From Miss America to Mr. President
October 19, 2000
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From Miss America to Mr. President
By Emil Guillermo
I woke up this week and found American beauty redefined. Heather Locklear? How about Angela Baraquio? In the new America, the Filipino look is the new standard. The community’s gone from “Little brown monkey” to “Little brown brother” to “Miss America.”
It took about 100 years or so. But it’s happened. We’ve evolved. My pug nose is considered in. To be Filipino is beautiful. Miss America could be my sister.
Angela Perez Baraquio from Honolulu, is the reigning high-heeled, Hula-dancing beauty queen.
If you think this is just Filipino boosterism, you simply do not understand. To some Filipinos in the community, this is better than having a Filipino American in the White House. Not as the navy steward in the pantry, but as president. I mean, this is Miss America. She wears a swimsuit and pumps. And walks!
To Filipinos who see beauty pageants as an art form, there is no greater achievement. Sure you can go to the moon, but can you get decent lumpia? And in zero gravity can you get the sauce to work?
Baraquio’s victory is something greater.
After years of invisibility in the mainstream, and being seen as inferior to accepted standards of beauty, we now have a sudden validation of the multicultural in America. Certainly, no one is about to show Cindy Crawford the door. But it’s getting crowded on the pedestal. Just look at our changing standards. Last weekend’s Miss America was a revelation. Of the three top finalists, Miss Louisiana, Faith Jenkins, was black. Miss California Rita Ng, Asian American. And the winner, Filipino American.
I must confess this year, I was done in by my wife, who suggested that to watch such a cultural event was so lowbrow and sexist, how could I live with myself? How could I live with her? She won. Political correctness kept me from witnessing a moment in Filipino American history. It was tantamount to Lapu Lapu killing Magellan. Only this time, it was a Barbie doll.
I was skeptical at first. Remember Vanessa Williams back in the ’80s? Could there be strange pictures involving tropical fish out there ready for the Enquirer to expose?
Nope, Baraquio is a 24-year-old-elementary gym teacher who teaches at a Catholic parochial school. That means she has probably passed along to her young charges the art of wearing pantyhose under gym socks and plaid. What’s next—a Filipino slugger in another American iconic event, the World Series? The Mets’ Benny Agbayani’s got that covered. There was one slight problem in all these recent flashes of public “Filipinoness.” No one commented on it. Both Agbayani and Baraquio were said to be “Hawaiian.” Makes sense, they’re from Honolulu. But their ethnicity is lost. Instead, their “statehood” is celebrated.
So what explains Miss Louisiana being reported as “black” and Miss California “Asian American”? Baraquio’s “Hawaiian?” There are ethnic Hawaiians, but Baraquio isn’t one of them.
The significance is that since their arrival on the scene in America at the turn of the century, Filipinos have toiled quietly and invisibly. It seems when they get face time, they don’t get the credit they deserve.
There’s only one downside to all this. A run on mail-order brides. Good enough for OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh. Still, the positives outweigh the negatives. When you start the century as “Little brown monkey,” and end up as “Miss America,” that is no small feat. And as October is Filipino American History month, Baraquio and Agbayani couldn’t come at a better time.
The other beauty contest of note this week was the presidential debate. This is the one where George W. tried to charm his way into our hearts right from the start. Not the second debate, where George W. gloated about how effective his state was in handling hate crimes like the James Byrd dragging. The culprits were “death penaltied,” Bush said.
He was so proud about answering hate crime with more hate, he even let out a loud snort of approval.
In St. Louis for the third debate, Bush’s star turn came early when Jim Lehrer opened with a correction saying that it wasn’t a Gore ad that called Bush a “bumbler,” but rather a campaign aide who made the statement. Bush, as if on cue, answered with a kind of grinding audible grin akin to Beavis and Butthead. “Heh, heh, heh,” said Bush. “I’m glad you clarified that. (Heh, heh, heh).” He was a candidate with his own laugh track. Politicos say the winner would be the one who could be both aggressive and charming. But the Bush approach just did not seem presidential. On the other hand, Al Gore did appear to have a greater command of the “Town Hall” format.
Talk about “Town Hall.” There was no diversity in St. Louis. No Latinos. No Asian Americans. Three blacks asked questions, the most notable one on diversity and affirmative action.
Bush didn’t seem comfortable with the question, misrepresenting affirmative action by saying he wasn’t for “quotas,” saying they were “bad.” Instead he was for something he described as “affirmative access.” Sounds like goobledy-gook to me.
Gore challenged Bush and pointed out that affirmative action wasn’t quotas, and that quotas were illegal. When Gore pressed Bush to answer, Bush looked like a little boy with nothing to say, turning to Jim Lehrer like a punch drunk fighter looking for the bell to end the round.
Is this the man to lead a country where a Filipino American can be Miss America?
Home | Opinion Section
The Future of Trade with China
(in National News)Non-Profit Groups in S.F. May Finally See Help in Rent/Space Crisis
(in Bay Area News)
World Business Forum on Asia’s Economic Status
(in Business)
Tagulaylay
(in A&E)
Emil Amok
| The Future of Trade with China (in National News)Non-Profit Groups in S.F. May Finally See Help in Rent/Space Crisis (in Bay Area News) World Business Forum on Asia’s Economic Status Tagulaylay |
From Miss America to Mr. President
By Emil Guillermo
I woke up this week and found American beauty redefined. Heather Locklear? How about Angela Baraquio? In the new America, the Filipino look is the new standard. The community’s gone from “Little brown monkey” to “Little brown brother” to “Miss America.”
It took about 100 years or so. But it’s happened. We’ve evolved. My pug nose is considered in. To be Filipino is beautiful. Miss America could be my sister.
Angela Perez Baraquio from Honolulu, is the reigning high-heeled, Hula-dancing beauty queen.
If you think this is just Filipino boosterism, you simply do not understand. To some Filipinos in the community, this is better than having a Filipino American in the White House. Not as the navy steward in the pantry, but as president. I mean, this is Miss America. She wears a swimsuit and pumps. And walks!
To Filipinos who see beauty pageants as an art form, there is no greater achievement. Sure you can go to the moon, but can you get decent lumpia? And in zero gravity can you get the sauce to work?
Baraquio’s victory is something greater.
After years of invisibility in the mainstream, and being seen as inferior to accepted standards of beauty, we now have a sudden validation of the multicultural in America. Certainly, no one is about to show Cindy Crawford the door. But it’s getting crowded on the pedestal. Just look at our changing standards. Last weekend’s Miss America was a revelation. Of the three top finalists, Miss Louisiana, Faith Jenkins, was black. Miss California Rita Ng, Asian American. And the winner, Filipino American.
I must confess this year, I was done in by my wife, who suggested that to watch such a cultural event was so lowbrow and sexist, how could I live with myself? How could I live with her? She won. Political correctness kept me from witnessing a moment in Filipino American history. It was tantamount to Lapu Lapu killing Magellan. Only this time, it was a Barbie doll.
I was skeptical at first. Remember Vanessa Williams back in the ’80s? Could there be strange pictures involving tropical fish out there ready for the Enquirer to expose?
Nope, Baraquio is a 24-year-old-elementary gym teacher who teaches at a Catholic parochial school. That means she has probably passed along to her young charges the art of wearing pantyhose under gym socks and plaid. What’s next—a Filipino slugger in another American iconic event, the World Series? The Mets’ Benny Agbayani’s got that covered. There was one slight problem in all these recent flashes of public “Filipinoness.” No one commented on it. Both Agbayani and Baraquio were said to be “Hawaiian.” Makes sense, they’re from Honolulu. But their ethnicity is lost. Instead, their “statehood” is celebrated.
So what explains Miss Louisiana being reported as “black” and Miss California “Asian American”? Baraquio’s “Hawaiian?” There are ethnic Hawaiians, but Baraquio isn’t one of them.
The significance is that since their arrival on the scene in America at the turn of the century, Filipinos have toiled quietly and invisibly. It seems when they get face time, they don’t get the credit they deserve.
There’s only one downside to all this. A run on mail-order brides. Good enough for OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh. Still, the positives outweigh the negatives. When you start the century as “Little brown monkey,” and end up as “Miss America,” that is no small feat. And as October is Filipino American History month, Baraquio and Agbayani couldn’t come at a better time.
The other beauty contest of note this week was the presidential debate. This is the one where George W. tried to charm his way into our hearts right from the start. Not the second debate, where George W. gloated about how effective his state was in handling hate crimes like the James Byrd dragging. The culprits were “death penaltied,” Bush said.
He was so proud about answering hate crime with more hate, he even let out a loud snort of approval.
In St. Louis for the third debate, Bush’s star turn came early when Jim Lehrer opened with a correction saying that it wasn’t a Gore ad that called Bush a “bumbler,” but rather a campaign aide who made the statement. Bush, as if on cue, answered with a kind of grinding audible grin akin to Beavis and Butthead. “Heh, heh, heh,” said Bush. “I’m glad you clarified that. (Heh, heh, heh).” He was a candidate with his own laugh track. Politicos say the winner would be the one who could be both aggressive and charming. But the Bush approach just did not seem presidential. On the other hand, Al Gore did appear to have a greater command of the “Town Hall” format.
Talk about “Town Hall.” There was no diversity in St. Louis. No Latinos. No Asian Americans. Three blacks asked questions, the most notable one on diversity and affirmative action.
Bush didn’t seem comfortable with the question, misrepresenting affirmative action by saying he wasn’t for “quotas,” saying they were “bad.” Instead he was for something he described as “affirmative access.” Sounds like goobledy-gook to me.
Gore challenged Bush and pointed out that affirmative action wasn’t quotas, and that quotas were illegal. When Gore pressed Bush to answer, Bush looked like a little boy with nothing to say, turning to Jim Lehrer like a punch drunk fighter looking for the bell to end the round.
Is this the man to lead a country where a Filipino American can be Miss America?
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