We would like to share an interview that we recently did with Rowela aka Row. Row is an aspiring Fashion and Beauty influencer who loves to travel just like us! Unfortunately, she’s experienced racism as a Filipino- American on more than one occasion while traveling. This is both disheartening and infuriating! But before we dive deeper in to her story, allow her to introduce herself to you:

“Hi everyone! Less than a year ago, I decided to start my social media influencing journey in the hopes to help women regain their lost confidence through my self care threads of beauty tips and fashion styling.  Our confidence seems to plummet to do certain things when we get older.  But I want to show everyone that there is no age limit in reaching for your dreams.  Our confidence can also be shaken when we experience major life changes such as marriage, having kids, breakups, losing jobs, weight gain and many other things!  Witnessing those women around me go through this phase made me realize I want to change that. Women deserve to feel and look their best no matter where they are in life! And hopefully I give that energy and inspiration to you! “

In previous posts, we have written about the racism that is present within the travel industry. We want this blog to be a safe place to share your experiences in an attempt to raise awareness and inspire change within the travel industry. Row was gracious enough to share her experience with racism when traveling. Please continue on to read her story below:

“I’m here to share my travel stories where I experienced racism.  I am from San Francisco Bay Area California and traveling outside the country is something I always look forward to.  I grew up traveling with my family ever since we were kids.  So as an adult, this was a must have lifestyle because for me it’s an opportunity to have quality time with family.  I believe it is very important for families to have shared life experiences and build memories together.  Those travel memories unfortunately, I have some bad experiences to share.

I have experienced racism in HongKong.  When we first landed at the airport, I noticed many first time OFW’s carrying their documents summoned to a separate line.  And as a Filipino myself, an airport employee assumed I was also OFW, and asked us (together with my mom and husband) to go in the same line.  But we were there as tourists!  We were on vacation! OFW stands for Overseas Filipino Workers, a term used to refer to Filipinos working in a foreign country, not as an Immigrant, but with a Working Visa.  Filipinos have started working in other countries as early as the 1900’s., for higher salary and better opportunities. In HongKong, there are 130,000 OFW’s of which mostly are Domestic Helpers.  For me, they are the most hard working people who sacrifice so much for their families. Seeing them at the airport made me feel proud but sad at the same time, knowing they have left their families behind to care for other families.

When we toured the city and had time to do some shopping, this is where it got really interesting.  We went inside a shop and I wanted to try on some clothes so I asked for a fitting room.  The sales lady immediately stood up from her chair and said “no, no, not allowed” And so I thought that was the norm since it was my first time there.  And as we walked outside the shop, a couple of White tourists were also inside, asked for a fitting room and the sales lady assisted them with a smile and walked them to the fitting room in the back.  I was completely surprised and just left.  I had a feeling she thought we were OFW and we weren’t going to buy anything.  We went to another store to look at digital cameras and the salesman asked “where do you work?” “this is not on sale” and showed us a cheaper brand instead.  I was just stunned. So we left after telling him we are visiting tourists from America. If I had told him that first, I’m pretty sure he treated me differently. This was 2007.

Fast forward, in 2018, we went to Dubai to visit my brother in law who lived there for 10 years as OFW.  Dubai is in the top 5 countries with most OFW hired in different industries from hotels & restaurants, factory workers, office jobs, hospitals, etc. We were there for a week and checked into a 5 star hotel.  As we walked up to the elevator to go to our room, the security looked at us suspiciously and asked us if we were hotel guests and looked for our key card.  That would’ve been okay with me if the security also asked the other non Filipino guests waiting for the elevator.  I felt embarrassed.  I felt degraded.  Though we had a pleasant stay and hotel staff were super friendly, that one incident left a mark on me.

I’ve heard other stories even from friends who are pretty well off in life and could afford practically anything.  They have experienced racism in Europe when they shopped at designer boutiques.  Mind you, they have visited there numerous times and shopping is one of their favorite things to do.  Yet they still have been treated differently because of their nationality.  Sales Associates from luxury boutiques usually give them a look when they come inside.  Not dressed up and just wearing casual clothing, Sales Associates assumes they cannot afford to shop there.  When my friend asked to look at some bags, the Sales Associate said they did not have it. Yet they were showing bags to other customers. My friend’s husband, who is also a Filipino, walked in and asked again to look at the bags and told them they were in their VIP list (which they didn’t have to say just for the associates to assist them).  And it turns out, they did have the bags asked for in the beginning.

There are many stories every FIlipino can share about everyday racism they experience.  Sadly, some just ignore and live with it.  But as you can tell from my own personal stories, I handled it by walking away from the situation. Was that the right thing to do? Maybe. Most of my experiences, I only realized it after the fact that I was being racially discriminated against.  Was I scared because I walked away? Definitely not.  I think I handled every situation with grace.

Every situation is different.  In 2019, I went to Vegas with my girlfriends.  We were in line for a buffet at a 5 star Hotel.  We were a large group of 12.  Just so happens a couple of us were the last ones to walk in line so they had to excuse themselves through a few people to be with the group.  Were they cutting in line? No. We were together.  Some of you may disagree, but here’s what happened.  When 2 of my friends caught up with us in line, 2 European guys were not very happy. They started talking loud and were complaining about us. We explained what happened and one of the guys started to be aggressive and racially attacked us.  He yelled at us and said  “Go back to whatever asian country you came from” “But people here in America don’t do that.”  …. We didn’t back down. One of my friends yelled at him back out of anger and said “We don’t know either where you are from but you obviously are not from here!” “You have no right to talk to us this way!”  The guy was shocked that we actually defended ourselves.  In the midst of the argument between my friends and the guys, I remained calm and quiet. But I stood next to the guy.  He noticed me not reacting so he went at me instead.  I think he was pissed that I remained calm in front of him.  He started to be really aggressive towards me as I talked calmly with confidence and authority in my voice.  It was as if he was about to hit me. And I just looked at him and glared at him while my best friend came in to protect me. I knew he couldn’t do it so I didn't flinch.  After that he stopped talking because we were almost at the buffet check in counter.  When we got to the counter, I went straight to the manager and told her about what happened.  The guys were looking at me and looked worried because they knew I was talking about them.  I asked the manager if what we did was cutting in line. She said no, because we are a group so we’ll be seated together regardless. I told her I felt attacked and felt unsafe around the 2 men.  So the manager took care of it from there.  She said she’ll let security know and make sure they are not checked in the hotel.  But how I wish they were kicked out of the restaurant at that moment which would have been the right thing to do.

As I write this, I just realized that I have experienced racism first hand a lot more than I thought.  Despite these experiences, I’ll never stop traveling.  They actually made me realize that we should be ready at all times to protect ourselves from racism.  As long as we are in the right position, we have every right to defend ourselves and correct them and educate them.  My advice is that we should always handle every situation with grace and truth.  Know when is the right time to walk away especially when things are escalated.  Never put yourself in a dangerous confrontation.   But always remember, it should never be tolerated.  Do not allow racism stop you from traveling and enjoying life.”

We are grateful and a honored that Rowela chose to share her travel stories with us of experiencing racism. The more we speak out as POC on the injustices and discrimination that we are experiencing, the more likely we are to see real change happen. Also, us as WOMEN of Color have so much power in our voices when we use them. Let’s no longer be silent and instead speak out against what’s not right and support each other!

Comment below if you agree and also to leave kind words for Rowela. You can find her on Instagram @row.refined and on Youtube by clicking here.