Filipinos Archives - The Race Card Project

I never thought you’d like this.

October 24, 2022October 24, 2022 Asia Smith, black girl, Broadway, different, Filipinos, Hispanics, Indian, Japanese, Kansas City, language, Middle-Eastern, MO, music, talk white, white school

Asia Smith,
Kansas City, MO

This has been said to me many times throughout my life. I am a black girl who goes to a majority white school. I love my own culture but growing up in Missouri around a lot of non-black people like Hispanics, Filipinos, Japanese, Indian and Middle Eastern has helped me learn a lot about other cultures. I have tried many different foods and listened to different types of music. I have learned to love broadway music which a lot of people seem shocked when I tell them that. I also watch shows or movies in different languages which is another thing a lot of people wouldn’t assume about me. Being black in a nearly all white city has taught me that I can hold onto my culture while learning or experiencing aspects of others. There are always people from more diverse parts of Kansas City who tell me I’m “too white” or that I act or talk “white” which is really offensive because I have no intention of being/acting white but they don’t understand that it is just how I grew up.

Filipinos ridiculed for using proper English

March 3, 2022 Cleveland, English, Filipinos, Honorato Velasco, language, OH, Philippines, pride, proninciation, proper english, speak, speak my own language, syllables

Honorato Velasco,
Cleveland, OH

My brother and I spoke proper English and generally pronounced the words correctly. This meant that we were often ridiculed by our peers when we lived in the Philippines. It was almost as though our countrymen took pride in not using the proper pronunciations and accenting the wrong syllables.

The Pinoy Debate: Asian? Pacific Islander?

November 3, 2020February 21, 2021 Asian, CA, Filipinos, Fresno, Lapu-Lapu, Magellan, Pacific, Pacific Isander, Pinoy Debate, Vince Domingo

Vince Domingo,
Fresno, CA.

I’m proud to be Filipino. And I’m also proud to be an Asian Filipino. No, not a “Pacific Islander Filipino”, whenever you see them, avoid them as much as you can, they’re terrible people. They hate puppies. Okay, okay, I jest. They are just misunderstood.

This is not even a geographical debate, but a social one at best. Some Filipinos feel like they have the superpower of turning off the Asian switch to turn on the Pacific Islander switch when the teasing begins. It is understandable, after all, Asians are generally depicted as the frail submissive nerds (for both genders). Never mind the FACT that we ALL TIGER FIST MOSQUITO KUNG FU!!! But as stated earlier, it is understandable, but it needs to stop. We’re Asian, we get made fun of a lot, but Take pride, stand your ground like Lapu-Lapu did against Magellan. But leave your Kampilan (Filipino sword) at home, please. Take the insults with a smile, and be witty about it. Now THAT’S Pinoy.

Yes, I am Filipino, not Chinese.

September 9, 2016 Asian, assume, Caroline Galvez, Chineese, decent, Filipinos, ignorant, karate, slanted eyes, stereotype, USA

Caroline Galvez,
USA.

Growing up, I always knew that I was of Asian descent because I am Filipino. For some reason, everyone I met who was non-Asian assumed that I was Chinese just because I had the slanted-like eyes as how many Asians do. I noticed that many people who see an Asian person immediately assume they’re Chinese and I guess it’s because it’s the most “well-known” Asian descent out there. It was pretty difficult to explain every single time to someone who thought I was Chinese that I was actually Filipino, a different type of Asian. People would also ask me ignorant things like if I knew karate or if I ate dogs. It just got pretty annoying but all you have to know is that there are different types of Asians and I am the Filipino-Asian.

Filipinos are also Asians, just saying.

October 7, 2015 Asian, Canada, Chinese, diversity, Filipinos, Japanese, Joseph Salvador, Korean, Toronto

Joseph Salvador,
Toronto, Canada.

I’m a Filipino guy. And here in my city, the category of Asian is essentially narrowed down to Chinese, Japanese or Korean. The claims of diversity here is very false.

Scrub brown skin with whitening soap.

May 22, 2015 Berkeley, brown skin, CA, Filipinos, Kate Blanco, obsession, scrub, scrubbed, skin, soap, white-washed, whiteness

Kate Blanco,
Berkeley, CA.

Filipinos and Filipino-Americans tend to have an obsession with “whiteness”. I was once told as a young kid to use whitening soap because I was so dark skinned. I believed them. I was taught to view my brown skin as ugly and white/lighter skin as beautiful. I tried to scrub off my brown skin with whitening soap, and to no one’s surprise, I’m still as brown as ever. Attending college and law school exposed me to a wide range of race issues after experiencing some blatant and subtle forms of racism. I realized that being told to use whitening soap was a form of racism perpetuated by my fellow Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. I learned that the problem among Filipinos and Filipino-Americans is the lack of a collective memory. There are only very few older Filipinos who can tell them about their culture, their painful past, and encourage them to love their brown skin and flat noses. Without this collective memory that would bind them together, they assimilate into a society that teaches them white means beauty and success. They don’t believe racism exists because they have been so white-washed.

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