IT was indeed shocking, to say the least. The comments were pure and unadulterated racism emanating from Filipinos who were reacting to Miss Universe Canada Nova Stevens’ blackness. The remarks are simply too painful and embarrassing to even repeat in this space for they are clear evidence of sheer bigotry and malicious ignorance.
What makes it bizarre is that these all come from people belonging to an ethnic group that has been targeted and equally marginalized for the brownness of our skins, the flatness of our noses and the weird accents when we speak. In our history, we were even likened to uncivilized apes. Some of our compatriots in the Filipino diaspora have been subjected to utter cruelty, from being kicked while walking on a sidewalk in New York to being accosted in public trains to being shooed away in restaurants.
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