[ Featuring Co. ]
Before I get too in the weeds about my family tree, there's something
Poignant but relatable to know about me
I'm a total stranger to my people's native tongue
And that's a consequence of stories from before I was young
Martyrdom unsung rung a Pavlovian bell
One way ticket conditioning into cultural hell
So let's start this intersectional historical comparison
With a first generation Filipino American
Now my perspective is vague and the details aren't clear
But let me tell you how my mother's father ended up here
A young 20-something who had something to prove, and
Nothing to lose saw only one path to choose
His shoes were in tatters, but it didn't matter
Between poverty and service, he chose the latter
Enlisted with the occupying military force
His country at the time was a territory of course
No remorse. Grandfather had it figured
Serving the US Navy would take a lot of rigorousness
A test of his best personal convictions
Barely made the weight restrictions, but listen
He served for a number of years near and far
Spent months on a submarine dreaming of the stars
It's hard to imagine living life under the sea
But if he had never done it, there'd have never been a me
Fast forward to civilian life, kids and wife
Settled in California now facing civilian strife
They were immigrants with accents in the 1970s
Seeing racism in action fought by Martin Luther King
It's crazy to consider the length of his servitude
Just to have non-serving "patriots" demand his gratitude
But let's switch up the perspective and start the story again
With a second generation Filipino American
Born in Kodiak Alaska, spent a childhood in Guam
Let me tell you 'bout a person that I'm privileged to call mom
I know this story better which is why I wanna tell it
Although I must admit, there will be a few embellishments
Note the context: the situation's complex
The next of kin bears the sins of this whole mess
But I digress, let's not make this a confessional
The crimes committed turned her into a professional
But I'm ahead of myself, let's shelve that for later
Rewind the time and let's play investigator
In order to cater to the common denominator
My mother's parents had to become cultural abnegators
The lay of the land for descendants of immigration
Incentivised and oftentimes demanded assimilation
Do you need a demonstration? Observe this machination
My mother wasn't fed the food or language of their nation
They changed their last name to look French on paper
Tell me if that happens to Smith, Williams, or Schaffer?
They knew that my mother would have the best fighting chance
If her resume vaguely suggested that her family was from France
But that's the legacy of white supremacy for us
Surrendering to the cultural melting pot
You gotta talk one way, look one way. Sacrifice
The things that make you cook one way. The street's one-way
Anyway, mom became an upstanding American
And when they had another kid, they did it again
Model citizens, white-washed, their lives designer
Culture sanitize away, all while none the wiser
This, of course, would cascade the generation
Survival overshadowed nefarious implication
Such would become a birthright inheritance
For a third generation Filipino American
Let's pivot to a subject that I know with specificity
I'd like to talk about the subject of my own ethnicity
Authenticity has always been a force of mind
Never resigned to be something I didn't self-define
Imagine my surprise to find me none the wiser
Discovering that unbeknownst to me I'm an outsider
Locked outside the gates of genotypical assignment
Met by every elder with a critical indictment
No, I don't speak Tagalog, I swear it's not my fault
The secrets of my ancestry are in an unlocked vault
But I don't know how to open it, I swear to God I've tried
Then they sneer and roll their eyes at me as if I've gone and lied
So I grew up with resentment; I rejected my own folk
When peers would show their pride, I would take it as a joke
I said heinous shit about the people from my motherland
And all of this, quite frankly, was planned far in advance
Racism internalized is the worst kind there is
When you internalize racism external racism wins
And I'll be damned to Hell if I let that shit slip by
I refuse to be the reason that my heritage should die
It took time to unlearn it and address the tragedy
Of how my culture had been forfeit long before I'd even be
From sea to shining sea, this land was made for you and me
Home of the brave, land of the free, if you speak English perfectly
My ancestors conceded to trials and tribulations
Just to give their future progeny a sense of liberation
No condemnation of their justification; with patience
I'll pay the penance to put proper this prevarication
Representation barely counts if it's just Eurocentric
I'm going back to my roots and seeking out the authentic
Learning how to say what I should have been saying often
Ako si Alex Basa; ibabalik ko ang akin
