There are over 150 dialects in the Philippine Archipelago. Various schools dispute the fact that these are not dialects but languages. So there is an ongoing debate whether it's Language or Dialect...potato, patata...tomato, tomata. I don't want to get into that. Let the linguists battle in that arena.
Anyway, since there are 150 dialects (or languages) in the islands, competition and rivalry is natural and expected. Typical stereotypes would be Ilonggos (Iloilo, Bacolod, etc.) and their aversion for the Ilocanos (Ilocos region), or Cebuanos (Cebu) have natural animosity toward Manileños (Manila)... so on and so forth. That's just how Filipinos are wired when they take pride in their regions of origin. What's funny is, most Filipinos look almost the same with dark brown skin, black hair, bulbous nose, full lips etc. Mestizo and mestizas (half breeds) are, of course, an exception. Even funnier is the fact that in spite of the many dialects (or languages), they can still understand each other by speaking the Tagalog dialect (or language) with relative ease. Their areas of disagreement spring forth from their distrust caused by a number of reasons too many to enumerate.
I hear it's the same in the United States. The differences in race, color, and creed naturally breed animosity as the world's histories time and again predict. Filipino variances in language appear amusing compared to the apparent remnants of racial discrimination in the States. Obviously, this is more serious than our language distinction problems. Certainly not just a tomato-tomata-potato-patata problem.
Mike, my nephew, has a simple wish. Though written from the complex mix of heart (or bleeding heart as commented by his friend on Facebook) and mind, It can't get any simpler than this.
How does this blindfold fit?
(Re-posted with permission from Mike's Facebook Notes)
As Barack Obama takes on this new era of change, many people haven't. Just as the first Presidential debates came, I knew that Obama had something new to bring to Washington. My mind was set and millions upon millions of others too. This race was about who had the best propositions to bring to help us all recover from our financial disasters that plagued us for the past 8 years. Oh how blind we were to let Bush run 4 more years over us..and now the mess is deep and he's ready for the hand-off. Being that I'm now residing in the south...the ol' wonderful south, some things haven't changed much really from the civil rights days of the past. There's alot of "undertones" of racism still impregnated into the minds of those who surround us even today..."closet supremacists" that blurt out only when black people aren't around.
I was born and raised in California till I was 11 and then moved to Hawaii with my father. I was surrounded by lots of different cultures and greatly appreciated the diversity of both California and Hawaii. Yes, I know Hawaii has some forms of racism also...like "f-ing Haole"..when youre mad at the white guy in Hawaii...but not too extreme, still everyone gets along with everyone. Now Im here in the south and moved here in 2001. I chose a job working on trailers here in Jacksonville. I had culture shock when I hear and see how young black men are treated differently around the shop as compared to themselves(white). The white men always referred to me as the Hawaiian but would always tell me "nigger" jokes that always degrades black men or women. I never found a way to laugh at them..just wen't about my work. I also noticed that the shop radio can play country for days on end and being the night shift, I heard country all night also. One night, some of my fellow black guys went over and turned the radio to some R&B and returned to work. I thought hey, I like a little mix in music and something other than country ALL DAY LONG (10 hour shifts). One (white) guy came over to me and asked "i hate this nigger music"...and he rushed off and turned it back to country..that was one example years ago. Another one was recently here in the shop I work at now, I turned my radio to some jazz music to mix it up a bit. And sure enough one of the guys(white) came over and jokingly said "what'cha listening to-that jungle jive crap today?"...its just little undertones of things I hear from time to time.
Now that this election is up, I had my Obama/Biden sticker on my car since the first debate..like two months ago? I have gotten the silent treatment in the shop and nobody likes to talk about the election let alone our newly elected President since they are predominately white.
One of my Co-workers(white) asked last week "did ya vote?"..I told him "yes, early"...he asked "so who'd you vote for?"...I replied "Obama" and he had this shocked face on him, by this time-another co-worker hearing the conversation butts in "you voted for Obinladen?"...and I said "you damn right I voted for Obama!"...I asked him "did you vote?" and he replied "I would have, but I didn't register"...so I said "well you don't have shit to say since you didn't vote"....and I left it at that.
Im proud to have voted for change and that's what we need in this country. It shouldn't have to be about black or white. It should be about who has the most values that can bring great things to the nation and let us strive and recover our lost friends and allies across the world that we left behind. Im proud to have helped our nation in taking the first step in breaking the barrier of white or black...my blindfold doesn't fit....does yours?
No comments:
Post a Comment