VIA Times – October 2015 Issue Vital News, Vibrant Views for Asian Americans in Chicago & Midwest
By: Joe Mauricio
Who is America’s earliest Asian ethnic group? If you say Chinese, Indian, Korean or Japanese, you are wrong. By 1587, Luzonians (Philippine natives) set foot in North America in Morro Bay, California on board Manila-built galleon ship Nuestra Senora de Esperanza, under the command of Spanish Captain Pedro de Unamono. So, it was the Filipino who settled in North America as the first Asian group.
So what happened to the Luzonians? Just like the modern-day Filipino immigrants, they assimilated and were absorbed by mainstream America. Language disappeared along with culture and heritage, just like what has been happening up to this Millennium era.
We have been visited by Filipino Millennials in our CPRTV studio, none of them can speak our language, never visited the Philippines, and prefer hamburger over adobo–and they look real Filipino in looks, from head to foot.A good example of the disappearance of Philippines’ rich culture and heritage in this country.
When culture becomes extinct, or when a person stops using a language in their lives, there are many things that are lost along with the language. Wouldn’t it be a shame if one day everyone is a carbon copy of each other?
Diversity is what makes the world an interesting place to live in. We oftentimes find that in places where government or religion mandates that everyone look the same is labeled as a repressive culture. In a world where understanding and peace are present, diversity poses no threat to the world, and with that, diversity comes with diverse language, attitude, beliefs, feelings, and ideas, that are all lost with the loss of a language.
Another aspect that ties with diversity is the loss of heritage, The heritage of a culture is often passed down through language of that culture and from its elders to the new generation. The knowledge of why we behave a certain way and why the tradition we practice are important is something that each and every Filipino has a right to know.
With the loss of the language and the ability to communicate the heritage to others, it would eventually lose the knowledge of what and why traditions are important, the beliefs that they hold and any other knowledge that the older generation could pass to the younger generations.
If everyone in the world spoke the same language (like English), things would be much easier in many cases. Communicating in countries you’re visiting would not be a problem, reading signs that are in different languages would not exist, and books and other artifacts could be shared across the world instantly.
However, this goes back to the carbon copy idea of humanity. With only one language, you would lose out in many perspectives and ideas that other languages held, given that language and culture are so closely related. Losing the language would also mean a loss of some culture, and everyone would eventually morph into a similar culture that has little diversity within it.
How often you hear remarks like, “If you are going to live in this country, learn to speak the language,” however, people who often say these things have no interest in learning another language or trading information with those who speak different languages.
Here, in VIA Times, we want to spread the knowledge of how to speak English for the benefit of the people we are helping, but we always appreciate hearing the younger generations speak the Pilipino language or any native dialect that they learned from their parents, even guttural.
On this month of October, we are celebrating the Filipino American History Month as declared by the English-speaking Congress of the United States. And, it is our dream as Filipino-Americans to celebrate the occasion as long as we keep our Filipino culture and heritage in this land of the free and the brave. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
