“America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world.”
“This is also what critical reading of our histories makes possible: we cannot repair what we cannot reconcile; we cannot truly know what we will not truly see.”
– America Is In The Heart
Filipino-American History Month! This year’s FAHM art piece could be no other than Carlos Bulosan, the activist poet.
The fact that Bulosan’s words can be celebrated and canonized today is no small thing. He was a labor organizer, a conscious writer, and a voice for anticolonial struggles going on in the Philippines. In other words… he made a few enemies along the way! He was blacklisted, harassed by the FBI, and often in poverty and poor health due to the struggles. But, true to his community-based orientation, his circle of friends took good care of him. Though he spent the later part of his life couch-surfing, the friends who hosted him along the way held on to his work.