Jourdan
Serrano
ENGL 165 –
Erpelo
MWF @ 10:10AM
Essay #4 –
Final Draft
Homework Due:
12.15.05
The Filipino American history has been
retold in so many different ways. We can
read history books and try to find out about the Filipino American history in libraries. However, I could honestly say the best source
of knowledge about immigration and settlement of Filipinos are from our
fathers, our mothers, grandparents, neighbors that have Filipino heritage in
them. Books could only say the least,
but speaking to an actual person who experienced it all is the best source ever. These
people have so much information to offer to people who have the questions. Furthermore, how would one assimilate one
self through the American culture to just “fit in”? Migrating to the United States does end one journey,
but a new chapter begins. If you ask
these people what was their main purpose in moving to America, most of them will answer that America
was the “land of opportunity” and they wanted a better life for themselves and
their families.
Adjusting to the American lifestyle was
hard for many Filipinos because at the same time they were accepted to migrate
to America
but the Americans did not approve of them.
Many were looked down on, called by racist names, and were looked at as
African Americans and not Filipino Americans.
Many Filipinos have been mistaken as being Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean
and not many Americans knew what Filipinos were. When Filipinos adjusted to the American
lifestyle, according to Armando Alvarez in Home Bound, his family has a
cultural void. This meant that there was
no Filipino culture mentioned at all in his home. As he quotes, “…Filipino culture is something
that we should retain, that we should hold on to…There wasn’t a sense that we should
keep the language…Our parents don’t realize that we don’t know anything about
the old country” (p. 194). Many Filipino
families can relate to this situation where the parents do not pass on the
history of their culture to their children because they think the best thing
for their children is to be Americanized and have English as their primary
language. This was also one of the ways
for Filipinos to “fit in” right away.
There are four cultural ethnic
identities which many people experience when migrating to a whole new different
“home”. The first factor that affects
ones identity is biculturism ,which is when one explores and adopts values from both
cultures. The second aspect is the
ethnic separation which is when a person’s ethnic background is everything to
them and where they migrate to do not affect them. The third ethnic identity is assimilation
where a person’s ethnicity does not matter to them, they give up their
country’s origin, and they feel that their nationality is everything. Finally, there is marginality which a person
does not feel like they belong in either culture because of negative feedback
from other people. Many Filipinos
experience assimilation because of the need to fit in America’s culture. They automatically have English as their
first language, change the way they dress, and their mannerisms. However, Eleanor experienced biculturalism
because she did not want to forget about her Filipino culture, but at the same
time she adapted to the American culture.
The person that I interviewed was my
mother, Eleanor Serrano. I chose her to
interview because it was a perfect opportunity for me to find out about my
mother and understand her migration to America. I never was curious nor did I ever thought
about asking her what her experiences were like coming to America. I always just assumed that my mother and
father came to the United
States, found jobs and from there bought a
house for us and that was that. I never
knew the details in between such as the racism and prejudice they went through
just for being Filipino immigrants and how hard it was to adapt to a different
culture while for so many years they were used to their Filipino culture. They basically had to learn something new all
the time.
It was around the end of October 2005
and I brought Eleanor to Starbucks, which was down the street from our
house. They were about to close so there
were only a few people who were in there.
I did not want her to be nervous so I told her to just speak the same
way she would speak to me in any other situation and do not think that it is an
interview. I asked her questions about
what I would want to know to make me understand her life better. Such as how was her life in the Philippines like and how was her life here in America to show some comparisons about living in
the Philippines and living
in America. Also, I wanted her to discuss some situations
she experienced in the Philippines
to show why she moved to America. After her move to America she spoke about finding a
job and how it was hard assimilating to the American culture by speaking
English more at an everyday basis.
The
1920s was the time when most of the Filipino migration occurred and almost
everyone resided to the west coast of the United States. Another way the Filipinos brought their
families over to the United
States was through the fathers who were in
the U.S. Navy. Immigration of the
Filipinos sped up during the 1970s and they were still coming to settle in America. The Philippines were not getting better
at all with their government control.
According to the poem Letter to Grandma by Virginia R. Cerenio, she speaks, “I have seen newspapers photos of
government soldiers shooting guns and water cannons at nuns and priests…lola, I am afraid”, which shows how one fears to go back
home. In 1972, Ferdinand Marcos issued
Proclamation 1801, declaring martial law over the Philippines. Around this time Eleanor was still in college
attending the University
of Saint Thomas, where
she witnessed and experienced riots.
According to Eleanor, “…there were a lot of riots that went on between
the government and the students…these students were activist because they were
against martial law and they wanted a Democratic country”. For Eleanor, this is one of the main reasons
why her and her family decided to migrate to the United States during the 1980s. She married Roberto Serrano who was already a
United States citizen
because his father was working on United States
property in the Philippines,
which automatically made all of Roberto’s family being able to be petitioned to
go to the United States.
After migrating to United States, Eleanor’s next step
was to support her family by finding a job.
When working on her first day she thought that she was going to befriend
many of the Filipinos that were already working there. However, little did she know her coworkers
paid no attention to her because they knew she just came to the United States
and in addition, Eleanor did not look Filipino to them. As she quoted in her interview, “…I was wrong
because those Filipinos have been here in the United States for so long
already. I just came from the Philippines
and I haven’t mastered the English language yet. It was easy to understand them when they
spoke to me, but when I would talk to them I have a hard time.” Throughout her job she experienced prejudice
and racism even from coworkers that were Filipinos themselves, but they already
assimilated to the American culture. She
was looked down at because she was a “FOB” and at the same time these
Americanized Filipinos tried to avoid her as much as possible because she
reminded them of the image they don’t want to be associated with.
Today, many people still do not know about the
Filipino culture because of the fact that many Filipino immigrants assimilated
to the American culture right away. No one cannot blame them for just wanting to fit in and be looked at
as an American. Eleanor was not the
only one who had to assimilate to her new culture. According to Joseph Gonzales from the book Home
Bound he states, “I tried whatever I could to assimilate like the other
Anglos…I did a lot of things that were anti-Filipino. I didn’t hang around Filipinos…I missed out…I
didn’t have any real, real, true friends that could understand my culture” (p.
190). Many have forced themselves to
forget about the Filipino culture because they felt that was the only way
Americans would actually like them.
However, towards the end they realize that it is not worth it because they
loose in touch with their roots. Also
the Filipino culture does not get passed on to another new generation which
will eventually kill off the Filipino culture in America. On the other hand, America is having a new and unique
American culture because of the melting pot position. All cultures seem to blend into one, brought
from different homelands and become fused into one group. Intermarriage between whites, blacks and
Asian Americans is just the beginning.
It is happening, but it is a slow process. (Klopf)
Eleanor did not necessarily assimilate
to the American culture, she adapted.
She still speaks Tagalog, cooks Filipino food
at home and knows her history about the Philippines. I am proof for her as well. I was born in the Philippines but I came here when I was
three months. So, I am fully
Americanized but I still know about my Filipino culture. I could cook Filipino dishes and only
understand Tagalog.
For Eleanor at work, she works with other Filipinos and with Anglos as
well. They all get along and for me
working there for five years, not once have I saw my mother experience racism
and/or prejudice. I respect her for what
she had to go through to adapt to America
because it was not easy for her and it was something she went through for all
the years she has been living in the United States. She did the right thing to not forget about
her Filipino culture and to pass it along to another generation. She is one of the Filipinos who have not
forgotten about the Filipino culture.
Work Cited
Berk, Laura. Development
Through the Lifespan. New
York: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2004.
Cerenio, Virginia R.
Bay Area Filipino Writers. Without Names: A Collection of Poems. San
Francisco: Kearny Street
Workshop, 1997.
Coutsoukis, Photius. “Philippines Proclamation 1081 and
Martial Law”. Workmail.com. June 1991. http://workmall.com/wfb2001/philippines/philippines_history_proclamation_1081_and_martial_law.html.
Espiritu, Yen Le.
Home Bound. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003.
Klopf, Donald W. Intercutural Encounters. Colorado: Morton Publishing Company, 2001.