prejudice

A blogmate has posted this entry on her blog that this morning, having read it, I have to make this long letter to express my opinion.


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Hi Marie! I've read the link to the blog. And I can't help myself to write you a very long message regarding this.

Having lived in NZ for more than 12 years now, I finally found the country a second home. It's sad to hear about a child encountering such a demeaning behaviour from an adult, who's supposed to look after you. But I beg to disagree that only white people are racist. They are not the only ones. I speak out my mind when saying that even Filipinos are racists. We are one of the most racist people in the world. We do that in the Philippines as well. We look at these ‘others’ from head to foot when a white or black person passes by. We call Indians as “five-six” (referring to their popular financing options). We call the Chinese at “chekwa”. Nothing shows more racism than what our own race does. We see it everywhere. Imagine being born with brown skin but tries to hide this through “whitening lotions”.

It's a racial phenomenon much less a white superior thinking. I am not saying this trying to take side with the white people or trying to reason out that their behaviour is acceptable. Actually, it is NOT. Racism is the worst outward human behaviour. And due to this, innumerable wars have been waged to fight for one’s rights.

Living in another man’s land will always pose a cultural difference to an immigrant. Everything is so different… from culture, to language, down to the very thing we are fighting for with each other – color of skin. Even if you are a New Zealander through papers, there will always be a feeling of being a second class citizen.

And migration is not an excuse to pretend, err, not even an escape to the fact that you are in a place where respect and acceptance for your skin color or ethnicity takes place smoothly. Bear in mind that you are only re-locating. A change in place does not necessarily indicate a change in human behaviour. Reality is that racism is a human phenomenon. What can we do to protect our own child? I start with teaching my son to see and learn that even with the color differences, people are all made by God and loved by Him in the same way as He loves a black person or a white person or a yellow person. I make a conscious effort not to make harmful comments against other races. And probably, when he grows up and encountered such, he deeply knows that his self-confidence and self-respect does not depend on his race or his ethnicity but on his attitude and behaviour as an individual.

Sorry, it's super long. I also wish that racism will be washed-out and forever gone. That way the world will be a bit better to live in.

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I love Conrado de Quiros's article regarding racism and Filipinos. A good read if you have the time and an open mind.