It’s a constant debate whether Filipino Americans are classified as Asian America of Pacific Islanders. But I realized, for me personally, in order for my struggles as well as the struggles of my community to be fully identified there is only one word that can define who we are and what we’ve all experienced and that is “Pilipino.” I know all Pilipinos do not have the exact same struggles but because of our culture, it allows each of us to identify with one another in similar ways. Especially being among Pilipino Americans of my generation I’m beginning to recognize how in even the slightest way we can relate. However, it wasn’t until going out into the so called “real world” did I start to understand how the uniqueness of the Pilipino American identity has and still continues to be lost…. lost because “others” persistently shove Pilipinos in one of two categories (Asian or Pacific Islander) by having us check a box, as if THAT can put a face on people who’s motherland underwent centuries worth of colonialism and imperialism.
I think if more and more people understood the Pilipino culture and history then more people would be able to comprehend what makes the Pilipino/Pilipino American experience so different from others. But I guess our world is far from understanding anything and everything about US considering how we are still an underrepresented, minority group lost among the model minority group known as Asian Americans. That’s only one of the many things that makes the Pilipino American experience unique in is own way.
Our culture is only as visible as we let it be and our history is only known to those whom we share it with. In the past, the Philippines has been portrayed as a domestic nation, a site for cheap labor and getaway of “rest and recreation” for the American military. Today, a similar, yet worse image lingers because a corrupt and money-driven administration allows it. Knowing about the past Pilipino struggles is only half the battle in order for people to comprehend how current issues and problems like human trafficking evolved into the Pilipino struggles of the present day. So until WE as a whole decide to let these issues become known, they will remain invisible to the average American eye.
P, i agree with you. until we all take responsibility to learn our history and find our place in the battle against dominant ideology and society, we remain stagnant as a whole.