Photo by Jonathan Labez for be-mag.com
“I don’t usually see myself as a person of color. My parents are from the Philippines and El Salvador, but I am American. I was raised to be an American. According to my father, my first and middle name (Jonathan Michael) were given to me so as blend in without a second thought. While I hold on to traditions engrained early on from my mother’s Latin American upbringing, I struggle to maintain a conversation in Spanish. I know very little about being Filipino besides the foods my father brought home once a week to remind himself of his childhood. I am the son of two government employees, born and raised in the multicultural city of Los Angeles. I have no connection to foreign soils. I feel no allegiances to ancestries not part of my daily life. I was educated to be an American, under an American system, under American rules. Fairness and equality for all were the doctrines drilled in. If I just abided by the laws of the land and work hard, I could succeed. The American dream is a flag flown without color-bias just as Lady Justice is blind. Impartiality is built into the system that can do no wrong.
Then, why do I feel so un-American the older I get?” - Jonathan Labez for be-mag.com
