The confessional/memoir "My Family's Slave" by Filipino American writer Alex Tizon has caused a great stir, one might even say uproar, since it first appeared in The Atlantic earlier this week. The piece was published posthumously because Tizon died last March.
Here's the link to the article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/
The piece is about Eudocia Tomas Pulido, a Filipina who Tizon says had been given to his mother as a slave. Eudocia received beatings in place of the mother; she was not paid; she was abused both in the Philippines and in the US where Alex's parents brought her.
Readers have been moved and shocked by this modern-day slavery. click here: https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/05/tizon-responses/527391/
Pasadena Lit fest
I was in a panel of Filipino American writers recently and Alex Tizon's article came up. The five writers did not seem as moved as the readers quoted by The Atlantic above. Some panelists used the word "sensationalism" to describe the work. Three writers wanted more accountability from the writer and his family for what happened to Eudocia. I was one of those who called the work sensationalist and who blamed the family. Let me elaborate further.
To understand my frame of reference, let me explain that I grew up in a household with servants. Labor is cheap in the Philippines; unfortunately there are very many poor people. There is great income inequality in the Philippines. I recall mothers bringing their teenage sons or daughters to our house hoping they would find work there.
In a way this echoes what happened to Eudocia Tomas Pulido who came from a poor family and who was "acquired" by Tizon's grandfather. The grandfather then "gave" Eudocia to Tizon's mother to serve her and to even accept beatings on her behalf. Thus Eudocia's harsh life began with this family and ended when she was in her eighties.
We did not do that in my family. My family was fair with servants; we paid them; they were free to leave if they wished. I recall my mother sending several helpers to schools so they would learn a trade. I knew many other families who did not maltreat their servants as the Tizon family apparently did.
Tizon's article did not make me feel sympathic toward the writer and his family. In fact, the confessional annoyed me greatly. These people took advantage of a vulnerable human being.
As far as Tizon is concerned, and while I feel squeamish about critiquing a dead writer's so-called opus, I feel the writer chose words and an angle to hype-up the story. The word "slave" is loaded, for example, but this is how he tagged poor Eudocia Tomas Pulido. Right there, he dehumanized her. He did not refer to her as his second grandmother, even he called her "Lola" which means "grandmother." Further, the piece has a maudlin tone, which makes me feel manipulated.
The article focuses on the abuse this woman received. At some point in his life, Pulitzer-prize winner, Tizon, was no longer a child and was in a position to help Eudocia. It seems he didn't do this until his mother died and Eudocia moved in with him and his family.This segment of the story focuses on Eudocia's blooming, when she learns how to read, and grows a garden -- but too late because she was then an old woman.
I do not mean to sound unfeeling. I am questioning Tizon's sensational style of writing; or perhaps I should question The Atlantic's desire to publish a "saleable" story.
Based on what I read, the emotion I feel is Anger: anger towards the family members who did not give this woman love nor respect; and anger towards a system where only a small percent of the population holds the country's wealth.
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Check this discussion on #KababayanToday:
#KababayanToday - Watch Giselle Tongi interivew Writers Noel Alumit and Cecilia Brainard about Alex Tizon's "A Slave in My Family
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FaceBook Comments from my FB friends;
Comments
From Tillic Lorayes: I just read your blog entry on Alex Tizon's story. I felt the same thing as you - anger. And maudlin is the right word for the way the article was written. But in addition to the article itself, what angered me was so much commentary saying that is is part of our culture - a means of dissipating the responsibility of the Tizons for a crime solely theirs.
Cecilia's Reply: You are correct; he did not accept responsibility but blamed the culture. The Atlantic rewarded him for this and in fact is capitalizing on the notoriety of the article. That poor woman was used to the hilt. Tizon even had the temerity to ask her if she had had sex, as if she were a mere subject for observation. There was no genuine love nor respect for that woman at all.
Tags: #slave #AlexTizon #PhilippineAmerican
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A friend shared this article with me. I saw it as a tragic commentary on the way evil can happen in the face of silence. Evil does not need to come like Hitler with bombs and torture and invasion. Evil can happen in silence which is acquiesce. Vote, make noise, embrace whatever freedom you have and stand against evil. Always and in every way. That's what I got from this article.
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