Desperate Housewives - Desperately Needs Pointers from the Filipino American Community

by Terri Oshiro
10/27/07

A racist comment made by Teri Hatcher’s character on the TV series Desperate Housewives which aired on September 30, 2007 set a wave of protest from the Filipino American community and the Philippine government. During the show, Hatcher was told by her gynecologist that she may be entering menopause. Hatcher responds with, “Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines.”

The Filipino American community has organized a tour de force campaign against racism in this Desperate Housewives episode through petition drives, demonstrations, and rallies. An on-line petition collected close to 85,000 signatures, and was sent to the producers of “Desperate Housewives.” A segment of the petition reads, “To belittle the education, experience, or value of Filipino Americans in health care is extremely disrespectful and plain and simply ignorant... As Filipino Americans and allies, we band together to ensure that this type of hateful message should not be allowed to continue on our television and radio airwaves... it is ridiculous that it made it through various screenwriters, the show’s producers, the show’s actors, and ABC itself...”

Filipino American organizations have joined together to fight this case of anti-Asian and anti-immigrant racism in the media. Those at the forefront include the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), Association of Philippine Physicians in America (APPA), the New York based Filipino Artists, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, a militant coalition also based in New York, the Philippine Forum, advocacy groups, and the Washington D.C. based Migrant Heritage Commission. They participated in a demonstration in front of the ABC offices in New York on October 6, 2007, and a meeting with ABC’s Vice President and Director of Diversity Strategies, Robert Mendez. They discussed the racist event itself, measures to avoid similar situations in the future, and ways to improve the network’s images of immigrant and minority communities.
National Chair of NaFFAA, Alma Kern said, “it is outrageous that in this day and age, popular media continue to demean and insult Filipinos in America. For more than one hundred years, we have made valuable contributions to this country, not only as health professionals but as child care providers and home care givers. These dedicated, diligent and competent workers do not deserve to be slandered and stereotyped in such a prejudicial manner if only to evoke laughter.”

A segment of a statement from the youth of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan reads, “Progressive Filipino American youth in New York and New Jersey strongly condemn ABC’s Desperate Housewives executive producer and writer Marc Cherry... for the racist remark made against Filipinos in the Sept. 30, 2007 episode... Filipino youth, conscious and aware of our history, know that it was the US who set up the Philippine education system in the the first place when the Philippines was a direct colony of the US in the early 1900s... The US opens and closes its doors to immigrants based not on qualifications, but on the need for labor. This was the case at the height of the “Brain Drain’ in the 70’s and 80’s when there was an influx of medical professionals migrating from the Philippines into the US, and US immigration laws were relatively lenient. However, once saturated with medical professionals, the US closed its doors by setting up stricter immigration policies.”

In addition to the organizing generated from the Filipino American community in the US towards the racist “Housewives” episode, the Philippine government is seeking an apology from ABC. Eduardo Ermita, the executive secretary serving for the Philippine government said, “Yes, I think we should (seek an apology) on behalf of our medical professionals in the US. On the face, we can look at it a racial slur. We are looked down upon too much, considering the number of our medical professionals in the US.”

As a result of the organizing efforts of the Filipino American community, ABC is taking immediate steps to wipe out the offending scene from all DVD editions and rebroadcasts. ABC made a brief statement issuing its sincere apologies, saying that it had “no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines.” ABC also sent an official apology to the Philippine government through the Department of Foreign Affairs.

As Dr. Alex Fangonil of the APPA said, “... There is still a constant need to increase the underserved populations in America’s rural areas, not to mention the burgeoning urban areas, plus the need to fill the supply of medical and paramedical personnel in the war fronts of Iraq and Afghanistan. This demand could not have been more evident than a big sun-bleached, faded billboard displayed on a seaside highway toward Cebu City, with the face of US President George W. Bush and the words “We welcome doctors, nurses, caregivers, and IT technicians in out country!”