There’s an often subtle, but very persistent way that anti-blackness has crept into Filipino history and present day culture.
The colonial era resulted in a deeply internalized belief in the superiority of white appearances, cultures, and norms.
It shows up in the form of papaya soaps and skin-lightening lotions at Filipino grocery stores. The warning from an old auntie not to spend too much time in the sun, getting too dark. The celebratory treatment that white tourists get in the Philippines while black visitors and soldiers are looked at with suspicion. The erasure of Aeta and other indigenous populations from history.
These beliefs have perpetuated anti-blackness. Here are a few things I think are important to unpack to set things right:
✊🏾✊🏿
The Model Minority Myth – This, in short, is the false belief that positive statistics surrounding Asian-Americans is evidence that racism has been overcome. One of the things this overlooks is the fact that many Asian immigrants were selectively offered visas based on professional attainment and high education. Migrating to the U.S. with some level of professional attainment is not the same as being stolen from your home, and being subject to 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow, & systemic racism.
✊🏾✊🏿
Anti-Asian Discrimination – By ignoring how Asian-Americans have been discriminated in the past, we downplay the harm of white supremacy. I get it, nobody wants this in their history. But nothing heals that isn’t acknowledged. A few places to start: The 1930s Watsonville Riots; the murder of Joseph Ileto, the “civilize the savages” mentality espoused by William McKinley during American colonialism, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Vincent Chin, Japanese Internment, COVID related hate crimes.
✊🏾✊🏿
Black & Brown Solidarity – There is a long history of Black Americans and Filipinos standing up for one another. Look into: Gen. David Fagan- the Black buffalo soldier who fought on the side of Philippine independence; the role of the Black Panthers in stopping Filipino evictions across San Francisco in 1968, the way the Civil Rights Movement opened the doors for expanded Asian immigration.
