Washington DC: Black and Filipino unity rally

Washington, D.C. – On February 18, a diverse crowd gathered at Pershing Park for a Black and Filipino Unity Rally. Nearby, police cars and Secret Service vehicles loudly zipped around the area, preparing for the incoming visit by Trump’s so-called Board of Peace.

Chanting “From DC to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine,” the group marched to DC City Hall for the first leg of the demonstration. At city hall, protesters demanded an end to local government collaboration with federal immigration enforcement agencies. The group shouted, “City Council, do your job! Do your job!” and “The people united will never be defeated!”

An organizer with Bayan DMV spoke and stated, “The Filipino communities have been an integral part of the DMV for generations. This city has served as a landing place for Filipinos forced to leave their homeland, a land rich with natural resources and vibrant in its people, but polluted, exploited and impoverished by over a century of U.S. imperialism.”

The march ended at the White House where the group demanded an end to the militarization of Black and brown communities in the U.S. and the Philippines.

February, known as Black History Month, is also International Filipino Solidarity Month. To celebrate this shared month, organizers in the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines joined with Bayan DMV and others to organize a week of action to highlight and continue the 120-plus year history of Black and Filipino people’s shared struggle against US Imperialism.

The week of action began with a teach-in at Sankofa Cafe in Northwest DC, where attendees learned about the Black struggle for self-determination in the South, and Filipino people’s twin struggle for independence from Spain and the United States.

Later in the week, the group screened the film Revolution Selfie: The Red Battalion by Steven De Castro. The film was selected because it provides viewers with a direct perspective into the revolutionary armed struggles waged by the New People’s Army (NPA) against the U.S.-backed Marcos regime. The film shows one of the world’s first same-sex marriages, which occurred in 2005 between two soldiers of the NPA.

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