During roll call in the fourth grade, the substitute teacher stopped reading names, and JoAnn Fields and the rest of her classmates knew why.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole class knew it was because she couldn\u2019t pronounce my name. Everyone in the class said in unison, \u2018Marivic Lagula!\u2019 And she turned around and said, \u2018Well, it\u2019s not my fault she doesn\u2019t have a normal, American name.\u2019 That made me angry,\u201d said Fields, who began using her middle name, JoAnn. \u201cI struggle with it at times because, damn it, I conformed. I conformed because I wanted to be a normal American. I didn\u2019t think it was fair, but now, that\u2019s why I want to create teachable moments and show that we are American, we helped build America. \u2026 I\u2019m redirecting that energy into something positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
She founded the local Filipino American Friendship Festival<\/a> in 2021, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Manila in 1946<\/a>, that established the independence of the Philippines. Presented by the API Initiative<\/a>, an organization that promotes and advocates for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, this year\u2019s free festival is from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 18 at NTC Park in Liberty Station in Point Loma. It features more than 100 vendors, food, cultural presentations, dance performances, singers, musicians, and a lumpia eating contest.<\/p>\n Fields, 54, is the government and public relations director for the API Initiative, and has previously worked for elected officials in various forms of government, and currently works as a consultant. She lives in Chula Vista, has four adult children and five grandchildren, and took some time to talk about her own desire to learn about her culture and history, and to share that history with her children, her friends, and with her broader community.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> Tell us about this festival.<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>It is an opportunity to share our contributions in history. Many people do not realize that the Philippines was once a territory of the United States. We were colonized by the U.S., and on July 4, 1946, the Treaty of Manila was signed, and that signified when the United States relinquished sovereignty over the Philippines and we became our own self-governing country. As adults, when are you going to learn that? They\u2019re definitely not teaching that in school, and the diplomatic initiative that came after that is Philippine American Friendship Day, so that gives us an opportunity to teach our history, and to keep a positive relationship in the community. We don\u2019t want to lecture about this, we want to celebrate. If you know anything about the Filipino community, we like to party, we like to eat, we like to dance. Some of us like to karaoke; I say \u201csome\u201d because I\u2019m an anomaly and I don\u2019t sing karaoke, but everybody else I know does. This gives us a fun way to, again, share our history, our culture. It gives us an opportunity to remind folks that we\u2019re neighbors \u2014 we eat together at restaurants, we might worship together at church, we can dance together.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really involved in a lot of different community groups, and I\u2019m full Filipino (and) I have kids that are mixed. They\u2019re Filipino and African American, so what do I teach them when this is not being taught in school? I want to learn about my community, and I want my kids to learn that part of their culture, so that was part of the inspiration for this event. We need to celebrate ourselves. We don\u2019t need to wait for a curriculum to be approved to teach people about the Treaty of Manila, I know it to be true. This friendship day, it\u2019s a reminder that we are all San Diegans. I have a sincere belief we all want to live in a safe neighborhood, we want to be successful in school. If you hate, if there is racism, it\u2019s because you don\u2019t know the connection. If you don\u2019t know what to be proud of, if you don\u2019t know who your neighbors are, if you don\u2019t know your kids\u2019 classmates, how would you know? So, this event can contribute real unity in our community because we\u2019re teaching and sharing our contributions. It\u2019s promoting our visibility, promoting our contributions, so when something happens\u2014good, bad, challenging, or indifferent\u2014you won\u2019t forget us because you\u2019ve seen us at this festival.<\/p>\n What I love about Chula Vista\u2026<\/p>\n I love\u00a0the South\u00a0Bay,\u00a0I was raised in\u00a0the South\u00a0Bay.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0by everything that I need. I have my markets that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0close to;\u00a0I love the ambiance when I drive to the water,\u00a0or I stay at the Gaylord; the\u00a0farmers\u2019\u00a0market at\u00a0Otay Ranch Mall.\u00a0I really love how Chula Vista reflects the whole\u00a0region and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a mix of\u00a0Filipinos, African Americans, Latinos, Caucasian.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a mix of\u00a0cultures and I love that\u00a0about Chula Vista.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Why is it important to you to recognize and celebrate this day?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s important to me because it is the 80th anniversary. When we celebrate the signing, it shows me how resilient the Philippines is because the United States tried to govern us. Spain, for hundreds of years, tried to govern us. The Japanese were trying to come in and take over, and they all did not succeed. To me, that\u2019s something to be proud of, but if you don\u2019t know it happened, how would you know to celebrate that? It points to the history of us becoming a territory after the Spanish-American War in 1898. Everything is tied to this one event, and once we share this history, it makes sense why there was the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934<\/a> (which established Philippine independence to take effect on July 4, 1946, after a 10-year transitional period had taken place), why there were only 50 Filipinos allowed to migrate to the United States each year (according to Immigration History<\/a>, a project of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, the Tydings-McDuffie Act<\/a> changed the status of citizens of the Philippines to that of \u201caliens,\u201d restricting immigration to the U.S. to 50 people per year). So, again, celebrating this is important because it signifies how resilient the Philippines and Filipinos are because so many people tried to govern us and take over.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> What can people expect if they attend the festival this year?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong>\u00a0We have a new addition this year because it is friendship and relationship building, so there are African American line dancers, salsa and bachata with a Latino dance group, we have a band that sings in different languages. This is what it looks like when we celebrate together, regardless if you\u2019re Filipino or not. This is how we can live in harmony. We don\u2019t have to speak the same language, we can dance together to the same beat, and I\u2019m really excited about that part where we\u2019re inviting the whole public to come celebrate with us.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What do you hope people in the Filipino community get from the experience?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>To be proud. Be proud of your culture, be proud of your opportunity to use your voice. Growing up, my parents were really involved in the community and I was volunteered to attend meetings. I didn\u2019t want to go to all those meetings, but guess what? Those are the relationships that helped build me up, but also got me into politics and being successful in it (working for elected officials in Congress, the state assembly, city council). I want people to feel confident that we can advocate for everything because, many times, we\u2019re trying to be submissive, or not take a leadership role. You don\u2019t have to be the chief nursing officer, but we do have one at Paradise Valley Hospital, Gemma Rama-Banaag<\/a>, and I want to promote that. I want to promote that if you see it, you can be it. We can play professional tennis at Wimbledon, like Alex Eala. There\u2019s a documentary about a family that was raised in National City; kids in the Redondo family were professional tennis players that played in Wimbledon (their story is the subject of a documentary, \u201cLove All\u201d<\/a>). Walter Redondo<\/a> is also an amazing artist and sells artwork from his gallery. I want kids to see that you don\u2019t have to be a nurse or an engineer; you can be a creative and make it. My dad wanted me to be a nurse, but I didn\u2019t want to. A lot of our kids go through that, so this is another teachable moment for our community, to see success in different careers.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What is the best advice you\u2019ve ever received?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>The best advice is from my mom and it\u2019s simply to be happy. Don\u2019t get mad at what didn\u2019t happen, the goal is the pursuit of happiness\u2014be happy, do what makes you happy. I think that\u2019s the best advice because that\u2019s what I do. I\u2019m passionate about sharing our culture, our history. I\u2019m passionate about advocacy, and that\u2019s what makes me happy. So, I learned that from my mom.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>I like a variety of music, and I really do enjoy gospel. She\u2019s probably not your traditional gospel artist, but Koryn Hawthorne? I really love her music, I really identify with her lyrics.<\/p>\n Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> If I had a magic wand, I would have my grandkids, my family, all together. We would be having a barbecue at one of our parks around the port, and then a fire pit at night. I really like being by the water and I love being with my kids, and my grandkids, especially. When my kids were younger, I remember times when they would break out their ukuleles and just have jam sessions with their friends, and we would be over on Mission Bay at one of the fire pits by the Bali Hai, and just enjoy one another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During roll call in the fourth grade, the substitute teacher stopped reading names, and JoAnn Fields and the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":927874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1073,1370,728,50,3546,3549,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-927873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-columns","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-people","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116901536527613663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}