Black is Brown too

Was there a history data “blackout” (no pun intended) about African American soldiers in the Philippine American war when we attended high school and college? Nobody talked about this.  What happened?

About a decade ago, I read an article about African American soldiers arriving in the Philippines to augment US army forces fighting the so called Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902).  The arguably mere neutralization of Filipino bandits (in their own homeland) took over 3 years to conclude with millions of dollars spent.

In college, I read about the enigmatic and mysterious Private David Fagen, an African American soldier who came to the Philippines to fight alongside his predominantly white American Army.  So what’s interesting about him, you ask?

Black brother David Fagen defected from the US Army and joined the resistance movement of our Brown brothers led by General Emilio Aguinaldo in 1899.  Interesting huh?

Private Fagen answered  his country’s call to fight for American interests in the name of liberty and democracy. He (Fagen) enlisted in the belief that he will earn the respect of his white comrades in time of war and upon its expected conclusion.  He, along with the other black infantrymen believed their patriotism was as good as their white brother’s love for country.

With the first African American President Barack Obama poised to lead the U.S.A. in 2 months, I sure hope this piece of interesting history will be made known to many. A more open perspective would conjecture that Fagen fought for what he felt was right and just.  I’d like to believe that it was not his color that motivated him to battle it out in sympathy for his newfound brown brothers.  After all, brothers are brothers are brothers…regardless of creed or color.

On a lighter note, I think this would make a great movie.  What you think? …Denzel Washington? Forrest Whitaker? Lawrence Fishburne? Morgan Freeman? 50 Cent?  Hmmm…

This is interesting… (http://hnn.us/articles/8658.html) . From the History News Network.

(A portion of the) Interview with Historical Novelist William Schroder: Before Iraq, There Was the Philippines.

By Rudy Rimando

Mr. Rimando is President of the Bainbridge Island Filipino American Club.

William Schroeder is the author of the historical novel, Cousins of Color which is about an African-American soldier who served in the Philippines in 1899 in the aftrmath of the Spanish-American War. Though little is known about the soldier other than his defection to the Filipino guerilla fighters, his experiences, the author believes, casts light on the current U.S. occupation of Iraq.

When do the black soldiers come into the picture?

In mid-summer 1899, companies of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Black infantry Regiments arrived by ship from San Francisco. In his book, Smoked Yankees and the Struggle for Empire, Dr. Gatewood speaks of the black soldiers’ dismay when they learned that Uncle Sam and Jim Crow had marched arm in arm into the Philippines. In many ways, the racial prejudice the men faced in the ranks was far worse than they’d experienced as civilians. Not surprisingly, racial prejudice directed toward blacks co-existed with prejudice against the Filipino. In time, the Asian pejoratives “dink,” “gook,” “slope” and “gugu” became interchangeable with “nigger,” “coon” and “sambo.” To further complicate matters, the black soldiers discovered they weren’t fighting Spanish troops, but Filipino resistance fighters instead. These were men and women seeking freedom from oppression in their own land – something the black soldiers knew well. This was the moral dilemma that weighed heavily on their hearts – the black man’s quest to achieve first-class citizenship through battlefield heroism meant bringing virtual slavery to another colored race. The soldiers spoke of being “caught between the devil and the deep blue sea,” and they searched for a moral compromise. In time, the black Americans developed an affinity for the Filipinos. They liked each other. They called each other “Cousins of Color.” In the midst of this chaotic backdrop, my protagonist, Private David Fagen, decided he could no longer participate in the destruction of another colored race, and one late light in November 1899, he defected and joined Aguinaldo’s army.

Without giving away too much of your book, what happened to him?

Nothing more is known of Fagen, only the date he signed up for service and the date he defected. It was reported he led Filipino guerillas in numerous raids against American outposts and supply trains. American officers and men told stories of his “cunning” and “audacity,” but as he was never captured or killed, no one knows for sure. In Cousins of Color, I created a fictitious life for David Fagen, placed him in the Philippines and let him navigate through that dark period in history when our pursuit of empire resulted in a violent, bloody clash of cultures and national wills.

Your book deals with the first convergence of the African/American and Filipino cultures, yet you are neither. Can a twenty-first century caucasian give voice to oppressed peoples of a different race and time?

I struggled with that question for a long time before I began writing Cousins of Color. Finally, my wife – the smartest person I know – reminded me that under the skin, we are all human souls, and we all share the same goal – to live among people we love and watch our children grow up free from hatred and bigotry. In my eyes, David Fagen wasn’t a black man. He was just a man.

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