What is it like in Manila? Truth? Heartbreak at US racial violence

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Dinner table conversation in Manila where 25 million Filipinos are locked in their homes for Easter, is soft emotion-filled.

Many sisters, doctors and nurses, went to America to help fight COVID. Now the newscasts say many are dead or getting beat up.

“Who are our friends,” asks nurse Karinna Angeles rhetorically as she sat down for dinner, last night, the last night of March.

“All week the news media has been talking about an armada of China boats set to invade Philippines’ waters,” said her sister. “China is not our friend,” Leticia added.

“Well they already did invade us and took our fisheries,” said Karinna, “so why do we worry about that?”

The family had been debating the difficulties Philippines’ families were exposed to as the country failed to mitigate a third wave of COVID-19, “because,” suggested Karinna, “of the hogging of vaccines by rich countries and the under-vaccination here in the Philippines.”

“We have other problems none the least of which are the potent variations of the worst of SARS-CoV-2 from South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil, and even our own variant which is described as very nasty,” said mamma, still a working nurse past retirement.  She added that the media has been reporting bad news daily.

“Our family needs to sing our praise to the Lord, Jesus Christ,” said mamma, a devout Catholic.

It was Easter, the most special time of year since anyone in Manila could remember. But even the Catholic Church said, “Don’t sing.”

“Now, a year since dad got sick, our men are all gone. COVID-19 has taken the men of the family first,” said mamma.

Medical workers lost to COVID-19 in the USA disproportionately Filipino

According to National Nurses United of the USA, 67 (31.5 percent) of the 213 registered nurses who died initially of Covid-19 and related complications are Filipino. Filipinos make up 4 percent of registered nurses in the United States. More than half of registered nurses of color who have died to date have been Filipino (54 percent). Photo courtesy National Nurses United Union.

 

At home, Filipinos have a runaway pandemic to worry about.

While the department of health machines used to evaluate the genomic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains have been contaminated and hence unusable, and no results have been available since 19 March because of  the effectively “broken” equipment, it is no less true that the country has recorded cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, the B.1.351 variant from South Africa, the P.1 variant from Brazil, and 104 cases of the P.3

Philippines Cumulative Cases today: 747288,
Total reported deaths: 13297,
Recoveries: 603746
Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19 

 

Stunned by American racism, Grandma is the same age, 83, as ‘Lola’ who suffered a racist attack on the US West Coast a month ago. Lola says she is getting better.

 

Another elderly Filipino woman was beaten down on Monday in a despicable attack seems now commonplace in the USA, against Asians, Asians who have been loyal friends to America, that America takes for granted in its war against China.

This smashed-down Philippines lady is the same age and size as mamma now sitting at the head of the family table, where Dad had once been.

As the violent video below popped up on the TV screen again in the corner of the room, Karinna took her mother’s hand in hers. Her sister took the other. The whole family embraced mamma.

Someone squealed when the security guard pushed the door closed on the broken and fallen woman as the extreme violence put the dear soul in the dirt, bleeding.

 

As she embraced her family and thanked them for their love, mamma said, “This is what we have. We don’t need friends.”

The Angeles family cried, hugged and wished each other, 

“Happy Easter”.

Micheal John