Associate professor of Asian American and U.S. History, Dr. Bernard James Remollino, commemorated the release of his biographical book “Pancho Villa: World Champion 1923” with the support of Empowering Positive Initiatives for Change through an event at Danner Hall, consisting of a book talk and a boxing workshop, on Oct. 28. The date fell on Filipino American History Month, also taking place a century after boxer Francisco “Pancho Villa” Villaruel Guilledo’s passing in 1925.
“It’s incredible that we get to more deeply understand the story, a hundred years later. Our history really connects to what’s going on now because the early 1900s, the height in politics, racism, the xenophobia that we were experiencing then — we’re still experiencing now and we don’t move on from it until we change patterns, our behaviors, until we change culture. And we only do that when we learn history and what’s at stake for our people,” said Jean “JT” Teodoro, coach and founder of Bayanihan Boxing, a Bay Area-based program for accessible and socially inclusive boxing classes.
The book, written by Remollino with the help of Joe Aquilizan, founder of Oakland-based Filipino art collective Bayani Art, was published in May. Remollino’s book follows his 2022 dissertation analyzing the representation of Filipino Americans in pop culture from 1920 to 1942, which included a chapter on Filipino-American boxers.
In his book, Remollino documents the life of Pancho Villa and the historical context of anti-Filipino discrimination and hostility in early 20th century America. The book examines how the rise of Pancho Villa as the first Asian World Flyweight Champion, with his June 1923 victory, impacted Filipino visibility in the face of U.S. imperialism.
The book represents Pancho Villa’s story in an act of resistance against ongoing acts of Asian American repression — such as the Trump administration’s Sept. 10 executive order discontinuing grants funding minority-serving institutions, including a $1.8 million Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions grant awarded to Delta.
“When we think about resistance, when we think about relationality and building relationships in the face of annihilation and trying to carve out lives of dignity for ourselves and each other … I think that that is why it’s important to reckon with this history and that context,” said Remollino. “As we receive this violence on our bodies, as we inherit this generational trauma … Seeing what the possibilities are for where we can direct our energies to support our communities, to show up for people, to help defend, protect and build our people up … that I think is what we can learn from these legacies and how we can learn from these histories.”
During the first half of the event, Remollino discussed the contents of his book at Upper Danner using the kuwentuhan method, an indigenous Filipino form of oral storytelling to preserve ancestral knowledge. Elements of kuwentuhan throughout Remollino’s presentation included Q&A with the audience, a visual slideshow and the playing of “Allegory of the Underdog,” a song by hip-hop act Nomi “Power Struggle” de Mira that was commissioned by Bayani Art to celebrate the book’s release.
“As a Filipino myself, learning about the history more when like I didn’t know before, it’s really interesting how [Pancho Villa] was like the first Filipino boxer to make it really big,” said Mikyla Cargo, a Filipino-American student at Delta. “It’s like ‘wow, this timeline of past and present. Pretty cool.’”
Halfway through the event, Remollino called up various organizations that were tabling throughout the event to speak to the audience as part of the kuwentuhan method. These groups included: the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), the San Joaquin County Historical Museum, the Western Farm Workers Association, and Little Manila Rising, who tabled in Lower Danner; Tribe12Life Boxing and Bayanihan Boxing, who tabled in Upper Danner. Also present were Bayani Art at Upper Danner and Empowering Marginalized Asian Communities at Lower Danner.
For the last half of the event, Teodoro and Abaddon Andronicus Israel, coach of Tribe12Life, took over as speakers and gathered participants from the audience for instruction. During the workshop, Israel demonstrated various exercises alongside his daughter and instructed participants to follow along with various exercises like leg lifts, steps and punches — progressing from solo exercises, to partner exercises and then exercises using boxing gloves and pool noodles. As participants trained, Israel explained various boxing fundamentals like positioning, deception and the centreline theory.
For FANHS’s 22nd biennial conference in 2028, Stockton is designated to be the host city for the event and Remollino will be acting as one of the heads of the planning committee for the conference.
