“My Family’s Slave” and the people who don’t want to understand Filipino culture
I got blocked within 1 minute of sending the second tweet
Instead of listening to actual Filipinos about Lola and her legacy, Miss “I study and value diversity so I will never listen to people who actually know the culture and context in which this occurred” just blocks them for disagreeing with her
So here’s a message for all y’all who think you can fight for Lola’s story but then entirely disregard the culture from which she came:
I am so fucking disgusted by every “oh this is so sad” “how could anybody do this” “she should have killed that family” comment from a westerner who has no context of our culture or how they themselves contributed to it
The country that makes a Filipino maid joke every other time we as a race are mentioned shouldn’t take the moral high ground because you suddenly feel sad about it
You don’t understand how Filipinos treat family, how they’re willing to humble themselves to extremes, how being in America is already a huge fucking deal for those who grew up in the province, how that contributes to the “utang na loob” culture that while not necessarily good, is a big part of how every Filipino operates
Yes, what happened to Lola was bad. I call her Lola because 1) She would not have gone by eudocia, not even with her own family and community. Filipinos have nicknames, always, with some exceptions (our driver Tommy’s actual first name is Tommy, so). 2) Lola means old woman as much as it means grandma, so for a lack of a name that isn’t just on her grave stone and birth certificate, we call her Lola, which people in the community would have called her at that age regardless. Which Kendall might have known had she not blocked every single Filipino who actually knows a thing or two.
What happened to her was slavery yes. Not because she served an abusive family, but because she didn’t have a choice and they didn’t pay her. It is not the kind of slavery you can put a black American context to, which is what Kendall did. In order to understand just why she didn’t leave even at the opportunities she was given, you have to understand her culture as much as her situation.
To do otherwise is an affront to anybody who’s experienced or experiencing the same. Filipino maids are being abused in every country, even paid. They’re treated like slaves today, at this very moment, but are not considered such because they have income, little as it is. But instead of saying “huhu how sad” and “we have to end their slavery!” think about why we do it and what could be done to make sure they’re treated fairly.
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