Pacquiao's recent
demolition of Ricky Hatton signals to the world the undisputable boxing mastery of a pure native Filipino. No mestizo pretensions. No "I'm part this/part that" cultural smoke and mirrors. Pacquiao is unabashedly and unashamedly working class FILIPINO. That is what has the
Mestizo overclass all shook up. Pacquiao represents a threat to all 'refined sensibilities' that supposed breeding and 'class' that undergird Filipino social hierarchy. Manny represents the reality,increasingly shared by indigenous Malay Filipinos, that a little risk and a lot of work will often go reward specially in an OFW setting. His story is a hard right hook against the pervasive anti-moreno RACISM that is prevalent in the Philippines. Self-hate.
Filipino Self-racism. This is what Pacquiao represents--the triumph of the native Filipino will against all odds, against the conventional wisdom that pure native Pinoys are to be doomed to a life of poverty and oblivion--far from the limelight that is reserved to the mestizo and wanna be mestizo. The Philippines is not the sole victim of self-imposed
Mestizo racism. No wonder many people consider
Pacquiao a greater and more relevant HERO than Jose Rizal.
What about you? Did Pacquiao shake your conceptions of class, color, and privilege in the Philippines?
