Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism
CT VIEWPOINTS -- opinions from around Connecticut

What country was Cesar Sayoc, Jr. fighting with pipe bombs to take back?

  • CT Viewpoints
  • by Sylvester Salcedo
  • November 7, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

October came and went without much fuss in Connecticut if you looked through the peephole of Filipino-American History Month observed by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) in Seattle since 1991 and officially recognized by the U.S. Congress in a resolution in 2009.

Who knew?  And actually, who cares and who needs to know about Filipino-American history here in Connecticut?

But wait, last month a ginormous news story, by the seat of your pants captivating, all-consuming, gotta watch 24-hour cable news channels, sent many in the Filipino-American (Fil-Am) community around the country running for cover because a tidal wave of “hiya”/shame (the unspoken, social burden secretly borne by every Filipino when bad and shameful news befalls a fellow “kababayan”/ countryman, no matter how distant their immigration status from the homeland) struck when Cesar Sayoc, Jr. was identified and arrested as the alleged suspect, aka The MAGA-Bomber, of the potentially deadly mail bomb campaign against a who’s who list of Donald Trump critics.

The first sentence of a New York Times article last week described Cesar Sayoc as a “volatile nobody desperate to become a somebody.”  The article went on to describe a disturbing portrait of a man in search of an identity, falsely claiming to be of the Native American Seminole tribe, and was upset when his own family reminded him that his father, who abandoned him as a child, is Filipino, and his mother of Italian descent.

Nationwide, Filipino-Americans immediately shuddered at the shameful recollections of Andrew Cunanan from 1997.  Another lost soul of Filipino descent hopelessly searching for his identity in white-dominated America.  The national media relentlessly described him for weeks as a “chameleon and ethnically ambiguous” during a nationwide manhunt.

Seasoned reporters could not articulate exactly what he looked like. “He’s white, he’s Asian. He looks Latino, at times.  He can look any way he wants.”  His Filipino father married an Italian mother, like Sayoc, and also abandoned him as a child.  In the end, Cunanan took his own life, full of rage and resentment ungrounded about his identity, after a string of senseless and wanton murders across the country from San Diego to upstate New York to the front steps of the Italian designer Gianni Versace’s mansion in South Beach, his last homicide victim while trying to be somebody in America.

Perhaps there is a history lesson to be learned, to be understood, to be evaluated, to be taught in our multi-cultural, multi-racial democratic society that has been upended in the past two years by the Trump provocative, resentful, divisive forces offering “alternative” realities to “take our country back?”

What country was Cesar Sayoc, Jr. fighting for, with mail bombs, to take back?  He wishes to be a Native American.  He is half-white, immigrant American.  Half Filipino-American;  100 percent lost and unsure of his own identity and similarly descended into a violent, unhinged rage like Andrew Cunanan trying to be somebody.

In the U.S., Filipino-Americans today number about two million, of whom approximately 200,000 to 300,000 are estimated to be undocumented or out of status. In a word, “illegal” as any other.  In 2016, eligible Fil-Ams voted two-to-one for Donald Trump while knowing fully his position on immigration and undocumented residents, but yet joined the chorus of boisterous and gleeful chants to “build that wall!”

In their minds, that only applies to Mexicans, not to them — like Ann Coulter who does not considered herself a child/great grandchild of immigrants, but of pioneers.  Many Filipino-Americans likewise delude themselves into believing that their out of status relatives and friends are not illegal aliens, but merely “T and T” or in Tagalog (Tago nang tago), just hiding.  In the meantime, they work hard, they pay taxes, they’re not on welfare, they’re good people.

But so are almost all of the other out of status persons in this country.  They cling to “alternative facts” that they are not illegal immigrants because they did not jump over the wall at the southern border nor swim across the Rio Grande to get here. These Trump supporting Fil-Ams are as delusional as Cesar Sayoc, Jr. believes he is of the Seminole tribe in Florida.

In the meantime, perhaps for some closure, let’s give Sayoc back the correct and proper pronunciation of his Filipino surname.  At least, offer him a chance to anchor and ponder his Filipino-American personal history and heritage within our celebrated, all-embracing, ever-evolving, multi-cultural, multi-racial and multilingual United States of America.

For MSNBC or FOX newscasters and political pundits, Sayoc is not pronounced “Say-yack.” It’s “Sāh-yook.”

Also, it is not Andrew “Q-nay-nun.”   It’s “Kōh-nāh nāh-n.”  Remember, Saturday Night Live in the 1980’s with their endless parody of American news correspondents in Central America “…reporting live from Managua, Nicaragua…”   All, long a’s.

Filipino-American History next October, anyone?

Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, Carlos Bolusan, Loida Nicolas Lewis, Felipe Tolentino, Ben Cayetano, Fred andDorothy Cordova, Jo Koy, Regie Cabico, Eleanor Mariano, Ramon Subejano.  For Connecticut extra points:  Nina Elgo, Joe de la Cruz.

Sylvester L. Salcedo lives in Orange.  He is an attorney and a retired U.S. Navy veteran (LCDR, USNR) with 20 years of active and reserve service from 1979-1999.


CTViewpoints welcomes rebuttal or opposing views to this and all its commentaries. Read our guidelines and submit your commentary here.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Lamont’s new vaccination priorities are simple and smart
by Richard Davies

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s new age-eligibility vaccine plan is simple, smart and straightforward. The more complicated the rules are, the greater the chance of screw-ups and of well-connected people getting their shots before they should. The governor is doing a good job.

Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Three fallacies and the truth about vaccines
by Kerri M. Raissian, Ph.D. and Dr. Jody Terranova

Connecticut’s Public Health Committee recently heard public testimony regarding HB6423 and SB568 --  bills that would remove the religious exemption (the medical exemption would rightfully remain in place) from vaccination in order to attend school.  The religious exemption allows parents to effectively opt their children out of vaccines. In doing so, these families can still send their children to Connecticut’s schools, daycares, colleges, and camps.  This places other children at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable illnesses, and it is imperative the Connecticut legislature remove this exception.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Lamont’s new vaccination priorities are simple and smart
by Richard Davies

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s new age-eligibility vaccine plan is simple, smart and straightforward. The more complicated the rules are, the greater the chance of screw-ups and of well-connected people getting their shots before they should. The governor is doing a good job.

Opinion Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Opinion Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

Opinion COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO