Stories on racism against Filipinos

[xtine]

I had my one and only racist experience once inside a GAP store in San Francisco downtown.  First day ko pa lang, my mom and I went to Gap to shop for goods.  I noticed that the fat, afro american security lady were looking at my direction as I went inside the fitting room.  Then I noticed on the crevice of the door, she was looking inside, making sure that I don't put the clothes inside my bag.  At that time, I was too happy to be annoyed kasi I just arrived.  That was the only instance that I experienced discrimination in the US.  In my two months stay, everyone was so nice.

[mystella]

Grabe naman! saan ka ba naka base? sana binato mo sa saleslady yon or kaya sinampal mo ng pera...

it happened to me when i visited seoul, korea.
 

[chuzzle]

^ bakit ganun yung ibang Koreans. Nakakasad kasi andami nila dito and mukha namang comfy sila dito kasi parami sila ng parami pero marami din akong kilalang nagtour sa Korea na nakaexperience ng ganun.

My friend, she was looking at clothes in like a big market then some of the vendors daw asked her if she's Filipino at nung umOO sha parang minanmanan sha. Every time she tried to touch daw some clothes or parang hawakan to feel the cloth eh pinupush yung kamay niya.

[mystella]

^ bakit ganun yung ibang Koreans. Nakakasad kasi andami nila dito and mukha namang comfy sila dito kasi parami sila ng parami pero marami din akong kilalang nagtour sa Korea na nakaexperience ng ganun.

My friend, she was looking at clothes in like a big market then some of the vendors daw asked her if she's Filipino at nung umOO sha parang minanmanan sha. Every time she tried to touch daw some clothes or parang hawakan to feel the cloth eh pinupush yung kamay niya.

saang bansa po yun?

ako nga, ayaw ako ipag-fit ng clothes nung nasa seoul ako e. e halata namang available yung fitting room nila!!

may napansin ako. nung sa ibang shop sa korea nagpunta ako. nagpaganda talaga ako, as in, nag-ayos ako ng make-up at maganda suot ko, with matching jeweleries. nung una, ayaw ako papasukin sa fitting room. pero after a while, napansin yata yung suot ko, mukhang "may kaya" ako. so pinag-fit na ako sa fitting room. ano ibig sabihin non? hindi kaya sensitive lang ako or sila ba may diperensya?

[chuzzle]

^ it was in Seoul daw.

[mooncake and leaves]

for me, the biggest racism talaga is how american companies look at one's degree. if you don't graduate from an american institution, wala talaga. yun yung pinakamasakit for me kasi ang hirap dahil wala kang magawa at hello, nakasalalay dun career mo. so while i'm not hearing any insults, i feel like my ego's been deflated a hundred, thousand times. ewan.

my bf warned me din. when i told him i'm thinking of getting my psych classes from The Philippines and that i'm thinking of working in the east coast someday. he told me that i'll probably get laughed at if i rely on my bachelor's alone. he's seen people who are from the most prestigious schools in sweden, uk, get mocked at interviews because they didn't graduate from a known university in the east coast. even some universities in california don't make the cut. like USC for example. they refer to it daw as "the rich kids' school." that is, if they even recognize it.



 

[akthung]

Ganun talaga sis. According to my mom, who is a professor in our state U in pinas:

sa atin kasi, pag graduate ka ng ibang bansa, magaling ka, matalino etc.

pero sa ibang bansa ang mentality nila "pag hindi ka graduate sa schools namin, 2nd class ka." ang mentality din nila is "the state university is best university, but if you study in a school outside the country, mahina ka for our country's standards."

***
Ganun talaga sis. When i tried joining an organization here in Australia, kahit alam nila na graduate ako, na may bachelor of science degree and na certify ng australian gov't na ang degree ko is equivalent to an aus degree, eh nahiritan ako ng isang tao dun, kahit hindi pa ako nakakapagsalita, ng

"are you sure you would like to proceed with this? do you think you can handle the environment here? would you like me to get you an interpreter? we can provide one for you."

kaya ako, i decided to take graduate studies here. hindi lang sa pampaganda ng resume or dagdag ng qualifications, pero para pang respeto na din. and marami namang gumagawa neto. i'm not saying this is the right path. but by far, kapag nalaman nila na im doing studies in this university, humahanga yung mga taga dito.

i was even told that during layoffs, plus points ang may degree from one of the country's prestigous universities.

ang masakit lang sa akin, yung mga pilipino na friends ko sa manila, parang ang baba ng tingin nila sa akin kasi i decided to study. parang to a significant number of them, ang pag-aaral eh gawain ng "walang magawa"

pero do what the romans do ika nga. so ipagpapatuloy ko eto. ako naman ang magpapakain sa sarili ko, hindi sila.

***

oh by the way sis, my best friend applied for a job in the US, hiniritan agad siya ng "we only accept graduates from this country. and we prefer ivy league graduates"

[prisma]

^ bakit ganun yung ibang Koreans. Nakakasad kasi andami nila dito and mukha namang comfy sila dito kasi parami sila ng parami pero marami din akong kilalang nagtour sa Korea na nakaexperience ng ganun.

My friend, she was looking at clothes in like a big market then some of the vendors daw asked her if she's Filipino at nung umOO sha parang minanmanan sha. Every time she tried to touch daw some clothes or parang hawakan to feel the cloth eh pinupush yung kamay niya.

Ganyan talaga sis.  Bad kasi image ng Pinay overseas...like mail order bride, DH etc....

Until we better our lot, I am afraid that image will stay.

Couple of years ago....I   met a 23 yo SM cashier in the OZ Embassy. She's so excited to finally be reuntied with her 62 year old hubby.  She just got married you see...I know oz government had turned down lots of bogus weddings though...( age gap too big), wonder what happened to her?

[akthung]

yup. all about perception and stereotypes kasi.

3 months ago i met someone. we became friends...then she saw my facebook, learned about my background, my friends, achievements, tapos ang sabi eh

"There are rich people in the Philippines???"

[mooncake and leaves]

^^^ yeah i get that. actually, a degree from a university in the US is no longer an option. it's a must if you want room to advance. what annoys me about that right now is, with the recession, some universities are cutting back on enrollment so they're not admitting people who already have a degree. so that's a setback for me. doon lang ako naiinis- either hire me or let me go to school. but to no avail. they don't like me harhar.

^^ that's because there are a lot of bogus marriages. kaya nga kapag ganyan, laging suggestion, get someone who's almost the same age and from the same country or at least continent.

[chuzzle]

sis akthung

I am actually worried about continuing my studies in the US. I'm almost finished with my MA and I'm planning to go to NYU after my thesis. Nothing's final yet, but I really wanna find a school in New York. Do you think they'll consider my MA? I don't mind getting another MA degree there pero wag naman sana undergrad again.

My friend who got in a state university in Florida as a working scholar said they considered naman daw her undergrad degree and she's having a nice time there.

[akthung]

hmmm...

i dunno sis... when you get finish 2 MAs, pwede nila sabihin na over qualified ka. When you get a Ph.D. ganun din...over qualified.

Good thing may nagsabi sa akin niya noon, kaya hindi ko na pursue yung balak kong MBA sa pinas.

[AnneMP]

Last December 2008, in HK: My cousin and I were taking pictures of ourselves and then this HK man approached us and said he would like to take our pic using our camera.  We were hesitant so he said, "It's okay, I have Filipino maids at home just like you".  Ahahah! Nagulat ako dun ha?  Pero since he didn't seem to imply anything malicious about that, we handed him our cam.

In the US:
When my uncle was starting out in the states (20 or so years ago), he went to Denny's to get a cup of coffee that he was going to pay for.  The waitress refused to serve him coffee.  Denny's has been known to have racist staff before they were sued for racial discrimination

[twentysomething gal]

i googled up the definition of racism first before posting anything:

racism:the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races

so, using that as my argument, i can say na kahit sa pinas, very apparent ang racism against filipinos by other filipinos! Sa MALLS pa lang e. Kapag puti, hindi masyadong kinakapkapan sa entrance, or nagkakandarapa tayong pagsilbihan kapag "foreigner". Pag pinoy ka, hala, lahat ata ng inspection papasukin mo.

Kahit sa US embassy pa lang, kapag pinoy ka halos sigaw sigawan ka na ng guards dun na mga pinoy din, pero pag mga american ang dumadaan para silang mga asong kumakawag ang buntot sa kahit anong sabihin ng kano.

Kahit san yan, sa mga teller ng banko, sa mga cashier, sa mga stores, sa mga companies. Bakit, mas superior ba ang race nila satin???

[akthung]

Reverse racism ata ang tawag dun sis. Tapos ang nakakainis pa eh, sasabihin ng mga puti na yun na paradise daw sa pinas. aba syempre. hari hari-an sila sa pinas eh.

anyway, sa embassy siguro kaya ganun para to keep the Egos outside.

[twentysomething gal]

naku akthung, sinabi mo pa.

Eto naman within the context, nung nag-aaply ako ng work dito, I had an experience with an african-american recruiter who told me right in my face na hindi ko dapat hinahangad yung position na iyon dahil graduate ako sa pilipinas. Kasi daw hindi maniniwala yung company na may tinapos talga ako at may experience ako kasi nga galing sa pinas, something like that. Sarap sapakin e, ang masaklap pa, narealize ko lang yung discrimination after the fact, kasi napakaeloquent nya magsalita.


nung nakakuha ako ng work (not from his agency), i had to tell him and he right away asked kung anong position ang nakuha ko at kung magkano ang sweldo. Nung sinabi ko parang ang tono e hindi naniniwala sa sinasabi ko. Pahiya siguro sya. Hay, grabe talga!

[akthung]

ganun talaga. consider your self lucky na din.

ako nga kesa kailangan ko daw mag basic english , english bridging course, IELTS minimum grade ek ek pa daw bago makapasok ng english...kasi daw poor english or baka diploma mill lang daw pinanggalingan ko.

but when they contacted my school ayun. e di hindi na ako pina IELTS at pina English Course.

I've been meeting people who finished the english their bridging course, and magagaling pa typical pinoy kesa sa kanila.

may ganun talaga..haharang at haharang. we just have to go around them.

[Remi]

I'm based in the UK.  One time I was on my way to the gym, a white van driver shouted at me 'Paki!!!' which is a racist term for Asian decent, the Indians, Pakistanis and Bengolis. I really don't care because these people are chavy, if you're not foreign they will make fun of you about other things.  Besides, I have no connections to the Pakistanis at all.  I'm not Pakistani and I'm a Catholic, there's also aggresions against Muslims here.  On the other hand, people at work are extra nice to me, maybe because I'm foreign.  Where I work it's rude to ask how old are you and where are you from?  Quite funny!

[lyrahs]

^sis sana nung sinigawan na 'Paki' sinigawan mo naman ng 'pakyu' juk lang

Dito naman sa work hindi pa ako nakaramdam ng racism. Gawa na din siguro na iba-ibang lahi ang kasama ko sa work...United Nations kumbaga

[akthung]

maganda talaga pag halo halo na kayo. lumalawak na talaga ang isipan mo