Anti-Racist and Solidarity Work
KDP actively engaged the Filipino community in the US, in fighting racism against all people of color and in solidarity with liberation movements around the world. KDP helped to lead the organizing against the Bakke and Weber Supreme Court cases which would gut the implementation of affirmative action programs.
KDP joined efforts to oppose the apartheid regime in South Africa. It also joined forces with solidarity organizers in opposing US support for dictatorships in Iran, Central America, Chile and other countries across the globe.
Protest against the Bakke decision
In 1974, Alan Bakke a white male sued the University of California, Davis for “reverse discrimination” alleging that Affirmative Action policies favored racial minorities prevented him from being admitted to medical school. His lawsuit threatened to abolish programs that assisted minorities who had been excluded because of systemic discriminatory admissions practices. Protests erupted around the country. The KDP took a leading role helping to build coalitions in several cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles. The photo here is from a 1978 “National Day of Protest” in San Francisco. By Vince Reyes