Dateline Los Angeles, California, Sept. 21, 2007, a scoop by the Coconut News Ngayon (the other CNN kuno).

A drive for the United States Congress to pass a bill officially designating Americans of Filipino ancestry as "Brown Americans" takes off tomorrow in a modest kickoff ceremony at the Luzon Plaza, West Temple St., Los Angeles, California. Pastor Bob G. Corrales, who is also a veteran journalist based in New York City, leads the committee that hopes to become a nationwide "Brown-American Movement (BAM)." The Luzon Plaza is a shopping center where the Philippine-American Reading Room and Library (PARRAL) used to be located. The PARRAL was founded by Ms. Helen Brown, who Pastor Corrales claims to be one of the original Brown Americans. He hopes to convince Ms. Helen Brown, a daughter of a Thomasite teacher in the Philippines, to become chairperson of the movement.

Pastor Corrales said in an exclusive interview with the Coconut News Ngayon that it is high time for U.S. citizens of Philippine ancestry to be dubbed with a distinct, colorful name, instead of being classified merely as part of the so-called "hyphenated Asian Americans." He said that the term "Brown American" was coined in 1901 by William Howard Taft, the first American civil governor in the Philippines, who called the Filipinos his "little brown brothers." Governor Taft, who weighed more than 350 lbs., became the 27th President of the United States in 1909.

Pastor Corrales cited as additional proof the article of Bobby Reyes that appeared in the www.mabuhayradio.com. The article traced the history of how Filipinos got to be called "Brown Americans." To read again the article, please go to http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/154/51/

The spokesman of the budding Filipino-American lobby group said that the move of former California Gov. Jerry Brown's Filipino-American political supporters in organizing themselves as "Browns for Brown" in 1974 was a reaffirmation of the Filipino-American community's desire to be called by that term. Mr. Brown is now the Attorney General of California.

In 1974 Filipino-American supporters of Jerry Brown, then a candidate for California governor, organized the "Browns for Brown" political movement. Brown won the governorship and served for two terms.  Governor Brown aspired twice for the U.S. presidency and was the last standing opponent of then Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential primary.

The "BAM" spokesman said also that many Asians from the Bamboo Curtain used to taunt Filipinos as "Brown Americans" during the Cold War. In fact Pastor Corrales recalled an incident in Hong Kong in the late 1970s when a heckler shouted, "Hey, you, Brown American," to a visiting Filipino dignitary. That dignitary was Joseph Estrada, who later became a Philippine president. It was reported then that Estrada shouted back at the heckler, "Don't call me 'Hey, you,' since I am a Filipino town mayor and an actor at that."

Pastor Corrales said that the BAM has many supporters, including the fans of the Cleveland Browns football team in President Taft’s home state of Ohio. He claimed also that American celebrities like NBC broadcaster Campbell Brown and former NBA Coach Larry Brown welcome his lobby group’s initiative. He said that as a matter of courtesy, he would offer to Attorney General Jerry Brown the honorary chairmanship of his movement.

The "BAM" hopes to have the bill signed into law by the new American president on April 1, 2009, during the centennial year of the William Howard Taft presidency. # # #

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