I have nothing but questions today.
Is there a Filipino American intelligentsia? A Fil-Am thinking class? Put this way, of course, we would say there is one, a thinking class; after all we have a growing number of Filipino American academics in a variety of fields, some permanent dissenters, anti-establishment thinkers and opinion-makers. Our community, for example, probably has more than its share of newspaper men and women, not to mention a smattering of radicals of every shade and credibility.
Together, they help inform us of the larger community; some make a living swaying us to think a certain way about the outside world. Regardless of their purpose, they link us to the world and serve as our voice for others to hear.
But do we have as many Filipino Americans devoted to self-criticism? If not, why is it important that we do?
The 2008 presidential election occurs to me as a good reference point for an answer. As we, Filipino Americans, decide on a candidate, do we do so only as individuals? Or as members of an ethnic community that, at the macro scale, is treated as one? No need to coordinate our votes; not the point. What is the point is whether there a national Fil-Am discussion.
To what extent is the Filipino American vote influenced by an internal Filipino American community discussion, instead of an external one held by and for other communities?
Is there a Filipino American voter agenda, no matter if it is to the Left or to the Right? Do we know what we want as a community? Or are we simply borrowing other people’s analysis of the issues and passing it off as our own?
If community debate is occurring but it is limited at the organizational level, does that equal the challenge and opportunity that this evolving political moment affords us? I submit that it does not, not if we hope to succeed to ever higher levels together as a community.
Self-criticism allows us to dig deep behind the reasons that divide & unite us, that hold us back, and those that propel us forward. Without self-criticism, we live mostly in reaction to events around us. Without self-criticism we yield to others our earned opportunity to live as active actors on the national/world stage.
By paying no mind to self-criticism we relegate ourselves to bit players who are not sure of why we stand where we stand, ignorant of the deliberate steps that will take us where we need to be headed. Many communities do this well.
So can we. This year is ripe with opportunity.
rbvergara
![Po - [Explored]](http://static.flickr.com/7225/7260527994_23e4e5f04b_t.jpg "Po - [Explored]")
Do we have to succeed as a community? Or is it enough that we have many successful Filipino individuals in a variety of fields?
That isn’t really an either/or question. The answer is “yes.” The burden of race is that we feel we gotta represent.
But on the way to community, I hope we’re not striving for just “one voice.” Yes we should all vote for Obama on election day (I think so). But like you said, Bong, the point is that we have the conversations. And I think the local conversations, the local voices, are equal in importance to the national ones.
We need to be comfortable existing in the tension between the desire to be treated as a powerful voting bloc, and the need to maintain the diversity of views in our community.
There.
Posted by gem | October 27, 2008, 6:27 pmYou make a good point re: the comparable value of local voices to national voices, although I remain convinced that a larger community conversation is lacking. Without such a national conversation I see little room for much higher levels of success for individual Filipino Americans.
I agree that there should not be one voice that speaks for us all. But at the same time, we also need to be able to speak as one, not as a mob with discordant voices. A choir singing without harmony is not only ugly to listen to, it is also pointless to hear.
Posted by rbvergara | October 28, 2008, 2:49 am