California Educator

October 2016

Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/740763

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Filipino-American Pride Last year, Gov. Brown signed a bill declaring Oct. 25 to be Larry Itliong Day. A Filipino-American and Stockton local who died in 1977, Itliong was honored for his contribution to the labor movement and struggle for social justice. A Personal View of Breast Cancer Study KARYN TAYLOR, a research inter- viewer and phlebotomist for the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, has worked with the California Teachers Study (CTS) for the past five-and-a-half years. CTS is a statewide health study of over 133,000 female current and former school teachers and school administra- tors that started in 1995. For over 20 years, CTS has focused on breast and other cancers. The latest research efforts involved collecting over 20,000 blood samples to establish a resource to further study how environ- mental, lifestyle and genetic factors may lead to cancer and other diseases. Taylor was integral to the success of this latest effort. Last year alone, she drove 23,000 miles visiting study partic- ipants from diverse backgrounds, from farming communities to urban areas. The youngest women are now in their early 40s; a good number in their 90s still actively participate in this research, and many have had cancer. " They are people's people — that's what makes them so unique," Taylor says of the teachers. " There are lots of great personalities — funny, irreverent, A SHOT IN THE ARM This flu season, no one — adult or child — should get vaccinated through the nose. Experts say the popular nasal spray FluMist is ineffective and has been for several years. The old-fashioned needle will have to do. Get your shot soon, since it takes a few weeks for antibodies to develop that neutralize the contagious virus. He is best known for initiating the Delano Grape Strike in 1965, when he and other Filipinos walked off the farms of area table grape growers and demanded wages equal to the federal minimum wage. Mexican farmworkers under the leadership of Cesar Chavez later joined them. While the strike thrust the United Farm Workers' civil rights movement into the national spotlight, Itliong's role has often been overlooked. A state law passed in 2013 that went into effect last December requires public schools to teach students about immigrants, including Filipino-Americans, in the farm labor movement. Larry Itliong Day falls during national Filipino American History Month in October. The month has particular resonance in California because 1.5 million Filipino-Ameri- cans live here — the state's largest Asian American subgroup. See related story on three California educators recognized as NEA's Social Justice Activists of the Year, page 43. 10 cta.org in the know news & notes Mural in Los Angeles by Eliseo Silva, depicting UFW leaders Philip Vera Cruz, Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong. Photo by Kenny Chang/Flickr Commons

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