#270: Language Keepers

With delicious tinola and sisig recipes serving as her foundation, Filipina writer and filmmaker Jill Damatac explores her Indigenous roots, the centrality of family, and the effects of colonization in this beautiful essay. Though she writes lovingly about her Lola Rosing, the malunggay tree, and the dirty kitchen where the real cooking happened, Ms. Damatac also acknowledges the loneliness and loss of culture she’s experienced through war and immigration. She writes, “We transform to survive, but we still bear the boiled, charred, gristled remnants of our past. I will continue to exist in a hungry space between longing and belonging, for my body, exported from its country of birth, deported from its country of growth, now has only sense and memory to call home.” (18 min)

Like Minneapolis, Oakland wants to defund its police department but faces challenges figuring out how to implement its vision. One major problem is that the majority of Black and Latinx people in East Oakland want more police officers, especially given the city’s recent spate of murders and its distrust of white leadership. John Jones III, who lives in the Fruitvale neighborhood, says he feels queasy seeing the “100 new white folks” arguing that police are “harmful to Black and Brown people.” (14 min)

+ But I also got a vibe this reporter is biased. You?

Like many people, I used to think that evangelical Christians, when they coalesced as the Moral Majority, emerged as a conservative political group shortly after Roe v. Wade, in order to protest abortion. Not so, argues historian Randall Balmer, who follows the evidence that shows Jerry Falwell and other leaders cared much more about maintaining segregated schools and white supremacy. (12 min)

+ Thank you to VIP Peter for sharing this article. If you’ve read something great, recommend it!