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By Mike Cuenca | June 1, 2002
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I'm extremely frustrated by the refusal of mainstream Americans and
Hispanic Americans to accept that a great many Filipinos are just as
'Hispanic" as Mexicans, Colombians, Chileans or any other mestizos. In
fact, if you know the history of the Philippines, you know that most of
the Spanish colonists of the Philippines were Spaniards who had already
lived in Mexico for a generation or more.
This frustrates me because many of us are discriminated against for our
Spanish surnames and/or our "Hispanic" appearance, but then we are
lumped into the group of "model minority" Asian Americans when it comes
to the consideration of our numbers in the workplace. In many
occupations/professions, Asian Americans are not underrepresented.
Unfortunately though, there often aren't many Filipinos in those jobs.
Consequently, Filipino victims of workplace discrimination and other
forms of discrimination are left out of the efforts to combat that
victimization.
When the U.S. took Puerto Rico, Cuba and the
Philippines from Spain after the Spanish-American War, they gave Puerto
Rico and Cuba independence, but subjugated and "colonized" the
Philippines. It's time for "Filipino" to be considered a completely
separate category in terms of determining levels of discrimination and
exclusion from the full enjoyment of the benefits of citizenship of the
United States. Considering we're all descendants of the people of the
United States' only "colony," we've earned it.
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Originally published by Filipinas Magazine.
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