#fil am artist

Happy#AAPIHeritageMonth! This self-care kit for Asian Americans applies all year round (and maybe even for years to come).

The post in this link analyzes how Asian men are being hidden in anti-Asian hate crime data. It’s unbelievable that this is even happening and allowed to continue.

Thisnext post analyzes how journalists are part of the problem (including Asian journalists who uphold and defend racist white-controlled platforms/institutions).

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agenthttps://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
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Western media downplays anti-Asian racism and manipulates narratives about it in order to reinforce the Model Minority Myth, the Asian gender divide, and geopolitical tensions in Asia.

Even in so-called progressive outlets, U.S. media invokes Orientalism and even gendered depictions of Asian countries to create a contrast: Evil Misogynist Asia vs. Benevolent White Male West. The goal is to dehumanize Asians, deify whiteness, and justify warmongering against Asia.

Whenever diasporic Asians are harmed by racist violence, U.S. media takes one of three approaches: 1) ignoring the incident, 2) reporting on the incident but erasing the Asianness of victims, or 3) reporting on the incident but questioning whether it’s really racism to blame. 

To ensure AsAms don’t work together to push back against this, U.S. policies and propaganda create a gender divide. The 1942-1943 Mixed Marriage Policy ranks Asians, with monoracial Asian men the least valuable and most threatening. This ranking still exists.

Four years ago, I made a sincere effort to help heal this gender divide by pointing out how all AsAms were hurting and at risk of falling into a cycle of retribution. Instead of taking accountability, AsAms in power targeted, harassed and blacklisted me.

I—along with anyone else who dared to speak up—was repeatedly scolded with the refrain that the harm Asian men experience is not meaningful. Yet looking at the recent data and media narratives about anti-Asian hate crimes, we now have damning evidence of how untrue that is.

In my previous post, I did an in-depth analysis of anti-Asian hate crimes and the role of Stop AAPI Hate as a primary source of data collection. Now I want to talk about how journalists—especially AsAms—have skewed this data into a violently racist narrative.

After the Atlanta shootings, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) shaped the media narrative about Atlanta and anti-Asian hate crimes in general. The problem is that they relied on Stop AAPI Hate data—which over-prioritizes East Asian women over other AAPI victims.

There’s more than sufficient evidence from trustworthy sources like AAPI Data to show Asian men are as likely to be victims of hate crimes as Asian women and also more likely to experience physical assault. So why isn’t AAJA promoting this narrative?

One look at the governing boards of AAJA says a lot. For an organization that is supposed to promote inclusivity of Asian voices in media, there aren’t many Asian men represented. Not only that, but there are more white men than actual Asian men seated in the Asia division.

This erasure of Asian men in anti-Asian hate crime narratives is eerily similar to what happened with my comic Reconciliasian and how Asians in power erased Asian men back then too. Seeing AAJA’s guidance on the Atlanta shootings provides new insight.

What I thought was a fringe mindset among a handful of AsAm journalists was actually a product of top-down marching orders sent out to all AsAm journalists, which then gets disseminated as the mainstream narrative. This intentional erasure of Asian men is racist and violent.

It’s ironic that AsAm leaders push for restorative justice for anti-Asian hate crimes—which emphasizes communication between the perpetrator and victim—yet none of them has owned up to how much harm they’ve caused with their bias. Whenever they’re caught, they just go quiet.

That’s the part of the betrayal that hurts the most. Violent perpetrators of anti-Asian hate crimes get more sensitivity than actual Asian male victims of hate crimes. I can’t even put into words how heartbroken and angry I am to see this racist abuse play out again and again.

For example, I never forgot the contrast in Juju Chang’s interview of two Atlanta shooting victim’s children. To a daughter she says “your mom would be very proud of you” and to a son she says “what do you think your mother sacrificed for your benefit?”

The lack of empathy towards Asian men is so normalized in media narratives that it’s not even questioned. Here’s a person who lost his mom to a violent hate crime, yet an AsAm journalist felt the need to imply he should feel shame—which is so inappropriate to ask of anyone.

The point of these posts isn’t to say East Asian women or AAPI women in general shouldn’t get attention and resources. It’s to correct the harm of AsAm leaders erasing Asian men, and to make sure all AAPI can get meaningful victim support, resources, and media attention.

But I’m not holding my breath. This requires big changes—including giving Asian men like me a voice—and so far, Asian American leaders have demonstrated strong resistance to holding themselves and their friends accountable. They profit off the harm, and want to continue doing so.

So I anticipate they’ll do what they’ll usually do. Quietly lurk on my posts, steal the content, & then speak over me and other people they’ve harmed in order to portray themselves as the heroes who came in to save the day. With fellow AsAms like these, who needs enemies?

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agent
https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
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https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

We’re told the play Hamilton is progressive because of its racial diversity. So I wondered, what other white male historical figures will benefit from such revisionist storytelling?

When it comes to race, liberals and conservatives have a good cop/bad cop dynamic. Even though they show it differently, both are racist and use the same tactic of weaponizing POC as tokens. Hamilton is a perfect example of the insidious ways bigotry functions in liberal spaces. Whereas POC tokens on the right espouse obvious bigotry, tokens on the left will mask their self-hate by appearing to push back on racism. Instead, they perpetuate racism through more “acceptable” means, such as colorism, colorblind casting, classism, exceptionalism, etc.

As many in the Black community have pointed out, the so-called progressive casting of Hamilton and its hip-hop infused storytelling turned Black characters into slave owners and villains to the lighter-skinned heroes. But none of that criticism mattered because liberals loved it. Once liberals love something, it feeds an impenetrable ouroboros-esque media ecosystem—from who gets cast, which platforms write about it, who goes viral for praising it, etc. They push white-worshipping narratives into the mainstream to say to POC “this is how you do it.”

A few years ago, most of the complaints about Asian representation is that there wasn’t any. Since then, we’ve made progress in getting more Asian faces on screen. However, many of the narratives for this newfound Asian rep is still white at their core—the same way Hamilton is.

Darren Criss is a good example of what white-worshipping media liberalism looks like in action for AsAms. He once said “I always say one of my favorite things about myself is that I’m half-Filipino, but I don’t look like it. I just look like a Caucasian guy, which is nice.” Criss refused to apologize or acknowledge he (and other white-mixed Asians) benefit from the colorism he blatantly gushed about. Everything he said afterward was clearly damage control and revisionist. But here’s the most frustrating part: he’s still touted as positive Fil-Am rep.

Darren Criss is hardly the only example. Media like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before or Raya and the Last Dragon have been touted as progress, but they’re just Asian faces on white stories. White people—especially white men—still control the purse strings and decide what gets approved.

Where does that leave creators of color who truly challenge white supremacy? They get left behind, while the ones who mold themselves into tokens—to keep the system in place—get boosted to the top with resources and accolades because they don’t want to “throw away their shot.”

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agent

https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
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Make America Mask Again (even though it barely did to begin with).

Unlike Asia, the West associates wearing masks with weakness and fascism, rather than a civic duty to protect themselves and others. As if forcing sick individuals to work or be in situations that can literally kill—just to keep the capitalist machine running—isn’t tyrannical.

Asians are triply targeted in this pandemic. We are potential COVID victims like anyone else, yet also get blamed for the pandemic, and then get treated as “dirty” carriers of the disease even more when we wear a mask. This leads to violent anti-Asian hate crimes against us.

It isn’t Asian to care about others and mask up. It’s basic empathy and hygiene—which many Americans lack. To my fellow Asians out there who’ve been masking from the start and never stopped even though it added another target to your back, I see you. Hang in there.

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agent.
https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

If Garfield was Filipino. Or Furipino. Or Purripino?

Update: I’ve had quite a few people online tell me they’re interested in purchasing the ‘‘not a tabo’’ mug, so I decided to make it and offer it as merch. Stay tuned!

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agenthttps://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

Although I majored in Sequential Art (comics) in college, I also took acting classes as electives because—like many—it was a childhood dream. But what a professor said to me was a wake-up call.

Obviously, it wasn’t just one moment or individual that deterred me from pursuing acting. It ultimately wasn’t my calling—comics were. But I highlight this moment because it’s a symptom of how Asians are viewed and portrayed on a larger societal and institutional level.

SCAD was majority-white, so there were few Asians and other POC on campus. I remember being shocked seeing a Filipino guy perform in the play HAIR, and at the time, a lot of Hollywood productions were being filmed in Savannah. So this environment inspired me to try out acting.

For the most part, I realized breaking in required two things: knowing martial arts, and serving up Asianness for laughs. This isn’t to knock martial arts because it’s part of our culture and we should be proud of it. The problem is Asians are rarely depicted as full human beings.

In every kind of media, Asians have been and continue to be used as props for a non-Asian gaze, restricted from the full spectrum of the human experience. For Asian men, this means kung fu masters, nameless goons, or Ken Jeong-types whose sole purpose is to self-denigrate.

It says a lot that to this day, 42% of Americans can’t name a single famous Asian American. When asked to name one, the top response was “don’t know,” followed by actor Jackie Chan in 2nd—who is not a U.S. citizen—and deceased actor Bruce Lee in 3rd.

The worst part is Asians are blamed for our own oppression. We’re fed myths about how we lack personalities, marketability, good looks, etc. Usually, Asians are perceived as likeable only if there’s white heritage—which is why half-white Asians tend to get more opportunities.

Although I entered the comic book industry as a writer and artist, I ended up in Hollywood spaces anyway via the TV/film adaptation process. From there I learned it doesn’t matter if Asians are in front of or behind the camera—the stereotypes hold us back no matter where we are.

This is why Asians need to be in control of our own stories, and we need Asian creators who don’t cater to a non-Asian gaze. For more of my thoughts on this subject: https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1305941251393544193

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agenthttps://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

Pet owners don’t usually think about how our culture affects our pets. Seeing my dog Pogi grow up, I wonder how much of his preferences are influenced by being in a Fil-Am home.

Here’s Pogi. No matter what’s going on in life, he always makes me smile.

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

I lost my publisher, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agent.
https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

When you think of Mormons, you probably think of whiteness—and you’d be correct, since 93% are white. What you don’t think of is Filipinx.

And yet, for two years, I was a Mormon.

Before this, I grew up in a loosely Catholic upbringing and rarely went to church. But after my dad left the U.S. Navy and our family, we moved back to the U.S. and lived with cousins who were Mormons. There, we were regularly visited by missionaries, and eventually converted.

Much like being a Navy brat, converting was less of a choice and more of a package family deal. I just went along with it to make everyone happy. But what I didn’t know was that going from kind-of-Catholic to Mormon was stepping out of the kiddie pool and going in the deep end.

I learned of their living prophet and apostles, the Book of Mormon and its golden plates history, and Jesus coming to America after resurrection. I saw ostentatious temples, and heard about special underwear and polygamy. But I wasn’t taught its racist roots—that was something I felt, not knew.

Meanwhile, my art at the time was inspired by graffiti/tagging and the AZN pride era, a pan-Asian movement that cultivated a positive view of being Asian American. It was the era of tuner culture, souped up Hondas, spiky hair, TRG, Asian Avenue, and AIM screennames like aZnBbyGrL.

AZN spaces weren’t utopias by any stretch. But at its core, it represented community and herd protection in a country that didn't—and still doesn't—want AsAms here. While non-Asian spaces pressured me to assimilate, AZN spaces provided a bubble where I could be myself more.

For Asians, the pressure to assimilate and learn self-hate is universal. But for Filipinx, there’s an added pressure with religion. Everyone who hears I was once Mormon thinks it’s the strangest thing (which I get), but the concept of Filipinx being converted is far from new.

Catholicism was forcibly thrust onto the Philippines upon Magellan’s arrival, and subsequently reinforced through 333 years of violent Spanish colonization. Today, the Philippines is 1 of 2 Southeast Asian countries with a majority Christian population (the other is East Timor).

Even though I’m Fil-Am, I feel connected to my ancestors through my experience of white Mormon missionaries dunking me in their colonizing waters, washing off “sinful” mindsets or behaviors that didn’t fit their specific mold. No matter where Filipinx live, whiteness finds us.

To this day, I feel pressure to “purify” my art and make myself smaller as a Filipino man. I know I’m not alone. Every day, Asians struggle with “baptisms.” We search for an AsAm pride, but it’s something we must create ourselves—not despite anti-Asian racism but because of it.

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agent
https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
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For Fil-Ams and other people of color, the “American Dream” often means toiling away just to obtain a small piece of the spoils that were violently ripped away from your community.

Second-gen Asian Americans like me grow up oblivious about our own histories because the U.S. education system purposely withholds information about it, and our parents try to outrun their trauma by never sharing their experiences, instead pushing their children toward an assimilation sleepwalk.

AsAms realize too late we’ve inherited a deal with the devil we never agreed to: we can keep our language, but only if we speak it privately. Our food, if we serve it. Our culture, if it upholds the illusion of America as a benevolent melting pot that saved us from ourselves.

But AsAms aren’t the only ones ignorant of this history. Few Americans know of the Philippine-American War and the atrocities the US committed. Even fewer understand how the U.S.’s ongoing legacy of war, destruction, and colonization in Asia is a major reason the AsAm diaspora exists.

Americans aren’t taught about how centuries of exploitation of the Philippines’ resources by Western powers has led to most of its workforce immigrating and becoming a global servant class called Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Instead, they’re taught that poverty is inherent to Filipinx culture.

Americans aren’t taught about how the US installs and props up puppet leaders and dictators—like how Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan fully backed Marcos as he ruled under martial law and committed human rights violations. Instead, they’re taught corruption is inherent to Filipinx culture.

Americans aren’t taught that colonization is bipartisan and Trump and Biden agree on their view of the Philippines: a de facto colony whose resources and bodies can be exploited with impunity for the US war machine. Instead, they’re taught servitude is inherent to Filipinx culture.

Americans aren’t taught about one-sided US military agreements used to keep an imperialist foothold: the Mutual Defense Treaty, Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, Visiting Forces Agreement & Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Instead, they’re told it’s for mutual benefit.

American’s aren’t taught about how many AsAms struggle with poverty, institutional racism, and violence. Instead, they’re taught the Model Minority Myth—created by white people and propagated by all races—that says Asians don’t suffer race-based oppression.

Americans aren’t taught about how Fil-Ams give earnings to family, live in multi-generational households to pool money together, and how the Philippines’ economy would collapse without OFW remittances. Instead, they’re taught Fil-Ams have a high median household income amongst AsAms.

Americans aren’t taught about how AsAm leaders are installed with white backing the same way puppet leaders are, and use their shared race to hurt their own and prevent true progress. Instead, they’re taught that privileged, out-of-touch blue-checks are the voice of our community.

So if Americans aren’t taught any of this, who will teach them? The ugly truth is that AsAms who try to speak up are often crushed into silence by non-Asians who benefit from the status quo, and by Asian puppet leaders who’ve been installed to protect their masters’ interests.

Overall, being Filipinx and Asian means constantly navigating survival between rotating oppressors.

As an ex-Navy brat who grew up overseas, I’ve struggled with my concept of home and at one point believed “home” was a US military base. But maybe that’s as Fil-Am as it gets.

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agent

https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

The reason America hates wearing a mask is because it prefers showing its true face.

For some, this spike in anti-Asian racism comes as a surprise, or seems like it’s the first time it’s happening. But that’s because the Model Minority Myth—created by white people—has tricked both white people and POC into thinking Asianness is a privilege. (For more info, see my comic “Asian American Monomyth” https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1107709119992119297)

But history shows what America really thinks. The Page Act of 1875 legally codified Asian women as immoral, disease-carrying prostitutes in order to ban them from the US and extended that ban to Asian men with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. These sentiments have never left. This is why Asian Americans are always portrayed as the perpetual foreigner—we “don’t belong here” and can be removed on a whim via ongoing deportations or mob violence, such as the 1930 lynching of Filipino men in Watsonville and the 1871 lynching of Chinese in L.A., and the current COVID-inspired attacks.

Trump calling COVID “the Chinese virus” has the same intent—to distract from his violent negligence, stump for war with China, and put a target on Asians so we’ll bear the brunt of COVID frustrations instead of him. Over 2,500 anti-Asian incidents have been reported since March. As if anti-Asian violence weren’t enough, structural racism means COVID is more deadly to POC. For example, Filipinx nurses comprise 4% of nurses in the U.S., but make up 31.5% of all nurse deaths. Also, many Fil-Ams live in multi-generational households—which increases risk.

Trump and his supporters know COVID is deadly, but sabotage efforts to stop its spread because their goal is eugenics—the same way the U.S. infected Native Americans with smallpox, or how the Reagan administration ignored HIV since it disproportionately killed LGBTQ and Black communities.

But right-wingers aren’t the only racists. If you’re wondering how a man who wants to “Free Hong Kong" hates Asians, it’s the same reason why racists claim to support Uyghurs yet don’t care about Trump’s Muslim ban, U.S. atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan, or oppression of Palestinians. It’s the same reason the U.S. “supports” Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines, Hawai'i, and Japan, and why U.S. soldiers took Asian wives via the 1945 War Brides Act (a loophole to anti-immigration laws). It’s not because they like Asians and Pacific Islanders—they see us/our lands as strategic assets or spoils of war.

This shows how diasporic Asian lives are always inextricably linked to the fate of Asians abroad & vice versa. US imperialism has murdered millions of Asians via war in the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos & left a multi-generational impact. (For more info, see my comic “Detonasian” https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1181638490120957952)

So it isn’t enough to stop the spread of COVID—we have to stop the spread of anti-Asian racism too. That means rejecting the lies of the Model Minority, speaking out against anti-Asian COVID attacks, and acknowledging just how pervasive and deeply embedded anti-Asian racism is.

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal. I lost my publisher for trying to publish these strips, so your support keeps me going until I can find a new publisher/lit agenthttps://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
https://patreon.com/joshualuna
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

joshualunacreations:

Having fun isn’t hard, when you’ve got a library card

It’s hard to believe that I grew up being inspired by books I found in libraries, to one day having a mini-library of books I created.

Support your local libraries and #GetLibraryCarded to find your inspiration.

Thank you to the American Library Association for featuring me in their campaign!

September is #LibraryCardSignUpMonth!

#GetLibraryCarded and learn about your local library’s services and operating hours in response to COVID-19.