Category Archives: colonialism

Coronavirus disproportionately affects Filipino nurses in the US, Philippines

Details of this blog post came from “Why the US has so many Filipino nurses” by Christina Thornell, VOX June 2020 I have over 20 cousins, relatives and extended family who are nurses or healthcare workers in a critical healthcare … Continue reading

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Philippine English is Legit. Oxford English Dictionary Says So

British English? How about Philippine English? It’s Legit. Oxford English Dictionary Says So Bongga! https://bit.ly/34O5irD Continue reading

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George Floyd’s Death – We Should Start Conversations of Anti-Blackness Within Filipino Families

The deaths of George Floyd and others prompted Asian Americans to call for solidarity and allyship with Black communities. At the same time reexamine the notions of anti-Blackness in our own lives. Continue reading

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Balangiga Bells On Their Way Home

After more than a century, the church bells taken by the US Army from Balangiga, Eastern Samar in 1901 will be returned to the Philippines. Many are excited about the bells’ return. Philippine President Duterte said, “It ain’t here until it’s here.” Continue reading

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Free Film Showing November 4 in LA: “Vapor Trail Clark” The Unfinished Business of Toxic Contamination Left Behind

Bayanihan Foundation co-sponsors free film screening on November 4, 2018, 12 PM in LA: “Vapor Trail Clark” about the unfinished business of toxic wastes left behind in Clark and Subic, former US bases in the Philippines Continue reading

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Filipino Cuisine – the joy of stinky food

My brother loved Filipino chicken adobo when we were growing up. Nowadays, he disavows it because it ‘stinks up’ the house. For many years, my brother and countless others needlessly felt embarrassment and shame for loving the food of our mothers. In 2018, Filipino cuisine — and Korean, and Sichuan, and Thai — is trendy, elevated by white chefs as the new “it” girl of cuisine. Continue reading

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My Trip to the Philippines: The Power of Colorism and Colonial Mentality

Filipinos desire to be lighter skinned – just look at aisle upon aisle of “whitening lotions” in any local grocery store in the Philippines. Filipinos’ desires to be lighter-skinned are merely the results of 400+ years of Spanish and American colonialism. Continue reading

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