Kirby Pábalan-Táyag Aráullo is a Filipino American historian, content creator, and renowned culture bearer based in California. He is also the author of the groundbreaking book “Black Lives & Brown Freedom: Untold Histories of War, Solidarity, & Genocide,” and the Co-Founder and former Director of Operations for the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at the University of California, Davis. Kirby is a direct descendant of the last indigenous Paramount Kings of Luzon (of both Lakandúlâ of Tondo and Rája Matandá of Maynílâ), of the anti-colonial revolutionary Katipuneros, and of World War II Guerilyeras who fought for the liberation of the islands we now call the Philippines. Born in Angeles City, Philippines, Kirby spent his childhood amidst the rebuilding of his homeland in the aftermath of Mt. Pinatubo’s cataclysmic eruption. His childhood beneath the shadows of the city’s red-light district, slum neighborhoods, and Clark Air Base (a former U.S. military installation) sparked his lifelong passion in advocating for the rights and the well-being of marginalized and disenfranchised communities. As a direct descendant of revolutionaries, politicos, and activists, Kirby’s upbringing was molded by productively engaging and navigating the realms of advocacy, traditional politics, and grassroots activism.