Activism

A Season Where Hispanic, Asian and A Little Black History Converge

We all have some Hispanic heritage in California, whether we own it or not. The style, the language, the names of our cities and streets. All an homage to our link to Spain.

Published

4 years ago

October 1, 2021

Christy Price

September 15 - October 15, National Hispanic Heritage Month - handwriting in Huun paper handmade in Mexico, reminder of cultural event/ iStock

And so here we are in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month which began on September 15 and continues on through October 15. It’s a strange straddle over two months, but what do you expect from an imperial culture that went in and dominated lands and people?

We’re not just talking about being born “Hispanic” in that positive, “let’s go out and have some flautas and margaritas” kind of way.

There’s that nagging negative side, too.

We all have some Hispanic heritage in California, whether we own it or not. The style, the language, the names of our cities and streets. All an homage to our link to Spain.

But as an Asian American Filipino, born here in California, the link to Spain goes back more than 500 years when the Spanish conquered the Philippines.

My Hispanic heritage? As a colony of Spain, the Philippines got the full imperial treatment. My name? Spanish. My food? All sorts of Spanish influences. My beliefs? Spanish and Catholic to the core.

The Spanish colonization gave way to the American colonization, which started after the Spanish American War ended and the Philippines was sold to the U.S. for $20 million.

I like to say that’s slightly less than Draymond Green makes for the Warriors.

The colonization process continued as the U.S. taught English to the Philippines, and then brought Filipinos like my dad to California in the 1920s and 1930s to work the fields.

Born under the American flag as a colonized Filipino, my dad was allowed to enter the U.S. as an “American national.” No papers necessary. But he wasn’t a citizen. Nor a slave. He was a colonized ward of the state. About 30,000 of them, mostly men, came to California to be a labor force, working the fields for ten cents an hour.

They also found out just how unwelcome they were. They couldn’t vote, own land, and they couldn’t intermarry. There were anti-miscegenation laws that prevented the mixing of races.

If a Filipino was caught with a white woman, he was shot, killed, and even lynched.

Filipinos? Like Blacks? Yep.

My father chose to stay in the Bay Area to work in restaurants. He lived in the Fillmore. Most of his Filipino townmates went to work migrant agricultural jobs up and down the Central Valley. That was their life for decades.

Grape Strike: The Filipino-Mexican Merger

In Delano, north of Fresno, Larry Itliong led the Filipino agricultural workers in a strike against the table grape growers on Sept. 7, 1965. They wanted $1.45 per hour.

But the Filipinos were mostly elderly in their 50s and 60s. They realized they needed to join in coalition with Cesar Chavez who ran a community organization for Mexicans at the time. Chavez wasn’t a unionist. He didn’t want to strike.

Five years ago, on the 50^th anniversary of The Great Delano Grape Strike, I talked to Gil Padilla, a co-founder with Chavez of the National Farm Workers Association. He told me Chavez was persuaded by Itliong.

“He was the one who made the negotiations,” Chavez had said. “Larry was the one who made sure we became a family and we merged.”

The 1965 merger of the Filipinos and the Mexican workers in solidarity in the United Farm Worker strike against the grape growers also symbolized the merger of the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement.

That’s what I think about when I think Hispanic Heritage Month, which overlapscFilipino History Month which starts on October 1.

There’s some complicated history intertwined, both positive and negative, with a lot more diversity than you think.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He vlogs at www.amok.com

Facebook: emilguillermo.media ; Twitter@emilamok

Christy Price

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Activism

Chase Oakland Community Center Hosts Alley-Oop Accelerator Building Community and Opportunity for Bay Area Entrepreneurs

Over the past three years, the Alley-Oop Accelerator has helped more than 20 Bay Area businesses grow, connect, and gain meaningful exposure. The program combines hands-on training, mentorship, and community-building to help participants navigate the legal, financial, and marketing challenges of small business ownership.

Published

1 week ago

February 21, 2026

Oakland Post

Bay Area entrepreneurs attend the Alley-Oop Accelerator, a small business incubation program at Chase Oakland Community Center. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Golden State Warriors and Chase bank hosted the third annual Alley-Oop Accelerator this month, an empowering eight-week program designed to help Bay Area entrepreneurs bring their visions for business to life.

The initiative kicked off on Feb. 12 at Chase’s Oakland Community Center on Broadway Street, welcoming 15 small business owners who joined a growing network of local innovators working to strengthen the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

At its core, the accelerator is designed to create an ecosystem of collaboration, where local entrepreneurs can learn from one another while accessing the resources of a global financial institution.

“This is our third year in a row working with the Golden State Warriors on the Alley-Oop Accelerator,” said Jaime Garcia, executive director of Chase’s Coaching for Impact team for the West Division. “We’ve already had 20-plus businesses graduate from the program, and we have 15 enrolled this year. The biggest thing about the program is really the community that’s built amongst the business owners — plus the exposure they’re able to get through Chase and the Golden State Warriors.”

According to Garcia, several graduates have gone on to receive vendor contracts with the Warriors and have gained broader recognition through collaborations with JPMorgan Chase.

“A lot of what Chase is trying to do,” Garcia added, “is bring businesses together because what they’ve asked for is an ecosystem, a network where they can connect, grow, and thrive organically.”

This year’s Alley-Oop Accelerator reflects that vision through its comprehensive curriculum and emphasis on practical learning. Participants explore the full spectrum of business essentials including financial management, marketing strategy, and legal compliance, while also preparing for real-world experiences such as pop-up market events.

Each entrepreneur benefits from one-on-one mentoring sessions through Chase’s Coaching for Impact program, which provides complimentary, personalized business consulting.

Garcia described the impact this hands-on approach has had on local small business owners. He recalled one candlemaker, who, after participating in the program, was invited to provide candles as gifts at Chase events.

“We were able to help give that business exposure,” he explained. “But then our team also worked with them on how to access capital to buy inventory and manage operations once those orders started coming in. It’s about preparation. When a hiccup happens, are you ready to handle it?”

The Coaching for Impact initiative, which launched in 2020 in just four cities, has since expanded to 46 nationwide.

“Every business is different,” Garcia said. “That’s why personal coaching matters so much. It’s life-changing.”

Participants in the 2026 program will each receive a $2,500 stipend, funding that Garcia said can make an outsized difference. “It’s amazing what some people can do with just $2,500,” he noted. “It sounds small, but it goes a long way when you have a plan for how to use it.”

For Chase and the Warriors, the Alley-Oop Accelerator represents more than an educational initiative, it’s a pathway to empowerment and economic inclusion. The program continues to foster lasting relationships among the entrepreneurs who, as Garcia put it, “build each other up” through shared growth and opportunity.

“Starting a business is never easy, but with the right support, it becomes possible, and even exhilarating,” said Oscar Lopez, the senior business consultant for Chase in Oakland.