A quick caveat before reading the blog, yesterday my body succumbed to what I presume to be food poisoning. It was bad news bears for your boy. I'm better today but I'm still recovering. Writing this blog was definitely the 97 finals Game 5 against the Jazz (if that reference was too obscure for you I recommend you read this).
It's everywhere we go. We can't escape it. Even if we try. It's frustrating to think that white supremacy has infiltrated into practically every sector of our lives. Regardless of your ethnicity, your culture, or the color of your skin, you are effected in one way or another. The people of color are the lucky recipients of discrimination, prejudice, exploitation and oppression. Whereas, white people are viewed as racists, colonizers, deal with unspeakable guilt from the transgressions committed by their ancestors-- or worse of all, arrogantly dismiss or deny any responsibility for continuing the false notion of one group of people being superior to all others.
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| Now imagine Seattle in November and that's how it was for us. |
But even as we were living out the time of our lives, still looming over us was the dark cloud of white supremacy. The very that fact Boracay is one of the best tourist destinations in the world gives credence to WS. Due to WS, the Philippines was colonized-- twice! Fast forward 400 years later and now you have tourists taking pictures with the locals, eating seafood buffets on the beach, and parasailing over the ocean all the while they are ignorant to the bloodshed that allowed them to partake in such luxuries. In Cebu, my friends and I ate at a restaurant ran by an Australian man (whom I believed to be a good intentioned person by all means) but I could not shake the unsettling feeling that he put off of being racist/prejudice/I'm superior to these brown folks type of vibe. Perhaps I was looking too into it. Maybe I'm just sensitive to this topic so I'm quick to identify it wherever I believe it to be. But then again let's be real here, you can feel it in your stomach when inequality is going down.
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| my attempt at humor |
But these examples are merely the tip of the iceberg when speaking in regards to WS. Matter of fact, the aforementioned is nothing more than a result of WS. Where we can truly identify WS is not within the individual level but rather in terms of the collective. President McKinley was so distraught with the White Man's Burden that he had to get on his knees and prayed to his god to find out the proper decision pertaining to the Philippines. "When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly…" (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5575/)
The entire foundation for the U.S. acquiring the Philippines islands was of selfish economic purposes as well as racists beliefs in a people that were deemed "inferior" in the eyes of the white man. "A spokesman for the U.S. empire-building proclaimed very clearly that it was the duty of the United States as a white Anglo-Saxon nation to uplift and civilize the Filipinos, who were seen as a colored and inferior race. President McKinley himself gave utterance to such views" (Schirmer, U.S. Racism and Intervention in the Third World, Past and Present).
It hurts my soul attempting to wrap my head around this monstrosity. How many people died because of such a belief? And then to attribute it to guidance from the Supreme. Well that is downright blasphemy.
If I were to remove myself emotionally and view the entire situation from the most objective standpoint my subjective mind will allow, I arrive at a conclusion that these people actually believed they were doing the right thing. That in actuality it was in their duty to care for and nurture the Filipinos as if they were their own children. These sentiments were echoed during the Filipino Revolution against Spain. To the Spanish, they truly believed they were helping the Filipinos, who were so desperately in need of it. And when the Filipinos decided to revolt against them they were flabbergasted. "How could they turn against those that had brought them civilization and led them to the light of Christian salvation… How could they be so ungrateful as to strike the very hand that fed them and cared for them" (Rafael, Parricides, Bastards, and Counterrevolution: Reflections on the Philippine Centennial).
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| word to your mother |
Which leads me to my next point. WS lumps all white people underneath the same umbrella of being racists, colonizers, and oppressors of brown folks. When that is not the case. There are good white people out in the world. There were white abolitionists fighting against slavery. The Anti-Imperialist League opposed the annexation of the Philippines. Don't sleep on John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry. This goes to show that not every caucasian has or had this arrogance about them in believing they are better than everyone else. Hell, I can name a whole laundry list of white people right now fighting the good fight right alongside brown folks. And I must tip my hat to them because not only are they fighting for equality for all, they are doing so with the understanding that they will be forfeiting their privileges as a white person.
However, until that fateful day arrives where human beings are seen just as that and nothing more, action must be taken in countering the beliefs and notions that have led our planet into such a disastrous set of circumstances. Although there are many avenues to take and all rivers lead to the ocean, I believe education must be of the highest priority. Through educating the people of their true history (white people and people of color) we can begin to truly understand ourselves and the people around us. By doing so, we will be able to reclaim our identity which will lead to empowerment. Granted, this might make many white people feel uncomfortable when they are revealed the truth of what their forefathers did to the world throughout history but this is a necessity that must not be looked over despite the unpleasantness. Over time, once a firm foundation of education is established than a coalition of human beings can pioneer a future that resembles equality, justice, and abundance for all.
Perseverance is the name of the game playa,
John Eklof
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