Chris Nolan can put Batman in full body armor, have him drive a car that looks likes a tank, and make him political, and everyone says, 'Oh, that's OK.' But try making him Filipino, and everyone gets mad.
Flipping through the 'Toronto Star' one day in 2008, I noticed a piece about a phenomenal boxer from the Philippines who had won several different titles in several different weight divisions. Manny Pacquiao's rise from heart-crushing poverty to the top ranks of his sport was astounding.
Maybe he was Filipino. Was that in Asia? Probably. Asia's out-of-control huge.
The film 'Documented,' a project of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Define American campaign, is about my families: the family I was blessed to be born into, and the family of friends, mentors and allies that I found when I moved to the United States at 12, a Filipino kid trying to make sense of my new home in America.
I first visited the Philippines when I was 29. I thought I would feel at home there, but I felt more out of place than I did in the U.S. I discovered I was more American than Filipino. It was shattering because I never felt quite at home in the U.S., either.
Filipinos are called to be outstanding missionaries of faith in Asia
The only thing I can really offer the Filipino people is my sincerity.
When someone told me, 'Ang ganda mo' I answered 'Sana ikaw rin.'
I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for.
I say I have Spanish in me, but I'm not just Spanish. I'm proud of my ethnicities, and I will always be proud of being a Filipino.
