UNCLE ROY’S BIO

“SIGNAL”

DR. DORETEO B. INES

BACK TO HEROES

Blessed Upon Us: May 28, 1932 Los Angeles, CA

Called By His Creator: January 23, 2001 Gardena, CA

"Uncle Roy" Morales retires from UCLA Long-time community scholar and activist Royal ("Uncle Roy") Morales was honored by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center on Saturday, May 18, 1996 at the James West Alumni Center.

Uncle Roy recently retired from his post as a lecturer at the Asian American Studies Center. For the past two decades, he taught the popular "Pilipino American Experience" course, which reached nearly two thousand students.

"By 1996, I will be completely out of teaching," stated Uncle Roy. "That's part of my attempt to have the younger generations teach the course."

Uncle's Roy retirement party was sponsored by the Center, along with the Pilipino Alumni Association of UCLA and the UCLA Alumni Association.

Proceeds from the May 18 event were used to establish the "Royal Morales Prize in Pilipino American Studies at UCLA," which will be given annually to the outstanding undergraduate paper or thesis at UCLA on the Pilipino American experience.

For more information about the "Royal Morales Prize," call Meg Malpaya Thornton at UCLA, (310) 825-1006.

"Uncle Roy's 3C's - The Campus and Community Connection"

In 1985 I traveled from my hometown of San Diego to Los Angeles. My first job in L.A. was at the Asian American Drug Abuse Program. I mentioned to my boss, Mike Watanabe, that I wanted to get in touch with folks in the Pilipino community. He immediately responded, "Do you know Royal Morales and SIPA? Royal is a long-time community activist and Search to Involve Pilipino Americans is a community youth group. You have to hook up with them!"

So I called SIPA and spoke with then Executive Director Liza Javier. She invited me to visit SIPA. Liza and Royal were very kind and explained SIPA's work to me. Royal encouraged me to come again and help out with some activities. So I did and the next thing I knew, I was recruited as a volunteer for SIPA.

Uncle Roy's warmth touched me immediately. His acceptance of me, an L.A. newcomer, really meant a lot. What struck me most was his willingness to share stories and, in the process, teach me Pilipino community history and dynamics. He always made it a point to introduce me to other folks and share their backgrounds. Uncle Roy also created vehicles, formal and most often informal, for folks to meet and discuss issues intergenerationally. I will always remember the Bagoong Connection lunches at various Pilipino or Asian community restaurants. Over lunch we would talk about issues, tell jokes, laugh and, of course, chismis (Pinoy gossiping). I learned a great deal during these sessions that helped sustain me in my work.

Uncle Roy has an uncanny ability to connect politics and social issues in a simple "down home" way, usually in three-word phrases. In the 1980s, he said we were in a period of "Reaganism-Reactionary Politics-Retrenchment of Social Services" - the three R's. He also spoke of the 3 T's for your lifestyle - "Give of Your Time, Talent or Treasure" - as a way to get people to give something of themselves to the community. He also spoke of the 3 C's, urging us to maintain and strengthen the "Campus and Community Connection."

In coming to UCLA, I looked forward to working with Uncle Roy in a new setting. In previous years, he invited me on his Pilipino Town tours and I enjoyed meeting with the students and accompanying them on the tour. I internalized Uncle Roy's message about keeping a campus and community connection and was eager to understand more about what this new generation of students was learning and how they viewed the community.

Uncle Roy's legacy at UCLA has been instilling in students, staff and faculty the importance of strengthening the Asian American and Pacific Islander campus and community connection. On his annual Pilipino Town tours, he shared his personal photos from the 1930s and 40s when he grew up in the old Pilipino neighborhood at Bunker Hill. Today, Bunker Hill is now the L.A. Music Center and is a vivid reminder of the racist laws that prevented the Pilipinos from owning land and the ravages of redevelopment displacing working class people of color. Going down Temple Street, Beverly Blvd., Vermont Ave., Virgil and Beaudry, his students visit the current Pilipino Town sites: Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (which he co-founded in 1972), Pilipino American Reading Room and Library (founded by the first UCLA Pinay graduate, Helen Brown), Filipino American Community of Los Angeles, Filipino Christian Church (founded by Uncle Roy's father), Goldilock's and Tatak Pilipino.

During these tours, Uncle Roy would talk about the issues facing the Pilipino community. He would talk about new immigrants, the undocumented, youth, families, the manong old-timers, and World War II veterans seeking benefits. In teaching about Pilipino American history, he also shared the current experience of people's daily lives. He spoke about current social policy and politics. He also encouraged students to get involved with current community issues. His tours have proven so popular that instructors and students at other campuses have done similar tours.

As a community scholar and activist, Uncle Roy is an inspiration for many of us to continue to build Pilipino American Studies at UCLA and in the L.A. area. For many years, he taught not only at UCLA, but also at Glendale City College and Cerritos Community College.

In wishing Uncle Roy much love and enjoyment of his retirement years, I know that all of us will maintain his commitment to "UC3LA" - Uniting the Campus and Community Connection in Los Angeles.

Written by Meg Malpaya Thornton,

Coordinator of Student/Community Projects at the

UCLA Asian American Studies Center

TOP

"SIGNAL"

for Uncle Roy, from Russ

TOP