Over the past several years, I've encountered increasing numbers of young Filipino-American kids from the generation right behind ours. It's refreshing to know that their desire to reconnect with the culture of their ancestral homeland is more fervent than ever before.
I had the privilege of seeing Deep Foundation in our fall fundraiser for READ Philippines. I got goosebumps back then, and I got them again tonight, while watching this.
I know that our own kids will probably stop looking to us as suitable role models once they hit their teen years. When that time comes, I really hope that culturally literate kids like these will be around to serve as positive role models for them.
4 comments:
http://www.pnoyapparel.com/home.php
Thanks for this link, Soulsnax! It got a great discussion about role models going in our house. I hope they'll wear barongs in some future video. What an awesome juxtaposition that'd be, imo!
Elizabeth:
I'd love to know what kind of discussion you had regarding role models, especially since Deep Foundation are a group of twenty-something hip-hop artists.
Do you have kids, and if so, are they fans of the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus?
Soulsnax: My kids are too young to even be aware of the Jonas Brothers and Miley, thankfully, so the discussion was between my husband and me. We were talking about the challenges of finding entertainers who authentically represent, and in a positive way, our kids' experience and heritage.
Funny, if slightly embarrassing, story: my kindergartener came home a while back saying that his teacher had been discussing segregation and prejudice (a unit on Martin Luther King, Jr.) and that she'd been impressed when he raised his hand and shared that a long time ago in California there were signs that read "Positively No Filipinos Allowed". Glad he remembered it, but also glad she didn't bring it up in parent-teacher conferences. The source of this great civil rights lesson? Yep, Bebot (Generation 1). Look, we got limited options. :D
Post a Comment