Cindy Domingo | |
|---|---|
 Domingo in 2018 | |
| Organization(s) | Democratic Union of Filipinos (KDP), Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes, Washington State Rainbow/PUSH, Legacy of Equality & Leadership Organizing (LELO) |
| Spouse | Garry Owens |
| Relatives | Silme Domingo (brother) |
Cindy Domingo is a Filipina-American activist and community organizer from Seattle, Washington. Domingo played a key role in Asian American and Filipino American activism in the 1970s and 1980s and became a leader in her community.
Cindy Domingo grew up in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood with four siblings, among them Silme Domingo. Her father, Nemesio Domingo, Sr., was in the US army and had participated in the Philippines campaign during World War II. The family lived in Texas and Germany prior to moving to Seattle in 1960. Her father later worked as a farm laborer and was elected vice president of the Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union (ILWU local 37). [1] She has stated that she was often the only person of color in her classes as a child. [2]
Cindy Domingo graduated from Ballard High School and attended the University of Washington. She graduated with a BA in Asian American studies in 1976. [3] She married Garry Owens, a community organizer and former Black Panther, and they were married for over 30 years until Owens' death in 2022. [4]
Domingo was active with the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilinio (Union of Democratic Filipinos, KDP) in the 1970s and 1980s, along with her brother Silme Domingo and other relatives. She lived in communal housing with other KDP members and organized in Seattle and Oakland. The KDP's work was primarily centered around opposing the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines, and Domingo helped lead anti-Marcos demonstrations at the University of Washington. [5] [6] [7] [8] [1]
On June 1, 1981, Domingo's brother Silme Domingo was assassinated with his friend and fellow organizer Gene Viernes in their office at the Local 37 hall. Silme and Gene were both KDP members and reform activists in ILWU, Local 37 who had worked to challenge racial discrimination in the canneries and corruption in the union. At the time of their assassination, Domingo was living in Oakland and working as a KDP organizer. She moved back to Seattle and for the next ten years chaired the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes. The campaign resulted in the conviction of former Local 37 president Tony Baruso and proved that the assassinations had been organized by the Marcos regime with US government knowledge. [5] [6] [7] [8] [1]
In 1973, a group of Latine farmworkers, Black construction workers, and Asian and Pacific Islander cannery workers founded the Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office to be the legal arms of their organizations. After being defeated in the Supreme Court decision Wards Cove Packing Company v. Antonio , LELO's tactics shifted to focusing primarily on grassroots organizing led by workers of color. [6] [9] Cindy Domingo was one of the founders of LELO, along with Tyree Scott, Silme Domingo, Gene Viernes, Milton Jefferson, and other labor activists. She served on the board of LELO, which later changed its name to Legacy of Equality & Leadership Organizing. [6] [10] [11]
In the 1980s Cindy Domingo was active in the Rainbow Coalition of Washington. She also served on the boards of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, US Women & Cuba Collaboration, and the International Examiner and as a legislative aide to Larry Gossett. [5] [7]
The Coalition Against the Marcos Dictatorship was a North America-based antiimperialist organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing the dictatorship of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos from the 1970s.
The Alaskeros are Filipino seasonal migrant workers in the United States and their descendants. They worked in salmon canneries in Alaska during the summer, and on farms in Washington, Oregon, and California during the rest of the year. The Alaskeros were instrumental in the formation of the first Filipino-led union in the U.S., the Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, Local 7.
Robert Alan Hasegawa is an American labor leader and politician serving as a member of the Washington State Senate, representing the 11th Legislative District since January 2013. Hasegawa is a lifelong resident of Seattle's Beacon Hill. He previously served in the Washington State House of Representatives, and is retired from the Teamsters Union where he was a member and union leader for over 32 years.
Ernesto Mangaoang was a Filipino American labor organizer. A communist and longtime leader of immigrant Filipino laborers, Mangaoang was closely associated with Chris Mensalvas, and was a personal friend of the famous Filipino American intellectual and activist Carlos Bulosan.
Ron Chew is an American consultant and community organizer. Chew is a leader in the community based model of museum exhibit development. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
The Waterfront Workers History Project is a program of the University of Washington, which serves to document the history of workers and unions active on the ports, inland waterways, fisheries, canneries, and other waterfront industries of the western United States and Canada, specifically, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia. In collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights History Projects, and sponsored by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, the Project is a collective effort to organize and present historical data covering significant events from 1894 to the current day.
The Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, Local 7 was the first Filipino-led union in the United States.
Silme Domingo was a Filipino American labor activist. With Gene Viernes, he was murdered in Seattle on June 1, 1981, while attempting to reform the Local 37 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
Chris Delarna Mensalvas, also archived as Chris D. Mensalvas and Chris D. Mensalves was a Filipino American union organizer most active during the 1940s and 1950s. A communist and leader of the immigrant Filipino labor movement in the Pacific Northwest, Mensalvas was closely associated with famous Filipino American author and activist Carlos Bulosan as well as Ernesto Mangaoang and Philip Vera Cruz.
Gene Allen Viernes was a Seattle-based Filipino American labor activist best known for his efforts to reform Local 37, the Seattle chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), and for having been murdered in 1981, in retaliation for organizing against Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda Marcos.
Felicita "Fely" Villasin was a Philippine-born activist most notable in her part in the anti-Marcos movement and domestic workers' rights advocacy.
Hildreth (Heidi) Durham was an American socialist feminist and labor activist with the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women. Durham was one of the first female electricians to work at Seattle City Light, where she faced significant barriers due to pervasive sexism and suffered a nearly fatal accident that left her paralyzed for the rest of her life. In 1991, Durham was a candidate in the Seattle City Council elections on the Freedom Socialist Party ticket with Yolanda Alaniz.
Ottilie Markholt was a labor historian and activist who spent most of her life in Tacoma, Washington. At different points in her life, Markholt was a member of the Communist Party, CORE, NAACP, IWW, and OPEIU. Markholt authored multiple books and countless articles about labor history on the West Coast and made efforts to expand labor studies and education.
Lonnie Nelson (1932–2014), also known as Madelon Nelson and Madelon S. Healy, was an American labor, peace, civil rights, social justice, and Indigenous peoples activist in Seattle, Washington in the United States.
Ronald "Ron" Magden was a historian from Tacoma, Washington who specialized in maritime labor history and Japanese-American history in the Puget Sound region.
Phillip (Phil) Lelli was a longshore worker, union activist, and philanthropist from Tacoma, Washington. Lelli was president of ILWU, local 23, for four nonconsecutive terms between 1966 and 1985.
Jerry Tyler was a longshore worker, labor activist, and radio personality from Seattle, best known for being the host of a popular radio show Reports From Labor, which ran from 1948 to 1950.
Garry Owens was an American activist and community leader from Seattle, Washington, best known for being an early member of the Seattle Black Panther Party.
Rosalinda Guillen is a farmworker and community organizer from Washington state. She was a leading organizer in a union drive at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in the Yakima Valley from 1987 to 1995 and is the founder of the nonprofit Community to Community Development.
Ross Rieder was a labor activist and historian from Washington state.
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