Talking About Racism

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The first Positively Filipino webinar on "Racism and the Filipino American" took place last Monday with two speakers, Dr. Michael Gonzalez, an anthropologist and history professor, and Atty. Bill Tamayo, a civil rights lawyer and commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Myke Gonzalez focused on Philippine colonial history, elaborating on how the Spanish colonizers' social stratification strategy in managing its Asian colony, and the American administrations' classification of Philippine residents according to skin color enabled the Filipino mentality that considers white/fair skin superior to darker tones.

Bill Tamayo traced the  roots of white supremacy in the US, an eye-opening narrative on how for hundreds of years since the slave trade began, and even after the Civil War was fought and slaves freed, it was actually legal to treat Blacks as sub-human. White supremacy was protected by law!

We will be posting these lectures in Positively Filipino and YouTube soon. Watch out for the announcements.

Meanwhile, the second webinar "A Difficult Conversation" which should answer the one question that is in everyone's minds in this historical moment of #BlackLivesMatter: how do we talk to Filipinos who harbor strongly held attitudes against Blacks?

I hope you join us on July 13.

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Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino

A Time for Reflection

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The enduring civil unrest following a white police officer's killing of George Floyd, a Black man, has also triggered widespread conversations and reflections about racism, in the midst of a quarantine that has lasted for months. There is soul-searching among individuals of color, too, including Filipinos, as to how we and our immediate circles are responding to this momentous social unrest.

Soul-searching, however, could benefit from the context or guidance of history and social analysis.  For this reason, Positively Filipino is hosting a series of webinars to discuss the historical and sociological roots of racial prejudice against Black Americans--including among Filipinos--to better  understand the challenges posed by the systemic and oppressive racial prejudice that affects us all.

Please join us for these important conversations via Zoom. Details below. To register, please click on this link: bit.ly/PFPigmentsOfHistory

This week’s stories:

Racism: Reflections Of A Bridge Generation Filipino American By Peter Jamero

How Filipinos Are Coping With COVID-19, Part 2: Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France By Cecilia Manguerra-Brainard

Biking In The Pandemic By Criselda Yabes

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 7 By Mona Lisa Yuchengco

Read Again: In the Heat of the Night: The Exeter and Watsonville Riots 1929-1930 — Positively Filipino | Online Magazine for Filipinos in the Diaspora 

For our recipe of the week, we have Chef Roline Casper’s Ginisang Ampalaya.

In The Know links:

Under Coronavirus Lockdown, a Philippine Priest Hits the Streets
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/world/asia/coronavirus-philippines-priest.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR07HGkn8kXJ6d2AdMwCvwf64WYH4bDzM1lPCZYK8g4mjcYyxnUIo27i6s0

In Philippines, a child alleges abuse by Catholic priest — and tests Vatican promise for global reckoning
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/06/23/philippines-child-alleges-abuse-by-catholic-priest-tests-vatican-promise-global-reckoning/?arc404=true&fbclid=IwAR0YvDOdTO3EtI3-T1mb1dQeoQWZZRssJwr_7D4PVGSluwFSS9h_kIVgSCo

Returning to My Father’s Kitchen
https://lunchticket.org/returning-to-my-fathers-kitchen/?fbclid=IwAR3xReU81H0RudZYJWQ45V6LM2mKxA4-OJ1WjEbsXGCX6DSR5dLHeXZaYUM

'My Sons Are Filipinos Because Life in the Philippines Is All They Know'
https://www.smartparenting.com.ph/parenting/real-parenting/i-want-to-raise-my-boys-knowing-filipino-values-a1746-20180329?utm_source=Facebook-SP&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200619-fbnp-parenting-i-want-to-raise-my-boys-knowing-filipino-values-a1746-20180329-fbold-fbcap&fbclid=IwAR18A2bJhRMo3iHQRLyOVVrmgr3G5xxkqfy1XeyArPLAEYi46UkB1RfEtdg

For Video of the Week: Last June 12, 2020 (Philippine Independence Day), Kabud Multimedia Production uploaded “Yan ang Pilipino,” an uplifting music video of one of the songs from “Halo-Halo Tayo”, a play from the Carl Jung Circle Center.

Press Freedom Is Under Siege

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As part of the global media community, we stand with our colleagues in condemning and resisting all attempts by the Duterte administration to muzzle the freedom of the press, a sacred principle enshrined in the Philippine Constitution.  

We note with increasing alarm the various ways such muzzling has taken form -- from harassment, threats, and the filing of unjust cases, to closure of media outlets and outright murder of journalists. We are not willing to ignore or let pass the "death by a thousand cuts" directed at the press by a regime that has no concept of accountability and whose understanding of democracy is tenuous and self-serving. 

In her article in the Atlantic about Monday's conviction of Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos of the crime of cyber-libel, Sheila Coronel, veteran journalist and dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism, says it best: "This is how democracy dies in the 21st century: in a musty courtroom, with a judge invoking Mandela. There are no power grabs in the dead of night, no tanks rolling down the streets, no uniformed officers taking over TV stations. Just the steady drip, drip, drip of the erosion of democratic norms, the corruption of institutions, and the cowardly compromises of decision makers in courts and congresses."

[Read Sheila Coronel's full article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/maria-ressa-rappler-philippines-democracy/613102/?fbclid=IwAR3wJ69TjZvBqvP6TdNQ0Rp7pJEgIUNzJb7IKfxMg_YpNqiWBWzFgB3hJl8]

We at Positively Filipino give our full support to Maria Ressa, Reynaldo Santos and other real journalists in upholding press freedom by continuing the fight against the legal and actual terrorism foisted on Philippine media. Along with the closure of  ABS-CBN broadcasting network and the pending Anti-Terrorism Law that imperils constitutional rights of political critics, it is clear that the Duterte administration does not respect press freedom and other civil liberties and no longer pretends that there is such a thing as democracy in the country. 

This Week's Stories:

Filipinos For Black Lives By Richard “D-cal” Dacalos

On The Asian Cop Who Did Nothing As George Floyd Lay Dying By Benjamin Pimentel

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 6 By Mona Lisa Yuchengco

Ramon De Ocampo Narrates It All For You By Walter Ang

Read Again: http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/jose-rizal-martial-arts-warrior

The Happy Home Cook: Beer Boneless Bangus Belly by Rene Astudillo 

Video of the Week: The Philippine Department of Tourism’s tribute to 10 million Filipino workers around the world: Noypi Ka Nga Astig!

In The Know

This Is How Democracy Dies
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/maria-ressa-rappler-philippines-democracy/613102/?fbclid=IwAR11rQrkKVjLYk5L1k2NxKjWJF_y0JcJ8JVS4tujTLM65tkTfEgabX4ZTBE

Maria Ressa: The celebrated Philippine news boss enraging Duterte
https://news.yahoo.com/maria-ressa-celebrated-philippine-news-014051537.html

Filipino American Activists Honor History, Take to the Streets in Solidarity With Black Lives Matter Movement
https://www.kqed.org/news/11823900/filipino-american-activists-remember-history-and-take-to-the-streets-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter-movement?fbclid=IwAR09UX_i04Ur3hOmqltIXZhUvf7c-Aqp73aJI1C0t6QzT4iSFI-q4in7L6o

The Philippine Gov't Banned Rallies, So Protestors Threw a 'Party' on Independence Day Instead
https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/935ada/philippine-government-independence-day-rallies-protests?utm_campaign=sharebutton&fbclid=IwAR1zBhWUfH2FpL6uKbH_Laf0GRJXqxXWl3iDTxGLyH7FcVs0uC7Ric6x_Gw

Meet the Filipino offering 200 free meals a day to Dubai’s jobless migrants during coronavirus shutdown
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3088480/meet-filipina-offering-200-free-meals-day-dubais-jobless?fbclid=IwAR1IKTynta2UOzJ_IGeZvgAKZ2Xo2VBSUVigHNxLQkIfMNrV3lRI_LGA6ts

Lost Footnotes in History: Why Texas Was Once Called New Philippines
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/new-philippines-a00304-20200614?fbclid=IwAR0e6YcNmTxAJbb_R8eadX0CIHsyjq9HCcj89_AyDet-UcoAzCvdTnVCARc

Beyond Einstein: A young Pinoy physicist shines light on black holes, dark energy
https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/06/07/20/beyond-einstein-a-young-pinoy-physicist-shines-light-on-black-holes-dark-energy?fbclid=IwAR0daBfA7RvSMswbYXNO0QsmTdcGcvZ5ZlDE6AVvNifZH4aQNZWHoQjCIuo