::Tuesday, January 25, 2005::
AN INVISIBLE VOICE
..According to the New York Times, Median female earning among Filipinos at $51,000 and median household income at $70,500 are both the highest among any immigrant group in New York city. The former is probably due to the predominance of female Filipino health care workers, mostly nurses and physical therapists, skewing the statistic upwards from a relatively modest base of 49,600 Filipinos in a city of millions. The report continues that multiple workers in overcrowded households account for the the high household income among Filipinos where more than one is earning a monthly wage. The tendency to have extended families live together (even among friends) plus the benefits of bonding and helping fellow countrymen in a foreign country are typical of immigrant communities.
Although this is great news for the Filipino community, the silent voice continues to mesmerize. One just doesn't feel the urgency and impetus to turn this collective power of the purse into a force for empowerment and much greater political participation. This has been widely documented in the academe and from the experiences of Filipino-American non-profit groups all over the US. One of the reasons immigrants from third world countries leave their native land is to escape the corrupt political landscape and a political system that is deemed hopeless. This permeates the immigrant's view of politics in the adopted country, thus, the hesitation to get involved. This collides with the highly participatory form of democracy here in the US where the only way to make sure change happens is to open not just one's mouth but equally important - one's wallet.
Link
Although this is great news for the Filipino community, the silent voice continues to mesmerize. One just doesn't feel the urgency and impetus to turn this collective power of the purse into a force for empowerment and much greater political participation. This has been widely documented in the academe and from the experiences of Filipino-American non-profit groups all over the US. One of the reasons immigrants from third world countries leave their native land is to escape the corrupt political landscape and a political system that is deemed hopeless. This permeates the immigrant's view of politics in the adopted country, thus, the hesitation to get involved. This collides with the highly participatory form of democracy here in the US where the only way to make sure change happens is to open not just one's mouth but equally important - one's wallet.
Link
