One is the very common habit of usi

One is the very common habit of using the English word "native" to
refer to our ancestors ("the native led by Diego Silang revolted"), to
non-Westernized ethnic group ("the native Igorots of Benguet") and to
things indigenous to the philippines, such as the "native dress," "native
lechon" and "native kakanin," as if there was a "foreign lechon" or a
"foreign kakanin." Many even use the word to refer to ourselves, the
"natives of the philippines," as if we do not have our own identity defined
by language, ethnicity and citizenship. if we do not say the "natives of
germany" or the "natives of france" buy say the germans or the french,
surely we can call ourselves filipinos or ilocanos and thus assert our
right we our own identity. we pride ourselves with our knowledge of the
english language,but in reality we sometimes do not knowledge of the
nuances of many words such as "native." in the 19th century, the word
was used by the british to refer to peoples of their vast empire: the non-
white, non-western and subjugated. this single word conveyed multiple
meanings in defining the indigenous populations of africa and asia that
the colonial powers regarded as racially inferior, intellectually deficient
and culturally deprived and, therefore, was actually a linguistic code word
to connote western racism which could not be openly expressed. by con-
tinuing to use the word "native" in the context i have cited, we continue
to perpetuate racism directed against us.