A few days ago one of my dormmates told me that there is an issue going around the show Desperate Housewives. I’m not a big fan of the show, but I heard it’s a really good show. Apparently, Susan (played by Teri Hatcher, who formerly played Lois Lane in the Superman show “Lois and Clark”), made a racist comment, saying “Can I just see those diplomas ’cause I just want to make sure that they’re not from some med school in the Philippines”.

Those are pretty big words to say, and I don’t know if she knew the weight of her words when she said them. What a grand welcome for someone like me, a graduate and affiliate of 2 great med schools of the Philippines (De La Salle Health Sciences Campus and University of the Philippines - Philippine General Hospital). It’s kind of intimidating to think that I myself am planning to go to America to learn more about medicine and surgery, and that I may face racist comments like that. I can’t help but take it personally. Then again, this issue also made me even more eager to do my residency in the US, so that I can show them what a Filipino med school graduate can do.

“Black Jokes” are not being said much anymore since the African Americans learned to take a stand and to show them how much they are able to do. Most of the great singers nowadays are black, like Alicia Keys, Beyonce, and Babyface and Usher. They knew they were good, and so they didn’t let the color of their skin get in the way of their career.

I went into the medical career because I believe that I could make a difference just as much as any doctor out there. In real practice, no one hardly looks at your diploma to know if you are a good doctor or not. It doesn’t really matter to patients if you are from Harvard or if you are from PGH. What matters to patients is that they must have a doctor who shows sincere concern.

I also demand a public apology from the writers of Desperate Housewives and from Teri Hatcher herself for making such a racist comment. There’s no doubt about it. But we Filipinos should not just go and get angry and carry pitchforks and tie them to a stake like what they used to do to people who are different. I believe that the best way to end racism is to prove that our race is at par if not superior to theirs.