BFMFINS eMAGAZINE: October 2016

The Asian American Pacific Islander, a group of Hillary Clinton supporters had introduced to mainstream a traditional practice in the Philippines of community camaraderie, celebration a show of support, and in this instance to elect the first woman president of America. I remember when my friends and I played basketball on a vacant dirt lot every weekend that turns out to be a local community entertainment for the kids and the surrounding houses around this one goal dirt playground. After a half day of playing basketball, we will head on to a very clean flowing river nearby and have an impromptu picnic where banana leaves are placed on flat bed of rocks and rice with whatever dish we cooked on the leaves and we'd all gather to eat with our hands (Kamayan) and tell stories of the day. That is how we'd spend a beautiful sunday with friends. The Asian American Pacific Islander group brought this to the Hillary campaign headquarters in Las Vegas and started this tradition and immediately it was a hit amongst the locals, because it gave them an excuse to get together and tell stories as to why they support Hillary etc. etc. etc.

This Kamayan idea was an effective way for the organizers to convey their messages to both the young and the old why they should go out and vote. AAPI successfully came across the community and was able to desiminate the message " Stronger Together". Below are some pictures that I have taken that clearly shows the success of this event headed by Margie Gonzales, Kate Recto Susan Rowland, Cindy de los Santos, Felipe Danglapin, Jo Beck, Gwynne Dumbrique, Ian Amaranto, Rose Manalo-Bortles and assisted by Norberto Harvey, German Eusebio, Tony Mendoza.

This is in collaboration with Fil-Ams and Phil Kim AAPI Outreach Director of Nevada Coordinated Campaign. The photos below shows how this event was an enjoyable event due to the entertainment and good Filipino food.