Some Notes on Racism

It’s astounding how much the term has been (ab)used in this month alone. First, when it came to a magazine cover by FHM featuring Bela Padilla, and then as an accusation against a television anchor.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1RFRw78mi0]

(BBC interview with Bela Padilla here)

I. Images

In the first instance, there emerge two distinct spheres which, to provide better understanding, are to be examined in a specific order. There is, undoubtedly, the issue of racism in the international sense–particularly made vulgar in the inevitable connection to the African-American race (in fact to any other race that isn’t white).

Nonetheless, the primary sphere, the one really close to home, poses a question to the ideology of the Filipinos of today: it is that which glorifies skin whitening and assumes automatically, how “white” means a better standing in life. It is the same that (and perhaps the cover should be given this small allowance) poses how a Filipina should grow more fully into herself by stepping out of her inhibitions. Unfortunately, it also proposes that only a white-skinned Filipina can be successful in the attempt.

Even worse, her inhibitions are her own fellow women, slathered in black; hence, given all of the above, the cover (and newsflash, its inside pages) becomes offensive not only in that it offends a race outside the Philippines, but that its domestic/local discrimination is subsumed into another one (that of a race outside the Filipino heritage) and therefore, it is a double whammy.

Also, the non-white elephant in the room: it’s the 21st century and there are multiple ways in which media technology can be used to aid so-called symbolism. Distort the face of the model in the background for effect; depict a cavalcade of horrors (heck, use up any haunted house props from the nearest mall); create signboards of all the 7 Deadly Sins–all this to depict the cover model’s inhibitions. But to use other women painted a darker color and imply that black is sin and white is light throws away all knowledge of what can be done via said technology in this day and age to reveal ignorance and failure to admit accountability.

It also shows how far the Philippines has to go in order to make substantial connections between the images it produces and what it says of underlying [racial ]cultural  tensions, whereas elsewhere people are calling out against stereotypes which then become symbols implying either negative traits or failure to take an Other’s culture or race as anything other than something that can be worn or discarded easily.

Ohio University’s Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS) launched the “We are a Culture, Not a Costume” campaign last year to warn against Halloween costumes depicting non-white cultures (Photo from CNN).

In the end, FHM gave an apology that teetered between wanting to shelter its cover model and appeasing the general public, implied over-sensitivity on the part of those who were offended, and then used the same concept photos on the inside pages instead:

“When FHM hits the stands in March it will have a different cover. We deem this to be the most prudent move in the light of the confusion over the previous cover execution. We apologize and thank those who have raised their points. We apologize to Bela Padilla for any distress this may have caused her. In our pursuit to come up with edgier covers, we will strive to be more sensitive next time.

II. Words

On the other hand, we have Cristy Ramos who filed sexual harassment against the Azkals. Speaking on the issue on the morning show “Unang Hirit,” Arnold Clavio said this of the team players:

“Hindi ko kayo ka-kultura, kasi wala dito (pointing to his chest) at wala dito (pointing to his head). Also: “Hindi naman kayo Pilipino, nagpapanggap lang kayong kayumanggi, hindi kayo dito lumaki, mahirap iyun.” – Arnold Clavio

Meanwhile, GMA-7 has released a statement to the Philippine Football Federation, arguing that:

“Ang pinapatungkulan ni Arnold ay hindi kung Filipino citizen o kung may lahing Pilipino ang mga Azkals kundi kung naisapuso at naisaisip ba nila ang kulturang Pinoy … Sa liham ng Philippine Football Federation, sinabi nilang racist, discriminatory, libelous at malicious ang mga pahayag nina Arnold Clavio at Rhea Santos. Pero ang GMA Network po, walang nakitang racist, walang discriminatory, walang libelous at walang malicious sa mga komentaryo nina Arnold at Rhea.” -GMA News Network, emphasis mine. full statement here

Understandably, there is great potential (some may argue actuality) for Arnold Clavio’s statement to be offensive. After all, it does seem like he is showing resentment for anyone who is only part-Filipino. Also, it is difficult (and somewhat reductive) to argue that simply because certain individuals did not grow up in the Philippines, they are then only pretending to be Filipinos when giving due attention to their Filipino ancestry.

Still, further examination (instead of recklessly bringing out the big guns and calling the statement racist) will show that Arnold Clavio disengages from any relation of being Filipino with Lexton Moy and Angel Guirado on the grounds that the three of them are not held together by that esteemed Filipino cultural value of respecting women. More than anything, Arnold Clavio denounces the (once-assumed) possibility that the two players could possess the specific (and aforementioned) shared cultural value.

But what is racism, anyway? To be able to categorize what is racist and what is not (and therefore to clearly distinguish the two instances illustrated here), we have to establish a specific definition.

The best way to start is by a global examination of how racism has come to the fore. Hence, it is necessary to discuss colonialism:

Colonialism began with conquest and is today maintained by a settler administration created out of the doctrine of cultural hierarchy, a hierarchy in which European Americans and whiteness dominate non-European Americans and darkness. As a result, we live in a country where race prejudice, in the words of Fanon, obeys a flawless logic. For, after all, if inferior peoples must be exterminated, their cultures and habits of life, their languages and customs, their economies, indeed, every difference about them must be assaulted, confined, and obliterated. There must be a dominant culture and therefore a dominant people, a dominant religion, a dominant language, a dominant legal system, a dominant educational system, and so on, and so on. In other words, there must be dominance and subordination. – Haunani-Kay Trask, The Color of Violence

And to assert the importance of elevated means of living:

Since the notion that we should all forsake attachment to race and/or cultural identity and be “just humans” within the framework of white supremacy has usually meant that subordinate groups must surrender their identities, beliefs, values, and assimilate by adopting the values and beliefs of privileged-class whites, rather than promoting racial harmony this thinking has created a fierce cultural protectionism. – Bell Hooks, Killing Rage

In a time where colonialism is then cloaked under various forms (call it what you will: post-colonialism, imperialism, post-imperialism, neo-imperialism), racism has in a sense, blurred into something that is more systematized–and hence, harder to identify. However, racism cannot be found solely in mere instances but also in the wider scope of institutions and ideologies that both hold and foster such instances.

Racism is the institutional and ideological practice of discrimination against a subordinate group/minority, whether through social, physical, emotional, spiritual, or economic means, by a dominant [majority] group which enjoys a certain state of privilege over the said subordinate/minority group(s), and which can take the form of derogatory terms in language, offensive images, propagated stereotypes, and race-driven systems of justice, where the subordinate/minority group(s) is/are always at a premised disadvantage.

What Arnold Clavio said was not an instance of racism, but in some ways, ironically, the revelation of what this country usually celebrates without actually naming it for what it is: hybridity. Only this time, its unmasking is not an instance of spotting the Filipino in international shows such as American Idol, but is also a kind of examination of how hybridity informs the Azkal players not merely in terms of biology (i.e., their mixed ancestry, which is neither a negative nor positive trait in itself but rather a case of it is what it is, what have you). It is also a question of how diverse cultures can (or cannot) prevail in hybrid individuals (and really, who among us today can say that we are not in the least bit hybrids?).

In other words, what prevails is an underlying notion that though the terms “racist” and “racism” are being used today,

(ETA) From Tumblr, period. If original source known, kindly inform me.

Worse, as comments in this article show, if people are not altogether disbelieving of Cristy Ramos’ claim, they cry bloody murder at Arnold Clavio’s comments, such that even without explicitly saying so, they nonetheless insist on an apparent case of racism and necessarily shift the focus from sexual harassment to something else, the existence of which, given the definition here, is doubtful at best. And at worst, prompts some very important inquiries about our

III. Actions

Hence, what do we do now?