A proposed park in Delano has been approved to be named after Larry Itliong, an important, yet overlooked Filipino historical figure, KGET reports.
The Delano City Council gave unanimous approval to name the park Larry Itliong Unity Park. This naming comes after a large number of requests from the community.
“Imagine the excitement of the Filipino community who have known about Larry Itliong to see a park name in his honor,” Mayor Bryan Osorio told KGET. “That’s the vision we’re leading with today by supporting this.”
Although the story of Itliong is often overlooked across the United States, people have given his story more attention after the release of AJ Rafael’s music video titled Our Friend, Larry Itliong.
The music video described Itliong as a Filipino immigrant that came to America to study law at only 15 years old. He could not afford his education and therefore became a farmworker. He lost three fingers in a cannery accident in Alaska and became known as seven fingers, according to Wikipedia.
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Itliong gathered Filipino farmworkers to protest for fair pay and equal rights. He became so successful that his Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee merged with Cesar Chavez’s National Farm Workers Association to form the United Farm Workers.
Rafael wanted elementary and middle school students to learn the story of Itliong. The naming of the park is one small step towards that goal.
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