Global Jologs Style: Pacquiao's flexible meanings in the Filipino diaspora

After a recent controversial win over his long-time foe Juan Manuel Marquez and a looming Floyd Mayweather showdown closer than ever (Money announced today a proposed May 5, 2012 fight date), Manny Pacquiao's notoriety shows no sign of waning, even though critics argue that his fighting ability is on the decline. As a congressman in Sarangani Province, the globally popular Filipino icon has had to juggle between his political responsibilities and his sports career.  Was this juggling the cause of his uncompelling and indecisive win over Marquez?

Filipinos in the U.S. and around the world cheered for their champ, with some making the holy pilgrimage to Las Vegas to simply be within Pacman's orbit.  And for Filipinos in the Philippines, waking up early and missing holy mass was a legitimate excuse for the sake of a Pacquiao fight.  The whole world watches when the athlete once featured in Time Magazine's "most influential people" list steps in the ring. 

And the whole world also wears him.

Nike's "Team Pacquiao" brand has become recognizable to many non-Filipinos, with the Philippine flag colors becoming synonymous with the boxer.  For sure, Pacquiao gear (and also Philippine flag-themed gear) has set its place at the table of Filipino American fashion sensibilities. 

Blue Scholars don't mind the jologs

But do the meanings of Pacquiao's image, especially through Pacman fashion, remain the same for all Filipinos around the world? 

I was surprised to learn that in the Philippines, many Filipinos regard Pacquiao as symbolizing "jologs," which roughly translates to "ghetto" or "kitsch." Yes, the heroic Filipino icon represents more dimensions than mass admiration.  But that's just it.  "Jologs" operates as a disparaging marker for people who are seen as mindless and naive (think people who wear too much Steelers or Lakers paraphernalia).  Hip hop too in the Philippines, as I try to show in my film Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila (also viewable in the right column), represents for a certain segment of Filipinos a supposedly "uneducated" "jologs" spirit.      

For Filipino Americans, Pacquiao is an emblem of Filipino pride, identity, masculinity, and power. Even for non-Filipinos, as Davey D argues, Pacquiao has become a "People's Champion" because of his pro-common people values. 

But there is an undeniable phenomenon among many Filipinos in the Philippines in which they will happily watch the Pacquiao fights, but will refuse to wear Team Pacquiao clothing.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Team Pacquiao merchandise sold in the Philippines was mostly purchased by Filipino balikbayan tourists. 

For some reason, Pacquiao in the Philippines and Pacquiao in the Filipino diaspora isn't the same person.

Certainly a major explanation is class (and the specter of class aspirations).  Since Nike's takeover of Pacquiao merchandise, it has been much more difficult for poorer people in the Philippines to buy expensive Nike-brand Pacman shirts, hence the noticeable (and ironic) lack of Pacquiao clothing among the masa in the islands.  But the middle classes aren't sporting it either.  The real market, it seems, are those Filipinos "out there" across the globe who are unaware of the cultural politics in the mother land, who are oblivious to "baduy," "bakya," or "jologs"--epithets that describe the cultural tastes of the masa.

When Pacquiao makes his post-fight interviews, we might flinch and chuckle.  In the Philippines, the "jologs"-induced cringing moment could not be stronger.  As a major political figure who has little education, limited English (compared to more-educated citizens), and a manic masa following, Pacquiao exemplifies at best an ambivalent figure for many Filipinos in the Philippines, especially among those who have been critiquing civil society and are engaged in the political process, a process in which the champ has quickly assumed a degree of leverage and power (think Erap).    

When Pacquiao sings Karaoke songs on Jimmy Kimmel Live, many Filipinos in the diaspora embrace him for his levity and charm.  Without the "jologs" factor in their vocabulary of Filipino cultural politics, Manny remains harmless.  He might seem as simple as the poor people who sing on variety shows like Wowowee, but he is excused for his pronunciation and grammar "errors" because he is a winner--a masculine embodiment of Philippine nationhood.  

But in the Philippines, the complex and often contradictory cultural politics of everyday life manifests itself when the boxer-legislator appears on the TV screen.  In a poor country, "being" Filipino means much more than wearing the three colors.  When Pacquiao fights his opponents in the ring while also fighting key legislation such as the Reproductive Health bill, the cultural consciousnesses of Filipinos around the world become strangers.

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Sunday Cipher: Champion!

Mabuhay, Mosley! You next!

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The Filipino Flash X Deep Foundation knock out!

Manny Pacquiao is not the only Filipino boxer taking over the world. Nonito Donaire, the 3rd ranked pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, walked out to Deep Foundation's "Children of the Sun" in his bout with Fernando Montiel (from Mexico) on Saturday. The 28-year old from General Santos (he went to the same school as Pacman) knocked out his opponent in the second round with a powerful left hook.

Perhaps the three weight division champion will soon get the global attention of Pacman caliber. Until then, we love how the "Filipino Flash" reps hard for hip hop and for Fil Ams with his DF tribute!

That's not Photoshopped people! That knockout punch is real- live in HD. Montiel's face looked warped like a scene from The Ring, then he commenced to what seemed like a seizure on the mat.

The "Filipino Flash" celebrates, showing love for the lovely and fashionable Pin@ys in the crowd.

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Thursday Throwback: On race and the Filipino boxing body

Throwback post in light of the upcoming Pacquiao-Mosley fight. Will race talk appear in the bout between the two boxers?

Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey prepare for their March 2010 bout

This Saturday is the big (not really) bout between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at Texas Stadium. A big disappointment because I'm sure we were all hoping for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Perhaps some of you witnessed occasions of racially-tinged smack-talk when the Pacquiao-Mayweather match was in negotiations. And even though you may be the most critical person when it comes to assumptions of racial categorization, the Asian body of Pacquiao and the Black body of Mayweather still lingered in your mind as to the impact of physicality in this historic match. If you are in denial, you probably heard it from others.

In the Times Magazine yesterday, the question was posed whether the Pacquiao-Clottey and Mayweather-Mosley fights were simply precursors to a bigger Pacquiao-Mayweather bout. "Pacquiao and Mayweather: One More Until the Big One?" the author asks. The author writes:

"Pacquiao's camp says the boxer refused the blood testing because he is superstitious and doesn't want to give blood so close to fight time. He was blood-tested a couple of days before his fight with Erik Morales, and lost. "It made me weak," says Pacquiao, who is suing Mayweather for sullying his reputation. There is speculation in some boxing gyms that Mayweather knew about Pacquiao's aversion to pre-fight blood testing and used it as a tactic to duck him."

What's with all the slander and courtroom drama? Enough of the soap opera. But then again, the more drama, the more dollas. I say this "bad" publicity makes for great boxing, at least within the marketplace of entertainment.

So for now, we send good vibes to Manny this Saturday. Clottey, who is from Ghana, may help dampen the racially-tinged flames that inform the skepticism of the physical capacities of either Manny or Mayweather. If Manny wins against Clottey, perhaps Clottey will be seen as a "buffer" to the racial skepticism and prepare the way for a bigger and more measured Pacquiao-Mayweather match. It sucks that we have to always see boxers in terms of race, but that's the way it has always been in boxing (and all of sports) history...especially when boxing focuses so much on the fighter's height, weight, arm-length, muscular build...in boxing, the male body is a spectacle. Even Clottey's was described as having a "muscled body of a boa constrictor" by the Times writer. (On second thought, that metaphor doesn't make sense because snakes don't have defined muscle-groups like mammals, do they? Or does Clottey have a tube-like, snake-like physique?)

I was interviewed by Inquirer reporter Benjamin Pimentel about the race-talk happening when the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations were under way a few months ago, especially when Manny's mom utterance of a variation of the "N-word," which is layered with translation problems. Here is a snippet below. I think the article demonstrates the precariousness of Filipino and Black concord, but also mentions the possibilities of community-building between the two groups.


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Pacquiao versus Mayweather in black & brown

11/22/09
by Benjamin Pimentel

CALIFORNIA, United States—It’s unclear if the showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will ever happen. But there are signs that what could be boxing’s biggest bout in recent history could highlight tensions around an important issue: race. A preview came in the form of controversy over Dionisia Pacquiao’s remarks after Manny’s victory over Miguel Cotto.

Mommy Dionisia clearly did not mean any harm when, in thanking her son’s fans, she referred to “mga Amerikano at mga Negro,” which according to columnist Recah Trinidad and other reports, somehow got translated as “Americans and niggers.”

The translator got it wrong, obviously, although it’s not clear if it was intentional, or was an honest error.

Clearly, the stakes would be high in a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout. It would pit a well-known, undefeated African American fighter against arguably the greatest Asian boxer in history, who is also now being ranked among the best in the world...

Mark Villegas, a Filipino American academic and filmmaker based in southern California, who is working on a documentary on the Filipino and Filipino American hip-hop scene, sees the potential for trouble...
CONTINUE READING...

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What makes a "People's Champion"?

Check out this great article by veteran hip hop authority Davey D, who is featured in the opening part of my 2007 documentary, Hip Hop Mestizaje (embedded in the right panel of this blog).

Manny Pacquiao the People’s Champ: Is that too Much for Floyd to Handle?

from Davey D's Hip Hop Corner
November 15, 2010

"...While the world watched and cheered, we’re sure a certain boxer with a big mouth and lots of money sat at home also watching. There is no doubt that Floyd ‘Money Making’ Mayweather has come to realize two unshakeable truths. First, he can’t beat Mr Pacquiao. Yeah, yeah, we heard all the talk about how he’s a skilled precision fighter, a true student of the game blah, blah, blah…Save it. He knows it, I know and you know it. Mayweather watched and realized this past Saturday night this is man he can’t beat.

The other thing he realized is that he’ll never be seen as one of the greatest, even with an undefeated record. As a world champ, he misread history and what it means when you hold such a title especially as a Black man. The ring was always symbolic of power we did not have.. Even with boxing legends like Sugar Ray Robinson, part of what made him great was his accomplishments in the midst of hard oppressions. the accomplishments of boxing greats like Joe Louis and Jack Johnson became a symbolic victories for all those who felt marginalized and oppressed. Their victory was our victory.

Manny Pacquiao has captured that spirit globally. Sadly Floyd Mayweather has misread the signs of today’s times and missed the opportunity to be ‘the people’s champ‘. If Mayweather and Pacman were to fight and he somehow won, Manny would still be seen as champ all over the world. A Mayweather victory would be a hollow victory. Mayweather does not have the admiration of the people especially globally, and no matter how much he brags or ‘adroitly ‘plays the role of villan’ aka the ‘man you love to hate’, he’ll never be seen as a man for the people. What a wasted opportunity...."
CONTINUE READING...

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Filipino-Mexican showdown x kultura (x champorado)

Ready for the Pacquiao vs. Margarito fight this Saturday? Will the congressman defeat the Master Plaster? Patis or Tapatio?

The match this weekend is a good opportunity to explore the Filipino-Mexican connection, a growing scholarly topic, and a visual and cultural "common sense" among many Filipinos and Chicanos in Southern California. One scholar is doing interesting work on looking at Filipino and Chicano emcees and their political messages relating to homeland and diaspora.

The upcoming boxing performance echos the influence of "real" performance traditions between Mexico and the Philippines, with the latter as "New Spain" working as a colonial mediator to the far-off Spanish island colony. Here is an excerpt from Palabas: Essays on Philipine Theater History (1997) by Doreen Fernandez, a book that outlines various Philippine "performance" traditions, ranging from precolonial rituals to Philippine theater in the 1980s. (I suppose it is up to one of you to write a book on hip hop traditions in the Philippines.)

"During much of the colonial period, Spanish culture was introduced through Nueva España (Mexico), from where the Philippines was ruled by Spain through the Ministro de Ultramar. Soldiers of Adelantado Miguel López de Legazpi in the late sixteenth century are believed to have been the ones who brought over from Mexico the metrical romances of chivalry and of the lives of saints and martyrs, which were popular in their day and which, in indigenized form, became the native awit and corrido" (5).

Oh! This explains the whole champurrado/champorado thing! We all just one big chocolate mix. Well, of course Mexicans use the corn/masa, and the Filipinos, rice. And according to some recipes, the Mexican champurrado is served with alcohol.

Champurrado...

meet champorado.

Lambanog champorado for cold nights!


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Deep Foundation responds to Adam Carolla's ignorance

The dudes Deep Foundation in NY/NJ respond to Adam Carolla's comments on Pacquiao and the Philippines. I think that Carolla's remarks are not anything new in the shock jock steez, but when you couple ignorance with the wholesale erasure/obscuring of Philippine history in the context of U.S. imperialism, jokes like Carolla's do a particular kind of damage that extends the already protracted imperial project in the Philippines. To make savage/slut a U.S. colony, I think, does more to make invisible that very moment of colonialism rather than reveal it. The veil becomes darker...

Anyways, DF provides a space for cultural resistance to such ignorance. What would be interesting is a more critical look at the Philippine state, rather than a blanketed heroization of the homeland. For the Philippine state is also repressive, especially when it comes to the Moro south, peasants, and indigenous people.

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Call to Action Against CBS Corporation!

via examiner.com:

"...Adam Carolla starts off his vulgar tirade by bashing Manny for not giving blood before a fight. He then proceeds to say that Manny is off “praying to chicken bones” and that you don’t have to respect him because he’s a “fu**ing idiot”. “Someone has to tell him that it doesn’t make a difference.”

The Philippines

The following are quotes from Adam Carolla about the Philippines.

“Here’s how you know when your country doesn’t have a lot going for it: When everything is about Manny Pacquiao."

“Get a fu**in life as a country”

“All you fu**in got is just an illiterate guy who happens to smash other guys in the head better than other people”

“Really, you want some guy with brain damage running your country? Why don’t you get your sh*t together?”

“All they have over there is Manny Pacquiao and sex stores.”

“What happens when Floyd Mayweather beats him? Does your country go into depression?”"

READ COMPLETE STORY

via Kuttin Kandi:

Aiming for Adam Carolla is just scratching the surface. We need to
head straight for the bulls eye, knock over the
Adam-Tip-of-the-Iceberg and get to the very foundation that instills,
enforces, enacts, enables and allows this kind of oppression onto our
airwaves. This foundation begins with K-ACE Radio, CBS Radio and CBS
Corporation. These foundations are the very entities that allow Adam
Carolla’s hate speech to live on. They are the beasts in which we need
to fight. Not just Adam Carolla.

In 2005, a few Hip Hop Activists, Educators, Journalists, Writers,
youth and myself went up against a huge radio station Hot 97 and it’s
big parent company Emmis Communications. A racist parody song titled
the “Tsunami Song” was aired by radio host Miss Jones four times was
followed by racist comments against Asians by herself and her radio
colleagues. Another radio host Miss Info was the only personality on
air that refused to have the song played again and got into an
argument with Miss Jones live on air. After hearing the “Tsunami Song”
which poked fun at the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami survivors/victims by
using lines like “women and children being sold of into slavery”; we
all came together and formed a coalition called R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop
(Representing Education, Awareness, Community through Hip Hop).
R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop Coalition joined forces with the Coalition Against
Hate Media and battled against Emmis Communications by throwing
rallies and protesting from Union Square to City hall. We worked
strategically to ensure that we were heard by marching our way up to
Hot 97 to hand in our list of demands to Hot 97’s Program Director
John Dimmick who (mind you, didn’t even know who Godfather of Hip Hop
Afrika Bambaataa was) tried to buy us off. Prior to our meeting with
Hot 97 we already had various victories with Sprint and many other big
commercial brands pulling out their ads from Hot 97. From our rallies
and protests alone, which were held less than a few weeks, Hot 97 lost
about 6 million dollars in revenue.

However, it was understood by all of us that although Miss Jones and
the rest of Hot 97’s radio dj’s were to be held accountable for airing
such a racist song along with their hate speech; we knew that the real
beast we were fighting were Hot 97 itself and Emmis Communications.
The “Tsunami Song” was not the first of it’s racist attacks on Hot 97.
As a matter of fact they have a whole timeline of racist, sexist,
homophobic, and etc..etc.. list of oppressive antics such as their
SmackFests along with their continuous use of the “N” word. When our
coalition came together, we knew that we were fighting a bigger entity
than Miss Jones. We knew that the DJ’s were the “fallguys” doing the
dirty work for the racist white man at the top. We knew what we were
fighting was white supremacy and we knew that in order to fight, we
had to aim for

What is White Supremacy?

I think long-time Chicana Feminist Elizabeth Betita Martinez has one
of my favorite breakdowns on defining institutionalized racism and
White Supremacy. Read:

“White Supremacy is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated
system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and
peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European
continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of
wealth, power, and privilege.”

and she goes on further to explaining the system, “By not seeing that
racism is systemic (part of a system), people often personalize or
individualize racist acts. For example, they will reduce racist police
behavior to "a few bad apples" who need to be removed, rather than
seeing it exists in police departments all over the
country and is basic to the society. This mistake has real
consequences: refusing to see police brutality as part of a system,
and that the system
needs to be changed, means that the brutality will continue. The need
to recognize racism as being systemic is one reason the term White
Supremacy has been more useful than the term racism.”

This is why, we, R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop, knew we couldn’t remove just Miss
Jones and the rest of the “few bad apples”. We had to get to the core.
We had to get at John Dimmick & Barry Mayo at Hot 97, then we aimed
for Jeff Smulyan at Emmis Communications. We took it to the top,
fought the beast, but we were still strategic and personalized these
institutions for the masses to know that these CEO’s are people. They
may seem big, bad and scary cause they have power and money, but
they’re still people. People with families too. I’m sure Jeff
Smulyan’s and the John Dimmick’s of the world have their own homes
with families. I’m sure they might have children, maybe a little girl
who they wouldn’t dare allow them to hear their own racist and sexist
“shock jocks” on air. So, I’m also sure CBS Corporation CEO Leslie
Moonves and Chairmain of the Board Summer M. Redstone have families
too.

This is why, today, 2010 - nearly five years later since our April 4th
Stop Hate 97 Rally at Union Square Park - we need to continue to
fight. Because these beasts like Clear Channel, Emmis Communications,
Fox Business Network, CBS Radio, CBS Corporation and etc, etc.etc,
still rule our air waves and our televisions. They dictate our minds,
our children’s minds, and show no kind of social responsibility
because they continue to hire oppressive shock jocks like Don Imus,
Miss Jones, and Adam Carolla. They instill it, laugh at it, love the
publicity it brings... and shuts it all down when crisis begins and
acts like they have nothing to do with it. Meanwhile Don Imus has
historic racist and sexist comments dating back since 1984, long
before his racist attacks against Rugter’s University Women’s
Basketball team on his “Imus in the Morning” show. Yet, even as he has
already been fired, his name tarnished across America, Fox Business
Network will be bringing him back in April 2010 airing “Imus in the
Evening” ----- That is what I’m talking about!! These White
Supremacists love this! Because they don’t care. All they care about
is money. The money that it brings to them. The power that it brings
to them. As long as it doesn’t affect or impact their pockets, they
don’t care.

So, what do we do?

First, we must not be afraid. Yes, these corporations are big. And
yes, it may seem like we can’t win such a case. But every little bit
counts, every little fight matters. It makes a difference. And it
reminds us all, including them - that we are all people, and that we
are here. The louder we are, they louder they hear us telling them
that we are strong, that we are loud and that we will fight. And that
their stations belong to us. That they work for us. And their jobs are
to provide us with safe, educational and informative programming, and
healthy entertainment.

Second, we must educate ourselves. We need to understand and be
knowledgeable about White Supremacy. White Supremacy is no joke. It’s
what is embedded in all the systems in our world that divides our
communities. White Supremacy can so easily be hidden that it can
hardly be recognized unless you got the trained eye. It is so
institutionalized in our school systems, prison systems, media and our
government. It has also affected people of color in ways where we have
assimilated into this very system, where we too, perpetuate whiteness
and White Supremacist acts.

After we educate ourselves about White Supremacy, we must then educate
our communities. White Supremacy is tactical that it is quick to
divide our communities. They are quick to pin people of color against
each other and it does it in ways where we won’t even notice how they
were able to set it all up. So we must help educate each other, so
that everyone is able to recognize White Supremacy and help give
language to what they feel and know as an act of White Supremacy.

After we work on the education - we must prepare, be strategic and
work together to battle against corporations like CBS Radio, CBS
Corporation and others who instill all the isms and phobia’s of the
world. In the words of Godfather of Hip Hop Afrika Bambaataa -
“Organize, organize, organize!”.

So, everyone, stand up with me, write a letter, organize around your
local city, make your phone calls, gather your friends and protest
against CBS Corporation now!

A CALL TO ACTION AGAINST CBS CORPORATION TOMORROW, TUESDAY, APRIL 6,
2010 AT EXACTLY 9:00 AM EST (12:00 PM PST)

These are the numbers in which you should call:
CBS Corporation
CBS Headquarters51 W. 52nd StreetNew York, NY 10019-6188
212-975-4321

complaint line: 212- 975-5005
Investor Relations
51 W. 52nd StreetNew York, NY 10019investorrelations@cbs.

com1-877-227-0787

ALSO PLEASE FILE A COMPLAINT TO THE FCC AGAINST ADAM CAROLLA’S SHOW on
KACE through IndustryEars.com

Kuttin Kandi
DJ ~ Poet ~ Writer ~ Activist
5th Platoon, Anomolies, Guerrilla Words, The Heart
Founder, R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop (Representing Education, Activism & Community
Through Hip Hop)
Program Assistant, UCSD's Women Center

Manny in the Lone Star: is this the last fight?

This Saturday is the big (not really) bout between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at Texas Stadium. A big disappointment because I'm sure we were all hoping for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Perhaps some of you witnessed occasions of racially-tinged smack-talk when the Pacquiao-Mayweather match was in negotiations. And even though you may be the most critical person when it comes to assumptions of racial categorization, the Asian body of Pacquiao and the Black body of Mayweather still lingered in your mind as to the impact of physicality in this historic match. If you are in denial, you probably heard it from others.

In the Times Magazine yesterday, the question was posed whether the Pacquiao-Clottey and Mayweather-Mosley fights were simply precursors to a bigger Pacquiao-Mayweather bout. "Pacquiao and Mayweather: One More Until the Big One?" the author asks. The author writes:

"Pacquiao's camp says the boxer refused the blood testing because he is superstitious and doesn't want to give blood so close to fight time. He was blood-tested a couple of days before his fight with Erik Morales, and lost. "It made me weak," says Pacquiao, who is suing Mayweather for sullying his reputation. There is speculation in some boxing gyms that Mayweather knew about Pacquiao's aversion to pre-fight blood testing and used it as a tactic to duck him."

What's with all the slander and courtroom drama? Enough of the soap opera. But then again, the more drama, the more dollas. I say this "bad" publicity makes for great boxing, at least within the marketplace of entertainment.

So for now, we send good vibes to Manny this Saturday. Clottey, who is from Ghana, may help dampen the racially-tinged flames that inform the skepticism of the physical capacities of either Manny or Mayweather. If Manny wins against Clottey, perhaps Clottey will be seen as a "buffer" to the racial skepticism and prepare the way for a bigger and more measured Pacquiao-Mayweather match. It sucks that we have to always see boxers in terms of race, but that's the way it has always been in boxing (and all of sports) history...especially when boxing focuses so much on the fighter's height, weight, arm-length, muscular build...in boxing, the male body is a spectacle. Even Clottey's was described as having a "muscled body of a boa constrictor" by the Times writer. (On second thought, that metaphor doesn't make sense because snakes don't have defined muscle-groups like mammals, do they? Or does Clottey have a tube-like, snake-like physique?)

I was interviewed by Inquirer reporter Benjamin Pimentel about the race-talk happening when the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations were under way a few months ago, especially when Manny's mom utterance of a variation of the "N-word," which is layered with translation problems. Here is a snippet below. I think the article demonstrates the precariousness of Filipino and Black concord, but also mentions the possibilities of community-building between the two groups.


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Pacquiao versus Mayweather in black & brown

11/22/09
by Benjamin Pimentel

CALIFORNIA, United States—It’s unclear if the showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will ever happen. But there are signs that what could be boxing’s biggest bout in recent history could highlight tensions around an important issue: race. A preview came in the form of controversy over Dionisia Pacquiao’s remarks after Manny’s victory over Miguel Cotto.

Mommy Dionisia clearly did not mean any harm when, in thanking her son’s fans, she referred to “mga Amerikano at mga Negro,” which according to columnist Recah Trinidad and other reports, somehow got translated as “Americans and niggers.”

The translator got it wrong, obviously, although it’s not clear if it was intentional, or was an honest error.

Clearly, the stakes would be high in a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout. It would pit a well-known, undefeated African American fighter against arguably the greatest Asian boxer in history, who is also now being ranked among the best in the world...

Mark Villegas, a Filipino American academic and filmmaker based in southern California, who is working on a documentary on the Filipino and Filipino American hip-hop scene, sees the potential for trouble...
CONTINUE READING...

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Wapak!

Congrats to Miguel Cotto for staying alive after a brutal beat down. All 12 rounds of Pac Man fist and lookin all pork face for pride?

Colonies are erupting in the living rooms of the Empire! "Wapak"!!

Colonial Funk! Pacquiao vs. Cotto: violent island intimacies

Pacquiao and Cotto painting on a jeepney, for HBO 24 7 show

"On the tube, I'm just watching Pacquiao box it up. How would I know HBO would get a shot of us? Sittin so close that we almost got snot on us."
-Jay Z, "Thank You"

"You know I get em with the rap's Manny Pac hooks!"
-Son of Ran, "For the Wax"

"My people pump your fists like you're Manny Pacquiao. Man-child with the wild-style, right to be hostile."
-Blue Scholars, "Solstice: Reintroduction"



The colonies is hostile this Saturday! Manny Pacquiao (representing the Philippines) and Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico) will bout it out for WBO Welterweight supremacy. Moving up from 140 to 147 pounds, Pacquiao will once again be tested as he gains bulk, which is always a liability in terms of speed and power.

This blog has dedicated a lot of material to posing questions about Filipinos' relationships to other people of color. So, it is not surprising that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight is overheating the Hip Hop Lives thinking-engine.

As former/current colonies of Spain and the United States acquired by Western powers at the same time, the Philippines and Puerto Rico occupy historical discourses in almost identical colonial, cultural, and military relevance.

It's important to note that both colonies have a strong love affair with boxing. And--as hip hop heads know--Filipinos and Puerto Ricans in the U.S. have had a strong love affair with hip hop culture (Pinoys on the West Coast, PRs on the East). Finally, as demonstrated by Cotto's father's 25 years in the U.S. Army and by Filipinos' migration through military service, both colonies have for over a century been firm ground for military boots.

But of course a few things disrupt the otherwise seemingly perfect accord:

-The Philippines is in the Pacific, and Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean, bringing in some geographical dissonance.

-Although both are mixed racially, the Philippines has a large "Asian" population especially pronounced with a noticeable Chinese middle class, and Puerto Rico is home to a dominant African diaspora. After all, Afrika Bambaataa considers Puerto Ricans as "black."

-Puerto Ricans speak a Spanish vernacular and were not forced American English by the U.S. colonial administration. Whereas Filipinos were not taught Spanish because of Spanish prejudice against indio inferiority, but were/are instructed and speak a variety of American English. However, in the HBO 24 7 episodes, both Pacquiao and Cotto speak American English (but Pac-Man gets the subtitles! Doh!)

Political cartoon from the early 1900s. Uncle Sam disciplining the bad Filipino, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, and Cuban children

A few questions can be asked about the upcoming fight:

1. What does it mean to gaze upon two Filipino and Puerto Rican bodies in violent confrontation--especially with millions of dollars at stake?

2. How will the audience categorize Pacquiao and Cotto? Will Pacquiao be "Asian"? Will Cotto be "Hispanic"? Black? And what does that mean for Filipino and Puerto Rican audience members (actually, all audience members) as they assess the other's body type?

3. In the HBO 24 7 biographical specials, the music and scenery (complete with food!) give vivid depictions of where these men are from. What kind of narratives can be written about the islands Pacquiao and Cotto represent? Will the shared histories of Spanish and U.S. colonization of both colonies be articulated, or are both effectively painted as completely incongruent? (I mean, check "The Battle of East and West" narrative written on the Pacquiao-Hatton fight. I'm wondering the marketing strategy debates occurring with this current one. Rice and fish vs. rice and beans?)

4. What does it mean to have non-Americans, especially Pacquiao, figuring as a boxing icon for the U.S. boxing imagination? Will the Floyd Mayweather, who is from Michigan, rescue the all-American boxing iconography? (Remember, Oscar De La Hoya, from East LA, is called "Golden Boy" for a reason)

Like hip hop, this boxing thang unearths some interesting queries about ourselves as Filipinos and people of color! So before yall crack open the San Miguel and let loose, some crazy juice for your thinking-engine as we prepare for the big fight on Saturday!


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YOU CAPTION! Pacquiao at Wild Card

The Pacquiao-Cotto fight is on Saturday, November 14 at 9:00pm on HBO PPV. Have you been watching the HBO 24/7 episodes detailing the training and drama between the two fighters? Always good stuff. But why does Pacquiao have subtitles, and Cotto doesn't? Both speak English.

You know I'mma be all up ons the Philippine-Puerto Rico colonial funk happening here.

For fun, here's a snapshot of Pacquiao training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Yet another round of YOU CAPTION!

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Only in Oakland Pt. 1- Mighty 4 and Estria Graffiti Battle photo essay

The legendary Estria being interviewed at the Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle

Only in Oakland, CA can a special event like the Mighty 4 11th Anniversary and the 3rd Annual Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle (and here) happen so beautifully. This past Saturday, October 10, hundreds if not thousands of hip hop and skate enthusiasts of all ages, all colors (but a mostly Black and Brown crowd) enjoyed the lovely East Bay weather at DeFremery Park, and of course partake in some colorful, genuine, 100% hip hop culture. Only in Oakland mayn!

Infinite props to Paulskee (Mighty 4/Rock Force Crew/Zulu Nation) for 11 years of organizing this hip hop institution. And congrats to Miss Paloma aka Papa Lo Down for helping coordinate the Estria Graffiti Battle happening simultaneously. The Pinays/Pinoys definitely represented.

Here's some pics and vids of the event:

Graffiti art surrounds the park, as graff writers compete for the Estria Battle crown

What's a hip hop event without Brazilian capoeira and Pacquiao jackets?

What's a pop battle without a Joey Guila sighting?

Pop battle judges at the bottom left. That's Bionic (John Bayani) of Supreme Soul far left.

Mighty 4 onlookers get down to Zapp and Roger in this spontaneous cipher

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Sign of the Crossover: Bay Area edition

Congrats to Kularts for a successful first PeliKULa! Film Series show this past Sunday in San Francisco! Big ups to Ninoy Brown/FOBBDeep for holdin it down for me, and to Antonio for doing the damn thang. Thanks for everyone who attended and supported me, Eric, and all the talented filmmakers who participated.

I'll be up in SF this week to present my paper entitled "Sign of the Crossover: Mainstreaming Filipino Liminality" at the San Francisco State University Ethnic Studies Conference on Thursday at 11:00am in Rosa Parks-A.

What's that paper all about? Glad you asked. Looking at Manny Pacquiao and Filipino Americans in reality TV shows, I pose questions concerning a "brown" Asian American. Can Asian America (with all its loaded connotations) ever signify a distinct Filipinoness? Or will Asian American forever be assigned an East Asian (Japanese, Chinese, etc.) register? Can the emerging/insurgent Filipino majority redefine Asianness in the U.S.? Should Filipinos even be considered Asian American?

On another note, 40 years of Ethnic Studies is amazing! No 40 acres, but 40 years don't hurt. Keep on keepin on SFSU! 40 years of alternative, relevant, and resistant education. Word?

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On growing up Fil Am today: from "fobby" to fly

Yesterday was a good day. After a great line-up of NCAA football games, the night ushered in a new era of boxing with the victory of Manny Pacquiao, and the end of a legendary era with the womping of Oscar De La Hoya.

Sitting there at a homey's pad in Historic Filipino in LA (click here for a glimpse of us celebrating the TKO) with a gang of barking Brown folks, BBQ and boxing, I reflected on how growing up Fil Am today is so different than back in the 90s. Granted that I grew up in the South (in a very red county) and there weren't as many Filipinos as there are in the West Coast, I think in general, young Fil Ams have so much more opportunities to demonstrate their pride. I mean, under one house there was the Pacman (on the TV), Kiwi, Bam, Krish, and a whole host of Fil Am community artists and activists. LA may be an anomaly in comparison to the entirety of the U.S. because of its large and historic Fil Am community, but these folks, especially the artists, have an unprecedented reach to inspire young folks nationally. And with outlets like Heavy Rotation, I suppose a reach to inspire internationally.

Maybe its an internets-age thing. But I just have a sense that if it were even just 6 years ago, young Fil Ams wouldn't so much be rockin the Philippine flag sweaters, Bonifacio T's, and tri-star/sun caps. Nor would they be rappin in Tagalog. It must be noted, the growth in this Pin@y "pride" has to be linked with the explosion of the fashion designers (i.e. Beatrock), which by the way these Filipino-themed T's are not a new thing--think Tsinilas (based in Florida), Tribal Pinoy, or Downright Pinoy.

(Sports + hip hop + fashion + internet = growth in the reach of Pin@y "pride"?)

Maybe I'm wrong, and this is really a West Coast thing that has been happening strong before I moved here. Thoughts?* My point is that it is a special time to be a young Fil Am today (and maybe more specifically Fil Am masculinity). Where as in the 90s, we had a very Afro-centric hip hop, not the "Filipino-conscious" (which is not wholly separate from Afro-centric tradition, just as a note) hip hop --both men and women artists--we enjoy today. We didn't have a Manny Pacquiao. We didn't have a whole army of Pin@ys on reality TV (check out Bam's posting on "Reality and Rice"). And the fashion? Sure, there was the few Filipino t-shirt brands I would rock, but I would get clowned for being "fobby," a denigrating term people used to describe being "too Filipino." Not so much today. Today its a badge of pride and not shame to have Manny emblazoned on your shirt.** How many Pac Man shirts were there at the Bridge's show after the fight? Dang. A sista was even rockin a Philippine flag on her necklace.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the South is just a different animal. Maybe because the South and the East Coast in total doesn't have a "Pilipino Culture Night" (here and here) tradition. Maybe cuz there's no FPAC or Pistahan there. There are varying opportunities and spaces to learn and express "Filipinoness." Today, it seems like those opportunities and spaces have reached beyond expectation.

I mean, in the Souf, we did have Santo Nino and Gang Starr, but that didn't seem to be enough mayn.




From "fobby" to "fly". I hope it lasts long.

Let me have it...

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*I get a sense that young Pin@ys in the 90s were also more immersed in gang culture. Pride for sure, but qualitatively different, in ways I can't articulate yet.
**I think that the Filipino-themed fashion today is more likely linked to politically-conscious movements, and not only a desire to look cute in a Pin@y tee.

Keep the Crossover / What Color is a Filipino?

"Fucker was too fast." Manny KOs David Diaz

The Faux-Crossover: The Year of Pin@ys on TV

Manny Pacquiao- Unstoppable world boxing champion
Dale Tilde- Top six on Bravo's Top Chef
JabbaWockeez- America's Best Dance Crew champs
Ramiele Malubay- American Idol top ten winner
Team Millenia, Supreme Soul, Boogie Bots, SoReal Cru, Super Cr3w, and at least one member in all the other crews in Season Two of America's Best Dance Crew
SickStep- So You Think You Can Dance
Michelle Camaya (Mochi)- Step It Up and Dance runner-up
DJ Neil Armstrong- DJ for Jay-Z's Heart of the City Tour
Any more?

DJ Neil Armstrong postin up with Jay

The folks mentioned above are not unique, really. Filipinos have been representing on TV and in sports for a long time. The difference with these cats is 1) that they make more of an effort to project the fact that they Filipino. And 2) there really hasn't been this many (unambiguous) Pin@ys on at once. Flip a channel, you get a flip. Wild!

With so many Filipinos making an appearance in the mainstream, are they going crossover? When I say crossover, I mean crossover in the Death of Rhythm and Blues by Nelson George sense. Yes, in the EPMD-sense:

"The rap era's outta control, brother's sellin their soul
To go gold, going, going, gone, another rapper sold"

(As a side note, peep this dope posting on defining moments of rap's crossover.)

So, are Filipinos crossing over? I would argue: No. First of all, Filipinos are not (yet?) trying to appeal to the (white) majority by sacrificing their aesthetics, politics, or identity in order to be more marketable. Pin@ys simply doing what they do (dancing, boxing, writing, singing, cooking). And secondly, it is difficult to pinpoint a distinct "Filipino aesthetic" in the first place. Whereas Black musical traditions are well-documented and distinguishable (you ever been to a Black church, or a White church whose choir awkwardly played Gospel? Check the hand claps yo), defining what "sounds" or "looks" Filipino is more challenging. So how would we know if our aesthetics are compromised?

But for sure, Pin@ys are getting more and more shine in the mainstream; in a sense we have "crossed" over. But more like a "faux-crossover" if you will: the attention, without the desperate catering.* (Of course, the faux-crossover is also a function of the "problem of invisibility" among our community.)

Even though it is hard to identify what is clearly Filipino, people can pretend they know what is Filipino. On top of becoming more dominant demographically, as Filipinos get more and more notoriety on TV and in sports (it ain't slowin down kid!), it is interesting to ask: what racial camp will they be lumped in? What accents will be used when Filipinos are portrayed on TV? What music will they be associated with? (For Latinos, the consensus seems to be Salsa. For Hawaiians, Don Ho). What color is a Filipino? Yellow? Brown? Neither?

I'm fascinated by the possibilities. It might be the lumping of diverse and even conflicting groups, like Latinos have been marketed as a homogenous whole (hey, Latinos can be Black, Brown, White, even Asian!), or a redefining of Filipinos in some "other" category (sort of like how "Arab" and "South Asian" gained popular traction post-911, when much of U.S. history has been predominantly a Black/White story). But the funny thing for Filipinos is their obvious colonial relationship with the U.S., so "othering" us like that of Arabs or South Asians would be awkward on both sides, like someone's boss bumping into a fired employee at the grocery store check out.

Krishtine de Leon, the winner of MTV's "I'm From Rolling Stone" reality TV show (2007), ran into some (some is an understatement) of these ironies and contradictions as a Filipina contestant on the show. Type-casting a Pin@y is kinda difficult, and viewers tried to register Krishtine's look, speech, and actions. Critical of being encompassed in the "Asian" or "Chinese" category, Krish made it clear: "I am PINAY. A Filipina woman. I am not an "Asian with a Latino Accent."

So as you watch them Pin@ys rock the stage on MTV and Pacquiao rise in boxing supremacy, let's wait and see how we are interpreted.

2008 is a historic year! The faux-crossover begins! And yes, it will be awkward...





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*BIG NOTE: Unless, you count the watered-down nature of MTV and the need for talented Pin@y dance crews to be "crowd pleasers" rather than push aesthetic limits as dancers who happen to have brown faces.