Dear Kababayan and Allies:

I heard through the grapevine about a remark made on
an episode of "Desperate Housewives" last night. The scene entailed
Teri Hatcher's character (Susan) at a hospital, being told by her
gynecologist that she might be hitting menopause. Susan replied, "Can I
just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they
are not from some med school in the Philippines. " If you go to abc.com,
you watch the full episode and witness the scene at about 18:50
minutes into the episode.

This type of derogatory remark is not only unnecessary
and hurtful, but is also unfounded, considering the presence of
Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the health care industry.
Filipinos are the second largest immigrant population in the United
States, with many entering the U.S. and passing their U.S. licensing
boards as doctors, nurses, and medical technicians. In fact, the
Philippines produces more U.S. nurses than any other country in the world.
So, to belittle the education, experience, or value of Filipino
Americans in health care is disrespectful and plain and simply ignorant.

As Filipino Americans, we need to band together to
ensure that this type of hateful message is not allowed to continue on
our television and radio airwaves. Given the recent amounts of media
attention that has been given to Michael Richards (against African
Americans), Isaiah Washington (against gays), and Rosie O'Donnell
(against Asian/ Chinese Americans), it is ridiculous that this type of hateful
speech made it through various screenwriters, the show's producers,
the show's actors, and ABC itself. Yet, this isn't the first time that negative
remarks have been made about the Philippines or Filipinos in the past.
In recent years, we've heard one too many "dogeater" comments by
"comedian" Joan Rivers on the red carpet or in her standup act, and I
believe that it is about time that we stand up for ourselves, so that
this type of hateful speech never happens again.

Please join me in expressing your concern,
disappointment, and/or disgust to the producers of ABC.com. You can sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/FilABC/
or you can
reach them directly abc7@abc.com.

And please feel free to forward this widely to other
Filipinos/ Filipino Americans/ Asian Americans/ and other allies.

Sincerely,

Kevin Nadal,
Filipino Performance Artist/ Activist
knadal@gmail.com