I may not make any friends by the statements that I’m about to make, and I may lose some along the way, but after what I’ve experienced recently, I play host to a multitude of emotions and I can’t stand not being able to voice my opinion on it all.
A little background on what I’m about to talk about: For those of you who don’t know, “Bamboo Park” is in its first year this year and is a festival held in downtown San Jose, CA dedicated to the celebration of Filipino-American heritage. It’s filled with T-shirt and food vendors, other Filipino-inspired wares, and performances throughout the day. While an event like this is not something new or ground-breaking, it’s the first time in several years that the city of San Jose played host to an event of this kind.
With that said, I find it unnervingly coincidental that a day after Bamboo Park happened, I get a friend request on Facebook for an organization that held a very similar event in the same area for roughly 10 years and is considered “OG” (for reasons that are on public record, of which I have only second-hand knowledge about, this OG organization had to cease operations and the event did not take place for several years). I participated several years in different capacities (once as a model, another as a singer) and have had great memories of participating, so without question, I added them.
So after adding them, as is customary, I started looking over their profile, looking for anything interesting. They did have some old videos and pictures from over the years. It was a nice little trip down memory lane, to say the least. Unfortunately, I was disturbed by some of the status updates that this organization decided to put up. Phrases like “We are IN NO WAY affiliated with Bamboo Park”, “Don’t believe the hype”, and “Y’all Woke Up Some Sleeping Giants. It's on” stood out from the few status updates they did have. It was then that I was a little sad, embarrassed, irritated, and maybe even a little mad.
What was the motivation for this organization to say these things? Were they trying to re-establish dominance in a market that wasn’t theirs for a few years? Did they think that their ideas were being stolen? Did the relationship that the Bamboo Park staff held with the previous organization cause a stir because the OG’s didn’t feel like they were given their respect? If they felt like ideas were stolen, why didn’t they also go after events held in San Francisco like “Pistahan”? As I said earlier, an event like this isn’t something new, nor the ideas.
I can theorize all day about this, but it’s not going to help anybody. What’s important is that Bamboo Park brought back something that the city of San Jose was missing for quite some time – an all-ages event celebrating the heritage of Filipino-Americans. If Bamboo Park held an event at the same time this other organization did, then by all means, I’d be a bit more understanding. If that was the case, what it boils down to is competition. But that’s not the case at all. This organization has been out of the scene for years now. The city of San Jose and the South Bay have been sorely lacking an event of this kind for some time and in my opinion, if Bamboo Park didn’t step up to the plate, someone else would’ve set up an event or you probably would’ve seen the demise of Filipino-American performing arts (at least in the San Jose area).
I found it disturbing that I didn’t see any “Thank you’s” or “Congratulations on an awesome event”. I just felt that they had nothing good to say about Bamboo Park, nor did they offer their moral support for this new venture. I could be totally wrong and misinterpreting this whole thing, but to me, what I saw on that profile and the current activity on it shows me otherwise (a day after Bamboo Park, this organization decided to add hundreds of people). What it all boils down for me is that “crab mentality”, when someone does some good and another has to do something to bring the other down.
Being that I have a relationship with the previous organization and the staff of Bamboo Park, I felt my unique position called for a statement; instead of being silent and watching the fireworks happen. If I’ve offended you, or if you think that my analysis of the subject is way off, please let me know. Otherwise, I stand by my word.
Congratulations, Bamboo Park, on an awesome event! Thank you for continuing the tradition of spotlighting the multiple talents of the Filipino People!
With all issues, there are two sides to the story.
ReplyDeleteAs I stated before, I know both parties involved and I also asked that if any of my previous statements were misinterpreted from the actions involved, feel free to correct me or give insight on it. But before I say any more, I will say that further explanation in a rebuttal to clear both parties will only further implicate and complicate matters.
So I will say this:
The other organization in question does have a legitimate issue with the organizers of Bamboo Park and to their credit, have been nice enough to confront me in a peaceful manner to explain their side of the story. Things were done on both ends that shouldn’t have happened and I think the post-reaction was done so in a manner that was more like a “knee jerk” reaction as events unfolded.
I think we all just need to “get on board”, settle, resolve, and move forward as a single, cohesive unit. It won’t happen overnight but I’m hoping it does happen. I am in no way endorsing one side more than another and will refuse to do so unless further actions call for it.