Filipinos as an Invisible Minority - Coaching for Kababayan
Filipinos as an Invisible Minority
The topic of Filipinos as an invisible minority was extremely interesting – it really blew my mind. Our research team defined the term "invisible minority" as referring to the lack of political power and representation of Filipino Americans across American society.
Our guests definitely felt we need to see more Filipinos in politics, more Filipinos in the mainstream, and more Filipinos coming together in the community.
A good deal of discussion on both sides also focused on the perception of Filipino Americans being able to more easily assimilate into American society. Some agreed with this perception – and some didn’t.
In terms of examples, guests discussed the impact of learning English at an early age on the community and the emphasis on conformity within the Filipino culture as factors impacting assimilation into U.S. culture.
I’d like to turn to our Filipino listeners and visitor again – does this resonate with you?
- Do you feel Filipinos are an invisible minority within the United States?
I look forward to hearing from you!
Your host,
Tom Floyd
CEO
IEC: Insight Educational Consulting
Specializing in Management Consulting, Change Management, Workforce Performance, and Employee Development
Coaching for Kababayan
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Filipinos are such a diverse group as is reflected by the geography of their homeland--a thousand islands seperated by oceans with a thousand languages. A lot of filipinos don't feel a need to mention that they're filipino, because moving to the united states is NOT much of a culture shock for them. There are so many filipinos within the mainstream... but because they don't feel like a stranger in the U.S., due to lots of things in the phillipines having been similar to the U.S. for over half a century, then lots of people don't know or feel the need to recognize "wow, you are FILIPINO!"
For instance, the pussycat dolls lead singer is filipino, Miss California is filipino, etc. They are not like many other minority groups that feel very alienated in this country and have to say "ooooh, I'm chinese OR oooooh, I'm Jewish". Filipinos have worked and been along side Americans in their homeland and have shared comraderie with Americans on a friend-basis. So there is no need to say, "hey, eeehrmm! excuse me, but did you know I'm filipino?" They simply don't care.
They love their food and culture, but when relating to Americans, they are on a very friend-interpersonal way...and there was never a History of a very huge decisive line and distinction between filipinos and Americans based on race (unlike say, the blacks vs. whites in the south). Some races have terrible relations and history with America, that they feel the need to show-off that they're such and such race. Filipinos are very happy and peace-loving people who pride themselves more on their actions and culture, rather than purporting a distinct national race! This island nation has always been at a very strategic point in the Pacific ocean and they have been exposed to countless of different cultures passing by.
It's funny how whites always try to impose their values on other cultures with such different origins. For instance in America for the white race, they are largely homogenous. So, they believe all asians should be homogenous as well. Wrong! So whites need to stop trying to understand the world through their limited lenses from the comfort of their livingroom in the U.S. behind a computer. Unless you spend at least two months living in another country (and I don't mean staying at a luxury western-owned hotel) and having to interact with the surrounding culture, then sorry-to-say but Americans will always be trapped by their very limited lenses which arrogantly purport that they can intellectualize any culture from behind their computer screen without having to step a foot off of their own soil.
So you are actually going to write a book from your livingroom about this? That's crazy. Whites may need representation in government to get things done. Filipinos have good survival instincts and have been getting what they need regardless of how many plastic-smile politicians look like them. Whites always think their ways are the standard on which to judge everyone
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