Op-Ed: Honoring the history of Filipinos in Maui County

Op-Ed: Honoring the history of Filipinos in Maui County
By: Gabe Johnson, Council Member, Maui County Council

Hundreds of Kaiser healthcare workers in Maui County went on strike last week to fight for fair wages, better working conditions, and safe staffing ratios. Seeing Filipino workers on the picket line during Filipino American History Month reminded me of the quote, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme.”

Much of our local Filipino population traces their roots back to the sakadas, migrant farm laborers recruited from the Philippines by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association to meet the labor needs of the pineapple and sugar plantations. Hundreds of years of colonization and displacement of people from land in the Philippines set the stage for this source of cheap labor.

From 1906 to 1946, more than 120,000 sakadas were brought to Hawaiʻi where they came to comprise a majority of the plantation workforce and endured backbreaking labor, racial discrimination, and harsh working conditions.

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I live on Lānaʻi, where approximately 64% of our residents are of Filipino ancestry. It’s the largest concentration of Filipinos of any island in Hawaiʻi. In 1951, led by the ILWU’s Pedro Dela Cruz, Lānaʻi pineapple workers went on strike for an astonishing 210 days. These workers won rights which helped to shift the balance of power back to the people, against immense corporate pressure. As the Philippines resisted colonial rule, its people not only brought culture and traditions to new lands, but also a sense of justice and civic unity.

According to the ILWU, Filipinos were some of the most active picketers during the 79-day Hawaiʻi Sugar Strike. Filipino influence during more recent labor actions such as the 51-day Sheraton Strike and the Maui Health strike is undeniable. When people stand up for rights and equity for workers, we all benefit as a community. The legacy of these strikes lives on in our local unions and workplaces today, and in the now-normalized expectations for corporate accountability, livable wages, work-life balance, and safe working conditions.

It’s unfortunate that in our system the burden often falls upon the very people experiencing injustice to speak out and make the difficult choice to take action and risk lack of pay and loss of work to stand up for what is right. Still, this courageous decision is an inspiration to us all and calls upon the working class, everyday people, to unite and join in these efforts for a better society. The history of Filipinos in Hawaiʻi and the US shows us that by doing so in a spirit of civic unity and mutual aid, regular people can overcome powerful special interests and injustice.

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At a time when immigrants are being dehumanized and threatened, this message hits even closer to home. A large part of the ILWU’s success came after uniting different racial camps and welcoming newcoming workers into the union as family. Like the plantations held on to power by creating racial divisions, the current unsustainable political dynamic is maintained by dividing our community. If we look to our shared values and history, we can see that what unites us in solidarity is so much more powerful that what special interests use to divide us.

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This is our foundation for enriching cultural exchange and collaboration to pursue an economy that works for all of us.

This Filipino American History Month comes at a time when there are massive “No Dictators” rallies in opposition to rising authoritarianism and at a time corporate influence is reminiscent of the Big 5 era. It comes while we face multiple crises and recovery from the 2023 wildfires (an estimated 40% of the pre-fire population of Lahaina was Filipino). In the face of all this, looking to history as a guide, I am empowered by the courage of leaders like Pedro Dela Cruz, and all the health care workers presently on strike. It is a reminder to corporations, governments, and the community that the people united will never be defeated, and that our working class people deserve to thrive.

Council Member Gabe Johnson introduced Resolution 25-200, Recognizing October as Filipino American History Month and honoring the community contributions of Filipinos in Maui County. It is on the agenda for the Council Meeting on Oct. 24. To view agendas and instructions for providing testimony, visit mauicounty.us/agendas. For more information, email Council Member Johnson at gabe.johnson@mauicounty.us.

*****Views expressed in Op-Ed pieces are those of the author’s alone and do not reflect or represent the opinions, policies or positions of Maui Now.*****