It has become an unquestioned tenet that developing pride in one's ethnicity is the first step towards gaining social equality. As an Operation Manong worker, I have been active in the promotion of ethnic pride as a mean of building self-respect and personal confidence to face a world that tends to show preferential or discriminatory treatment toward particular ethnic groups. Yet I have always been disturbed by individuals and groups who consider developing ethnic pride to be so central and noble that doing so becomes an end in itself.
Ethnic pride consists of a cultivated awareness and appreciation of one's ethnic heritage.
A person shapes an image of oneself through the symbols of a particular cultural tradition. On one level of awareness, one simply describes the symbols, as in a textbook. On another level, one actually lives, breathes, and eats the symbols but is rarely conscious of them. Of course, society has a tight control over what we can actually consider legitimate ethnic pride. Here we plainly recognize the ability of society to make sense of something entirely foreign to it.