Filipino-American. Comic book creator. Writer. Artist. ULTRA, GIRLS, THE SWORD, WHISPERS from Image comics. Do not edit or repost my work.
Pet owners don’t usually think about how our culture affects our pets. Seeing my dog Pogi grow up, I wonder how much of his preferences are influenced by being in a Fil-Am home.
Here’s Pogi. No matter what’s going on in life, he always makes me smile.
(Please don’t
repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)
#StopAsianHate is meaningless until we acknowledge white men as the architects of anti-Asian racism, and the blueprints they use to divide the Asian community and sabotage progress.
Understanding anti-Asian racism means connecting its history in the U.S. with its history in Asia, instead of treating them separately. U.S. imperialism, war, and colonization abroad directly informs the racism Asian Americans experience because the goal is the same: divide, conquer, and kill.
White men used war to split Korea and Vietnam in two, and divide AsAms the same way. One blueprint of the U.S.’s domestic anti-Asian strategy is the Mixed Marriage Policy of 1942-1943. Implemented during Japanese Internment, it gave certain Asians special exemptions to leave camp.
Internment was meant to harm Japanese Americans, not white men with Japanese families (whiteness is why few German and Italian Americans were interned). So, the Mixed Marriage Policy let Japanese leave camps if they:
1) married a non-Japanese
2) proved a “Caucasian environment.”
The Mixed Marriage Policy had two versions. In 1942, few Asians were eligible—especially monoracial Japanese men. The 1943 version greatly expanded eligibility for monoracial Japanese women and mixed-Japanese adults, but eliminated nearly all eligibility for monoracial Japanese men.
Each eligible case required proving a “Caucasian environment.” So while on paper the MMP offered exemptions to non-white mixed-Japanese couples and their kids, they were rarely granted. The MMP’s real goal was to benefit white men with Japanese wives and mixed-white Japanese children.
Overall, the Mixed Marriage Policy reveals white men’s hierarchy of Asians:
1) mixed-white Asian adults
2) monoracial Asian women married to white men and with white-mixed children
3) monoracial Asian men—preferably deported, divorced, detained in an internment camp, or dead.
By explicitly laying out white men’s hierarchy of Asians, the MMP is an incredibly revealing anti-Asian document. Which is perhaps why it’s so difficult to find—the original documents are at the National Archives and aren’t digitized (must pay to see them).
There’s good reason for white men wanting to hide the MMP. It’s a Rosetta Stone for understanding the motivations of many modern anti-Asian hate crimes like the NYC Hammer killings, Atlanta spa shootings, and Isla Vista massacre. Each can be directly tied to the roadmap MMP provides.
The 2019 NYC hammer killings occurred when a white man saw films vilifying Asian men and wanted to “defend” Asian women. He entered a buffet to hammer random Asian men in the head. They all died slowly: Fufai Pun later that day, Kheong Ng-Thang 3 days later, Tsz Pun a week later.
The 2021 Atlanta spa shootings occurred because a white man blamed Asian women for his “sex addiction.” He shot at multiple Asian massage workers and planned on targeting more. Victims include Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Soon Chung Park, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue.
The 2014 Isla Vista massacre occurred because a functionally-white, white-mixed Asian hated white women who rejected him & men of color. He assaulted monoracial Asian men several times and murdered three—Cheng Yuan Hong, Weihan Wang, and George Chen—by stabbing them 15, 25, and 94 times.
Many people believe anti-Asian racism started with COVID, but as these examples show, Asians have always suffered violence. The problem is our stories are purposely erased and twisted to double-victimize us and reinforce the lies of the Model Minority Myth. This happens two ways.
The first erasure comes from white people in government, news, education, and more. White men know coverage can humanize—or destroy. That’s why the racial component of Isla Vista was removed, the hammer killings were downplayed, and “sex addiction” was used to justify Atlanta.
The second erasure sadly comes from complicit Asians. The MMP’s core concept is clear: to be spared fatal anti-Asian racism, you must actively show loyalty to whiteness by proving a “Caucasian environment"—in other words, dodge the bullet by redirecting it to another Asian’s head.
Complicit Asians say criticizing their complicity condemns interracial relationships. It doesn’t. There were Japanese whose white spouses stood by them—like Arthur Ishigo, whose wife Estelle voluntarily joined his camp. He later died of cancer and she lost her legs to gangrene.
These days complicit Asians aren’t restricted by gender or marriage. Anyone can be one (although partnering with white men remains the easiest way to do this). To prove their "Caucasian environment,” they must punch down on Asians with equal or greater hate than white men do.
For ex, complicit Asians write articles telling Asian Americans to not label anti-Asian violence as hate crimes until white officials say so, disrespect Asian male Isla Vista victims by blaming their deaths on Asianness, and so on. They’re not bringing awareness—they’re sabotaging it.
That’s by design. White men know in-fighting wastes AsAm energy. So, they recruit complicit Asians, give them a monopoly on AsAm resources, microphones, and platforms—despite being a minority in AsAm spaces—and watch as they perpetuate the status quo rather than dismantle it.
This all comes back to the same violent, imperialist strategies white men have used against Asian countries for centuries: rape and pillage, divide and conquer, install puppet leaders. Drive Asians out of Asia through violence, dangle the “American dream,” then murder us more.
This means the MMP’s relevance is twofold: 1) white men’s hierarchy of Asians endures to this day, and 2) rising hate crimes show how easy it is to bring internment back. Between 2020 and 2021, overall hate crimes dropped by 7%, but anti-Asian hate crimes spiked 149%.
So to #StopAsianHate, it’s not enough to talk about the "easy” topics. We must also address the “taboos.” This includes the violent ways whiteness recruits Asians so it can Trojan Horse its way into our communities, shut down progress, and endanger us all—exactly as intended.
Thank you to Ashlynn Deu Pree, Paul Spickard, and Adrienne Edgar for their help with points of contact and data.
(Please don’t
repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)
It’s
been two years since Image gave me pushback for pitching
AMERICANIZASIAN to them. Yesterday I was informed they’ve tweeted
#StopAsianHate and put out a list of AAPI creators to support, so I’d
like to talk about what that means in the context of my book
AMERICANIZASIAN.
For those who don’t know, here’s a summary: The Image partner I pitched
to described my comics as “angry,” with no relatable story, and didn’t
talk about AsAm issues in the “right way.” They later shifted to
legality as their reason to not publish. https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
I
know my comics make people uncomfortable. That’s the point—anti-Asian
racism is uncomfortable. It’s violent and hateful. You don’t fix it by
hand-holding bigots and coddling their feelings. You do it by holding up
a mirror to their behavior to let their bigotry speak for itself.
I
haven’t spoken much about this, but it’s important to know who’s happy
that Image didn’t publish AMERICANIZASIAN: bigots with white supremacist
ideologies. I was already getting harassed prior to speaking publicly
about Image, but afterwards it turned into a feeding frenzy.
Thousands
of Nazis regularly repost and denigrate my work, calling me anti-Asian
slurs & other hateful terms—fl*p, ch*nk, g**k, Filipino/island
n*gg*r, ricecel/incel, MRAsian, autist, b*tch, etc. They post photos of
me to mock my features, and edit swastikas and Hitler onto my comics.
These are loud white supremacists—the ones so-called progressives will
easily denounce. But I’ve also been harassed by “quiet” bigots who push
to deplatform me through blacklisting and DMs. They used to do it
publicly until they realized it tarnished their image as progressives.
All
of these reactions prove what I already knew—I *am* talking about AsAm
issues in the “right way.” Because if white supremacists and their
enablers aren’t deeply bothered about how you talk about race and doing
everything they can to stop you, are you even talking about race?
I
know I’m not the “good Asian” Image wants to promote. I know they
resent me for publicly calling them out. I’d genuinely like to believe
this new push for AAPI voices and content shows remorse and growth, but
growth can’t happen without owning up to and acknowledging past harm.
So if Image wants to #StopAsianHate,
they have to do more than use the hashtag and quietly include me in
their list of AAPI creators. They have to acknowledge and rectify how
they treated me. Otherwise, it’s hypocritical at best, and a gross
attempt at PR damage control at worst.
When you think of Mormons, you probably think of
whiteness—and you’d be correct, since 93% are white. What you don’t think of is
Filipinx.
And yet, for two years, I was a Mormon.
Before this, I grew up in a loosely Catholic upbringing and rarely went to
church. But after my dad left the U.S. Navy and our family, we moved back to
the U.S. and lived with cousins who were Mormons. There, we were regularly
visited by missionaries, and eventually converted.
Much like being a Navy brat, converting was less of a
choice and more of a package family deal. I just went along with it to make
everyone happy. But what I didn’t know was that going from kind-of-Catholic to
Mormon was stepping out of the kiddie pool and going in the deep end.
I learned of their living prophet and apostles, the
Book of Mormon and its golden plates history, and Jesus coming to America after
resurrection. I saw ostentatious temples, and heard about special underwear and
polygamy. But I wasn’t taught its racist roots—that was something I felt, not
knew.
Meanwhile, my art at the time was inspired by
graffiti/tagging and the AZN pride era, a pan-Asian movement that cultivated a
positive view of being Asian American. It was the era of tuner culture, souped
up Hondas, spiky hair, TRG, Asian Avenue, and AIM screennames like aZnBbyGrL.
AZN spaces weren’t utopias by any stretch. But at its
core, it represented community and herd protection in a country that didn't—and
still doesn't—want AsAms here. While non-Asian spaces pressured me to
assimilate, AZN spaces provided a bubble where I could be myself more.
For Asians, the pressure to assimilate and learn
self-hate is universal. But for Filipinx, there’s an added pressure with
religion. Everyone who hears I was once Mormon thinks it’s the strangest thing
(which I get), but the concept of Filipinx being converted is far from new.
Catholicism was forcibly thrust onto the Philippines
upon Magellan’s arrival, and subsequently reinforced through 333 years of
violent Spanish colonization. Today, the Philippines is 1 of 2 Southeast Asian
countries with a majority Christian population (the other is East Timor).
Even though I’m Fil-Am, I feel connected to my ancestors
through my experience of white Mormon missionaries dunking me in their
colonizing waters, washing off “sinful” mindsets or behaviors that
didn’t fit their specific mold. No matter where Filipinx live, whiteness finds
us.
To this day, I feel pressure to “purify” my
art and make myself smaller as a Filipino man. I know I’m not alone. Every day,
Asians struggle with “baptisms.” We search for an AsAm pride, but
it’s something we must create ourselves—not despite anti-Asian racism but
because of it.
(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are
always appreciated.)
For Fil-Ams and other people of color,
the “American Dream” often means toiling away just to obtain a small
piece of the spoils that were violently ripped away from your community.
Second-gen Asian Americans like me grow up oblivious about
our own histories because the U.S. education system purposely withholds
information about it, and our parents try to outrun their trauma by never
sharing their experiences, instead pushing their children toward an
assimilation sleepwalk.
AsAms realize too late we’ve inherited a deal with the devil
we never agreed to: we can keep our language, but only if we speak it
privately. Our food, if we serve it. Our culture, if it upholds the illusion of
America as a benevolent melting pot that saved us from ourselves.
But AsAms aren’t the only ones ignorant of this history. Few
Americans know of the Philippine-American War and the atrocities the US
committed. Even fewer understand how the U.S.’s ongoing legacy of war,
destruction, and colonization in Asia is a major reason the AsAm diaspora
exists.
Americans
aren’t taught about how centuries of exploitation of the Philippines’ resources
by Western powers has led to most of its workforce immigrating and becoming a
global servant class called Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Instead, they’re
taught that poverty is inherent to Filipinx culture.
Americans
aren’t taught about how the US installs and props up puppet leaders and
dictators—like how Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan fully backed Marcos as he
ruled under martial law and committed human rights violations. Instead, they’re
taught corruption is inherent to Filipinx culture.
Americans
aren’t taught that colonization is bipartisan and Trump and Biden agree on
their view of the Philippines: a de facto colony whose resources and bodies can
be exploited with impunity for the US war machine. Instead, they’re taught
servitude is inherent to Filipinx culture.
Americans aren’t
taught about one-sided US military agreements used to keep an imperialist
foothold: the Mutual Defense Treaty, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement,
Visiting Forces Agreement & Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
Instead, they’re told it’s for mutual benefit.
American’s aren’t taught about how many
AsAms struggle with poverty, institutional racism, and violence. Instead,
they’re taught the Model Minority Myth—created by white people and propagated
by all races—that says Asians don’t suffer race-based oppression.
Americans aren’t taught about how Fil-Ams give earnings to
family, live in multi-generational households to pool money together, and how
the Philippines’ economy would collapse without OFW remittances. Instead,
they’re taught Fil-Ams have a high median household income amongst AsAms.
Americans aren’t taught about how AsAm leaders are installed
with white backing the same way puppet leaders are, and use their shared race
to hurt their own and prevent true progress. Instead, they’re taught that privileged,
out-of-touch blue-checks are the voice of our community.
So if Americans aren’t taught any of this, who will teach
them? The ugly truth is that AsAms who try to speak up are often crushed into
silence by non-Asians who benefit from the status quo, and by Asian puppet
leaders who’ve been installed to protect their masters’ interests.
Overall, being Filipinx and Asian means
constantly navigating survival between rotating oppressors.
As an ex-Navy brat who grew up
overseas, I’ve struggled with my concept of home and at one point believed
“home” was a US military base. But maybe that’s as Fil-Am as it gets.
(Please don’t
repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)
If you enjoy my
comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher
for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can
find a new publisher/lit agent
i saw your art educasian post and loved it a lot !! it made me think about my own self in my eyes. what i loved most though, was that i saw myself in your art for the first time !! whenever there are posts made about inclusivity, i see other POC, but never one that looks like me. you had a hindu woman (wearing a bindi) in your drawing and it made me feel recognized and very happy ! thank you for your art, and thank you for making me feel seen:)
You’re welcome! Thank you for your message. I’m happy you felt seen.
History has shown Filipinx are valued
for our labor, not our voices. But the only thing more consistent than our
exploitation and oppression is our resilience in the face of it. #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth
There are many horror stories about Filipinx being mistreated. Whether
working in our home countries or as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), we’re
treated as a servant class no matter where we are—suffering long hours, low
wages and benefits, and intentionally dehumanizing treatment.
For example, in 2019, a Filipina maid in Saudi Arabia was tied to a
tree as “punishment” by her employers. An animator in the Philippines
was fired for demanding a full-time salary for his full-time work. Filipina
nurses who tried to quit an abusive New York nursing home got stuck in indentured
servitude. Out of 66 US allies in WWII, only Filipino vets were denied payment
and benefits that the US promised. Call center employees working as outsourced
low-wage labor for US corps who’ve earned promotions and higher pay are given
unrealistic quotas to get them fired. The list goes on.
I even experienced this myself in May, when I lost my publisher of 10+
years for—ironically—talking about the racism and oppression Filipinx and other
Asians face. They were happy to publish my stories centering non-Filipinx, but
not when I decided to center myself and other Fil-Ams.
In my industry (comics), the exploitation of Filipinx is a well-kept
secret. In a recently released video by DC Comics—which was meant to highlight
Filipinx creators—they inadvertently admit to hiring Filipinx only to
circumvent paying striking American creators better wages.
But Filipinx don’t stay silent, we fight back. From legendary
Lapu-Lapu, Gabriela Silang, and the Katipunan—who resisted Spanish colonization
and fought for independence—to Fil-Am labor leader Larry Itliong, Filipinx have
a long tradition of organizing protests and revolutions.
Yet when we do speak up, our contributions can still be
erased—sometimes by other POC. Itliong spearheaded a highly effective labor
movement in the 30s and 40s when he organized the Delano grape strike and
unionized laborers, but his work is often credited solely to César Chávez. A
search for Itliong’s name will result in articles and books that always
acknowledge his collaboration with Chávez. But if you search for Chávez’s name,
Itliong is rarely mentioned. This erasure hurts even more so because the whole
movement was about solidarity between Mexican-Americans and Fil-Ams.
What this means is Filipinx are seen as exploitable labor by pretty
much everyone: whites, other POC, even our own. That’s why a major part of the
Philippines’ economy relies on remittances from OFWs sending their earnings
home—one of the country’s biggest exports is people.
So on this last day of #FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth, let’s all commit to
fighting racial and class injustice, uplifting Fil-Am and Filipinx voices, and
recognizing Filipinx contributions all year-round.
If you enjoy my comics, please pledge
to Patreon or donate to Paypal. I recently lost my publisher for trying to
publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new
publisher/lit agent.
Hi! I stumbled upon your comic where Uncle Fil-Am Man spanked "Uncle" Sam, told people to vote, and became our new uncle, and I just wanted to tell you that I whole-heartedly agree with replacing "Uncle" Sam with Uncle Fil-Am Man without derailing your comic about how important it is to vote ESPECIALLY as minorities and POC, particularly Asians who are often pitted against other POC! Thank you for everything you're doing! Your comics are absolutely amazing!
You’re very welcome, and thank you for the kind words! I’m happy my work resonates with you.
White
supremacy benefits from the low voter turnout of Asian-Americans. Why?
Because when we do vote, we have the potential to make up the winning
margin.
This Election Day, Fil-Am Man wants you to #FlipTheHouse. Vote on Nov 6!
(Please don’t repost or edit my work. Reblogs are always appreciated)
The reason America hates wearing a mask is because it prefers showing its true face.
For some, this spike in anti-Asian racism comes as a surprise, or seems like it’s the first time it’s happening. But that’s because the Model Minority Myth—created by white people—has tricked both white people and POC into thinking Asianness is a privilege. (For more info, see my comic “Asian American Monomyth” https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1107709119992119297)
But history shows what America really thinks. The Page Act of 1875 legally codified Asian women as immoral, disease-carrying prostitutes in order to ban them from the US and extended that ban to Asian men with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. These sentiments have never left. This is why Asian Americans are always portrayed as the perpetual foreigner—we “don’t belong here” and can be removed on a whim via ongoing deportations or mob violence, such as the 1930 lynching of Filipino men in Watsonville and the 1871 lynching of Chinese in L.A., and
the current COVID-inspired attacks.
Trump calling COVID “the Chinese virus” has the same intent—to distract from his violent negligence, stump for war with China, and put a target on Asians so we’ll bear the brunt of COVID frustrations instead of him. Over 2,500 anti-Asian incidents have been reported since March. As if anti-Asian violence weren’t enough, structural racism means COVID is more deadly to POC. For example, Filipinx nurses comprise 4% of nurses in the U.S., but make up 31.5% of all nurse deaths. Also, many Fil-Ams live in multi-generational households—which increases risk.
Trump and his supporters know COVID is deadly, but sabotage efforts to stop its spread because their goal is eugenics—the same way the U.S. infected Native Americans with smallpox, or how the Reagan administration ignored HIV since it disproportionately killed LGBTQ and Black communities.
But right-wingers aren’t the only racists. If you’re wondering how a man who wants to “Free Hong Kong" hates Asians, it’s the same reason why racists claim to support Uyghurs yet don’t care about Trump’s Muslim ban, U.S. atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan, or oppression of Palestinians. It’s the same reason the U.S. “supports” Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines, Hawai'i, and Japan, and why U.S. soldiers took Asian wives via the 1945 War Brides Act (a loophole to anti-immigration laws). It’s not because they like Asians and Pacific Islanders—they see us/our lands as strategic assets or spoils of war.
This shows how diasporic Asian lives are always inextricably linked to the fate of Asians abroad & vice versa. US imperialism has murdered millions of Asians via war in the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos & left a multi-generational impact. (For more info, see my comic “Detonasian” https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1181638490120957952)
So it isn’t enough to stop the spread of COVID—we have to stop the spread of anti-Asian racism too. That means rejecting the lies of the Model Minority, speaking out against anti-Asian COVID attacks, and acknowledging just how pervasive and deeply embedded anti-Asian racism is.
(Please don’t
repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)
