We have seen racial discrimination took its toll in America with American authorities shooting African-Americans in cold blood in their streets. But the question is, does racial discrimination happen in our country, the Philippines?
The first time racial discrimination happened in the Philippines was 451 years ago during the time of the Spanish colonization. The Spaniards saw Filipinos as people who were not worthy to be called as Ilustrados unless they have Spanish blood in their veins; in fact, the term indios or mang-mangs were commonly used during this time, which means uneducated or stupid. The Spaniards racism towards Filipinos did not end with verbally abusing them, they also abused them physically, mentally and economically. Also, they did not allow the Filipinos to be educated in their history and language unless they had the money to pay them and of course, the Spanish blood running through their veins. 451 years later, racial discrimination is still very much present in the Philippine society. It saddens me, as a Filipino, that the biggest racial discrimination that we get is not from the Americans or the Europeans, but from our very own race, the Filipinos. Did you know that being a stereotypical person is also being racist in some way? One of the causes of racism in the country is the stereotypical perspective of Filipinos towards Filipinos with mixed bloods and foreigners who do business in the country. For example, Filipinos view the Chinese or Chinese-Filipinos as selfish, kuripot or a scrooge, exclusivist or racist towards non-Chinese, stingy and someone who has poor hygiene. This not only happens towards Chinese and Chinese-Filipinos but also to Muslims and Indians. Racism towards our own race is very prominent. With the country itself divided into 7,107 islands and a total of 15 ethnic groups nationwide, racial discrimination is prone to happen. In my experience, people from the Luzon (most especially in Metro Manila) refer to people who live in Visayas and Mindanao as someone from the probinsya or the province. They have this perspective of us, people from Mindanao, that we live in mountainous areas and barrios when in fact, we live in cities and sub-urban areas. The most common type of racism against our own is through colonial mentality. Colonial Mentality is a conceptual theory around the feelings and inferiority within some societies due to their comparison of status, economically, politically, and socially, towards other countries. This was first introduced to us when the Americans came to our country; with their arrival came the liberation of our society. They introduced to us westernized food and clothing, even our government system is patterned with the west. Until today, colonial mentality is very much present in every Filipino in the country. With the success of western countries and their latest trends, we are very much hooked to their every move that we neglect our own heritage and culture, even our own language. In conclusion, even though racial discrimination is not a pressing issue in our society, it will become a hindrance towards the success of our country through social, political and economic means. As the future generation of this country, let us break the mold between all the tribes in our country and truly be united as one. One race and one country. |