arrest.

As Charles Kaiser wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review<\/em> in 2009, Powell as a young Army Major was asked to investigate a soldier\u2019s letter that described the atrocities against the Vietnamese people.

Powell rejected the charges and wrote: \u201cIn direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent.\u201dPowell was learning how to play the game all too well. And when he found himself at the moral crossroads, he did not always do the right thing.

A guest editorial in the New York Times<\/em> by Theodore Johnson, entitled \u201cThe Paradox of Colin Powell,\u201d spoke to the contradictions in assessing the man. Soldier, statesman. African American, Republican.

As I have, the author also looked to Powell as a \u201cfirst,\u201d and what is implied when one who is the only BIPOC in the room.

It\u2019s a survival game at the top. Does it matter what you stand for if you\u2019re no longer standing? So you say what you must, and not what you should. Not if you\u2019re still carrying someone else\u2019s water.

That\u2019s how one gets set up to be the shiny hood ornament on a Bush-Cheney armored tank. That\u2019s how blots are created along the way.

Powell beat off the critics with his charisma and medals. He flashed some principles later in public life. Bucking the GOP to back Obama in 2008. Then again, as a Never-Trumper, when he left the Republican party after Jan. 6.

It may not balance all the blots of an imperfect leader, but that\u2019s all part of the paradox. And after the last four years, all the leadership meters are askew.

As for me, I considered Powell at the moment, October 2021. It informed the compassion I felt for Powell the man now, on the week he passed.

For that, I\u2019m not ashamed.

This we can say about the soldier\/politician\/human being Colin Powell: He made mistakes. But he wasn\u2019t a mistake.

EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong> is a journalist and commentator. In his career, he\u2019s been a member of the Advertiser editorial board and a Star-Bulletin columnist. He was also the host of NPR\u2019s \u201cAll Things Considered.\u201d See his vlog on <\/em>www.amok.com<\/em><\/a>;\u00a0 Twitter @emilamok.

Read More Candid Perspectives:
<\/strong><\/em>A Filipina American Nobel Peace Prize Winner \u2013 A Journalist<\/a>
Neither Pacquiao Nor Trump Fit For The Presidency of Anything<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emil Guillermo November is the month everyone stands back recovers from October, Filipino American…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[29,20],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=911%2C1179&ssl=1",911,1179,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=232%2C300&ssl=1",232,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=640%2C828&ssl=1",640,828,true],"large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=640%2C829&ssl=1",640,829,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=911%2C1179&ssl=1",911,1179,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=911%2C1179&ssl=1",911,1179,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=911%2C800&ssl=1",911,800,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=870%2C570&ssl=1",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=600%2C900&ssl=1",600,900,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=639%2C715&ssl=1",639,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=508%2C500&ssl=1",508,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=911%2C1179&ssl=1",911,1179,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=540%2C285&ssl=1",540,285,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?resize=375%2C250&ssl=1",375,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Candid Perspectives<\/a> Featured<\/a>","tag_info":"Featured","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CP_LarryItliong-color_11062021.jpg?fit=911%2C1179&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337"}],"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=9337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9338,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337\/revisions\/9338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}