A 1956 debate featuring a young Raul Contreras has sparked a lively debate on its own on the issues of prejudice and racism which remain some of the most heated and unresolved issues to this day.
For the other teenagers in the video, they were not as eloquent as Contreras but they too had an on point view on prejudice at a young age
IF you were asked “What is prejudice?” at 15 years old? What would you have answered?
Back in 1956, a young 15-year-old Filipino answered this question in the most eloquent way that a young man of his age could ever answer.
More so in a live and filmed debate with peers from all over the globe.
"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 the young Raul Contreras.
The 1956 black-and-white video of a debate with several teenagers participating, include Contreras of the Philippines, Judith Reader of the U.K., Yoriko Konishi of Japan, and Ratnati Iskandar Dinata of Indonesia.
They were all part of an exchange student program at the time.
For some reasons, the debate video has gone viral in the Philippines nearly 70 years after it was shot.
Contreras’ two biggest points were that humanity loses its soul to prejudiced views and that European colonizers are wrong to dismiss Asians as lazy.
In the four-person debate he had with fellow exchange students from Japan, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom, Contreras spoke 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.
When asked whether they would admit to having any prejudice, Contreras' answer was quick and straightforward.
He said he was prejudiced against the Japanese 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 was refusing to pay the Philippines reparations.
For the other teenagers in the video, they were not as eloquent as Contreras but they too had an on point view on prejudice at a young age.
"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".
Towards the end of the debate, the young Contreras 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."
Contreras, who had since led a successful career as a public relations man, passed away in 2012 at the age of 72. (NP)
Tags: #throwbackTuesday, #RaulContreras, #debate, #racism