George W. Bush on Filipinos and Philippine-Americans

"I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there's a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House.

And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President."

- George W. Bush in a meeting with Pres. Gloria Arroyo
at the White House on June 24, 2008

-Of all the possible "small talk" comments a United States President could utter to another person similar to his stature- a Philippine President, George W. Bush came up with the stupidest blabber ever! While the statement sounded 'harmless' reading from the entire transcript of what transpired from that meeting, I feel a little bit slighted and offended by this comment bordering on racism, and belittling.

Don't your minions of staff brief you about who you're meeting and tell you about the country he/she represents prior to the meet? You are reminded of our great talent every time you eat dinner at the White House? How patronizing! Please. Sorry soon to-be- former Mr. President Bush, I did not get the joke!

George Bush made the comment in reference to Cristeta "Cris" Comerford who was named White House chef in August of 2005 and who still serves as the White House chef to this day! (We will find out if the Obama's will keep Miss Comerford in the White house. We certainly hope so!)

As for this thoughtless comment, George W. Bush will truly leave a mark on this blog. Talk about leaving a lasting impression!

What of Filipino Heroes for Filipinos and Fil-Ams in the United States?

Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse (Asian American History & Culture)

"One hundred years later, Filipinos in the United States and Filipino Americans have every reason to ask what Rizal - along with the revolution he inadvertently inspired some seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean- has to do with student and academic communities in the United States today. They certainly won't appear in most classes on U.S. history, or Asian American OR U.S. ethnic studies for that matter. Why should Americans (even US minorities) concern themselves with FIlipino- or for that matter any extra- or anti- United States- nationalism? If anything, Filipino immigrants taking the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) exam might find more compelling reasons to know the importance of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. than the likes of Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, or Graciano Lopez Jaena- three Filipino intellectuals and publicists who wrote mostly in Spanish, had conflicting loyalties between mother Spain and their native Filipinas, and didn't have much of an opinion on the United States by the time they died in 1896.

Even if thousands of US-based Filipinos and Filipino Americans continue to commemorate Rizal's execution on Rizal Day (December 30), celebrated with food and formal dress everywhere from Alexandria to Detroit, how many of us know or care that del Pilar and Lopez Jaena died of poverty and tuberculosis (the same year Rizal died), neglected and forgotten by everyone, as a new generation of Filipino thinkers and revolutionaries braced itself for a war against the past and future empires of the Western world? And if we did know the history of those who inspired an entire generation to go to war against the superior arms and resources of that vast and powerful North American country, would we care?"

Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse (Asian American History & Culture) (Paperback) by Antonio Tiongson (Editor), Ricardo Gutierrez (Editor), Edgardo Gutierrez (Editor), January 2006

On the Filipino People

"Filipinos have lived 400 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood."

- Carmen Guerero Nakpil, Author