clickbreatheclick:pinoy-culture:The Diversity of FilipinosPart 1You are Pilipino if your mo
clickbreatheclick: pinoy-culture: The Diversity of FilipinosPart 1You are Pilipino if your mother is Pilipinaif your father is Pilipinoif you are from ‘pinasif you have one drop of Pilipino bloodYou are PilipinoIf you’re Chinese but are from the Philippinesor if you’re only ½ or 1/3 or any 1/fractionand your last name is Tan, Ong, or Chuaand you constitute the less-than 1% of the native populationwho control more-than 50% of the national commerce. You are Pilipinoeven if you deny itbecause your parents, or theirs, or theirsare Espanol, mga Kastilawho settled in las islas Filipinasnames after your king once.My father, too, is named Felipefrom tall, bug-eyed Malayswith high noses and wavy hair.I don’t know how many generations they have been On these arbitrary islands that define usmaybe before Biak-na-bato broke in half at least before Bernard Carpio pushed his handprintsdeep in the flat surfaces to separate the broken boulder.The jungle has grown into the hollows.You are Pilipinoif you are descended from the children of the Spanish friars, priests, and other unholy men.You are Pilipinoif your mother was an American base hostessand your eyes are green or any shade lighter than black, reallyand your last name is Murphy, Sullivan or even Brown.You are Pilipinoit doesn’t matter if you’ve been whitewashed by blood or cultureso bleached out you don’t think twice about blue contact lenses,affirmative action, or ski trips to Utahand you sleep well at nightswith all the alien consonants in your mouth.You are Pilipinoif you are Blackbecause your mother or your father[or both]is from Americaof African ancestryor your motheror your father[or both]is Negritoor your motheror your father[or both]is from America of Negrito Ancestry.You are PilipinoIf you are part JapaneseEven though your fatherWas the fruit of betrayalLess than human, they called himAnd your grandmother killed herselfAfter a lifetime as the local lokaSince the execution of her soldier/invader/lover.Unless you are from Hawaiiwhere your grandfather joined your grandmotheragainst the white plantation owners.Some say that’s what the wars were always about anyway.You are Pilipinoif you are ½ Mexican, ½ Filipinothat West Coast Catholic mixlike the Irish-Italians back east.My friend Tony’s folks are both Mexipinosmet and married in Oxnard.Tony always says he has two reasons to boycott grapes.You are Pilipinoif you know that history docked on our islandslong before any pale giants’ boats ever got closeand history docked theremade home there ever since.Yes, if you know thatand if you knowthat history has been leavingever sincefor the next boomtownin Papua New GuineaSaudi ArabiaHong KongMontrealHiloMaybe even Ho Chi Minh Cityor Los Angelesto dock there and staywondering about those islandsthat once had no name.You are Pilipinoif you leftand have never made it backand you think you will diewith only a child’s memory of how the air smellsthe 1st dayafter the typhoon has passedand in a week the mudwill still squeeze between your toes, redbut smooth and heavylike the Duncan Hines frostingfor a dollar thirty-nineat the Korean storedown the blockfrom the Rampart Police Station in P-Town. Poem by Los Angeles poet Napoleon Lustre Photo Sources: [x], [x], [x], [x], [x], [x] Editing this because as girlwithribbon pointed out, there aren’t any women in this photo set! Source Source Source -- source link