So what? Who cares?

Last semester, I took a course called "Vulnerable Black Masculinities." It was an awesome class taught by one of my favorite professors. Should a degree in being woke existed, VBM would be a required course. When I learn about Black history in the United States, I become inspired to interrogate the historicity of Filipinos in America and worldwide. How the F else does a Filipino-American deal with the Filipino diaspora? Anyway, I had to submit an article to a blog for one of my assignments. The website I submitted my article to is probably never going to publish it because the moment has passed and honestly, who cares about what an undergrad has to say about anything? So here it is:

Pacquiao is WACKiao: The Filiqueerno Navigation of Gay and Pinoy Pride.

by Nicole Espinosa

In preparation for the third Pacquiao vs Bradley match, I will not be making the pilgrimage to Las Vegas, as many Filipinos do, to monetarily and morally support arguably the most visible Filipino in transnational popular culture. This is partly because I already live in Las Vegas and I purposefully avoid The Strip — especially during fight nights. Additionally, I will not order the fight on pay-per-view and will not assemble with relatives or with other Filipinos in someone’s garage-turned-rec room to watch it.

My resignation from Team Pacquiao happened at least four years ago. As a queer Filipino-American, I cannot cheer for someone who has described the entire LGBTQIA community as being “worse than animals.” Let’s revisit the interview that first threatened Pacquiao’s earning capability in 2012: former Examiner.com contributor Granville Ampong fabricated a quote by Pacquiao citing Leviticus 20:13 in response to President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage. Ampong’s non-journalism aside, I was not the least bit surprised by Pacquiao’s alleged homophobia. Pacquiao has always presented himself as a God-fearing man. Having parents who were raised as devout Catholics, who then raised me as devout Mormons, I am more than familiar with the correlation between the Christian majority and anti-gay, anti-equality sentiment. Yet here we are four years later: the same passage from Leviticus posted to, and subsequently deleted from, Pacquiao’s official Instagram account. Pacquiao’s Nike endorsement had just been terminated and he apparently gave zero Fs about it.

“But he said ‘sorry.’” But I don’t care. Pacquiao’s half-apology doesn’t reflect the Christ-like attributes he so vehemently pretends to embody. “But he donates to charities.” But what’s the point of a hand out if you’re not helping people become self-sufficient and critically thinking members of society? I digress.

To throw in my own remix of Beyoncé’s “Formation:” I like my Pinoy nose with Lapu-Lapu nostrils. I love being Filipino and I cannot allow my Pinoy Pride to be defined by the scientifically inaccurate and religiously hypocritical comments made by an individual who embraces anti-intellectualism, has subjected himself to decades of head trauma, and has shown his inability to maintain the “sanctity” of marriage. I would implore other Filipinos who don’t agree with Pac-Man’s politics, but continue to rally for him as an athlete, to reconsider their decision to do so. He’s no José Rizal, but he also can’t be the only Filipino worth rooting for.

I wrote a (crappy) paper — we'll get to how crazy busy my semester was at another time, on the regression of the Filipino Race Man. I am fully aware of the absurdity of a) a race representative and b) a gendered race representative, but for the purpose of submitting an assignment worth a good chunk of my grade, I wrote about it. It boggles my mind that the Philippines just elected a bozo for a president. But when I think about the history of the Philippines — Spanish colonial rule, American colonial rule, World War II, plunder and oppression of the Marcos regime, it comes as no surprise that the #2 Philippine National Hero after José Rizal would be a stupid boxer. He literally has zero grasp on science or sociology. Again, I have to reiterate that Filipinos aren't the only perpetrators of anti-intellectualism: the GOP Presidential front runner is a misogynist, white supremacist and reality television "star."

There are Filipinos in the media and academia worth rooting for. People besides Rob Schneider, Jo Koy and Nicole Scherzinger. Coincidence that they're all mixed? I can't have a conversation about colorism just yet. I have pizza to eat. Later, hoes. Xoxo Gossip Girl.