8 Asians

Categories:

• Confuse_Us

  The term “Asian” is meaningless. The definition of it changes according to who you ask, and historically has been used to describe, Armenians, Russian, Arabs, Persians, Asian Indians and East Asians. No-one should use the term Asian.

  For that reason it’s pointless to define Filipinos as “Asian”, since “Filipino” conveys more meaning and describes more than the term “Asian”, but the same also applies to the Japanese, Chinese and everyone else in Asia. But, yeah Filipinos have a heavy enough Spanish influence to say that we are Hispanic. Maybe we can call ourselves Hispano-Malays!!

• http://www.jozjozjoz.com jozjozjoz

  At least Filipinos have their own box to check!

• http://twitter.com/mike_le mike_le

  @Confuse_Us
  The term “Asian” is NOT meaningless. It is a social construct, just like race in general.

  The meaning of “white” has changed DRASTICALLY over time and is completely arbitrary. (see: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124700316)

  But being arbitrary, or changing with historical/contemporary context, does NOT make the concept of “whiteness” meaningless. In the same way, the construction of an Asian American identity, and the banding together of groups who are seen as “the same” by the mainstream, is a powerful tool for political and cultural unity in the face of adversity.

• Isaac_Kojima

  Hi. Greetings from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  Ok, now I’m curious. If I’m filling the US census, what would be my an answer? Am I Latino? Am I Asian? By the way… I’m a second generation Japanese Brazilian from both sides…

• Isaac_Kojima

  Never mind, got my doubt cleared (http://www.prb.org/Articles/2009/questionnaire.aspx)… but now another one. Are Brazilians among Latinos…when I take a look at question 8, I have the impression that Latinos are only people with Hispanic heritage, which exclude Brazilians (former Portuguese colony) and Haiti and others formers French colonies…

• http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com ErnieAtLYD

  Which explains the pretty awesome name “Isaac Kojima.” All the Asian Americans here are named Jen or Christine or Mike.

  (Hi Jen, Christine and Mike!)

• Isaac_Kojima

  Thanks! First time someone said my name is “awesome”. But it’s not a common name here either. People keep me ask why I have a “Jewish” name…
  However, when some body ask this kind of question I ask if she/he is Portuguese, Italian, German, etc (depend on the person name).

  By the way, dad is a sci-fi and Isaac Asimov fan… that’s why my name.

• http://hellomoye.com/ moye

  Your dad is awesome.

• http://twitter.com/Luv4theGame Philip

  I could talk about this for days, but let’s put it in a simple way.

  Hispanic is usually used to refer to the people of Spanish speaking countries, which is why Brazilians wouldn’t be referred to as Hispanics…but still Latinos since their country is in Latin-America. Hispanic is no longer considered as a race on the U.S census., since any race can also be Hispanic if they fall under the certain criteria as mentioned above. I would say to the Filipinos who can prove that they have Spanish heritage (and not just based on last names) then sure they too would be Hispanic or part Spanish. The Philippines used to (keyword: used to) have Spanish as an official language, and is also part of the Latin-Union.

  The question of if Filipinos are Hispanic, goes with the many topics of if Filipinos are Asian or Pacific Islander, etc. Let’s also not forget that the Philippines isn’t the only Asian country/territory that has been colonized, so this includes the French influence in Vietnam…the Portuguese influence in Macau…or just even the ethnic diversity in Malaysia.

  At the end of the day, I think it all depends on your own views. Race/nationality/ethnicity is a very controversial topic, which is why if you ever bring up the question of Manu Ginobili’s race or ethnicity, Is he White or Latino?…some people on sport forums will still argue that he’s either or and not both.

  Jeff, I assume you don’t mind identifying as an Asian since you blog for 8asians. If you choose to be Hispanic and can prove it…I say go for it. One question though, what happens if a person marks a certain ethnicity or multiple ethnicities and the government disagrees? are there consequences such as fines or imprisonment?

• http://www.jozjozjoz.com jozjozjoz

  Re: Government disagreeing/punishment.

  I highly doubt that the government is going to prosecute anyone for anyone for filling out race data that doesn’t “match” unless intentional fraud is involved.

  For the purpose of the Census, the government is not “casting judgement” on what people fill out. If you call in and ask for help, Census helpers are explicitly instructed NOT to tell people what to fill out, only to give options such as: “Yes, you can check multiple boxes. Yes, you can write-in your ethnicity.”

  The Census is simply the way that the government is trying to count people but what people choose to put on the form is completely self-identified. This means if Bai Ling decides that she is not Asian and wants to write-in “Moon-y,” she can. (She might be the only one, however.)

  The fact that the Census data is all self-identified is also why, for instance, you can check more than one box under race (up until through the 1990 Census, you had to check ONE BOX for race).

  Additionally, for gay and lesbian couples, they can check that they consider themselves husband/wife to people in the house, but as we know, most states do not currently recognize gay marriages. This doesn’t stop people from identifying themselves as such for the purposes of the Census. Would the government punish people for that? I certainly hope not.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Efren-Bose/758823141 Efren Bose

  Jeff, at UCSF, though I’m not sure at other UC’s, being Filipino, unlike other Asian Americans, is considered being an underrepresented minority, even though it doesn’t mean much in the whole grand scheme of things. It’s a strange position since because of that designation, I’m eligible for certain scholarships and other financial aid, but if I were at another school, I probably wouldn’t have it.

  The only reason why this would make a difference is that if Filipino Americans did start putting down Hispanic/Latino in the census is that government funds for nonprofits, etc., would be targeted towards that community and not towards Asian Americans. It would become interesting in minor ways, particularly in realms such as funding for HIV/AIDS, where Filipinos have the highest numbers among Asian Americans, and putting down “Hispanic” would devastate nonprofit agencies that depend on that money to provide resources for those people.

• Pingback: BlueFur.com » Blog Archive » In the Sphere: Money, Movies, and Demographics

• bokyoko

  Let’s just be Filipino and nothing else.
  I repeat – Let’s just be Filipino and NOTHING else.
  Not even Filipino-Chinese, Filipino-Spanish, and so on…
  Why complicate things.
  Sometimes it really gets silly.
  We do not even have to belabor about being asian or not.

  Anyway, I have a rule for you all:
  If you meet an asian face with a hispanic name, you have a Filipino.

• mexicanaespañola1979

  YES you did the right thing dude. You can’t be Hispanic if you’re 1. not from/ a descent or have origins in Spain, Mexico or other Spanish speaking country. 2. Don’t speak Spanish as first language or lingua franca (I speak Spanish & Tagalog, having been exposed to Filipinos, so I know the big difference between the 2 languages) 3. Don’t practice Hispanic culture (I mean real Hispanic culture or at least predominantly Hispanic, not just some influences like in Filipino culture). Although Spain colonized Phils. overall there wasn’t any big impact on Phils aside from the Catholic religion & surnames, unlike in Latin America. The people were able to retained their Malay offsprings, customs & way of life.

  Why is it so hard for a lot of Filipinos to accept the fact that they’re just simply Asians? Or why they not contented w/ being a Filipino? If not Hispanics, then they will claim to be Pacific Islanders. Others even try to claim they’re Spanish just because of a surname. Personally I met many who actually do that & frankly everytime I hear one say that, I can’t help but think at the back of my mind “But you don’t seem like one”. Only less than 3% of Filipinos have Hispanic lineage while over 95% are unmixed Malays. In addition Phils is not considered as Pacific Islanders otherwise Japanese people should be included too since they live closer to the Pacific than Philippines. Honestly whenever I talk to Filipinos, I feel as if I’m talking to a totally different people such as Chinese, Thais, Malaysians or Indonesians & without the same connection as I have with my fellow Hispanics. Sorry guys but you just need to accept the fact that you can’t be Hispanics & don’t try to squeeze yourself into something you’re not. Instead you juz concentrate on being Asians.

• mexicanaespañola1979

  That’s because these people who ever thought of that question are too dumb to even know what a Latino is. They always interchange Hispanic & Latino but in reality, these two words are different. Latinos are those whose origins are from any country that speaks a romance language (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French & Romanian). Aside from Spanish, the Portuguese, French, Italians, Romanians, Brazilians, Haitians etc. are also considered Latinos too but not Hispanic since the latter refers to those w/ origins from Spanish speaking countries. Just need to follow this logic: All Hispanics are Latinos but not all Latinos are Hispanics.

• Isaac_Kojima

  You forgot Romansch which still is official in Switzerland.
  Sure I know what means Hispanic and Latino, as well the Etymology behind these word. I just wanted to make a point about classification system (the Census) that is not perfect and still ignores some groups.
  Anyway
  Besos
  Isaac

• mexicanaespañola1979

  Oh yeah they’re also Latins. Yes its true & I think the US should study more about the Latin world & who is a Latino. Well about your curiosity as to whether you’re a Latino or Asian, well Latinos or Hispanics can be of any race & it depends as to whether you speak a Latin language or practice Latin culture or came from or descendant of any Latin country then you are a Latino. Make it Asian-Latino coz of your Japanese heritage. As for Filipinos, I don’t count them as one coz their culture is not Latin, juz influenced but is not predominant aside from they don’t speak a Latin language & neither do they have a population of 1/3 or more w/ Hispanic heritage.

• Pingback: 8Asians.com » Is the Term “Asian-American” Not What it Used to Be?

• VictorIvanDuenas

  Hispanic—from the Roman Empire’s region “Hispania”, now known as España (Spain). In that sense, since the Spaniard conquests and colonization reached The Philippines, Filipinos could be considered Hispanic and their languages Latino by way of Latin influence from the Spanish.

• multifaceted

  I think your wife is definitely Hispanic and definitely Filipina. Identity is multifaceted. Filipinos can be Pacific Islander, Asian, Hispanic, and Filipino all at the same time. By choosing multiple options on the Census, it would help to better reflect the actual ethnic, racial, and cultural identities of the United States.

  I grew up around Latino, Asian, and Filipino peoples and cultures. I speak Spanish and I’ve studied some Japanese, Khmer, Chinese, Thai, and Tagalog. I’ve always seen a definite connection between Tagalog and Spanish. From my experiences, Filipinos and other Hispanic people share many cultural ideas, beliefs, practices, and ethnic characteristics. Filipinos are a diverse group of individuals who share many cultural ideas, beliefs, practices, and ethnic characteristics with many other ethnic groups simultaneously.
  As Hispanics, we all have indigenous roots with varying degrees of Spanish ancestry. Why would Filipinos be any different? The only reason why Hispanic Latinos are seen as related is because we all have some Spanish blood and speak Spanish. Before the Spanish invaded or colonized, we had separate identities, cultures, and languages; we were not seen as a group of racially or culturally similar people.
  As for speaking a Latin language, the Philippines are official members of the Latin Union. Just because Filipinos can indentify as Hispanic does not mean that they cannot be Asian or Pacific Islander. We need to create unity and see beyond single identities.
  http://www.unilat.org/SG/Organisation/Presentation/EtatsMembres/index.es.asp
  http://filipinocultured.blogspot.com/2007/10/julio-iglesias-jr-and-chabel-iglesias.html

• multifaceted

  I think your wife is definitely Hispanic and definitely Filipina. Identity is multifaceted. Filipinos can be Pacific Islander, Asian, Hispanic, and Filipino all at the same time. By choosing multiple options on the Census, it would help to better reflect the actual ethnic, racial, and cultural identities of the United States.

  I grew up around Latino, Asian, and Filipino peoples and cultures. I speak Spanish and I’ve studied some Japanese, Khmer, Chinese, Thai, and Tagalog. I’ve always seen a definite connection between Tagalog and Spanish. From my experiences, Filipinos and other Hispanic people share many cultural ideas, beliefs, practices, and ethnic characteristics. Filipinos are a diverse group of individuals who share many cultural ideas, beliefs, practices, and ethnic characteristics with many other ethnic groups simultaneously.

  As Hispanics, we all have indigenous roots with varying degrees of Spanish ancestry. Why would Filipinos be any different? The only reason why Hispanic Latinos are seen as related is because we all have some Spanish blood and speak Spanish. Before the Spanish invaded or colonized, we had separate identities, cultures, and languages; we were not seen as a group of racially or culturally similar people.

  As for speaking a Latin language, the Philippines are official members of the Latin Union. Just because Filipinos can indentify as Hispanic does not mean that they cannot be Asian or Pacific Islander. We need to create unity and see beyond single identities.

  http://www.unilat.org/SG/Organisation/Presentation/EtatsMembres/index.es.asp
  http://filipinocultured.blogspot.com/2007/10/julio-iglesias-jr-and-chabel-iglesias.html

• SavannahSvenska

  Interesting topic. Filipinos, Filipino-Americans should be proud that they have a unique and identity, but still a multi-faceted culture! It seemed that your ancestors were resilient and robust to retain your identity (proclaiming indepence from countries that have ruled over your country for years i.e. Spain and much later the United States). “Other” Asians are often lumped under one category “Asian”, and also Hispanics from different countries are lumped into just one generic “Hispanic” and even “Latino”. Wow, imagine having a separate box to check designating your heritage from one specific country, whereas there are “Whites/Caucasians” whose ancestors were from an unidentified European country or elsewhere. There is not even a box for an “Italian-American” because he/she is simply grouped under “White”. Hmmmmmm……

• Pingback: US Census and ‘Hispanic’ | biyuti

• Felipe Robles Perales

  Aquí en Manila en mi casa todos hablamos español pues mis abuelos eran filipinos de habla hispana. Al referirme a mi familia somos más de cien, primos carnales, primos segundos y demás. Cuando supimos que Gloria Arroyo iba a reintroducir la enseñanza del castellano en el sistema educativo filipino nos alegramos muchísimo porque así nos da más reconocimiento a los que seguimos hablando castellano en el archipiélago. Me gustaría que los políticos de habla castellana salieran del armario por así decirlo para que el pueblo filipino se dé cuenta de que los que hablamos la lengua cervantina somos cientos de miles o incluso unos cuantos millones.

  Felipe Robles Perales

• Felipe Robles Perales

  Se me olvidó decir que los norteamericanos influyeron poco en la cultura filipina. La decisión de seguir con la enseñanza del inglés norteamericano ha fallado pues esencialmente tenemos mucho más en común con cualquier país hispano. Cuando estuve en Lima me sentí como en casa. Muchas costumbres eran iguales o parecidas.

• http://www.erniehsiung.com/ Ernie H.

  (Translation: “Here in Manila in my house we all speak Spanish because my grandparents wereSpanish-speaking Filipinos. In referring to my family are over a hundred first cousins​​, second cousins ​​and so on. When we learned that Gloria Arroyo was to reintroduce the teaching of Castilian in the Philippine educational system we are very happy because it gives us more recognition to those who continue to speak Castilian in the archipelago. I wish the Spanish-speaking politicians come out of the closet so to speak for the Filipino people realize that those who speak the language of Cervantes are hundreds of thousands or even a few million.”)

• http://www.erniehsiung.com/ Ernie H.

  (Translation: “I forgot to say that the Americans had little influence in Filipino culture. The decision to follow the teaching of American English has failed because essentially we have much more in common with any Hispanic country. When I was in Lima I felt at home.Many customs were the same or similar.”)

• i_mac3

  where did u get ur numbers buddy?95% unmixed malay ur 100% wrong! we are one of the first mixed race…arabs,indians,chinese,malay,japs,spanish and we have different tribes/natives negritos,aeta,mangyan etc.ur sayin we are not pacific islanders and japs should be called the pacfc islanders coz they live close to pacific ocean,where do u think is philippines???its in the mouth of pacific ocean/pacific ring of fire dumbass! third, ur sayin u cant be hispanic if u have no mexican blood…r u kidding me?mexicans are just like filipinos,before u becme a colony of spain the inhabitants of mexico are native indians/aboriginal people the reason y u have spanish surnames like us bcoz u were converted into christians just like us too thats y we r the only catholic nation in asia.we used to speak the spanish language but when spain sold philppnes to the americans for $20 million everything changed.spanish language was banned,english became our 2nd language.we have a lot of mestizos back home.my great grandma has a chinese blood and my great grandpa was from fuerteventura in spain but i consider myself a FILIPINO.

• Jaclyn Ortega

  “we used to speak the spanish language but when spain sold philppnes to the americans for $20 million everything changed”

  See? So that proves that you’re NOT hispanic because if you were truly hispanic then you SHOULD speak spanish & live like a hispanic & not that “we used to speak spanish” or “we have a hispanic past”. i_mac3, you’re one of the sick dumbass who isn’t comfortable with who you are. I don’t care if you’re fantasizing a filipino as the first mixed race but the fact is your own Philippine government website says the same thing, that the overwhelming majority of Filipinos are of unmixed Malay (and don’t tell me you don’t believe what your own country’s website says)

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Elena-Delgado/100000145161876 Elena Delgado

  Filipinos didn’t really ‘use to speak Spanish’ – the educated ones spoke Spanish as a 2nd or 3rd language, their native language being 1st. The rest of the population just spoke various Filipino languages. Even today with the prevalence of english, for most Filipinos, english is just a 2nd or 3rd language while majority don’t even speak english. & there are more Filipinos today that speak english than Filipinos spoke Spanish in the past. Also, the 3% Spanish ancestry comes from a sampling of only 28 people, hardly a conductive & thorough study wouldn’t you say? I think there are more Filipinos with Spanish ancestry but the ancestry is very distant or minute for most, while more prevalent for a few.

• http://imjinah.blogspot.com/ imjinah

  No one gives a shit about Spanish anymore

• http://imjinah.blogspot.com/ imjinah

  Preach

• http://imjinah.blogspot.com/ imjinah

  “Filipino” is precisely supposed to be nothing but a label for citizenship similar to what being “American” or “Canadian” is. By law, it should not connote ethnicity, culture, race or genetics–ergo, even if you trace your family’s ancestry from China yet possess a Philippine birth certificate, you are Filipino. Only the name has been perverted after generations poorly informed of their true identity.

• xolang

  “Hispano-Malay” is a very interesting term indeed! (:

  it is interesting that nobody has noted that the very identity of “Philippine” is owed to the Spanish. if it weren’t for them, there would be no such thing as “Filipinås” in the first place.

• xolang

  oi!
  I guess you’d be Asian.
  theoretically you’d be Latinå, too, but the term “Latino” in the u.s.a. is u.s.e.d interchangeably with “Hispanic”, and we know that Brazilians are not Hispanic.

• Pingback: A Census 2010 Inspired Question: Are Filipinos Hispanic? « Mixed American Life

• http://www.facebook.com/salem.ali.359778 Salem Ali

  Me respeto ustedes opiniones para la lengua Espanol, pero Ingles es un primero lengua en el mundo. Me gusta mas todos los hombres apreder Ingles compara a Espanol.

  Mis sentimientos para los comentos, pero es mi opinion solamente. Dios Te Bendiga Felipe!

• http://www.facebook.com/salem.ali.359778 Salem Ali

  True that imijinah! Some Pinoys (particularly Spanish mestizo ones and the so called “I have a Spanish lolo/lola” types) want Spanish as our official language, but what practical use does it have in both the Philippines and the world?

  English is the world’s de facto language, and you can linguistically survive in most major cities if you know English! >_<