Yes I truly agree. However this phenomenon is happening specially for college students who are of Filipino ethnic origin, where we were are raised in the United States, acclimated to the social norms of being an American, yet wanting to learn more about our Philippine Fatherland. The yearning to get 'in-touch' with our cultural and racial roots. Its something that I'm too familiar with, specially here in campus. There are Filipinos in college who were born in the Philippines, such as myself, and retain a very thick Filipino-accent and speak it fluently, however, there are other Filipinos who were born in the 'states, and are totally Americanized. I know alot of them that don't even wish to recognize their Filipino roots, or detest being asked about their Filipino roots. There is a fear, specially in the Filipino-American community, of being considered and or type casted as a 'FOB', as there are negative qualities that are correlated with fob-ism, such as a thick accent, old mentality, cultural conservativeness, and the belief of being 'Un-American.'
Filipino-Americans need to remember their roots, and Filipinos need to keep an open mind as well. As in the long run, being Filipino doesnt mean having to wear chinelas, speaking tagalog or bisaya, or retaining some kind of behavioral mannerisms. These are all
part of the things Filipinos in the Philippines practice or manifest, but it does
not define our nationality, our race.
I personally dont like it how some Filipinos type cast Fil-Am youth as being 'too americanized' or 'too lacking of Bayanihan' because that is simply not true. I remember going to one of my mom's friends parties and greeting her friends with the proverbial mano-po. And I could distinctly remember overhearing one of my mom's friends's husband talking to my dad about 'too much Americanization'. He looked at me and tried to talk to me in English (thinking that I didn't understand Bisaya) but I answered back to him in thick-pure-Bol-anon. Its true that many of our Fil-Am youths are forgetting their roots, and their language, but the older generation should take a positive stance and teach the language (whether its tagalog or bisaya) and instill in our youth of 'Filipina Patriatisimo' or 'Philippine Patriotism'. Not all Fil-Ams want to abandon our roots, many long for it.
In my college alone, we have alot of Filipinos who talk about the culture, and yearning to go back to the "Fatherland". What is also very interesting is that how Filipinos in the Philippines refer to the Philippines as 'Motherland' but most Fil-Ams here refer to the Philippines as the 'Fatherland'. Interesting....diba?
Thats my take on things. This video is shedding light on what really is going on...
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