A Biography of Filipina Activist Velma Veloria

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Velma Veloria has served in the House of Representatives, worked as a member of the Alaska Cannery Workers Association, and fought for the rights of citizens in her home country of the Philippines. Although Veloria has led an exciting life as a Filipina immigrant in the United States, a review of her oral history clearly suggests that not all of Veloria's experiences have been positive. While it is reasonable to argue that Veloria's experiences have shaped the person, legislator and activist that she has become, the stories of her life that she recounts are both inspiring and painful. With this in mind, it is useful to examine Veloria's history such that a more integral understanding of her life and the causes that she has chosen to support can be better understood.

Veloria begins her oral history with one of the first memories from her immigration to the United States. Veloria notes that she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from the Philippines in the early 1960s. When she came to the United States, she was unable to speak English. Even though Veloria did not think much about it when she arrived in America, her inability to speak English made her a social outcast. She notes being constantly teased by peers because she could not speak English. She wanted to "just leave" the United States because of the ridicule that she felt. Veloria's inability to speak English created such a lasting and painful impression that, as an adult, she states that she would fight until she dies to make sure that all non-English speaking children could receive a bilingual education. What this effectively suggests is that Veloria's experience was so deeply personal and painful that she does not want any child to feel as horrible as she did when sh...

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...s with the United States, she despises many of the policies that the country endorses. Further, because Veloria does not live in the Philippines she realizes that she can no longer fully identify with the people of her motherland. As such, Veloria will remain forever caught in the middle of these cultures, unable to fully assimilate into one or the other.

In the end, Veloria's journey has been as painful as it has been inspiring. Although the challenges that Veloria has faced have clearly shaped the person that she has become, it is evident that in order to achieve, she had to give up a lot. Thus, Veloria's life cannot be judged from a distance.

Works Cited

Velma Veloria: Filipina Activist. Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. 21 Feb 2006 http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/veloria.htm

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