Isang Bagsak

What is "Isang Bagsak!" and what it means?
 
Translating to “One Down,” it was Filipino farmworker and militant labor activist Larry Itliong who introduced the Tagalog saying to fellow activist and organizer, César Chávez, during the era of the 1960s U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Itliong and Chávez utilized the phrase to create the “unity clap,” a practice that would join both Filipino and Latino migrant workers together after a long day in the fields — communicating across language barriers — to further their cross-cultural fight for farmworker’s rights.
Starting slow, like the pace of a heartbeat, the clap would grow faster, stronger, and louder. Eventually building up to a chorus of applause, someone cries out “ISANG BAGSAK!” to signal a unified front — to fall and rise together — before ending with a final, collective clap.
A tradition born over fifty years ago from grapes and solidarity, the unity clap is still vastly utilized in community organizing spaces today — from Filipino student organizations to professional conferences and marches — though it has transformed greatly from its original purpose as a simple rallying tool.