The 7-minute video titled ‘5 Filipinos vs 30 Chicanos’ posted less than two weeks ago depicts a street fight believed to have originated in Texas, where a small group of Filipinos took on a much larger group of Latinos.
Netizens have applauded the Filipinos for defeating the Mexicans in the street fight, for knocking at least one of them unconscious and bloodying the nose of another.
Many Filipino youth are among the millions of viewers and tens of thousands of who posted comments about it on Facebook.
"There's this one day I was bored so I went to Facebook and I saw my friends shared it, a Facebook page and I saw that 5 Filipinos and 30 Chicanos and they're like fighting," recalled high school student Shaira Aragon.
"It's really bad it's not fair. There were only 5 Filipinos and there were 30 Chicanos. I think we should stop that," added Jewel Languasa.
Parents and youth group leaders said these viral YouTube videos set bad examples for the kids.
“Violence is not good. They mimic it and don't realize it's something really bad. At first they think it’s funny but then if it happens to them it's not funny," said Haydee Hart, a liason at the parent center of Carson High School.
Some Filipino American activists that work with the youth believe videos like these watched by many children represent deeper problems within the community.
"You don't see it in affluent neighborhoods and it’s because Filipinos and Latinos and other people of color are trying to empower themselves because they're not empowered socially. They're not empowered economically so they try to empower themselves through physical violence,” said Manila Ryce, the Chairperson of Kabataang Maka Bayan.
Parents and children believe the solution to these problems can be solved by the community through youth based programs, rather than physical violence, like what these high school Filipinos are doing with their Maharlika after-school program.
"So parents need to really see what they're kids are doing every kid almost has a cell phone that takes videos, they Instagram, they vine, there's some good some bad as parents we need to pay attention," added Hart.
While the identities of the youths involved and origins of the video remain unknown, Hart, an educator reminds people that if the police will investigate the incident.
“The video can eventually serve as evidence, a warning to the youth that while one can gain fame through the Internet, it can also lead to a world of trouble,” he said.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
