Community Formation and Resistance in Sacramento’s Filipino Ethnoburb

Abstract:
<p>Despite not being an initial port of entry for Filipinos, Sacramento has had a&nbsp;historically important role for Filipino American political activism. As early as the 1930’s, organizations like the Filipino Federation of America, the Filipino Catholic Federation of America, and the Legionarios del Trabajo all held conventions and established chapters in the region. Along with the United Farm Workers movement and other Filipino enclaves in San Francisco, Stockton, Salinas, and Los Angeles, these groups were largely concerned with improving the social well-being and labor rights of Filipinos in the US.&nbsp;</p><p>After immigration reform, Filipinos came over in numbers that dwarfed the pre-reform era. Unlike their predecessors, this group was comprised of college-educated and relatively wealthy professionals who settled in the suburbs. Between 1950 and 2010, the Sacramento area Filipino population grew from a few hundred to more than 50,000. Simultaneously, more than 80% of the developed metropolitan area was suburban residential. This new generation’s socio-political motivations became much more transnationally focused, dealing with both the Marcos dictatorship and labor discrimination in the US. Based on archival research and oral interviews in the Sacramento and Davis area as well as GIS analysis, I argue that the structure and settlement patterns of Filipino migrant families during the height of post-war suburbanization allowed Filipinos to resist the otherwise socially isolating aspects of the suburbs. As a result of this strong social network, the Sacramento Filipino community continues to grow despite lacking traditional ethnoburb supports like restaurants, banks, or language schools.&nbsp;</p>

Keywords: Filipino diaspora, Filipino American, Sacramento geography, migration, suburbanization, labor rights, social organizations, mutual aid

Authors: