Our story is older than America 🌊⚔️

Today marks the beginning of Filipino American History Month. And while history is often written by those who won the wars, what many of us were taught in schools was a colonizer’s version—one that erased, minimized, or distorted the stories of our people.

Now, more than ever, Filipino history is being uncovered, retold, and carried forward. And in CKC, we remember that these aren’t just distant events to memorize—they are echoes that still live in our bodies. Even if we were never taught these stories in a classroom, memory finds us through resilience, movement, and the warrior spirit that endures.

Our remembering leads us to this truth: our story is older than America itself. Filipinos arrived on these shores long before the Pilgrims ever landed at Plymouth Rock. We crossed the Pacific on the Manila Galleons beginning in 1565, stepped onto the shores of Morro Bay, California in 1587, and built Saint Malo—the first Asian American settlement—in Louisiana in 1763. By the time the U.S. declared independence in 1776, our ancestors had already crossed oceans, carved out homes, and carried the warrior spirit onto these lands.

This month calls us to remember the warriors in our collective history—and in CKC, we recognize that same warrior spirit alive in our own bodies. Together, we root in history, reclaim our warrior spirit, and find strength for the paths we’re walking today.