Are You Filipino Enough If You Are Mixed?
How genetics can appear differently in mixed Filipino siblings
If you’ve been asking yourself this question, I hear you.
I grew up in a small Filipino community in Montana, and when I got older I began having this complex. Without my mother, would people believe me if I said that I was Filipino? Better to hide behind my mom’s identity than to risk being othered.
Here are my thoughts on 4 common things you might be asking yourself…
1. Do I even look Filipino?
This is the most common question I hear from mixed Filipinos. There are over 7,100 islands in the Philippines and over 130 different ethnic groups. Are you comparing yourself to a specific ethnic group that you might not have heritage from?
How you look adds to the library of ways that a Filipino person can look. The more you learn to notice in what ways you look Filipino, the better at discerning you will be when you encounter other mixed people.
2. I don’t speak Tagalog. Can I claim Filipino identity?
There are many reasons why you may not have been taught Taglaog, one of them being survival and assimilation. But for perspective, there are over 180 different languages in the Philippines and maybe your relatives did not speak Tagalog before they immigrated to the United States.
My mother is Cebuano and learned Tagalog after she immigrated to Montana. It would be silly to call my mother less Filipino for not knowing Tagalog when she moved here. She learned and so can you. I’ve been taking lessons in Cebuano for the last couple of years and have built a really sweet relationship with my tutor, I’ve learned a lot of nuances about the language and culture from having a relationship with a real person while learning. You can do the same for Tagalog or another Filipino language. It won’t make you more Filipino, but it will certainly help you better understand your existing cultural relationship and strengthen it.
3. What if I didn’t grow up in a Filipino community?
I grew up in a small community with about 9 Filipino mothers at the time. That was Helena, Montana in the 90s. If there are Filipinos there, there are Filipinos everywhere. Sometimes I feel less Filipino in comparison to those in the Bay Area or LA that grew up in large Filipino communities. But just like there are different subcultures all over the United States defined by region, the same applies to Filipino Americans. I saw a video once of Midwest Asians versus, West Coast Asians, versus East Coast Asians, and I related to the Midwest ones—the ones that grew up in very homogenous, mountain towns. Ultimately, when it comes to your identity, the only community you need to claim is family.
4. What if I am only 1/4 Filipino?
I don’t think many Americans realize how much a quarter is in the overall make up of DNA percentages, especially if your family has been American for generations. We live in a melting pot.
I did a DNA test and to no surprise it is made up of many ethnicities—from my mother, only two notes: Cebuano and a hint of a Chinese ancestor. From a DNA test, you realize how much a single ethnicity can stand apart from other ethnicities when its next to many small percentages. For some, 25% percent could very well could be a leading DNA marker. Seeing my ethnic make up has made me look at racial percentages in a very different way. But put simply—percentage is irrelevant, it’s lived experience and connection to culture that matters.
