.. Invisibility

This week in English class we read the poem Ikaw by Kevin Nadal. The poem is basically about Filipinos' experiences and how they were mistreated when they came to America. The first part of the poem reads, "You called me a negrito when you invaded my country .. You called me a savage when you enslaved my people .. You called me a monkey when I came to your country .. You called me a rapist and won an award". As the poem goes on, he describes other historical events where Filipinos faced oppression. Here is a video of him reading Ikaw:

Watching and listening to him read his poem gives me a different take on the poem, rather than reading it on my own. In a way, I can feel his anger and it because of his emotions there is an added depth to it . Aside from oppression, other themes I saw in this poem were, invisibility and how little people know about the history of Filipinos.

I was unaware of most of the things Nadal said in his poem. Like for instance, people like Joesph Ileto and Fermin Tobera that go unmentioned in history textbooks. Events like the St. Louis Fair, where Filipinos were put on display with animals, gets overlooked. And all the Filipino soldiers that died fighting America's war, goes unrecognized. It's like these events weren't significant enough for people to learn. Leaving the Filipino people essentially invisible. And the greater masses unaware of the history of the Filipino people.


Til next time .. Happy readings (: