The “Malay blood” that some people like to speak proudly of — as if it makes them more authentically Filipino than others — is an import. Unless you belong to one of the few indigenous tribes like the Aetas, you almost certainly have some mix of Malay, Arab, European or Chinese ancestry, and guess what? THEY ALL CAME FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Rather than just embrace our dark-skinned heritage, we should recognize and celebrate our uniquely multi-racial ethnicity, and strive to eliminate the racist thinking that continues to cripple our social and economic advancement.

A disturbingly large number of Filipinos, for example, both in the Philippines and overseas were suspicious of U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama, deriding him openly for being “Bumbay”.

Ignorance extends to supposedly well-educated Filipino-Americans who, in filling out those many U.S. government forms that ask us to identify our ethnicity, tick the box for “Pacific Islander.” Yes, the Philippines are a set of islands in the Pacific but that does NOT mean we are descended from native Hawaiians, Guamanians or Samoans or have anything in common with them other than a warm, sunny climate.

I suspect that the true reason for selecting the “Pacific Islander” box is our subconscious (or conscious) resistance to being lumped in the same category as those other Asians to whom we feel naturally superior — the Chinese (note how derogatorily we tend to say the word Intsik) and Indian (again, how distastefully we pronounce the word Bumbay) — or the Japanese, for whom we still harbor a deep fear and hatred, notwithstanding the amount of time that has passed since World War II, notwithstanding the war repatriations, notwithstanding the fact that most of the Hirohito generation is either dead or bedridden, notwithstanding that modern Japan is an entirely different nation.

It is puzzling how, on the one hand, Filipinos can cling stubbornly to such ancient and irrelevant fears and prejudices, and on the other hand, seem to have forgotten the much more recent atrocities committed by our very own Marcos family, who continue to command great wealth, political power and respect.

But I digress…

65 years of independence should be long enough for us to stop blaming colonial masters for instilling a “white is better” mentality in our people, and start looking to our own modern failings as a nation and a people. We are no longer subservient, uneducated indios; with our unique blend of racial and cultural traits, we should be taking leadership roles among Asians in international forums. The more positive stereotypes of Filipinos serve us well as leaders and peace-makers: we tend to be (for the most part) well-educated, adaptable, we assimilate well, we understand the points of view of others, we are easy-going, we are problem-solvers not confrontational warmongers.

One final point: the superiority of white skin in modern-day Asia is not simply a product of Western European and American colonial mentality. The Chinese, Singaporeans, Malaysians all prize “white skin”: the pale skin of the northern Chinese races, NOT the pastiness of Caucasians. Look at the rigid caste system in India, which some scholars argue originated centuries ago when the lighter-skinned Aryans drove the darker-skinned Dravidians out of northern India and enslaved the ones who remained. Asian history is not simply the story of the struggle of “native” peoples against The White Man. The greatest power struggles, the most horrible massacres, the greatest injustices have often been perpetrated by one tribe against its neighbor.

So, until Filipinos discard our outdated racial prejudices, until Cebuanos, Ilocanos, Pampanguenos et al put aside their petty and divisive regional animosities, until Filipino-Americans unite with their Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese brothers, we will never have a meaningful political voice, we will never be able to influence the direction of local or international politics, or reshape our societies into more equitable, more progressive communities.

The “Malay blood” that some people like to speak proudly of — as if it makes them more AUTHENTICALLY FILIPINO than others — is an import. Unless you belong to one of the few indigenous tribes like the Aetas, you almost certainly have some mix of Malay, Arab, European or Chinese ancestry, and guess what? THEY ALL CAME FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Rather than just embrace our dark-skinned heritage, we should recognize and celebrate our uniquely multi-racial ethnicity, and strive to eliminate the harmful racist thinking that continues to cripple our social and economic advancement.

A disturbingly large number of Filipinos, for example, both in the Philippines and overseas were suspicious of U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama, deriding him openly for being “Bumbay”.

Ignorance extends to supposedly well-educated Filipino-Americans who, in filling out those many U.S. government forms that ask us to identify our ethnicity, tick the box for “Pacific Islander.” Yes, the Philippines are a set of islands in the Pacific but that does NOT mean we are descended from native Hawaiians, Guamanians or Samoans or have anything in common with them other than a warm, sunny climate.

I suspect that the true reason for selecting this box is our subconscious (or conscious) resistance to being lumped in the same category as those other Asians to whom we feel naturally superior — the Chinese (note how derogatorily we tend to say the word Intsik) and Indian (again, how distastefully we say the word Bumbay) — or the Japanese, for whom we still harbor a deep fear and hatred, notwithstanding the amount of time that has passed since the atrocities of WWII, notwithstanding the war repatriations, notwithstanding the fact that most of the Hirohito generation is either dead or bedridden, notwithstanding that modern Japan is an entirely different nation.

It is puzzling how, on the one hand, Filipinos can cling stubbornly to such ancient and irrelevant fears and prejudices, and on the other hand, seem to have forgotten the more recent atrocities committed by our very own Marcos family, who continue to command great wealth, political power and respect.

But I digress…

65 years of independence should be long enough for us to stop blaming colonial masters for instilling a “white is better” mentality in our people, and start looking to our own modern failings as a nation and a people. We are no longer subservient, uneducated indios; with our unique blend of racial and cultural traits, we should be taking leadership roles among Asians in international forums. Many of the more positive stereotypes of Filipinos are actually true: we tend to be (for the most part) well-educated, adaptable, we assimilate well, we understand the points of view of others, we are easy-going, we are problem-solvers not confrontational warmongers.

Further, realize that the superiority of white skin in modern-day Asia is not simply a relic of Western European and American colonial mentality. The Chinese, Singaporeans, Malaysians all prize “white skin”: the pale skin of the northern Chinese race, NOT the pastiness of Caucasians. Look at the rigid caste system in India, which some scholars argue originated centuries ago when the lighter-skinned Aryans drove the darker-skinned Dravidians out of northern India and enslaved the ones who remained. Asian history is not simply the story of the struggle of “native” peoples against The White Man. The greatest power struggles, the most horrible massacres, the greatest injustices have often been perpetrated by one tribe against its neighbor.

So, until Filipinos discard our outdated racial prejudices, until Cebuanos, Ilocanos, Pampanguenos et al put aside their petty and divisive regional animosities, until Filipino-Americans unite with their Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese brothers, we will never have a meaningful political voice, we will never be able to influence the direction of local and international politics or reshape our societies into more equitable, more progressive communities.

The only thing Spanish about the Filipinos are the Spanish surnames and religion.

You guys are not mixed race but Asian, only 2% of the Filipino’s can claim mixed or Spanish blood.

Stop trying to be Spanish or mixed just be proud you are Asians but not mixed race.

I agree that a man of quality would look beyond what is generally misleading people of what is beautiful and not and appreciate the true beauty of women despite their heritage or the color of their skin. Men who grew up in countries that worship such fallacies and connotations pursue the fairer females and leaving those with ethnically brown/darker skin in the “dark” so to speak and feeling unappreciated by the opposite sex.

Oh my God! Do you know how much this sound like the voice of a racist? “impregnating”, do you see these women are cattle? Do you see all non-Philippine people as inferior?
This article is written by a racist! Why? Because it full of hate.
Did anyone ever read on http://www.gov.ph/forum the tread called “HATE ALL FIL-AMS”?
Do you want to stop racism? Start at home before you call other races racists. We are a mixed couple and according to SOME Philippine women have sinned against their rules. We have children TOGETHER. For these women who see themselves as pure and of a superior race, mixed children are inferior to pure Philippine made children.

When “newfilipina” says:
See it now—”People Who Work in the Fields”? My family matriarchs didn’t want me to dress or become dark because it was associated with the people who worked in the fields. The so-called lower class. End of quote.

She is SO RIGHT. The true reason that people want to be light skinned is to show that they are rich, to show that they can sit indoors on their high-minded fat lazy bottoms and don’t have to work in the fields.
This WAS also the idea in Western countries until tourism became popular and one could show off ones richness by going to foreign places and do nothing but lay on the beach and GET A TAN.
Notice this sentence by Xeron: “so I am as white as can be – painfully white, I often say.”

but… when i was in the philippines, it’s either i obey my father or get a smacking from him. so from my experience, it’s the opposite.

issais last blog post..Warhammer Online coming tomorrow September 18!