I had a conversation the other day with an acquaintance and after about 30 minutes of speaking with him he told me he was Hawaiian. I replied to him “I thought you were Filipino” and he responded to me “I am but I was born in Hawaii”. Our conversation soon became a debate as i told him last time i checked Hawaii was a US state so unless he was a Native Hawaiian he is a Filipino American. He didn’t quite agree with me as i guess he has been raised to believe he is Hawaiian. As i spoke more in depth with him I tried to explain myself but he really didn’t want to hear me out. I asked him if I was born in Africa would that mean that I am African? He did not have a response but did say that’s not what he meant and that he knows he is of Filipino descent but he is Hawaiian.
Upon going in circles with our conversation i asked a simple question of where in the Philippines his parents were from. He told me where they were from and proceeded to tell me i know where your going with this. Again he understood his descent but still stood his ground that he was Hawaiian. I told him the specifics of my ethnic background and told him that even though I am a mestizo I still recognize my ethnic background. I consider myself a Filipino American with some of my ancestry coming from Lebanon and Ireland and finally got a laugh from him when i told him i was just a little bit African around my waist area.
After about an hour of speaking with this young gentleman he understood a little bit more of what I was trying to explain to him and understood the way he was explaining things to me maybe I didn’t understand. I understood him correctly and the fact was he didn’t consider himself a Filipino as a person but rather just in his blood. He said he was not ashamed of Filipino or anything but was brought up that way, and I can accept that as long as he recognizes his heritage. So who’s to blame here? Is it him for not stepping up to the plate, researching who he really is and to be proud of his heritage or his parents for their upbringing of this young man and not explaining his heritage?
There is too much follow the leader is this world today and after talking with this kid and realizing that there are so many people in the world that think like this (not just Hawaii) that who can we really blame but the people we associate and follow. With recent fads the individuality of a person has flown out the window. It seems that with more and more Filipino icons popping up more Filipinos are stepping up to be proud of their heritage but what happens when those icons are not around any more…do we crawl back into the hole we came out of. We as Filipinos should be proud whether or not of an icon doing well but rather be proud of our ancestors of their hard work and what they have accomplished to give us the opportunities that we have today. I’m not saying our Filipino icons are not something to be proud of because you should be proud of them for making others open their eyes to Filipinos but also be proud of our parents and grandparents.
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Yeah, what is up with that? My attention was first called to this when social networking sites started popping up. I’d see the profiles of old friends, and for their ethnicity, they’d put “Pacific Islander” when there clearly was a “Filipino” option.
There seems to be a sort of shame with being Filipino, even though these same people who claim to be something other than Filipino behind your back claim to have “Pinoy Pride” in front of your face.
Having grown up in a mostly Filipino neighborhood, I never realized what the “outside” world thinks of us… if they do at all.
Rex’s entry on Adam Carolla pretty much sums it up. White media either doesn’t know a damn thing about the Philippines and Filipinos or sums it up as a 3rd World country that cranks out sex slaves/mail-order brides.
We should tally up the stupid sh** people say and have a good laugh - at their ignorance.
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