05/23/2024
It’s humiliating to see comments in social media making fun of Ms. Bulacan winning the title because of her color. I left Philippines when I was 19 and returned back to witness the same implicit bias that have been the effect of “colonized mentality” marked by a sense of inferiority and a desire to be more like the colonizers. Let’s unpack the invisible knapsack folks. Light or dark colored skin, short or tall, rich or poor - everyone should learn to start “messaging” to love, rather than to hate; to unite, rather than to divide; and embrace diversity with no biases and stereotypes. Perhaps “re-priming” may change our subconscious primed biases through education, but maybe not.
