The ugly head awakens

I am tempted to change course and write instead about a burial that came while as if we were in deep slumber in daytime. It will be a prime example of these things a leader may try to put to sleep but will be awakened when the right leader comes along. In the meantime, the 21 gunshots will not be the last words on this matter.

This Sunday, I really like to worry about something that has been awakened because of the election of another leader who, although thousands of miles away, directly impacts our countrymen. Something has awakened, and reared its ugly head: racial discrimination. It’s going against anyone “non-American” – Muslims, Mexicans, blacks, Asians and Filipinos.

Our own president will be wise to always remember the Philippine rainmakers from the US and tone down on anti-US rhetoric, and all these China and Russia chummy sweet nothings, because Filipino OFWs in the US bring in $10 billion annually of the total $24 billion remittances, earned from difficult, trying, and homesick labor.

“Go back to your own country,” they keep saying so far to students, honest workers, and especially those in menial jobs – that is, if they don’t throw water on their faces, push them at the back of the bus, or push them on railway tracks. Fil-Ams, too young to understand, ask their parents what is meant by “slaves” – obviously a word they hear more often now.

As one among many Filipinas working there puts it, “make us leave but clean your crappy toilets, and clean the crap off your neglected old folks you’re too busy to attend to.”

So I can’t help but route, without thinking, for CALEXIT, and give the white supremacists a sampling of what they deserve, to ringfence the state where throngs of Filipino and Asian families live, and where our brightest thrive like in Silicon Valley, the home of our Filipino pride and technology innovator, Dado Banatao.

Let’s be fair. Many Americans are good, humane, extremely talented and just. But there are those who are exclusive-minded, selfish, and racist. Even the US president-elect tries to tone down and calm his supporters who have followed his lead, yet he surrounds himself with lieutenants that think the white supremacist way.

There are a few things that can be done. First, Filipinos and other non-Americans living legally or “illegally” in the US (that is, without the proper visa) should know that they have strongly protected rights in US law. It’s in the Fifth Amendment of their Constitution, the mother of all rights that survived all sorts of attacks and challenges, and echoed in the 14th Amendment. It says “No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person equal protection of the laws.”

The US Supreme Court had a number of occasions to say that the 14th Amendment is not confined to the protection of US citizens. According to the Court, these provisions are universal in their application to all persons within the territorial jurisdiction, without regard to any differences of race, color, or nationality.

Also, while the US president can stop people coming in, he cannot summarily deport by the busloads even illegal immigrants without violating due process, without a judicial proceeding – unless the US president becomes a dictator, as it is happening in various forms in other democracies. But I think America will never let a dictatorship happen.

Filipinos and Asians alike should also know that in the near future, American citizens can at most provide for 60 percent of its labor force, and they will need immigrants to fill in the remaining 40 percent. That America cannot survive as nation without the immigrant workforce is a fact, whether racists recognize that or not.

Filipinos racialized in the US should not miss the opportunity to file a class suit against the government if the state fails to protect them. The other non-American nationalities, likewise racialized, should join that class suit. Then we put to the test, via class action, these Fifth and 14th Amendments — American democracy — before the biggest stage of global public opinion, through the elongated arms of US media, and infinite limbs of social media.

We need to hold our head high and fight back against the threats, shaming and prejudice. This is how we will rightfully claim our place under the sun, on a patch of cold earth warmed by drops of our countrymen’s sweat and tears.

The ugly giant was never dead, only in slumber. Now that it has awakened, hopefully, awake we are, too.

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Alexander B. Cabrera is the chairman and senior partner of Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines. He also chairs the Educated Marginalized Entrepreneurs Resource Generation (EMERGE) program of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). Email your comments and questions to [email protected]. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.