It's been early a decade since his death, but Raul Contreras still electrified a quarantined nation with his sharp views on racism, filmed at an international debate held when he was just 15. The nationalist fervor he exemplified as an exchange student stayed with him throughout his life, according to his grandson.
The 1956 black-and-white video of a debate with several teenagers participating—Raul Contreras of the Philippines, Yoriko Konishi of Japan, Ratnati Iskandar Dinata of Indonesia, and Judith Reader of the U.K., all part of an exchange student program—has gone viral in the Philippines nearly 70 years after it was shot, thanks largely to Contreras' views. His two biggest pointes were that humanity loses its soul to prejudicied views and that European colonizers are wrong to dismiss Asians as lazy.
"He loved his country more than anything as evident in the video. His patriotism was something that never left him even during his final years," Anton Miguel Contreras told reportr.
Who was Raul Contreras?
Contreras went on to have a successful career in public relations. Having worked for some of the country's biggest firms such as J. Walter Thompson and Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, his most prominent role was arguably as former President Cory Aquino's crisis manager. But he wasn't particularly proud of his time with Aquino, another source revealed, due to various controversies that weren't in line with his principles—such as the Hacienda Luisita Massacre—leading him to disassociate from the family.
The one campaign he was most proud of was the senate bid of human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag in 1987, which had zero budget when they started.
In 2001, he was named one of the Outstanding Bedans of the Century by his alma matter San Beda College, where he received most of his formal education. "He was San Beda through and through," the grandson said.
Contreras lived a long and eventful life before passing in 2012 at age 72. He would have been 81 years old on July 4, 2021.
Throughout his years, Raul Contreras was remembered for many things: as a prolific debater in his formative years, a brilliant strategist and communicator when he was a professional and a master of tough love when he became a father and grandfather.
Through it all, he was "someone who always stood up for what was right with utmost bravery and conviction," said his grandson.
How did the debate go viral 65 years later?
The 1956 debate was first uploaded to YouTube on March 5, 2021, by archives channel ArchiveMC before being picked up by Pinoys on Facebook. Folks online lauded Conteras for speaking with such brilliance and eloquence at a young age, even regarding the topic of racial prejudice which to this day many in the world are still ignorant about. The significance of the black-and-white footage was not lost on users who linked it to the ongoing calls to #StopAsianHate and #BlackLivesMatter.
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What is prejudice, according a 15-year-old Filipino in 1956?
"When a person loses track of the dignity of the human soul and begins to judge others not on the basis of their being persons but on the basis of race, creed, economic status, that is prejudice," said Contreras.
"If somebody distinguished between two white men, it is not prejudice. But if somebody distinguished between a white man and a colored man, it is prejudice," his fellow debater Konishi said. Ratnaki defined the term as a "feeling of hate for people as a group or as an individual to other people".
When asked whether they would admit to having any prejudice, Contreras' answer was quick and straightforward. He said he was prejudiced against the Japanese—not to the point of hate, he clarified, taking note of his Japanese classmate beside him—but because of how the Philippines suffered during World War II.
"I was too young to understand what happened during those times but I think what my relatives and friends and the people who are witness to that unfaithful occasion, they just more than justify the fact. I think it's justified for me to feel the same way because I know my people suffered very much under that rule," he said.
He said his prejudice started to fade but began brewing again when Japan "stubbornly refused" to pay the Philippines reparations.
'Lazy' Asians, racial segregation, colorism
When U.K. delegate Reader spoke of how a lot of Europeans perceive Asians as lazy and suggested to Indonesia's de Nata how the Dutch Occupation may have been some form of help to the country, the latter responded with this: "They were not helping us. See, you mentioned that we are lazy, we are not lazy but they didn't give us a chance. We didn't get to experiment and build our country."
Contreras backed up de Nata, saying: "It's sort of wrong to say they [Asians] are lazy. Let's just say that they've got a very flat fate that they can't let them up".
The group also discussed the issue of racism in the U.S., particularly the segregation of white Americans and African-Americans.
Sharing their own encounters with racial segregation in the U.S., the four teenagers agreed that it's not at all a "democratic" act, which is the opposite of what the country claims to be, they said.
"In the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, it mentions something about 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible under God, with liberty and justice for all.' Well, the last phrase just doesn't solve everything. I mean, with this segregation problem here and the discrimination against colored people, how in the world could you have liberty and justice for all?" said Contreras.
Towards the end of the debate, the young Filipino closed with this powerful statement: "Well I guess we should carefully examine the individual first before passing any judgment on him. And if we ever pass a judgment, we should be just with it."
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Source: Spot PH
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