Can Filipinos Claim "Pacific Islander?" | One Down Sponsored by Kumu

By Elle Lavin

Filipinos Americans have commitment issues. We have a complicated history with multiple… countries.

Fil-Ams are now wondering - “Why do people keep mistaking me for a Latino? And Why do I keep mistaking Pacific Islanders as Filipino?”

And can someone please tell me which box to check off for my race!?

So let’s talk about why a study shows 48% of Filipino-Americans choosing to identify as Pacific Islander over Asian, when given the option.

I’m Sapphire Sandalo, and this is Breaking the Tabo, where we talk real shit.

While the Philippines is a collection of islands in the Pacific Ocean, this doesn’t mean that Filipinos should identify themselves as Pacific Islander.

Pacific Islanders are officially specified to be Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Guamanians, Chamorro, Fijian, Tongan, or Marshallese peoples, as well as people of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

A strict definition, none of which includes the Philippines or Filipinos.

BUT studies do show that Filipinos and some groups of Pacific Islanders both originated from the same ancestors and we can see that we share a few common words in our languages. 

But when Filipino-Americans are asked why they choose to identify as this term, they don’t reference these parallels - they say it’s because we look alike or even, because they relate to how underrepresented Pacific Islanders are.

And Associate Professor of Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona, Anthony Ocampo confirms this.

Ocampo says, “In some ways part of the critique that Filipinos have towards Asian Americans is that it centers the experiences of East Asian groups, right? And so in theory, There is potential for Filipino numbers where Filipinos can essentially inappropriately take over the identity in a way that erases the smaller Pacific Islander groups.”

With this said, we should still be mindful that we also don’t necessarily share all experiences that Pacific Islanders or even other Hispanic groups face today because of their identities. 

Ocampo builds on this, saying, “In my research I asked people about why do you identify as Pacific Islander? And to be honest, most people that I spoke with said they selected Pacific Islander identity not because they had a very strong connection to some larger Pacific Islander social movement but instead they did it as an act of resistance against the Asian category, as a way to show they weren't Asian. They chose Pacific Islander because it signaled to whoever that they were different from other Asians.

There's a lot of Filipinos that I know would choose Pacific Islander identity but aren't necessarily aware of important Pacific Islander community issues whether it be you know, systemic poverty or whether it be, the continued colonization of their lands, whether it be the erasure of indigenous practices and culture.

And so I think in some ways, I understand why Filipinos picked Pacific Islander identity, but I also think that it can be problematic as well.”

At the end of the day, identity and race is not about what is true. It’s about how it can be used: to include or exclude others,

When you think of Italian-Americans, what race do you think of? White. 

Which feels like it makes perfect sense now, but in the early 1900s, they actually weren’t! Because they were newly immigrating, they were seen as inferior and foreign.

Italian-Americans had a choice: fight to be included in the white identity or align with people of color, who they knew were dealing with worse discrimination than they were. 

To prove they were white, they abused and excluded people of color in the same way white people did. And now, we don’t question what race they are. 

Who is classified as a certain race and the boundaries that make up that race shift all the time. 

That real impact is why we even use the term Asian-American.

“When you're a minority group in the United States and your group is experiencing racism and marginalization, oftentimes it's these identity categories that can become resources or tools for you to unite under a common cause, right,” Ocampo explains.

“During the 1960s, when Filipino-American actors were fighting for civil rights, they started to realize that the numbers were kind of small. 

And so, it made sense for them to band together with Chinese Americans activists and Japanese American activists under the umbrella Asian American to then fight for things that they were denied at the time, even if they were full-fledged Americans.” 

People in the diaspora also face problems of identity. 

In identifying as Filipino, folks in the Middle East face stereotyping, as caretakers, cashiers, and service workers. And while these hold some truth, that’s not all they are. 

Paolo Benitez, a content associate for Illustrado Magazine, a magazine aimed towards Filipinos living in the United Arab Emirates, speaks to this. 

“They say that the greatest export of the Philippines to the world is its people. It’s no secret that Filipinos have had a profound impact on the region for decades now. We comprise of a large percentage of the expat and workforce populations out there. It’s important to know that for every Filipino maid, and every Filipino cashier, there is a Filipino entrepreneur. There is a Filipino diplomat making waves and there are Filipino trailblazers, blazing trails, here in the Middle East.”

Regardless of how we choose to identify and the experiences that set us apart, we still have to stand in solidarity with our community and empower one another. 

Because no matter the color of our skin the shape of our eyes, or the language we speak,

When it comes down to it, we can’t deny that we all have one thing in common.

We’re Filipino.

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Thank you to Kumu for sponsoring this episode! Kumu is the top social app in the Philippines where you can livestream, play live games, and even shop online! And there’s no better Filipino representation than on this app - where you can meet Filipinos from Australia to the Middle East to the Philippines and back to America. Download the app, and let’s continue these conversations on livestream. https://app.kumu.ph/OneDown

Writer: Elle Raine Lavin is a Filipina American storyteller and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. Elle Raine is pursuing a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Communications at Stanford University. She also currently works as a Video Producer at Stanford's Digital Civil Society Lab while also serving as a Social Media Manager for her university's Pilipinx American Student Union