In the spirit of women’s celebration this month of their achievements throughout history, I think it is an appropriate time for me to talk about the notion of white supremacy here in the Philippines. White supremacy is a general belief in the superiority of Europeans over other peoples of the world, and one of the symptoms of it is that we Filipinos equate lighter skin and more European facial features with beauty.
This adulation of whiteness was instilled in us under the Spanish colonial system. Lucky are those who possess a natural fair-skinned complexion, compared to those who were born dark skinned, because they get many social advantages. Personally, I consider this a primitive way of thinking. But the good news is that it’s simply a perception. In other words, it only exists in our minds.
Let’s put things into perspective. Yes, we still carry some negative patterns of behavior that we inherited from back when we were under colonial rule, and I understand that a lot of these patterns, specifically this notion of white supremacy, are terribly difficult to overcome. But we need to try to overcome this one, because it is inhumane and unchristian, and I don’t really think that we want to be that kind of a people.
One of the ways to stop this collective misguided perception is to start teaching our kids not to judge people according to the color of their skin. We may not be able to change our own perception that fair skin is better than dark skin, but the trick is not to spill out this misguided perception verbally.
All of us often have negative thoughts in our minds, but we usually don’t act on them, for obvious reasons, either because they’re inappropriate, ill-mannered or even illegal. As a professional clinician, I am very sympathetic to all our tendencies including those that are socially unacceptable, for they are simply part of being human. Some of our tendencies are learned, and others are innate. However, as we gain wisdom about life in general, we learn to contain and manage these negative tendencies. We are after all, civilized human beings, and to be civilized, we have to adhere to certain protocols of socially acceptable behavior.
I am inclined to believe that this particular misguided perception is a learned behavior, and is a result of many generations of mental conditioning. This is why this belief is so deep seated, but it also means that it is possible to change it. If, in the wiser part of ourselves, we accept the idea that this white supremacist mentality is something that should be changed, we can exercise self-control and avoid expressing it to others, especially our children, instead of giving it free reign because “that’s just the way it is here in the Philippines.”
Yes, that is the way it is here, but it doesn’t have to go on being that way forever. We protect our children from many things, and from many ideas. We should protect them from this one too. That way, perhaps, one day in the distant future, we will change our society for the better by eliminating this white supremacist mentality and celebrating the colorful diversity of our people.