Talk about disturbing man! in our own country!



This is a letter to the editor of the Philippine

Collegian published

February 21, 2003





Dear Madam,



I thought it only happens in the novels of Ralph

Ellison. But I was wrong. I met racism face to face at

the entrance of Café Havana in Green Belt Makati last

Saturday, February 8, 2003. As I and my companions

approach the café's door, at around 12 midnight,the

six-foot tall Filipino guard apprehended me. He

consequently told me that I'm not allowed to enter due

to my attire. I would have accepted his alibi if I had

not seen white men in tee shirts freely entering and

leaving the premises. So I countered and ask the

guard, 'why won't you let me in when I am wearing a

long-sleeved shirt, while those white men are just

in their plain tees?' Seemingly irritated by my

question, the guard told me:'Café Havana 'to. Priority

namin ang foreigner.' I was stunned that I remained

standing in front of the entrance. I could not believe

the reality of my experience. But it was not yet

enough for the guard, he ultimately told me:'kung

hindi kita papasukin, may magagawa ka ba?' Surprised

beyond words,I left, bewildered.Looking back at what

happened, I could not blame the security guard alone.

Sometimes some guards are like dogs; they only follow

what their masters wished. Moreover, I'm not insulted

that someone, who cannot even write a decent Spanish

sentence, would verbally push me away from a

pseudo-Hispanic commercial establishment. I'm rather

shocked by the fact that I suffered the most savage

form of racism not in a foreign land but in my own

country and in the hands of people of my color.Café

Havana's management policy is no doubt disturbing and

prejudiced.What happened to me and my companions is

not a purely isolated case, but a determined result of

the management's view that the indio is inferior to

the white man. What happened is nothing but a practice

of the company's unstated racist policy. What happened

is but a ramification of a policy that is

unconsciously propagated by a semi-colonial state, a

state that kowtows to foreign capital. Racism, in

short, is never incidental.Any policy that springs

from racism is indeed not appropriate for any

establishment that gets permit to operate from the

government, a government supposedly by Filipinos. I

wish that Café Havana's management would amend and

reassess its barbaric policy before more people suffer

the same fate. For if it remains firm on its racist

practices, I would suggest that Café Havana put up a

signboard which says: 'Dogs and brown-skinned

natives are not allowed here.' That at least would be

more humane.





Jose Duke Bagulaya

Department of Engish and Comparative Literature

University of the Philippines, Diliman