BICULTURALISM: JORDAN FARALAN.

I remember landing in the Philippines last summer in 2017 for an Anakbayan Exposure Trip feeling so othered, so privileged, so American. But kasamas (comrades) on the ground swiftly taught me to shift my Western framework - that this is exactly what US imperialism and colonial mentality does - it makes Filipinos abroad disconnect from our identity as Filipinos. They told me that it was incorrect to think that just because I was born in the US that my activism was “in solidarity” with Filipinos in the PH - I am a Filipina who was displaced from her homeland, so our struggles and the main enemy remain the same. I am not in solidarity with my own people … I am part of them. The way we organize will particularize to where we’re at, but I must never think I’m not part of the same revolution.​ It can be so easy to think that the Philippines is another world away.

It can be easy to disconnect with things going on back home: a typhoon, a corrupt politician, a balikbayan box lost in transit. I have learned that this disconnect is purposefully taught to us. It is a tool we know well that has been used to divide and conquer.   

And as a Filipino in the US, we know that colonial mentality is rooted deep in our people. It then becomes our duty to resist the US’ hold on us as we are displaced to this land. US Filipinos resisting the very system that keeps our kababayan oppressed has a monumental impact. It needs to be stronger.  

May we once again feel more rooted in our people. May we experience the love of kasamas deeper than before. May we see more clearly what it can look like to win. May we collectively continue reframing what we were taught about activism here in the US and get closer to reclaiming who we were meant to be. This is what it means to be Filipino American. It means we must fight for our people and ourselves.


Learn more about Jordan!
Bio: ​Jordan Faralan is a scorpio, collage maker, 2015 UW Foster School of Business grad, and former FASA sa UW PR Chair. She currently works at Powerful Voices serving young girls of color as the Communications + Community Engagement Coordinator, puts on Fil Am arts and cultural events as ⅕ of Kapatid Kollective, and fights capitalism and imperialism as Anakbayan Seattle’s Chairperson.