Author Topic: The ABC of Political Empowerment.  (Read 679 times)

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The ABC of Political Empowerment.
« on: October 16, 2007, 12:08:51 PM »

The Filipino-American community's varied reactions to ABC's "Desperate
Housewives" racist slur against Philippine-schooled doctors has brought to
the forefront of debate the issue of political empowerment or, more
appropriately, lack of political empowerment. As one community leader
mentioned, this kind of thing will never happen to African-Americans,
Latinos, and Jews.

In the "Desperate Housewives" episode, the character, Susan Mayer Delfino,
played by actress Teri Hatcher, said: "*Okay, before we go any further, can
I check those diplomas? Because I would just like to make sure they are not
from a med school in the Philippines *." This infuriated Filipinos around
the world. An online petition was started saying, "*We demand a public
apology to the Filipino American community, and we demand the episode be
edited to remove the ignorant and racist remark. We will not allow hateful
messages against our community (or any other oppressed community) to
continue." *Thus far, more than 122,000 have signed the petition. ABC issued
an apology and also promised to remove the controversial part from DVDs and
rebroadcasts of the episode. But should we settle for that? Hell, no! We
believe that that is not enough.

In my last week's article, "*Desperate Housewives' Wake Up Call to Filipinos
*," I proposed a win-win solution to the imbroglio created by the episode. I
stated that instead of a lawsuit and boycott, as suggested by many community
leaders, I recommended that we should be proactive instead -- not reactive
-- and put together an agenda that would give long-term benefits to our
community such as jobs, education and other initiatives. I indicated that we
should convince ABC to open employment opportunities to Filipino-Americans
at all levels -- actors, directors, producers, newscasters, and executives
at ABC and its affiliates.

Jon Melegrito, the Communications Director of the National Federation of
Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA), forwarded my article to Mr. Robert
Mendez, ABC's Senior Vice President of Diversity. Mr. Mendez responded to
Mr. Melegrito and he agreed to explore a program that might help increase
opportunities for Filipinos at ABC. Mr. Mendez also said, "You asked about
the possibility of exploring a program that might help to increase
opportunities for Filipinos at ABC. I am wondering whether you might be
interested in helping to organize a meeting in Washington, DC, where my
staff and I can meet with Filipinos who are interested in pursuing careers
in television and want access to direct information about our many talent
development programs. It would be a wonderful opportunity for ABC to deepen
the talent pool with candidates from the Filipino community."

Mr. Melegrito sent me an email and said, "ABC listened to the points you
raised in your column and here are the results: a) written confirmation that
ABC has deleted the ugly scene from the DH Sept. 30 episode, b) a long-term
relationship with the FilAm community that will open doors to Filipino
Americans and enable them access to positions in ABC as writers, directors,
producers, including an internship & training program. We expect
implementation of this special outreach program within 3-4 months as a
demonstration of ABC's commitment."

The name of the game is "win-win" and that's what we plan to achieve. Both
the Filipino community and ABC would benefit from it. It would give
Filipinos a presence -- and visibility -- in one of the major networks in
the United States. And the benefits would be long-lasting and irreversible
because once Filipino talents are used in ABC programming, the other
networks would follow. However, several community leaders in Northern
California, who formed a new organization called Filipino Anti-Defamation
Coalition, were not happy with the "win-win" initiative. One of the leaders,
an attorney, was critical of the initiative. He insisted that a lawsuit and
a boycott are the way to go. Being a lawyer, I can understand where he was
coming from. However, in my humble opinion, going to court would be
counter-productive and would only benefit those who could prove to a jury
that the slur damaged their profession and hurt their practice.

A few days ago, I received an email from Atty. Roman Mosqueda. He said: "I
am *willing to file a complaint for several Philippine-educated physicians
in California, who will take time out from their practice to prove their
damages (special, general and exemplary) on a contingency arrangement. Each
individual physicians (sic) who are filing a complaint in California will
have to prove special, general and/or exemplary damages. Thus, I have to get
a commitment from at least fifty (50) doctors coming from different
Philippine medical schools that they would devote time to this case, as well
as share in the expenses of litigation. I cannot solicit clients." *He
clarified that his attorney's fee is on contingency basis; however, he said
that "*legal cost such as filing fees, process serving fees, deposition
fees, expert fees, subpoena fees, jury fees, are for the account of the
client." *The question is: Are there 50 Filipino doctors in California who
are willing to pay the fees enumerated by Atty. Mosqueda and prove beyond
reasonable doubt that their practice has been damaged financially by the
slur? It is interesting to note that the Filipino Anti-Defamation Coalition
plans to file a $500 million lawsuit as soon as 50 Filipino doctors agree to
become plaintiffs. If they win the case, that's $10 million for each
plaintiff. The question is: are the doctors going to pocket the money or
give it to noble Filipino projects?

Paul Dalde, a member of the Filam-Forum in the Internet commented, "Win-win
initiative is always better, always. In every negotiation the one that
finally carried out is the win-win situation. We should not look for
absolute victory in a dispute because that victory will not result to
permanency, just a temporary one." Indeed, history has taught us so. But
what I like most is what Paul said, "Any day its Win-Win that wins the day!"


The ABC incident cannot be reversed. It happened and has left a scar. A wise
man once said to me, "Perry, what is important is not how to resolve a
problem but how to turn that problem into an opportunity." How true. Years
ago when I was working as a computer programmer analyst, I went to my boss
and said, "I'm sorry but I have a complaint…" He cut me out and said, "Don't
be sorry because you are just about to give me an opportunity to make this a
better place to work."

The ABC issue could be a grand opportunity to empower our community and
improve the quality of our lives. There shouldn't be any problem with
pursuing a "win-win" initiative, a lawsuit, and a boycott -- all at once.
Why not? In my opinion, these three are complementary to each other;
however, they should be pursued with solidarity. And if we can achieve
solidarity, then we can say that we have finally matured as a community of
kindred people. And that would lead to political empowerment.



PerryScope

Perry Diaz


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