Final Magazine Project print version

Ka-TOON-ayan Exhibit




Propaganda Cartoons in the MLK library











"White Man's Destiny"











President McKinley baptizing a Filipino Baby







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“How long have you been civilized?” asked the American stranger to the Filipino native in a propaganda cartoon titled “A Red-Letter Day.”

“Ever since my home was burned to the ground, and my wife and children shot,” responded the dismayed Filipino native with tattered clothes.

In another cartoon titled “Our St. Patrick,” Admiral George Dewey, clothed in priest-like attire that is colored in American colors, marches onto Manila Bay and holds his staff over the Filipinos who are portrayed as snakes and frogs.

These political cartoon and many other controversial ones are on display at the Ka-TOON-ayan exhibit in the Cultural Heritage Center at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library from April 27 to June 30, 2009.

The exhibit, which is held on the fifth floor of the library, features collected images from The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons, Philippine artifacts and other historical books.

Abe Ignacio and Jorge Emmanuel, authors of The Forbidden Book, discussed the issues regarding the Philippine-American War at the last Akbayan meeting.

Akbayan is San Jose State’s Filipino-American Student Organization.

“We felt a lot of what had happened 100 years ago are lessons we should learn today,” said Emmanuel, who correlated the Philippine-American war to the war in Iraq.

Emmanuel, a member of the Association for Asian Studies and the East Bay chapter of the Filipino-American National Historical Society, said he does not want people to think they are promoting the racism within the cartoons but rather bring out critical discussions about its concepts.

Most of the cartoons used in the book were won at auctions from Ebay, garage sales, antique stores, libraries, and national archives, said Emmanuel, who started collecting the political cartoons in the 1980’s.

Estella Habal, an assistant professor at SJSU who taught Filipino-American history, said she felt it was important to learn about Filipino history.

“Our history has been forgotten and it has also been missing from our consciousness,” she said.

Habal, who used The Forbidden Book as one of her class’s textbooks, said the book was eye-opening and painful to read due to all racist cartoons.

“Filipino students need to know this front and back,” she said. “Once you understand that, you become a stronger individual; you become a true Filipino,”

Danreb Victorio, a sophomore journalism major at SJSU and community affairs coordinator for Akbayan, was honored to meet the author’s of The Forbidden Book at the book discussion.

Victorio, who was a student of Habal’s Filipino-American history class and one of the organizers of the event, encourages everyone to read the book.

John-Paul Limpin, a senior radio, television, and film student and culture chair of Akbayan, was disheartened to hear that the history of his people is being sold on the internet.

Limpin said he believes that history should not have a price tag.

“It may have been possible it (the Philippine government) might have reflected more of Philippine culture and thinking rather than accepting a model from another country,” Emmanuel said of the possibility of the Philippine government without the Philippine American War.

Emmanuel, who is against U.S. imperialism, received most of his information regarding the Philippines American War from history books and museums.

The exhibit was sponsored by SJSU and the Asian American Studies Program.