Are Filipinos Racists?

[Castaway]

What is the most disturbing about the Philippines and its culture?

(Written by a Filipino)

Filipinos actually carry with them very racist behaviors especially against dark-skinned people. There are a couple of derogatory terms used in the Philippines I’m familiar with to refer to someone who has dark skin complexions, “ulikba” and “nog-nog”.

These two words are very demeaning and hurtful.

If you’re a Black person visiting the Philippines and you happen to visit the provinces, people might call you “n***er” because a lot of people are not sensitive to the idea of racism against Black people and to their history. I want to make it clear here though that Filipinos calling a Black person a n***er surprisingly does not carry racist connotation. For many Filipinos, “n***er” is the common vocabulary word used to refer to Black people instead of “black”

This does not only happen in the provinces of course, it also happens in the big cities.

People may not say it out loud but there’s a deep bias against dark-skinned people among Filipinos whether it is of their own or people of foreign origin.

There’s arguably not a single person in the Philippines who would want to be dark-skinned. Most, if not all, want to be white. All skin products aim to whiten the skin.

Now, you’d hope this is the end of my answer but the disturbing things about racist Filipino behaviors don’t end here. Filipinos have also coined words they use for other ethnicity which oftentimes are very offensive and demeaning.

For example, the term “chekwa” is a colloquial term used by Filipinos in place of the normal Filipino translation of the word “Chinese” which is “Intsik”.

Chekwa is used when Filipinos are talking negatively about a Chinese person and they don’t want that person to know that he or she is the topic of the conversation.

Sakang is a demeaning term used to refer to the Japanese people. Sakang means bandy, which is common to Japanese people.

Pana is a term used by Filipinos in Canada and in the US to refer to the native Indians of the land instead of using the actual word “Indian” when they are referring to the natives to avoid detection. Pana means “arrow” and it’s been associated with native Indians because they are usually depicted carrying bow and arrow in movies. There’s also a rhyme associated with a game played by youngster’s back in the day that mentions the term “Indian Pana” and this rhyme is loaded with insults if I recall correctly. I have no idea why kids back then loved making whymes loaded with insult.

When I was a kid, I was told that if I ever met white people, I should be friendly towards them and greet them “hey Joe”. I learned later on that it is not cool to call a Caucasian “hey Joe.”

There are probably a lot more racial terms I am not familiar with but my hope is that Filipinos, sooner than later, would become educated and civil enough to get rid of this bad habit/culture which for me, personally, is very disturbing.

I hope by writing this, I am not demeaning my own people because I’m also a Filipino but the goal is to identify this issue and hopefully rectify it and begin spreading awareness about the idea that the world would be a better place without racism.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-disturbing-thing-you-know-about-the-Philippines-and-its-culture

 

 

Edited October 6, 2017 by Castaway

[Jack Peterson]

1 hour ago, Castaway said:

the idea that the world would be a better place without racism.

I can't ever see that happening. Can You? Remembering that we have Filipino members, wives and in my case a daughter that reads these Topics I am not too sure we should be discussing this issue here. Would we like it if we started a Topic relating to our Individual Countries, No we would Country bashing & that would make it personal as I think this may get if not thought about in Reply posts 

[Castaway]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

I am not too sure we should be discussing this issue here.

Duly noted... but I am also married to a Filipina and I am also the father of a half-Filipino child. 

So, I thought that this would be informative if nothing else. There's no need for any discussions.

[earthdome]

From my observations it could be easy, especially in the USA, to reach the conclusion that filipino's are racist. That is not because they are big racists. Only because they use term's to refer to black's that are not politically correct in he USA. For example my wife will use the term negra which is not commonly used in the USA and someone might think it is a form of the "n..." word. But it is the spanish word for a black woman and not meant to be derogatory but descriptive.

[virginprune]

I would surmise that they are no more racist, probably a lot less than, many people who are brought up and live in any number of western countries. My own take on some people, more than will admit it, in the UK is that after years of multiculturalism, 2000 and counting, there are still many openly racist people and far more covertly.... It's still a paki shop and a chinkies to many, usually poorly educated but not always!

[Reboot]

In my experience, people from Asia are more openly racist than Western types. Personally, I prefer someone who speaks his or her mind rather than someone who hides it.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Reboot

[stevewool]

5 hours ago, virginprune said:

 It's still a paki shop and a chinkies to many, usually poorly educated but not always!

Its been a long time since i heard those words , we have loads of Indian shops , and yes they are still on the corner too, but i do know where you are coming from.

[davewe]

I don't think Filipinos are more racist but I do think they are more open and almost matter of fact about their feelings. If you ask my wife what she thinks of Japanese she will say she doesn't like them; they destroyed her hometown in WW2. When I remind her that WW2 happened decades before she was born she said it doesn't matter; she knows what they did and doesn't like them.

When we lived in the US she worked in a supermarket. I gently tried to warn her to be careful of what she said and to whom because the US was a much more politically correct environment than the Philippines. Somehow, and I don't know how, she managed to remain herself and still everyone loved her there. She routinely blasted her American co-workers as lazy bums - and they not only tolerated it but promoted her.

[Castaway]

'When I was a kid, I was told that if I ever met white people, I should be friendly towards them and greet them “hey Joe”. I learned later on that it is not cool to call a Caucasian “hey Joe.”'

I found this to be interesting since at least one Filipino (the writer of this topic) was made aware about how saying "hey Joe" to a Caucasian "is not cool."

[Kuya John]

I dont think the Filipino's are anymore racist than anyone else.

However I have heard them refer to lazy  English workers and they have used the racist  card to their advantage when in dispute here in UK. As already pointed out the term negro is a Spanish influence  referring  to colour. You will of course be aware that some members live in Negros Occidental has this any bearing with refence to the subject?

There is of course offensive  terminology used in most countries, ( like long nose ), but who cares life goes on.

 

Edited October 7, 2017 by Kuya John