On June 9,50-year-old Filipino-American James Juanillo was confronted by a white couple for stenciling “Black Lives Matter” on the front retaining…
On June 9,50-year-old Filipino-American James Juanillo was confronted by a white couple for stenciling “Black Lives Matter” on the front retaining wall of a house in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco, California.
Juanillo recorded the encounter on his phone, hoping to use the interaction to shed light on the subtle forms of racism that, he said, he had encountered frequently.
The proudly gay Filipino who has lived in his house for 18 years said he knew what it felt to be discriminated against.
“I’m a person of color in Pacific Heights, this is maybe San Francisco’s richest, whitest hood. This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced fear and maybe even a little bit of loathing,” he explained.
It’s private property, businesswoman Lisa Alexander and her husband Robert Larkins had told Juanillo, with Alexander claiming that she knew the house owner.
Juanillo challenged them to call the police if they thought he was doing something against the law. They did.
“She decided to call men with guns because of my chalk art” that could easily be washed off by rain, Juanillo told CBS News last week.
After posting the video, now at over 23 million views, Juanillo’s Twitter following went from under 50 to more than 25,000.
“I have been moved and touched by the many heartfelt responses to the events of last week in front of my home,” he said in a statement to the Inquirer.
According to Geraldine Alcid, director of Bay Area-based nonprofit Filipino Advocates For Justice, Juanillo’s experience was not an isolated incident.
“As a Filipina who has also experienced being made to feel like I didn’t belong because of how I look, Mr. Juanillo’s interaction resonated deeply,” Alcid said. “It demonstrates how Filipinos and other Asians—regardless of being upheld as the model minority—are still ‘othered’ despite having roots in the US.
