The Invisible (?) Filipino-American

I am Filipino. I am American. No, I am Filipino-American. And there are lots of people like me around. As of 2007, there are around 4million of us, about 1.5% of the entire US population. We're everywhere - trouble is, how come we all seem to be just blending with the crowd, not really standing out, having truly mastered the art of assimilation. Are we really the Invisible Minority? Maybe that's why some people here have no idea what we are about. I know there are books about notable Filipino-Americans. But, how many do I know of?
Just recently, I discovered that Michelle Malkin , the conservative commentator has Filipino parents. When I mentioned it to my husband (who is at least a 4th generation Scot-Irish American), he said he knew it all along. "What did you think she was?" I don't know. That was embarassing, to say the least.
Now, I can see that Michelle Malkin really looks like a Filipino. But, when I used to see her, I never paused to wonder what her ethnic background was. She was just another Asian American figure.
I knew Maj. Gen Antonio Taguba is Fil-Am. But I never knew Benny Agbayani (former NY METS) is. I should have known just by his surname. One problem in recognizing us lies with our name. I know more Fil-Ams with Spanish or Chinese names than truly Filipino names. Unlike Ramielle Malubay (American idol contestant), others cannot be readily identified by name- like Veronica de la Cruz (CNN) and Billy Crawford (singer).
I now found my mission: to find all those notable Fil-Ams out there who are in the news and expose them to the world (at least the blogging world). I will be educating myself and hopefully other readers. Maybe we're not invisible. Maybe it was just me that was not looking.

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