Unity Is Not In the Vocabulary

I accepted an invitation to offer some remarks at the United Filipino Council of Hawaii (UFCH) Convention later this month. The annual event rotates around the state and the host this year is the Molokai Filipino Community Council (Ben Piros, President). I spoke with Ben briefly last week and he asked that I address why Hawaii's Filipinos (plantation workers, oldtimers, local-born, newcomers) are not more united. I was working on a brief so I mumbled "okay."
When I told a prominent middle aged Honolulu Filipino attorney about the topic (he was on Maui to teach Filipino folk dancing), he turned to a longtime Maui community leader and asked her whether "unity" was in the Filipino vocabulary. She chuckled and wished me luck.