Mommy Dionisia gets flak for 'Negro' comment
MANILA - A civil rights group has chided Dionisia Pacquiao, mother of famed Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, for using the word "Negro" in a public statement.
The Color People Advancement Community (CPAC), a small Las Vegas-based ethnic rights group, was reacting to statements made by Mrs. Pacquiao after her son's match against Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Arena on November 14.
Pacquiao, along with his entourage, had proceeded to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino a few blocks away for a post-fight party and mini-concert.
There, Mrs. Pacquiao gave interviews and described her alarm at watching her son fight it out with Cotto for 12 rounds.
Mrs. Pacquiao also thanked all her son's supporters. "Nagpapasalamat ako hindi lang sa mga Pilipino. At pati na rin sa mga Amerikano at mga Negro. (I thank not only the Filipinos, I also thank Americans and Negroes)," she said.
According to reports from the Bandera tabloid and boxing website Philboxing.com, the CPAC in Las Vegas issued a statement asking Mrs. Pacquiao to refrain from using politically incorrect words in public "so as not to inflame emotional outrage" from groups in the United States.
Political correctness
CPAC spokesman Rodney Surat Whiterspoon said Mrs. Pacquiao "can be forgiven" for the apparent racial slur since "she appeared to have been disoriented when she said the word."
"But someone with basic understanding about the proper use of addressing color[ed] people in the United States should educate Madame Pacquiao," Whiterspoon reportedly said in a press statement on November 16.
The term "Negro" (which means "black" in Spanish and Portuguese) was considered a discriminatory term around the 1960s, around the peak of the African-American civil rights movement that sought to free Blacks from political and social oppression by "the Whites."
In a 1992 study, Tom W. Smith tracked changes in the use of words used to label people of African descent. He found that terms for Blacks shifted from "Colored" to "Negro" to the now commonly accepted terms "Black" and "African American."
Smith said the changes in the use of terms are "attempts by Blacks to redefine themselves and to gain respect and standing in a society that has held them to be subordinate and inferior." abs-cbnNEWS.com
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Ay!!!Ay!!!
Ay!!!!!Dapat dina pinapublic ang interview pag alam nila na nakakasama sa damdamin ng ibang lahi,kong sa Pinas ok nalang naiintindihan sya.Itong Nanay nato kasi! tumahimik muna sana siya,asikasuhin nya nalang yong Apo nya,nakikipagsosyalan pakasi eh,Nay Dionisia,medyo destansya muna,kc kong minsan wala kang control tarak ka ng Tarak,wala ka sa talipapa,Ay!!paano di naman yata pinagsasabihan ng mga Anak buti nalang at di nahihiya ang mga Anak sa pinanggagawa nya sa edad nyan yan.Tabi ka muna dyan sa Pinas kanalang makipag sosyalan.Hoy!!Manny huwag mong pabayaan yong Nanay mong makikipag Tarirat,pagsabihan nyo sya,na kunting hinayhinay naman sya,ginagawang nyong bugaw sa palayan ang Nanay nyo!!hindi nya alam ang ginagawa nya!!Nakakahiya!!
hoy!
HOY DIONISIA! SI MANNY LANG ANG GUSTO NAMIN AT HINDE ANG PANGET MONG MUKHA! (comment edited. Please refrain from using swear words. Thank you --eds.)
re: CPAC
The CPAC is not searchable on the internet. However, several sports writers - notably from Bandera (a subsidiary of the Philippine Daily Inquirer) and veteran sports reporters from Philboxing.com - have confirmed that CPAC is a very small, localized civil rights group in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As the Bandera reporter described, it is a "group within a group."
Also, Dionisia Pacquiao's statement was in no way translated in the article as "n*gger" (although it was translated as n*gger in other publications).
Nevertheless, the issue at hand - according to the CPAC - is not whether Mrs. Pacquiao meant to say "Negro" in a disparaging way, but the fact that she said the word in the United States, where there are different cultural norms.
We hope this has clarified some issues.
Thank you very much for your comments! --Eds.
The CPAC is uninformed!
Open letter to the Color People Advancement Community (BTW, you're impossible to locate on the Web, do you really exist?):
Before you admonish a Filipino for your gross misinterpretation of her words, you should do more research into OUR language.
In the Philippines, where the national language has many words adapted from Spanish, negro has NEVER been equated to "nigger." "Negro" has always simply meant "black," just as "Amerikano" has always meant "white" (often, regardless of nationality). The word "negro" is integral to our language, being the basis of terms such as "negritos" (an indigenous group) or "Negros Occidental" (the name of a province). Are you planning to demand that our government redact these terms as well because you, in your tunnel-visioned view of the world, think they're racist?
Please note, she was speaking in Filipino. Did you even bother getting a qualified translator to consult before you pounced? Get off your high horse and give the happy mother a break.
sleeping byutiy
interpreter fla!
Oo dapat sisihin jan yung
Oo dapat sisihin jan yung translator, mas kasi alam na yun dapat sabihin ,or sana pinalitan nalang nya yung sinabi ni madam..kasi sure na alam nya yun na d dapat banggitin sa US yun., wag nang sisihin c madam kasi baka d nya alam talaga dba...kaya peace!!!
hindi po kayo katulad ng anak nyo!
Nanay Dionisia, 99% ng Filipino sa buong mundo ay kinikilala ang kasikatan at kagalingan ng anak nyong si Manny. siya po ang nagbigay ng karangalan sa ating bansa. basang-basa na po ang Pilipinas sa ibang bansa, mas marami ang kapangitan na maririnig mo kesa sa kagandahan pero ng dahil po sa anak nyong si Manny ay gumanda at tumaas ang tingin ng ibang bansa sa ating mga Filipino at sa ating mahal na bansang Pilinas. PERO SA KABILA PO NG PAG-TINGALA AT SA MATAAS NA PAGTINGIN NAMIN KAY MANNY, HINDI PO IBIG SABIHIN NUN AY GANUN DIN PO ANG PAGTINGIN AT PAGKILALA NAMIN SA INYO. KAYA SANA PO MEDYO ITIKOM PO NINYO ANG BIBIG NYO, BAKA MASIRA ANG MAGANDANG PAGTINGIN AT RESPETO NG IBANG BANSA KAY MANNY NG DAHIL SA PAGIGING INOSENTE NYO SA MGA BAGAY BAGAY. WAG NYO PONG IPALAGAY NA KASING SIKAT DIN KAYO NI MANNY. nabigyan man po kayo ng magandang pagka-kilala ng mga pilipino esp. sa pinoy showbiz world, hindi po dahil sa magaling kayo, nadala na lang po kayo kc kayo ang ina ni Manny. hinay hinay lang po sa pagbibitiw ng salita kapag ini-interview kayo. advice lang po ito dahil mahal namin si Manny!
nognog
Dapat ung interpreter ung sisihin hindi c dionesia.
Mayabang Kasi
Iyan ang napapala sa mahilig sa publicity. Kasi kulang sa Edukasyon kaya dakdak ng dakdak. Talagang mahirap magkapera ang mga walang pinag aralan at galing sa hirap. Feeling niya maganda siya at marunong... Sana sa susunod mag endorsed na lang siya ng Katol or Baygon insecticide mas bagay ang mukha niya doon.
Next time 'wag nang interbiyuhin iyan at lalo lang tayong pagtatawan ng ibang bansa. Binibigyan pansin pa kasi.
doesn't make sense
its a right word but in the wrong place. if mom dionisia said it here in pinas, its nothing. common word na ang "negro" sa atin at ginagamit pa na pang-alyas like "boy negro". it so happen lng na the interview was done in vegas (USA). kung ako ke pacmom, sasabihin ko, "malay ko ba na offending word yan! eh di i am sori(like GMA), kaya nga me sori eh!"