A Breakdown of the Tagalog Phrase: Egot
FILIPINX PEOPLE: if you are wondering what kind of work you can do to support Black communities, the work has to start within yourself and the internalized prejudices we all carry. Here is one way.
A quick breakdown of the Tagalog phrase : egot
If you have ever referred to say, a darker cousin using this term (or have been that cousin that was called this) or heard one of your Manongs or Manangs say this term in a derogatory way to describe BLACK PEOPLE, then THIS POST IS FOR YOU (which I know is probably ALL OF YOU because this post is for me too).
This phrase came from shortening of Igorot, the darker skinned tribes in Luzon. The Igorot were often brutalized by colonizers, tested on, and even put on display like zoo animals (like in the 1904 World Fair in good ole US of A where they would make them dance and eat dogs). Sound familiar? The phrase is now used to not only describe people who are darker, whether they are dark skinned Filipinx or a black person, but also someone who is ignorant, uncivilized, crude. I can think of another word to describe dark people who act this way.
Years ago on one of my favorite shows, 30 Rock, the character Tracy Jordan sported an EGOT chain (meant to stand for his Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards), and while the show supposedly had no knowledge of what that word meant in the Filipinx community, when I re-watched it recently, seeing a black man wearing that on his chest, I cringed.
This phrase is used to distance us, setting lighter skinned Filipinx folk higher up on social scales and to retain the racial hierarchy within our OWN people. It is a tool of COLORISM. It is an example of the way we value lighter skin in our people, because it connects us with all of our “benevolent colonizers”. Ever wonder what all the beef has always been between Southern Visayan (my people) and Northern tribes? During Spanish colonial rule, Visayan people were seen as more civilized, and more obedient, where Igorot were seen as dirty, and savage. Guess which group was lighter skinned? This division has been ingrained in us through centuries of colonization. And I KNOW some of you lighter skinned people were revered in your family. I know I was as a baby, Aunties used to compliment me all the time on my lighter complexion.
In America it is again used to distance us, not from our countryfolx, but from BLACK HUMANS who are suffering. Their struggle is our struggle. You must recognize this. We are not free until BLACK LIVES are free. This is a not so subtle way of calling people the N-word. You know it and I know it.
I am sorry to any relative, any person that myself or my family has ever called an egot, because we all know we weren’t lovingly referring to their resemblance to the Igorot tribe, we were calling out their darkness.
PLEASE. Stop using this word. Even as a joke within your family. And furthermore CALL THAT SHIT OUT. It’s not ok. We should all be proud of our heritage, not mocked for our skin tone. We can’t afford to cling to our proximity to whiteness anymore. By continuing to be insensitive to why this is harmful within our culture paves the way to the complicity in the suffering of BLACK PEOPLE.
I’m still learning so much about our people. History that wasn’t taught to us. This was a big one to unlearn. I really suggest you all do the same.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER #FILIPINXFORBLACKLIVES #ASIANSFORBLACKLIVES
