Racism and the Pinoy: An overseas Pinoy speaks up

I was about to shift away from the issue of racial slurs when I got this lengthy e-mail, which caught my attention as the writer really understands the so-called “Pinoy psyche.” So here’s his letter in full:

“Dear Mr. Avila, Greetings! Your news article today rekindles a passion in me to unite us Filipinos. I have been so concerned about this even when I was still working in Manila. I am from Laguna and cannot help but notice how my officemates used to trade jokes, which really upset me because they were such slurs to others who happened to be mostly from the provinces. This comment from Judy Ann is such a classic example and you are right, it has to be addressed.

“I have long concluded that we are actually one of the most racist countries of the modern world. We have too much fixation on surface values. I notice how women try so hard to make their skin whiter and how they have all kinds of names for fellow Filipinos who are not so fair with their complexion. I understand if we could be such vain and try to fix our already wonderfully made bodies, but I really don’t get it when they start mocking people for their outward profile or provincial origin.

“Others have all kinds of names for those who have flat noses and are really short in height. And then those accents - for such a long time they have been one of our local comedians’ sources of jokes and punch lines as if Tagalog is the be-all and end-all of being Filipino.

“The saddest part of this is when it comes to equal opportunity practices of our local employers. I can guarantee you that Filipinos are being discriminated for their provincial addresses, age, gender, religion, civil status and sometimes just for being short or having a kind of almost black complexion. You can actually read this in print in the classified section of major dailies on their Sunday issues. They actually print there that candidates should be male, single, Christian, graduates of UP, La Salle or Ateneo and have pleasing personality which is most of the time interpreted as tall, dark and handsome or pretty. That is too far from real HR science.

“Unfortunately, we have a strong media that plays a major role in the literal propagation of this backward trait among us. Watch our TV shows; most of them capitalize on rich versus poor plots, get rich quick game shows, and celebrities with a big appetite for all things big, fancy, sharp but lacking in real deep sense and true humor.

“This actually has become sort of our cultural malady. We live in a so fragmented country of more than 7,000 islands, and islands they really are. I believe this is one of the other reasons most of us wanted to go overseas not just for economic goals but for ego building as well. In an age when people of other countries strive so hard to excel in education, science, the arts or sports, we thrive in doing all we can to be able to fly out of the country as if that becomes our status symbol.

“Needless to say we have lawmakers who really splurge on their junkets abroad. We all have this nasty concept that everything local, ‘promdi,’ and all that discrimination trash is bane and everything imported… is better. What a sorry state we are in and the fact remains that hardly anybody gives a notice.

“It’s about time our Congress enact laws pertinent to real equal opportunity measures. We need to raise our national identity and that is not being Tagalog or from Manila or being in Luzon. We need to embrace everything Filipino – from Aparri to Jolo. Neglecting none and leaving no one behind. Because really, a closer look will reveal how our government dismally fails on this. Instead of concentrating these infrastructure buildups in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, we need to rehabilitate our railroads to build faster and more national train systems along with expanding our freeways to reach all the way to the southernmost part of Mindanao. That would not only beef up our economy as we provide farm-to-market roads and channels but will also unite us as a nation – geographically fragmented but compact in soul and spirit.

“I was really upset with that ‘Desperate Housewives’ incident. It was totally uncalled for and I was heartened to see us as a nation standing up for one another. But seriously, we need to clean our own backyards as well. We need to preach our own ‘gospel’ to our own ‘Jerusalem’ first. Then we’ll be more effective reaching our ‘Judeas,’ ‘Samarias’ and the ends of the earth, which incidentally are the places where Filipinos are. Francis G. de Torres, Elmwood Park, Illinois.”

Great letter, Mr. De Torres, and may I add that Pinoys take a bath every day as compared to other nationalities, yet we cannot even clean up our own backyards or neighborhoods!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.