springviolets | some additional response articles on tizon's atlantic piece

real post coming later today, but i wanted to share these:

The Atlantic's 'My Family's Slave' should not end with a feast

Perhaps it wouldn't be fair to cast so much judgment on Tizon and his family. We do not know their circumstances. However, when he decided to write the piece, he had given us – the readers – the right to his story. It is no longer just his.

And as parts of the story, it is just right, even necessary, that we ask questions.

"Why did you wait that long to help?"

"Did you not earn enough to pay Lola yourself?"

"How far did you go – other than teaching her to drive a car – to try to help her?"

"Did you say sorry to Lola's relatives when you met them?"

The Slavemaster's Son
a comic examining his role and the way he shaped the story.

The Enslaved Woman They Called Lola
The sad truth is that he could never fully release her, try as he might. Although my ability to understand the Filipino katulong structure that Tizon describes is clouded by my own cultural and familial context of American slavery, one thing is clear to me about all systems of bondage: emancipation is a process. Enslaved people are not so much set free as they are made free, a long and hard process of reconciliation and reparation that can span years, if not generations, if not centuries. Power, wealth, and labor transferred from one person to another are not so easily reconciled, and most often simply aren’t.

a twitter thread from @LeahPSK
"Katulong lang" = just a maid/servant. This [calling Eudocia a katulong] is the same mentality of re-labeling slaves as "laborers" as if their situation was voluntary