When it comes to boxing, Filipino boxing fans are one of the most outspoken and passionate fans. An article about Pacquiao means instant hits and comments.
But at times Filipino boxing fans can cross over the line and they are known to flood articles and forums with offensive remarks that recently are usually targeted to African Americans.
No doubt these comments such as calling African Americans the N word or monkeys are inexcusable and there is no place for it in the sport of boxing or anywhere else. It’s even worse when some choose to defend these types of actions.
Now let’s analyze where the ignorance might be coming from.
It’s no secret that a number of Filipinos specifically the older generations have a misconceived perception of African Americans. Historically, the Philippines has been invaded numerous times by foreigners; most of them by countries of European ancestry. As a result, most of them got their initial perception of African Americans from Caucasians who did not exactly think highly of African Americans back in the day.
Also there are still many Filipinos with a colonial mentality. As with, many countries that were once colonized by Europeans, there is a great issue regarding skin tone within the community that has yet to be properly discussed. Only one has to drive the streets of Manila and look at the big billboards endorsing whitening products and watch the local television to see that people of a lighter skin color are more looked up upon.
It’s truly unfortunate when some Filipinos make offensive comments about a person of a darker skin color, when in fact they share the same pigmentation. However, it's not surprising since some Filipinos even make the same comments towards their fellow countrymen of a darker skin color.
Ironic and sad at the same time since many of the country's native tribes are of African ancestries. Even calling someone monkey is inexcusable since many foreigners used the same moniker to describe Filipinos. In fact it’s not only inexcusable but a sign of self hatred and ignorance of their history.
In addition, like many immigrants, Filipinos often come to America with little or no money. As a result, they often have no choice but to initially live in the ‘projects’ or the ‘hood.’ With limited resources and knowledge about their surroundings, they suddenly become instant target. Then an unfortunate incident happens. You know that story about an immigrant coming home from a check cashing place after working multiple jobs, then suddenly gets robbed randomly at gunpoint by an African American. A random incident that suddenly ignites an ignorant perceptions of African Americans as a whole. Then it is further reinforced by the media's constant potrayal of African Americans as only thugs, criminals and dumb athletes.
Although not all the offensive remarks are rooted necessarily from their ignorance of African Americans, but also from wrongly trying to express their pride and honor. Many Filipinos are tired of being taken advantage of by 'outsiders' and often see their country as a puppet of foreign governments and when their hero Pacquiao was wrongly accused of using performance enhancing drugs without any evidence and made out to be the face of steroids in boxing by an American, they felt obligated to protect their icon. It didn’t help either that most foreign scribes failed to acknowledge that there was a racial element with the issue of PEDs in relation to Pacquiao becoming bigger than it was. I won't elaborate on that issue anymore since I've already discussed that in my past article Pacquiao: The Truth About The Steroid Issue.
It should also be noted that some of the racial comments were provoked by others. Before Pacquiao became the superstar that he is, it wasn't rare to see comments such as describing the Filipino icon and his people as dog eaters, gooks, chinks, dirty chinos, midgets, uneducated etc. A few Filipinos, I have talked to have mentioned how sometimes deragatory comments towards one group is seen as deplorable while others targeted at another group are ignored or accepted. Filipinos are humble by nature but attack them and they can instantly unite to become your worst enemy. You want to play dirty and it will be welcomed by Filipinos with open arms, but don't get mad if they thrive at it. Still two wrongs don't make things right and countering racial comments with another one is not the right way to do it.
A number of boxing writers don't even have the right to complain either since they have helped the growth of this ignorance by purposely writing articles that elicit or instigate these types of behavior and comments. Sometimes by taking comments out of contexts, exaggerating certain things and recycling particular stories numerous times to stir and keep alive controversies or blow things out of proportions for the sake of cheap hits. In fact, I've been contacted a few times by other scribes to write about certain topics or collaborate with them on some stories to stir fake controversies. It's laughable but not even the worse. There are even those who make stories not just about fighters but themselves just to take advantage of the Filipino market.
These scribes don't care if they believe in what they are writing as long as they get their expected reactions from the readers. Don't think that some scribes won't lower themselves either into entering comments in their own articles to provoke certain reactions. Unfortunately, some readers are too native to notice and are baited to express the wanted reactions.
Websites should be held accountable as well for not adequately moderating their forums. Tolerating racial and homophobic comments or topics only encourages the spread of it. But sometimes they are tolerated since it means more people or readers will become more active as far as joining the forums and expressing their opinions, which means more repeated visitors.
We should also take into perspective that these comments are coming from the internet where people can hide behind fake identities. Who truly knows that all of these comments are coming from Pacquiao fans. Most of them are probably coming from only a select group of people using different aliases. Unfortunately it only takes a few bad apples to ruin the reputation of a particular group.
But do the so called widespread 'hatred' of each other represent reality? When you go to the bars or watch the fights in Vegas you can see that Filipino, Latino, and African American boxing fans get along in general. If there are trash talking, its usually all in good fun while drinking together.
While the older generations who often grew up in the Philippines have a misconceived perception of African American, the younger generation are more open minded. Actually a number of them have gravitated to the African American culture because of the similarities in experiences and struggles in life. Filipino American are not coined the 'Black' Asians by some for nothing.
The best thing to do is just ignore and delete these comments since most of them are just coming from cowards that hide behind their computers, but who don't have the guts to say the same things in front of you. At the end of the day, there are no justifiable reasons for spouting racial and homophobic remarks. Nobody expects everyone to agree specially in sports, but there are better ways to send your message or point across. Lorne Scoggins of 8Countnews.com definitely didn't deserve the hate comments he received on an article relating this issue.
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