Desperate Housewives slur
Razing like a wild fire in the Filipino communities in the United States, in the Philippines, and around the world, the protest against Disney/ABC7 TV networks resulting from a racial slur made in the premier episode of Desperate Housewives televised Sunday, September 30, 2007, is feverishly edging towards a class action suit.
In that particular show, Susan (played by Teri Hatcher), was told by her gynecologist that she was hitting menopause, to which she said, "… before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure that they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines."
Angry reactions from various groups of Filipino-Americans, including those in the Philippines, led to an online petition, which has so far been signed by more than 100,000, massive emailing, a rally and street protest. The Filipino United Network, together with APPA, NaFFAA, NAFCON, and Fil-Am medical alumni associations, is now considering a class action suit against Disney/ABC media network.
There are about 22,000 Filipino physicians in the United States, who are caring for the Americans and other people in this country. Before they are licensed to practice in whichever State they may be, they had to pass a stringent competency exam, a medical board exam, go through internship and residency training in the USA, some of them, for a total of seven to 8 years. Then, they had to take two more rigid exams for their specialty and subspecialty. Actually, they take more exams than American graduates do, before they are licensed in the United States.
There are hundreds of Filipino-Americans who are high ranking professors in the academe, in training hospitals, teaching and training young American medical graduates. The statistics show that, proportionately, there more Filipino physicians who are specialists and sub-specialists in the United States, compared to American graduates.
We learned as a consequence of all this that one of the anesthesiologists of President Reagan when he was operated on for gunshot wound was a Filipino; the physician who was consulted by American physicians and who treated President Reagan for an infection while he was in office was a Filipina; and that one of the physicians of former President Bill Clinton d Vice President Al Gore was a Filipina.
And all you have to do is to ask those millions and millions of American patients of Filipino-American physicians in the United States to find out about their competence, performance, compassion, and bedside manner. You might even be surprised that many of the Americans would rather be under the care of Filipino-American physicians.
While we know that Teri Hatcher only read what was on her script, she should have known better. We vehemently condemn the insulting and degrading implication of the statement in question as written by the insensitive and evidently racist screen writer and the callousness and negligence of the producers and your network to have allowed it to air. They have maligned and insulted our country and the Filipino physicians, who, by any measure, had more education than Teri Hatcher, or any of the producers, writers of Disney/ABC7 involved in this deplorable incident.
We are hereby demanding for a genuine and sincere public apology from Disney/ABC7, one that is televised during one of the future episodes of the Desperate Housewives, and a pledge not to allow similar derogatory and demeaning statements or jokes to be aired on their network.
Furthermore, we ask the Disney/ABC media group to produce a historical documentary about the Filipino physicians in the United States the past half a century, their trials and tribulations, the role they play in the US medical academe, in residency training and university hospitals, and their achievement and contributions to the healthcare of America, and to the American society as a whole.
Doing this will lend more credence and sincerity to their apology, and at the same time provide truthful and factual information for the American public, and the world, about the Filipino physicians in the United States, the nation where truth is as sacred as individual reputation and honor themselves.
(Dr. Chua is the Chairman of Filipino United Network and a health columnist of The News Today - Iloilo.)