Posted by District One on April 07, 2000 at 09:32:32:
In Reply to: Re: Effective FIND Workshops... posted by jaerin on October 26, 1999 at 00:52:40:
This may not say much anymore since my response to yours is kind of late. I was just browsing through the postings and I came accross with this. You have just proven that what Dave was saying about the past is very important for Filipino Americans to learn. As we all know, Filipino parents come to this country to have better lives than what they have back in the PI. They even tend to instill American values to their children so they would be more Americanize and forget their roots and culture. You even said that yourself. Why does it have to happen this way? Is our culture and roots not good enough for them? You're right, parents should teach and strengten their children's background and history, but if we are not seeing any effort from them, then who would teach us our history and past. You are clearly not aware of the Philippine American war. You are saying, "I don't know about you, but until the Filipinos go through a mass genocide, I wouldn't cite this as easily as you." That's just plain ignorance on your part, because if you were aware of the war back then, Filipinos were tortured worst than the Jews. More Filipinos were killed in that war than the ones in the holocaust. Villages were burned down and a hostile take over occured. This is not just from the Americans, but from the Japanese who tortured and raped many women, and the Spaniards as well who took over the Philippines for 300 years. These are some of the injustice that our ancestors have suffered from.
These facts aren't taught in history classes, especially here in the US. So if parents will not tell their children our history, who would? Aren't you sad that if the Jews have these institutions were they devote themselves and learn their traditions, cutlure and history to empower their existence, why don't we have one. Maybe you know this already, but Filipinos are one of the largest Asian group in the US or maybe the largest now, but it seems that we haven't established ourselves completely, unite ourselves and strengthen our culture. If you also don't know this, but Filipinos are one of the first settlers in the US. The first real settlement was in Louisiana around the 1800's. So our ancestors have been around, but how come we don't have this recognition? Doesn't that bother you at all? Well it's something to think about.
How can we spring forward and look into the future and say, we can make it, and we can be successful individuals if we don't even know our roots? You may not realize how important this is just yet, but stronger roots make up a stronger tree. Forget the illusions that our parents have told us. We can be more successfull and stronger as a race or group if we know our history and realize that we can be better individuals through knowledge of our past.
You may not have learned anything from the SPEAKERS, but this is a first step. It is a learning experience so we should find ways to improve our resources. District One has taken that first step and opened up doors for us to learn. Young generations are the future of our existence and our country, whether it would be the Philippines or the United States. We should know what we are fighting for and what our sufferings are. If not, we will never gain respect, and we might as well give up like what most parents did. I know they did this to give us better standard of living, but we are living in the world of illusions.
That's my 2 centavos for the day.