Columns Unsolicited Advice A Dose of Reality: Why Many Filipinos Remain Second-Class Citizens in America
| A Dose of Reality: Why Many Filipinos Remain Second-Class Citizens in America |
The present plan of some self-declared Filipino-American "national" (sic) leaders to sue the ABC Television Network for $500-million is eliciting the best laughs among many Americans and even Filipinos in the United States. And if the Filipino-American community will not stop this ill-advised stunt, Filipinos will become the laughing stock of America and the butts of more ethnic jokes. We should not be surprised if Filipino Americans become the favorite topics of late-night American comedians.
The knee-jerk reaction of many Filipino Americans over the alleged racial insult by the television comedy series, "Desperate Housewives," has become more like a Comedia, if not a Zarzuela or a comedy skit. And Broadway does not produce any Comedia or Zarzuela.
You want a dose of legal reality? No suit against the ABC Network will prosper because of "First Amendment" issues. Unless a Filipino-American or Filipino physician can prove that he or she has been dismissed or demoted by an American employer or his/her medical practice has been ruined because of the "Desperate Housewife" joke, the contemplated case would just be dismissed as a "nuisance suit." But some self-proclaimed national (sic) leaders belonging to the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) and other Filipino-American organizations continue to milk the issue because they probably want to emulate the NaFFAA Seven Dwarfs and turn it into a milking cow.
These NaFFAA national executive officers (NEOs) and their allies should not be leading any advocacy for the community because they have so many skeletons in the closet. Readers should read the articles in the NaFFAAgate Section of this web site (http://www.mabuhayradio.com/Sections/NafaaGate.html)
and learn if these NaFFAA NEOs are crooks or not. Should people with tainted reputation be leading our community in lobbying activities in the American corridors of power? Even many Filipino-American veterans have questioned the hijacking of their lobby campaign by these same NaFFAA NEOs. To read more about the veterans’ lobby, please check this section, http://www.mabuhayradio.com/Sections/Fil-Vets.html.
Can the Filipino-American community not find honest people with untainted track records of advocacy to become their spokesmen and lobby leaders? And Filipino Americans refuse to ostracize the crooks in their midst and in their community organizations because they say that it is unkind to be displaying dirty Filipino linen before the American public.
Perhaps, American citizens of Filipino descent (ACFD) must ask themselves why some of them feel that they are "second-class" citizens of the United States. Perhaps the ACFD ought to remember what the cartoon character, Pogo, said: "We have met the enemy and the enemy is us." Yes, you, ACFD, are your own worst enemy, if not your own worst nightmare.
The problem with many of the ACFD, especially those who belong to the first generation, is that they behave like they are not American citizens. Many of them actually celebrate their Independence Day on June Twelve (1898) and not on the Fourth of July (1776). In short, after swearing allegiance to the United States, many of these ACFD could not cut their emotional umbilical cords to their former homeland that is the Philippines. They meddle in the internal affairs of the Philippines, even if many of them refuse to regain their Filipino citizenship by availing of the Dual-Citizenship law.
By acting like they have never left the Philippine archipelago and practicing Filipino-style politics (and all the dishonesty, etc., and etc.) even in Washington, DC, these ACFD actually pave the way for their being treated like second-class citizens of the United States.
I have always been a Filipino citizen. I always tell my grandchildren who are natural-born citizens of the United States to act like true Americans. I say to them that they should learn and appreciate the Filipino roots of their elders but they must be experts of American history first and foremost. I tell them that their national anthem is the "Star Spangled Banner" and not the "Lupang Hinirang." I tell them that while it is good to know Spanish and/or Filipino languages, they should excel in the English language. I remind them that their President is George W. Bush and not Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I tell them that even if they renounce their American citizenship and move back to the islands, they will always be known as the "ABER Filipinos." ABER, as I have coined, stands for "American-Born, Educated or Raised."
One good trait among Americans – of all color, creed or what not – is their sense of humor. President Bush and past Presidents and even the current presidential candidates are subjected to the nightly doses of humor by American stand-up comedians or talk-show hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno. But do American politicians sue these comedians for libel like their Filipino counterparts file criminal libel cases against Filipino newsmen for reporting the truth?
When self-proclaimed ACFD historians from the Filipino-American National Historical Society (FANHS) and other groups of "hoaxbalahaps" concoct supposed Filipino historical milestones in the United States, many of the Filipino-American leaders accept these hoaxes. In fact, many of the ACFD celebrate these fake Filipino-American "hysterical," oops, historical events as if they were the gospel truth. What real Americans would accept historical hoaxes?
You, ACFD, are supposed to be the model employees. You crow that Filipino Americans are the most-preferred job applicants and are most-likely to be the first to be hired by American employers. No doubt many of you are highly qualified and even the first-generation Filipino Americans are fluent in English. But do you know the real reason for your preferential treatment by American personnel departments? Because in general Filipinos are the employees who seldom complain about job discrimination and even sexual harassment by their bosses. And yes, Filipino-American employees seldom join labor unions.
Yes, you call yourselves American citizens but many of you refuse to register as voters. And many of you, even if you are registered voters, fail to cast your ballots during American local or national elections. Many of you want political empowerment for the Filipino Americans. But you do not put your wallets to back up the words from your mouth. And worse, some of you believe that voters have to be paid by politicians like the practice in Philippine politics. In America, voters donate money to the political-action committees of American politicians and not the other way around.
Yes, there are more-than 22,000 American physicians of Filipino descent. But how many of them are active in the American Medical Association? How many of them write articles for American medical journals? How many of them have done something extraordinary in the field of medicine that was worth a nomination for the Nobel Prize for Medicine?
Yes, there are now many Filipino-American lawyers. But how many of them practice in varied legal fields, other than handle personal-injury cases?
You, ACFD, should now be proactive because your country, the United States of America, faces so many problems. There are the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and against international terrorism. Social Security and even the Medicare, and yes, pension funds, face insolvency problems. The American infrastructure is crumbling and aging structures are bound to fail like that bridge in Minneapolis, MN. Too many Americans cannot afford health insurance, and so on and so forth.
The supposed insult to Philippine medical schools is the problem of Filipino citizens like me. Even the latest nursing-exam scandal is our problem. The corruption and what not in the Philippine government and other institutions are our problems. We, Filipino citizens, including the Overseas Filipinos who are registered Filipino voters, have the task of solving them. So, you, American citizens of Filipino descent, please solve your own national problems and leave the house cleaning of the Philippine homeland to the Filipino citizens.
And finally, if you, ACFD, so love the Philippines and not your adopted country of the United States, please join us in going back to the Philippines and in preparing to run for the 2010 elections. But if you choose to be a candidate for a Philippine political position, you have to surrender your American passport and reacquire Philippine citizenship. No dual citizen can run for a political position in the Filipino homeland.
So, please get your acts together, otherwise, you continue to become second-class citizens in the greatest country the world has even seen. You can of course always go back and become first-class citizens (again) of your former homeland.
Ok, ngarud? # # #
(To be continued . . .)
If some Filipinos ( particularly those who are not US citizens and live here) think this is much ado about nothing, pls. read the following story about a Filam who worked at ABC News.
As a former victim of discrimination in the workplace, I can tell you that vigilance and awareness over our civil rights and place in American society must be part and parcel of the life of our community here. Unfortunately, there are still some Filipinos who take things for granted and have not suffered what we have, usually because they live or do business in a "Pinoy pond" within the greater American society, or just have not(fortunately) been victimized yet. Usually, people don't care about what happens to others, until it happens to them.
Filipinos and others call me all the time at work about employment discrimination, and believe it or not, it is still a prevalent thing today. That is why we have the US E.E.O.C., and the State Fair Employment and Housing Commission. Nobody should be celebrating over ABC's agreeing over something that they should have been doing at the outset under the law.
Jay Caedo of San Francisco, CA
It's true, it's true, it's true. I agree with all those things that you said. It's what I've been saying all along, too, in many of my past columns. And for that, among other things, I've been called "A little, brown American" by an IDIOTIC Kababayan. And this idiot is a member daw of a press club kuno in Chicago.
Yes, I think we, Filipinos, still wallow in our common carabao pond and haven't joined in yet Mainstream America. Our way of thinking is still contained IN A BOX, and to think outside of that box is yet unthinkable. At ang lalakas pa ng mga accent natin.
As that singer/comedian Rico J. Puno once said in a comedy skit: "Hoy 'Day, nandito ka na pala sa States. Ang tagal-tagal na natin Hindi nagkita. Pero 'Day, Bakit hanggang Ngayon, mukha ka pa rin Bisiya?" I think that's so true for a lot of us. We haven't left the barrio yet and that carabao pond. Kaya isip Kalabaw pa rin tayo at mukhang mga Bisaya pa rin.
Jesse Jose
Siyatol, Wa
Thanks for your "A Dose of Reality," which jibes with my postng earlier to Ernie Gange and other selected recipients. With what we have exposed as the shortcomings of earlier attempts in affording one voice and one forceful united stand, there is actually a need for a new-and-fresh lily-white national organizarion in the place of what as turned out to be a national surplus of a white elephant that haunts our kababayans under reported scandals and misdeeds that have demoted us into "second class" citizens and veterans.
The Caucasic-white society will always watch out for any Pinoy (now lampooned as "Penoy," (a freak balut.) that acts as untamed feral savage in order to discriminated them. That is the current challenge to all of us here to present an honest-to-goodness association. What do you say?#
Frank B. Quesada, World War-II POW
Let me ask you this question, What happens when you have too many big fish in a small pond? That's right, they crowd each other out and prevent the smaller fish from growing up - constantly fighting each other for food and resources.
Sound familiar?
Yes, thats us. We are already suffering from this dilemma. It's time to move out to the bigger pond.
Allan
Jesse
You hit the nail on the head with this commentary. If we raise our hackles over a twit like this, then it could only mean that we are very far from having ourselves mainstreamed. Think of the other ethnic communities that have gone through the same experience: the Polish, the Irish, the Mexicans, the Jewish, etc have been the butts of the jokes for years. I believe that we as Filipino immigrants have not assimilated deep enough into the American fabric. I know this for a fact because I am a leader of one organization, that I have been a member of, as well, for ten years. My observations tell me that we are a microcosm of the old country. I have known FilAms who have lived in this country for 50 years, and they still think and behave like they are still residing in Malibay or Arayat, Pampanga.(examples only) I am not saying this to describe their culinary preferences. What I am saying is that, for most of us, it is very difficult to give up years of Filipino conditioning. We are very insecure about the future, that is why we tend to hoard tons of canned goods in our cupboards. And when we go to parties, we we stuff our plates with more food that our stomachs could accommodate. Talk about intestinal fortitude. I am not advocating dieting here. I am just saying that food will always be bountiful here, and there is no reason to store them in the cupboards and in the limited confines of the stomach. That is why many of us bristled at the "Desperate Housewives" twit when we heard it. The day I heard about the brouhaha, I asked my US-born daughter if she heard or paid attention to the joke, and she told me that she was not even aware that Teri Hatcher's character uttered the line. And I am telling you, my daughter and my wife are avid fans of that ABC series. Please don't get me wrong. I am not being unpatriotic here. Like what some of the comments in this column have said ahead of me, we are still in a small, confined space that they call a "carabao pond", and you can't get more accurate than that description. Although some of us have, through the years of living here, clipped our Filipino accents to a barely perceptible level, the rest of our value system have not fared as well. And these includes our reaction to harmless twits like that in DW. I am not sure about Marc Cherry's (writer of DH)intentions for writing in that line in the DH script, but I am quite sure that he does not hate the Filipinos as a race. Maybe, he is a little irritated or annoyed with a few, given his limited contact with Pinoys. Or, perhaps, he thought, it's time to give the African-Americans, or the Mexicans a break, and stir a little hornet's nest in the FilAm community this time around. As writer, I know that the possibilities of making a story more interesting are infinite. Maybe, when he wrote that line into that DH episode he just had an irritating or annoying encounter with a Pinoy. Who knows? We all have our own little biases. That's undeniable. Maybe when we have achieved the stature that we think we deserve in this society, when we can produce our own Filipino-oriented television series, we could get back at the Americans by inserting our own little biases in the script to even the odds. But, right now, when we're still trying to make our way in this great United States, let us give them the benefit of the doubt, all the time believing, that they are just being Americans. No matter that you are a doctor, an ex-First Lady, or the President of the United States. Rene Villaroman, community journalist and photographer
Good Men Deserve To Have Their Day In Court: Dr. Noel Chua's Case
The other point is that Am-Fils and Filipinos are increasingly spending a lot of time online. Their presence and membership in online communities can only but increase over time. This is a phenomenon that should be noted and studied. With their talent and available online time and their how they are connecting with one another, their online presence will be something to contend with in the future. The Malu Fernandez saga, the online petition and the e-bombardment of ABC.com are clear examples.
Third, we need to encourage more Filipinos and Am-Fils to be more aggressive in defending their rights as an ETHNIC COMMUNITY. Meekness in this day and age, especially when other groups, are pushing their agendas to our detriment, can be disastrous. This is a good exercise in demanding governance, which can and should be replicated in the Philippines.
Lastly, if we consider Filipino doctors/ medicine as a brand, the DH slur has economic and professional implications. As Rodel Rodis noted, the Philippines is promoting itself as a medical tourism destination. The slur undermines this global effort. ABC and its Marc Cherry should not get off lightly with an apology and an offer to "explore" ways in which Filipinos can enter show business. Let some economists and lawyers calculate the damage in dollar and lost opportunities terms. That should be the starting point of negotiations. Let us be prepared when we meet with ABC.
Yes, we have the Recto diploma mills, the nursing scandal, and the occasional grumpy/lazy medical person, but that is nothing compared to the tens of thousands of competent, dedicated, and nurturing Filipino doctors, nurses, and medical technical staff all over the world.
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