On April 16th, the CSUB Nursing Department and the Kegley Institute of Ethics held a film screening that celebrated the resilience and stories of many Filipino Americans in the healthcare sector. The film demonstrated the many challenges and sacrifices that Asian Americans, particularly Filipinos, faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The film is dedicated to all the Filipino nurses who are on the front lines, saving lives and have gone unnoticed throughout history. In California, one in five nurses is Filipino, making up 20 percent of healthcare workers, and, according to the Pew Research Center, 38 percent of the California population is Filipino.
The film provided clips by social media users, where users of Asian descent would be racially targeted. One aggressor shouted, “Go back to whatever Asian country you belong to.” One individual in the film noted that in this regard, Asian Americans have been categorized as a virus by the broader society, especially during the pandemic.
As death tolls for the COVID-19 virus rose in the Filipino community, a rise in anti-Asian American rhetoric was also on the frontlines. In the film, community members expressed that it wasn’t until they got sick or were on the brink of death that they became noticed.
But with the help of other volunteers and community members, Jollene Levid, a Labor Union Organizer and a daughter of Filipino immigrants, created an online memorial honoring the passing of Filipino health care workers worldwide. The digital space known as Kanlungan was created not only to provide a platform for visibility but also to serve as a place where Filipinos can address broader issues affecting their communities.
In Los Angeles County, the first recorded death from COVID was that of a Filipino woman named Loretta, followed by the first death of a healthcare worker, Rosarie Castro-Lega, also a Filipina.
Dr. Kevin Nadal, professor at Jay College of Criminal Justice, pointed out the irony that came with the hatred Filipino nurses faced even though they are on the frontlines, sacrificing their livelihood to save others.
“It becomes a double slap in the face that here they are putting their lives on the line to save lives and then people are going out of their way to threaten their lives,” said Nadal.
The film also highlighted the 38 hate crime attacks on Filipinos that occurred in New York and throughout the country as a result of hate crimes. Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy from UC Berkeley referenced the Speck Massacre of 1966 in Chicago, named after the perpetrator Richard Speck, a white American who brutally killed eight student nurses, two of them being Filipino exchange visitor nurses, with one survivor being another Filipina nurse. Choy explained that Filipinos and Asian Americans have a long history of being harassed and attacked.
Lizette Ferrer-Razo, a Filipina who has been working in the healthcare industry in the United States since 1994, spoke about her experience. She has been working as a monitor tech in the emergency room of a hospital in Bakersfield since the pandemic.
Ferrer-Razo expressed that her journey in the medical field as a Filipino American hasn’t been easy, noting the stark technological differences between the United States and the Philippines.
“I went to school back home in the Philippines, and when I came here, the technology was so advanced compared to the Philippines,’ said Ferrer-Razo.
She added that though she feels important and seen in her line of work, there is still a constant fear that comes with the language barriers.
“We do speak English, but sometimes our accent they don’t understand or they cannot understand,” she said. “The fear of like, am I saying this right, or am I asking the right questions.”
Though she hasn’t encountered racism or microaggressions in her direct line of work as a monitor tech, she pointed out that because of the language barriers, people will look down on others. However, Ferrer-Razo explained that she will not allow people to make her feel small because of this.
“A lot of times they ask, how did I learn how to speak English, you know, and I tell them at school they teach us using the English language at school,” said Ferrer-Razo. “So that’s why a lot of Filipino people speak English really good.”
According to a Pew Research Center report, 71 percent of Filipino immigrants are English-proficient, and 98 percent of U.S.-born individuals are proficient in English.
Aside from the discrimination and anti-Asian rhetoric that continues to impact these communities, Ferrer-Razo manages to remain proud of her heritage and highlights the importance of learning that the majority of healthcare staff is made up of Asian Americans.
“I’m proud to be brown. A hospital or a department is not complete if there are no Filipinos; each department has Filipinos in there,” she said. “Even when I was working in another place, or other hospitals or clinics. There’s always a Filipino.”
