September 22, 2011
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Filipino Pride/Unity
Yeah, I don’t really have it. I’m not ashamed to be filipino or anything, but I’m also not like a “super filipino” and wear it on my sleeve for everyone to see. I was born & raised here in America, wasn’t really exposed to anything remotely “super filipino” (I don’t know what else to call it), or taught any remotely “super filipino” values, aside from rice goes with every meal. My parents, as well as my grandparents, didn’t speak to me in tagalog, nor did they force me to learn it, and to this day I know very little to no tagalog. So yeah, technically, I am filipino, but I don’t feel like I’m that filipino.
I know some filipinos, who fall under the “super filipino” category, that claim the Philippines as their “home” or their motherland even though they were born here, can’t speak tagalog, haven’t even been there & wouldn’t last a month living there. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, if you like being a poser.
One example of me not being that filipino: a normal filipino looks at Manny Pacquiao and says “he makes me proud to be a filipino.” I look at Manny Pacquiao and I say “damn, he’s a hella dope boxer”.
I bring all this up because at work, I’ more or less being forced to be part of the filipino booth at our upcoming Diversity Day. There’s this one filipino lady in my office that put me on the “filipino’s only” mailing list, in which I hella don’t get (understand) any of the “filipino” jokes, and sometimes they write in tagalog, which I also don’t understand. And then she basically volunteered me to help out with planning Diversity Day. All because I’m filipino. Maybe I’d be a little more excited, or accepting, if there were people more around my age, but from what I’ve seen so far, they’re all the older auntie/uncle types.
