Furutani Fires Up Crowd at Manilatown Dinner
October 10, 2008
Assemblyman calls for election of first Filipino to State Legislature
SAN FRANCISCO - State assemblyman Warren Furutani ignited the Manilatown Heritage Foundation’s dinner and dance on Oct. 4 with a rallying cry to elect a Filipino to the State Legislature.
“We from the north, south and central California must come together to elect the first Filipino American legislator to the California assembly,” said Furutani, the evening’s keynote speaker, to thunderous applause.
There has yet to be a Filipino American elected to the state assembly.
This summer Furutani, who represents California’s 55th District, including Wilmington, Harbor City and the Harbor Gateway, Carson and parts of Long Beach and Lakewood, wrote a successful state resolution recognizing the contributions of Filipino Americans to the state of California.
“I didn’t feel this resolution to be the end-all, be-all but a contribution to this overall movement that people have been leading and working on for ages,” Furutani said.
Little Brown Brother’s jazz rhythms set the mood as guests mingled with old and new friends, turning the Cathedral Hill Hotel into something similar to a neighborhood block party.
This feeling of komunidad-community-was forged in the foundation’s legacy rooted in the struggle over the I-Hotel on Kearny Street in the 1970s. The neighborhood fight for civil rights in San Francisco’s disappearing Manilatown rallied Asian Americans across the country and became the heart of the foundation’s mission when it was founded in 1994.
Executive Director Ron Muriera called the evening an opportunity to “bring it back to the origins of why Manilatown was first started…for issues that impact our community like affordable housing, access to education and the fight for benefits for Filipino veterans.”
Dean Grafilo, Furutani’s chief-of-staff and the only Filipino in that position in the state, said the second annual fundraiser “continues the preservation of the history and legacy of the manongs and manangs of Manilatown.”
“It is really revitalizing to see an organization that has a legacy and history and stands for something that encourages the Filipino community,” said Lisa Ang, community liaison of the mayor’s office and a guest that night.
The first Bill Sorro award, created in memoriam of the foundation’s founding member and civil-rights activist who passed away last fall, was presented to Lillian Galdeo for her work as executive director of Filipinos for Affirmative Action and filmmaker Curtis Choy, who produced and directed the documentary, The Fall of the I-Hotel. The program was emceed by Muriera and journalist Leslie Guevarra.
Poet Al Robles lauded the group for doing work that “brings folks together.”
“It brings the community together and helps us to build bridges to other people who are doing the same type of things, the same triumphs and the same struggles,” Robles said, taking a break from dancing.
Earlier, Mayor Gavin Newsom officially proclaimed the day Manilatown Heritage Foundation Day.
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