Activism

COMMENTARY: Based on My Reading of Ethnic History, Jan. 6 ‘Insurrectionists’ Unworthy of Name

Maybe if all those subpoenaed comply, Congress will get to the bottom of what happened that day — that some Republicans loyal to an ex-president who lost the November election were considering a coup. Now there’s a word that doesn’t belong in American democracy.

Published

4 years ago

January 9, 2022

Oakland Post

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. Listen to his show on Facebook on EmilGuillermo.Media. Or on www.amok.com.

Emil Guillermo is a veteran Bay Area journalist and commentator. See more at www.amok.com Twitter @emilamok

By Emil Guillermo

It’s been a year since the Jan. 6th Capitol Riots of 2021. Please don’t call the perps “insurrectionists.”

Call them what they are.

Lawless, unprincipled rioters. Right-wing political looters. Deluded Trump supporters.

Insurrectionists take down authoritarians like Trump in the name of democracy. They don’t put authoritarians in. They usually take them out. Insurrectionists are serious people, not armed lunatics lured by the smell of burnt gunpowder and the sound of broken glass.

But the Jan. 6, 2021 rioters were anti-democracy which disqualifies them from the “I” word.

So, leave the term “insurrectionist” for the history most people don’t even know. It’s the Filipinos, who, after the Spanish American War, stood up to the American imperialists and established a new Philippine republic, said to be the first democracy in Asia. It was so significant that the revolt became known as the Philippine American War.

By that standard, the Jan. 6th rioters just don’t measure up.

And to appreciate it all, it was handy to know a little Filipino American ethnic history.

New Laws for Ethnic History in California

You may have known it if you were taught much about the Philippine American War in high school. Or maybe community college. As of Jan. 1, the framework is in place to make it required in community colleges by 2024, taught at high schools by 2025, and a graduation requirement by 2029.

That still gives seven years for ignorance to fester, but that’s the law.

It’s all too late for one former Skyline grad, Eleanor Wikstrom, who two years ago went east to Harvard.

There she discovered her Filipino-ness. She wanted to know why her mother’s language, Tagalog, wasn’t taught there. There’s no good answer.

Good to see things haven’t changed much from when I was there nearly 50 years ago.

This year, Wikstrom wanted to learn more about what happened after the Philippine American War when the U.S. colonial period began. Simply, they re-educated the Filipinos, seen as illiterate savages or as infantile and unfit for self-rule. So, they taught them all English. The person in charge of education was Fred W. Atkinson. A Harvard man.

That was an emotional moment for Wikstrom, who, like many Filipino Americans, understand colonialism is in our historical DNA. But then to discover it in the library how Harvard had a role in the “racialized subjugation” took an emotional toll.

In an essay for the Harvard Crimson she wrote, “Of the jagged wound that is U.S. colonization in the Philippines, a gun is smoking in Harvard’s hands.”

She also realized it was a history buried so deep in the archives that it’s a history no one really wants anyone to know or see.

But as I mentioned to her in my podcast conversation (“Emil Amok’s Takeout, Show 104 on Spotify, Apple, etc) once you see it, you can’t “unsee it.”

Of course, who knows if this bit of American Filipino history will be part of the state’s new curriculum. But it does show the value of new laws requiring some exposure to ethnic history.

This isn’t critical race theory, mind you. It’s just history — the things that are hidden in the past but can begin to explain the present.

History can do that. But only if we take the time and responsibility to learn from it.

Emil Guillermo is a veteran Bay Area journalist and commentator. See more at www.amok.com Twitter @emilamok

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

3 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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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

2 weeks 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.