Our Asparagus History
By Nestor Palugod
Enriquez
Filipinohome.com
Jersey City would be the equivalent of Stockton in population and density of
Filipino American in the East Coast. Lot of kapit-bahay. .Last month, CBS 60
Minutes featured residents of Stockton losing their homes and repeated the
current financial crisis affecting the entire nation.
Stockton is a city of
280,000 people in the Central Valley; 80 miles east of San Francisco and 80
miles north of San Jose. In many ways, this is ground zero for the current
financial crisis and a microcosm of everything that went wrong. A few years
ago, it was one of the hottest real estate markets in the country; today it is
the foreclosure capital of America.
Developers started turning asparagus fields into subdivisions, and lenders
handed out free money to anyone who wanted to buy. The lucrative construction
industry borrowed jobs from the farm land. Unemployment
followed when there was no longer development.
Crime went higher made Stockton the second most miserable place to live
in the nation. Among the three worst cities in terms of both unemployment and
violent crime, only Detroit rank higher according to Forbes. Stockton became the microcosm of the unfortunate collapse
failure of the real estate market in the nation. The brokers traded the loan
away as market declined. The easy
borrowed money exceeded home value called negative equity. It became so bad
that the homeowners did not know who were holding the title of their owned
home. There is no doubt that among the home owners are Filipino Americans. They
too at times lost direction of Filipino American history.
Asparagus was the side dish
of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) trustee meeting in
Philadelphia last summer. This type of farming is the hardest back breaking job
anywhere. Our "manong" worked under the worst labor condition and no
health coverage. I am watching the presidential primary candidates promising
health insurance and the home foreclosure and abatement not only in Stockton
but for the entire nation. It is the job nobody wanted but they endured, live
proudly and sustain amazing longevity in Stockton
It is still sad
that Frank R Perez, a great storyteller at the age of 94 would no longer be
able to tell the Asparagus story
in the valleys of California. He
died two weeks ago. He was the dean of Filipino American journalism.
FANHS founder Fred Cordova wrote, Francisco Ramos Perez (January 30, 1913-January 20, 2008) in becoming
a newsman, he actually emerged as an historian. He started in 1934 to write
columns in his Philippine vernacular Iloko but English was a better fit when he
took on racial discrimination, anti-miscegenation, segregation in public
places, labor riots. His writings of
everyday life were published by reading Pinoy California newspapers like the
Salinas venerable Philippine Mail, Los Angeles Philippine Star Press, Stockton
Filipino Forum, San Francisco US-Philippine Times, Union City Maharlika and
Sacramento Philippine Review. Unlike some of today's Pinoy papers, those in the
20s, 30s and 40s dealt in-depth mostly with community issues not community
socials, with Philippine independence not Philippine trivia. A native of
Bantay, Ilocos Sur in the Philippines, Uncle Frank arrived in 1929 in the U.S.
through San Francisco. He had only 25
centavos in his pocket. He recalled, “I went into a little diner and tried to
pay for two pieces of bread with the centavos.
The owner, understanding my plight, gave me a sandwich and called
someone who eventually helped me find work.” Asked if the restaurant owner was Filipino, he
said, “No, he was Jewish.”
Because Uncle Frank's stories
recorded the trials and tribulations of Pinoys in their struggles for equality
and acceptance, he garnered awards and other honors, among them from two
Philippine presidents, Marcos and Aquino. His columns went under the heading,
“Are You Listening?”
I
like to believe that there are still asparagus patches
around the troubled real estate in Stockton. You will still find small
Asparagus farm in the Garden State, New Jersey but not in Jersey City. Every
time I see Asparagus in Jersey City (only in the produce department) it reminds
me of good old days of our Manong. Notice
that they are always delicately cut in uniform and neatly bundled, they will
stand. The best way to cook is the same
way, standing straight up, simmered to the delicious tops. They are the labor
of love, taste of our history.
Home ownership is part of immigrant’s dream but it began with
the Asparagus. Downtown
Stockton houses the early Filipino American experience. Filipino American National Historical
Society’s Stockton chapter is working to save and restore what is left of the
historical area, the Emerald Restaurant, the Rizal Social Club and the Hotel
Mariposa on Lafayette Street. The Manong survived around the sign “no Filipinos
allowed” and found retreat to stretch their backs from the asparagus field.
National Trust for
Historic Preservation named Little Manila one of America's 11 most-endangered
historic places. The
area is in the midst of foreclosure before the current housing crisis and revitalization
of our past that need our support.
We're launching our capital campaign and hopefully getting
corporations and families ... to really contribute to the revitalization of
Little Manila," said Dawn Mabalon, chairwoman of the Little Manila
Foundation, Mabalon family are deep rooted in the asparagus farms in Stockton.
Bundled as the Filipino American museum, the 2 million Pinoy have
staked of collective ownership. A contribution to Little Manila project as
little as the cost of a small bundle of asparagus is needed to pay
for a share of home entitlement and virtual place of history.
Filipinos
in Stockton goes on sale Feb 24
Pictures
from Little Manila Foundation
National
Trustee, Filipino American National Historical Society