Does Trump have a Filipino problem?
By virtue of the lasting curse of Spanish colonialism, Filipinos who bear the surname of the colonizer find themselves apt to be politically profiled.
At least they would, by one Donald Trump, the presumptive standard bearer of the Republican Party in the U.S.
That’s a long-winded way of saying he wants to be president, although some of the things he’s said this past week should immediately disqualify him from being the leader of as diverse a country as America.
That’s what I thought when Trump started this mess about Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
When I first heard Trump utter the name of Curiel this week, the presidential candidate was campaigning in San Diego and talking about how Curiel was releasing embarrassing documents regarding two class-action lawsuits against Trump University.
Trump said, “I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He’s a hater.”
And then he added something about how he believed the judge was “Mexican.”
He wasn’t sure. But think about that. Trump thinks a federal court judge in America is “Mexican.” And that being a “Mexican” would obviously bias the judge against Trump.
That’s straight up racist logic, as if the judge’s race has anything to do with his carrying out the law.
And what if the good judge with the Spanish surname were a Filipino? With a last name like Guillermo, Garcia, DelaCruz. It happens.
All good Mexican names, right?
Trump would’ve have stereotyped us and gotten it wrong.
But Trump has it wrong with Curiel, too.
Turns out Curiel is as American as it gets. Born in the heart of the Midwest in Indiana to Mexican immigrants. There is no doubt about it. There’s not even a Ted Cruz-type doubt that Curiel is 100 percent American.
So to say that Curiel can’t do his job because he’s “Mexican,” and that he ought to remove himself from the case?
That’s just plain old fashioned racism.
Can’t have that in the land of the free.
But it’s a good thing we still have a free press in the U.S. where reporters can ask Trump questions to explain his racism in his own words.
And there was CNN’s Jake Tapper asking Trump to clarify:
Tapper: “If you are saying he can’t do his job because of his race is that not the definition of racism?”
Trump: “No, I don’t think so at all.”
Tapper: “No?”
Trump: “No, he’s proud of his heritage. I respect him for that.”
Tapper: “But you say he can’t do his job because of that.”
Trump: “He’s proud of his heritage. OK. I’m building a wall….He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he’s giving us very unfair rulings.”
Trump was clearly blinded by race.
Even a Mexican American was still a Mexican to Trump.
He couldn’t make a distinction.
He makes all immigrants and sons and daughters of immigrants born on U.S. soil, all foreigners, not to be trusted.
That’s some racist and venal thinking Trump is proudly displaying. But when Trump is in attack mode, he doesn’t think clearly.
So he becomes racist when a Mexican American judge releases records in a lawsuit where Trump University is accused of fraudulently separating older, wealthier people from their money.
Trump University isn’t like Ateneo or LaSalle. Or even UP.
It’s a bloated seminar offering on wealth and real estate strategies to teach people to be just like the Donald. That may or may not include racism.
But it apparently included predatory marketing, complete with a “playbook” where salesman would strong-arm and sweet-talk people out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Felicisimo Limon was one such victim of Trump U., according to a CNN report. He’s part of the class action against Trump U.
Limon, a retired Navy man in his 70s, only met salesman and lesser qualified “instructors.”
And he noticed that much of what he learned was pretty basic and not even college level.
The only thing college-like about the five-day seminar was the cost: nearly $30,000.
The red flag came when Limon was shown a specific trick: paying the unpaid tax debts of the elderly so as to take over the property when the people eventually died.
“When I saw that they were teaching how to steal someone’s house, this not right,” Limon said on the CNN report. “That moment I said babes (to his wife), let’s go home.”
Limon liked the idea of learning the skills of a tycoon like Trump. But he never met Trump.
If he did, Trump would probably call him a “Mexican.”
Limon, of course, is an American Filipino.
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist and commentator who writes from Northern California.
Contact: https://www.fb.com/emilguillermomedia https://www.amok.com
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