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Why Care About the Filipino Culture?
Cultural Presentation #3
Presentation Date: September 12th, 2008
[*Interacting with the audience]
*Okay. By a raise of hands, who here is an American?
*Now, who here is a Filipino American?
*Who here was born in the Philippines?
*Who where wasn’t born in the Philippines?
*Who here has never been to the Philippines?
Today four million people of Philippine ancestry live here in the US. And believe it our not, most of us reside here in the state of California.
*Where do you live? (Chula Vista anyone?)
Now why is that?
*Why are most of us living here? (Parents)
*Why do our parents want us to live here? (To live better lives)
*Now how many of us can say that our parents are raising us here for the sake of living better lives?
Yes, that is true.
But to what costs?
Today in the Philippines, practically every educated person you talk to will be able to tell you about our Filipino history, politics and essentially our culture. Understandable, they live there so they should know. As expected for any other country.
But what about us?
Did you know that in the last Philippine Elections there was an 81% voter turn-out? As for the most recent US elections there was only a 44% voter turn-out. That’s almost half of the voter turn-out in PI. And the US population is three times greater than PI.
So what does that mean?
If you talk to many of the educated people here in the US, especially people our age, you will find that not many of us know about US history or politics. Did you know that our age group had the lowest voting rate out of all the other age groups in 2004? I’m sure that’s not really a surprise though. 1 out of 4 of us don’t even read the news.
*So let me ask: How many of you honestly prioritize US history and politics in your every day worries? Well now you do right? Because presidential elections are coming up and that's kind of important.
To be honest, I can barely keep up with daily news. What makes it even better, is the fact that I can get away with it. As of many of us. Look how far we’ve gone. We’ve made it this far with not having to worry about anything but our own personal problems. So who cares right?
I guess I’d say the same myself. But together, I believe we can find a way to relate everyday simple ideas to our own culture.
But… if one of the last things we can care about are our US history or politics, how can I expect you all to care about our own? ...I have to ask:
Why the f*ck should we care about our Filipino culture?
Like I said, look how far we’ve gone. Our parents have exchanged our Filipino heritage and identity for the sake of living the American life. And this is the American life. Where we’re given the opportunity to care more about our own problems than our own nation’s!
Most of us are here for what? To meet new people, friends, hopefully meet your future boyfriend or girlfriend… I know you all didn’t dress up nice for nothing. I know most of us didn’t come here for another lecture.
So I have to ask again: Why the f*ck should we care about our Filipino culture? Why should we be here and learn about our ethnicity if all we’re trying to really do is enjoy college to the fullest social extent? Why should we even give a sh*t about a country thousands of miles away with people we'll probably only see a handful of times in our lives?
...I don’t know about you... but I have a lot of family problems. Because I was raised in the American culture, I tend to clash with those brought up in the Filipino culture – specifically, my elders. Our mentalities clash. And a lot of the times it gets so frustrating.
You don’t have to raise your hands, but I ask of you to think about these questions: How many of you don't get along with your parents? How many of you are you majoring in something for your parents or for your family? Why? Why not major in something you want to do?
Anyone have superstitious relatives? Or what about the ones that contradict themselves? You know, the ones that prefer the cheaper price of anything. And yet it’s okay to buy coach bags?
Okay, besides our parents or elders because I’m picking on them too much. What about you personally? How many of you can’t even stand your own ethnicity? And especially the peers that share your ethnicity? I have no doubt that a lot of you are already thinking about a list of things that annoy you about Filipinos.
But how about this. How many of us… don’t even know who we are. Maybe not as individuals, but as Filipinos. Where did we come from? What is our history? Why are we here today? How did we get here? What is our purpose as Filipinos? Filipino Americans. Americanized Filipinos.
There has to be a reason why our generation is given this difficult task of juggling both the Filipino and American culture.
Now, I have no doubt that many of us wish our parents or elders understood us better. I know that if my elders just really listen to what I have to say is in my heart, I’d feel less anxiety and frustration. But how? How can we be better understood?
Well, as someone who has taken an interest in her culture, I'm here to tell you that there is a reason for everything all the elders we are frustrated with do. Let's just say our elders come from a different world with different rules. It's like, you can take the kid out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the kid.
Also, I'm here to ask of us to challenge ourselves by having a curious heart and questioning why we are where we are today. Why do we do every single thing we do? What are our motives?
I’ll tell you now: to find better understanding, not just with the Filipino culture, but with other ethnicities, it’s all about learning our roots and growing new fruits. If we learn to understand our past – our parent’s past especially, I guarantee we will learn to understand our present and in time, see more positivity in our future. Knowledge of our culture is everywhere around us. It should be our base, our foundation. And if we decide to do this together, I guarantee that not only will we understand our elders better, but we will understand ourselves. We will understand ourselves better and ... appreciate everything we have today.
Once again, I’m Jen Amos, an Andres Bonifacio Samahan member, and I hope that we will help each other learn more about ourselves not just as an individual, but... as a Caucasian, a Japanese American, a Vietnamese American, a Chinese American, and African American, a Mexican American, an Asian American, any kinds of ethnicities or... a Filipino American.
Thank you.
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