The Igorot. Like almost everyone, we live in a nation where to be an indigenous is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because laws are created to give assistance to indigenous tribes like mine. Like NCIP where people i see availing are often capable and can afford an education but the brand of being indigenous is likened to a helpless beggar in need of help. And since it favors us, we grab it. Wereadily admit bring poor over pretending to be rich. I haven't seen an indigenous tribe as successful, as organized, as proud, as good, as united as mine. I see Filipinos not wanting to be Filipinos but I rarely see an Igorot embarassed of their heritage.#Igorotak shirts became a hit. Because this name is so sacred among us. Most of the indigenous tribes on earth are either extinct or lost. Many lost lands. Many were conquered by foreigners. Except, my tribe. 300 plus years of Spanish colonization didn't touch us. Capitalism does.
Igorot men, young and old are brave. Too brave in fact if it involves a deathly stunt and undertaking, the igorot is there. It's not a shock to find too many young Igorot men among the #fallen44. Being brave is a brand preserved and lived by the male specie of this tribe. I'm more proud to be called an Igorot than a Filipino. Because the word Filipino is a remembrance from the Spaniards. The Filipino has been Spaniardized (kinda like Americanized). The Igorot is pure and untainted. To the outside, we are portrayed as ugly, dark, monstrous with a tail. Ignorance is inherited. They scare their babies and kids of that image. It's fine if we are ugly, if we are as dark as charcoal, if we have a tail. But we don't. We're simply a blessed tribe living peacefully in our corner of the world, producing our food, living, laughing and enjoying each other's company. In disputes, we settle, in celebration, we mingle. We are a happy tribe. This young man is one of many goodlooking youths of my tribe. I've grown seeing so many of them, surrounded by them, you can find them in the fields, in the roads (like #carrotman), underground, in front of a sari sari store downing liqour, as silent achievers infiltrating the different branches of knowledge. There is a movement silently going on to educate my fellow humans of this nation of what an Igorot looks like. But the inherited notion of a tailed, dark and monstrous Igorot is hard enough to shake off. So while people can't let go of a fantasy, we thrive, we progress and we continue uplifting our culture, preserving the formula that kept our tribe succeed for the next generation. via Marmay Marcelo Tumil-Ang on FB
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This is where I put all the articles shared to me that have inspired me in a huge way hoping it would be an INSPIRATION to you too!
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