Suddenly I'm Asian

I guess there’s a certain pride being called ‘Asian.’ The Asian region has seen great advances the last couple of decades. Japan has been leading the way for years but China, Korea and India aren’t far behind. Besides these four countries, we also have Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. These three states compared to the big four are minor players but couldn’t be counted out as economic powers of Asia.

Here in the US, I notice Asians have that respect. Asians are mainstream. You’ll always find Indians and Chinese in the TV show Jeopardy and you’ll find them as CEOs and business owners and everybody knows that Asians excel in schools. I don’t have the statistics but I know it by observation. Asians are labeled ‘smart’ because of this.



Filipinos are definitely Asians. Our country lies in Southeast Asia but Filipinos have always been reluctantly called Asians.

The reason I think is that because in our region, we are the poorest. We don’t have that kind of respect that the Japanese and the Chinese have. We’ve been conquered by everybody and I can’t deny that we have one of the most corrupt and incompetent governments.

Filipinos are like the black sheep of Asia. I’ve also heard about the label ‘niggers of Asia.’ We are dis-owned because of the reasons stated above.

Enter Manny Pacquiao – the ‘greatest ASIAN boxer of all time.’

Suddenly there’s no reluctance in Manny Pacquiao being called ‘Asian.’ Suddenly, we are one of them.

Is Manny Pacquiao our vindication? In a way I guess but personally, I don’t care because good and bad, I’m proud to be Pinoy even without Manny. There’s a lot more to being Filipino than meets the eye but it’s a long story.

It’s just funny how suddenly Manny Pacquiao is their property.

Suddenly I became Asian.