BagongPinay - Pinay Ngayon (Filipina Today) 2001 - It's Still "In the Heart": Remembering the Journey of Carlos Bulosan by Joann Natalia Aquino

To learn about history is to understand and appreciate the present moment. History allows us to learn the developments of the past, it provides us with a narrative portrayal of sequential events or people, it permits us to realize the lessons of each journey and apply these lessons as a tool to what we can achieve in the future when granted the same opportunity. History also allows us to recognize the value of the struggles we have overcome and treasure the existing moment. Most of all, history offers us "his story" and "her story" to tell.

This is his story in history.

Filipino Immigrant. Writer. Poet. Literary Phenomenon. Radical Labor Organizer. Activist. Revolutionist. Advocate. Visionary Extraordinaire. Carlos Bulosan left a lasting impression in the history of Filipino/Asian Americans today. It is the likes of him that paved the way and unlocked the key for a breakthrough given to our generation at the present time.

Born on November 24, 1913 (though conflicting records on his baptismal papers states November 2, 1911 as his birth date), Carlos Bulosan grew up at the barrio of Binalonan, Pangasinan, Philippines. At the age of seventeen, he went aboard a ship and headed to America, and arrived in Seattle on July 22, 1930 at the height of the Great Depression. The son of a farmer, Carlos came to America with dreams and aspirations, promising his family that he would return to his country as soon as he earned enough money to support them. He came to this country hardly speaking English and with barely any money, nevertheless, he arrived optimistically with a heart full of expectations. He aspired that America would offer him a life that he can only dream in the Philippines, but only to have all his longings crushed. He discovered that this "land of opportunity" is full of paradoxes; campaigning for equality, but at the same time, the people are suffering with hatred and racial discrimination.

Determined to survive, Carlos Bulosan worked at numerous low-paying jobs: servicing in hotels, produce farming in California, and a laborer in the Alaskan fish canneries. Facing the countless obstacles during his search for employment, he endured financial intricacy and racial brutality that consequently changed his perception of America. His endurance as a farm worker led him towards the role of an activist, organizing farm workers into unions. Filipinos began a movement as a repercussion against the extreme labor exploitation, unmerciful wage cuts, relentless unemployment, degraded working conditions, but more notably, the racist heedful violence and the protest against the initiative to exclude Filipinos which was in absolute force in the early 1930's. Their efforts produced the creation of the United Cannery and Packing House Workers of America, which was lead by the organization of the fish cannery workers in Seattle and the packing house workers in California. The Local 37, associated with the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union based in Seattle, was also the result of their struggle.

The adversities Bulosan experienced in life affected his health, and he was diagnosed with tuberculosis on 1936. He spent the next two years in a Los Angeles County hospital where he underwent several lung operations. It was during this time that he began to read hungrily, educate himself, and progressively become a writer. On 1938, while recuperating, he wrote on one of his personal letters, "Do you know what a Filipino feels in America? I mean one who is aware of the intricate forces of chaos? He is the loneliest thing on earth. There is much to be appreciated all about him, beauty, wealth, power, grandeur. But is he a part of the luxuries? He looks, poor man, through the fingers of his eyes. He is enchained, damnably to his race, his heritage. He is betrayed, my friend."

With only three years of formal schooling and no secondary or post-secondary education, Carlos Bulosan became one of the first Filipino writers to write in English in America. Many believed that his painful experiences as an immigrant and the discrimination he suffered in this country bequeathed the motivation for his writing. Carlos discovered that in his struggle, words were superior to fighting weapons. He turned to writing for solace, reinforcement, and as a writer identified with other Filipinos and Asian Americans in this country.

Writing freed him as a way of confronting the oppression; stillness and complacency were no longer options. He had suppressed his voice long enough. He recounted other people's experiences and expressed their ambitions. He addressed the struggles of Filipinos in his stories, he was an advocate in their labor battles, and he declined to differentiate his life from theirs. Through writing, he began to rediscover Philippines, his native land, and the cultural roots that nurtured him. He had desired so much of becoming an American and living the "American Dream" that he forgot what it meant to be a Filipino. It was then that he identified himself with the social awakening of other Filipinos as he was awaken of what it means to be a Filipino in America.

Carlos Bulosan's writing includes The Laughter of My Father, Sound of Falling Light: Letters in Exile, Now You Are Still: And Other Poems, The Cry and the Dedication, On Becoming Filipino: Selected Writings of Carlos Bulosan, and America is in the Heart: A Personal History. These texts became a way for other people to value their own stories, to be strengthened and empowered through their own journey, and have the courage to fight, just as he did. He sought for his writing collections to interpret the soul of the Filipinos in America. He wrote to try to understand America and to find a place in this country, not only for himself, but for other Filipinos as well.

In September 1956, Carlos Bulosan collapsed on the lawn of the King County Courthouse in Seattle, Washington, after drinking with a friend. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center and diagnosed with severe pneumonia. He died September 11, 1956, at the age of 44. He never returned to the Philippines to be with his family, and he never became a U.S. citizen. Carlos Bulosan is buried in a cemetery in Queen Anne Hill, in Seattle.

Carlos Bulosan's existence in this country depicts the hopes for freedom, social equality, and democracy for Filipinos in America. As a writer, he consciously participated in their struggle, and his life's work manifestly reflects his legacy as a Filipino American.

Carlos Bulosan left us a gift that endures from generation to generation. The passage of his life represents the brave efforts, valiant struggles, and courageous sacrifices of the Filipinos and other Asian & Pacific Islanders in this country to this day. Carlos Bulosan epitomizes the finest in the Filipino diaspora in America and across the globe.

Carlos Bulosan and his efforts will always be remembered in our memories and in our hearts. His life has touched our lives and is an inspiration to all. Though he did not live to witness the transformation of his works, his contribution is substantially visible to the articulation of the social awareness today. Carlos Bulosan's journey reminds us that America is still in the heart.

His journey taught us that the medicine to the pains of the past remains in unfolding these stories, thus understanding history, and passing these on to the next generation to realize what our predecessors have strived for previously. Although we suffered, we also fought the battle. Reflecting back, the grief that saturates his journals is the realization that our society haven't changed significantly; even so, prejudice and discrimination is yet raging around us, the issue is just more in a subtle form than before.

"Sleep peacefully, for your labors are done, your pains are turned into tales and songs." Carlos Bulosan 1913~1956

(Republished with permission from the author and Asian American Journal: International Examiner, article originally published at Asian American Journal: International Examiner on May 2001)

________________________________________

About the author:: Ms. Joann Natalia Aquino is a freelance professional writer/ journalist, and a Legislative Liaison working on public policy development and legislative affairs for the Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs for the State of Washington. In her spare time, she is also an Editor for a few publications (print and online), and is currently writing her first book "The Re-awakening of the Babaylan: Her Story," along with other shelved writing projects, she vows to finish sometime in her lifetime. At the moment, she juggles her time traveling between Seattle and New York, the places she both calls her "home."

To reach the author, please e-mail: joannnatalia@newfilipina.com or editor@newfilipina.com .

Open Forum! Share your stories and experiences on this topic at the Immigrating from the Philippines Discussion in our MagsalitaKa (Speak Out) Section.
in the Working Abroad and Immigration Issues. Click here.