Filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña, who wrote and directed “My America,” credits Espina with introducing her to the Burtanog sisters. She recalls visiting the women at their local Filipino Goodwill Society building, a popular weekend family destination where adults mingled, danced and played cards while their children played.
The fact that the Burtanogs are now living in three different states saddens Tajima-Peña, who is also an associate professor in the social documentation program at the University of California-Santa Cruz’s community studies department. “They are the vessels of history,” she says. “A real community is a living thing.”
But perhaps the story of the Louisiana Filipinos has shifted, says Dr. Rick Bonus, an associate professor in the University of Washington’s American ethnic studies department. He has used Espina’s book and Tajima-Peña’s film in his classes.
“As sad as Katrina was, we should pay attention to how these people find new ways of going on with life,” Bonus says. “Whenever Filipinos have migrated, whether because of natural disaster or other reasons, their stories are of tenacity and resilience.”
Meanwhile, Espina and her husband now live in Lafayette, La., about 125 miles west of New Orleans. Their old home awaits demolition and, like so many other families, they are engaged in a lengthy battle with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance adjusters. Retired from UNO since 1996, Espina says it’s impossible to re-create the historical records she lost in Katrina. For one thing, she doesn’t know the current whereabouts of most of the people she has interviewed over the years.
Nonetheless, she still patiently fields queries from scholars and this past summer spoke at the Filipino American National Historical Society’s national convention.
“The story of the Manilamen and their descendants has almost become my entire life,” she says.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
