Hello World! As an Asian-American, or more specifically, a Filipino-American that was born & raised in the USA, I was frequently mistreated as a Mexican, Hispanic or Latino person. That all changed when I migrated to the Philippines! ☺️
This morning, I was listening to a Clubhouse room by the club, “Blind with a Vision”, hosten by a Spanish-speaking Mexican-American female adult. Though I was not recognized for being in the room with other BLIND persons, I quickly remembered how I enjoy living in The Philippines! I quickly remembered, Mexicans & Filipinos don’t mix, which was probably why I was not recognized in that Clubhouse room.
During September & the first week of October 2006, I said “Fair-Well” to my Mexican FRIENDS in Seattle, as I was preparing for my new life in The Philippines. It was because I spoke Spanish from my high school days that I was able to make friends with persons from Spanish-speaking countries, such as Mexico, many of which were undocumented immigrants. However, I was also involved with the Filipino communities, in which my Hispanic friends were excluded.
Aside from having many Hispanic friends, I was almost DEPORTED to Mexico, three times, mostly because I look Mexican with a name common in Mexico. My now-late Filipino father had to “rescue” me from US Immigration on multiple occasions. It was hard not to be in the same place as undocumented immigrants, especially when one or more of them were my coworkers. Yes, I still remember what it feels like being picked up during an immigration raid, being hand-cuffed, and forced onto an airplane destined to Mexico on a one-way trip!
Aside from almost being deported to Mexico, my life after my high school days became like what my Filipino father warned me about, as he was racially-discriminated during his employment with the United States Navy. Beginning in my first year of college, I could not understand why I had to be involved with the Hispanic communities when I am not Hispanic. Many attractive White American females avoided me because I looked like a Mexican guy to them. When I was 22 years old, I had worked on a fish processing vessel in Alaska, when the foremen called me a “wetback” & other racial slurs related to Mexican persons, and I was not allowed to sleep with the non-Hispanic men on the ship. Shortly after returning to Seattle, I began putting Philippine-oriented stickers on my car because police officers enjoyed pulling me over, asking for my documents in SPANISH. Even when I had Philippine flags in my car, as window curtains, I have encountered too many police officers believing my Philippine flags were from Mexico. Then, once I drove a taxi cab, I was once pulled over by a police officer & was arrested because I looked like the Mexican suspect wanted for robbing a jewelry store. And then, in 2008, when I briefly visited Seattle from The Philippines, while waiting at a public bus station, I was surrounded by many police officers, with guns pointed at me, because I looked like a Mexican man that was wanted for a murder that happened when I was still in The Philippines; my US Passport got me out of that situation as my Filipino father was picking me up in his car.
Nowadays, to avoid any confusion of my name, “Marcos Miranda”, I tend to suffix 🇵🇭 & 🇺🇸 as 🇵🇭🇺🇸 to represent my late Filipino father and my American citizenship; that way, I won’t be misinterpreted as a Mexican or a non-Filipino with a Spanish name. ☺️ The only downside I’ve noticed is, most persons from Mexico or any Spanish-speaking country tend to avoid any relations with me, including a simple friendship; this is obvious in all social networking services, such as Clubhouse. The experience is greater among those that share same or similar disabilities as myself.
As researched for over 30 years, is that pure Filipinos in the USA don’t experience what I have experienced, however, they do experience some type of racism, as my late Filipino father had experienced. Also, most Filipino-Americans in the USA don’t experience racism, unless they promote their Filipino “side”. The problem I had, was my last name of “Miranda” in relation to the Miranda Rights (what a police officer reads when arresting someone). Yes, my surname was popular in my Criminology college courses. ☺️
Thanks for reading my latest blog post! Have a Great Day!
🇵🇭🇺🇸👨🦯🦽 📱⌨️📻🎧 📚🪀🧮
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