RACHIELLE RAGASA SHEFFLER Reviews
Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong by Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, PhD with Gayle Romasanta, and illustrated by Andre Sibayan
(Bridge Delta, 2018)
I first heard of Journey for Justice, the Life of Larry Itliong from Bryan Pangilinan, executive producer and composer for Larry the Musical. Bryan visited San Diego, his hometown, to promote the production, and to open the conversation about bringing the musical to town.
Bryan shared how artist, writer and community organizer Gayle Romasanta saw him perform as Tatsuo Kimura in George Takei’s Allegiance. After the play, she approached him and proposed a musical about Filipinos, acted by and sung by Filipinos. It was a brilliant idea, for Bryan and many Filipino artists had never performed Filipino roles before. Together, they drummed up the logistics, drawing inspiration from a book Gayle wrote with the late Dawn Bohulano Mabalon.
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon was born in Stockton, but did not appreciate her hometown’s significant history until she was in college. She read Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart, and realized her grandfather Pablo’s restaurant was mentioned in the book. Lafayette Lunch Counter was a gathering place for the Manongs and became the mailing address as they followed the crops around the country.
In an interview, Gayle Romasanta bewailed the fact that people knew of Cesar Chavez, but nobody knew about Larry Itliong. It was he who suggested for the Filipino and Mexican workers to join forces to strike against the unfair labor practices. Their unity became the glue that led to the success of the strike, earning better wages and benefits.
Gayle wanted to share her culture with her kids, but there were no children’s books about Filipinos. “My kids always get sent home with documents that say, here’s a list of all the famous people that you can do a report on. Pick one. And there’s really no one that looks like them.”
Together with Dawn Mabalon, she wrote Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong. It is a slim 49-page volume, with illustrations to guide the story from Larry’s birth in Pangasinan, his dreams about America, the prejudice he faced, his journey as a farm worker and union organizer.
Larry the Musical premiered in the Brava Theater San Francisco in 2024. Bryan Pangilinan described the thrill the performers felt breathing the same air as the Manongs did as they rehearsed their pieces. They walked along the grapevines where the Manongs, cut the fruit, and left them in the fields as they walked out int the 1965 Great Delano Grape Strike.
The inspiration from this children’s book did not stop there. Musician AJ Rafael wrote "Our Friend, Larry Itliong" and the song opened with these lyrics: “What happens when our history finally makes it on the page?”
In an upbeat rhythm, AJ played the guitar and sang the story of Larry, using the illustrations by Andre Sibayan to animate the video. AJ premiered the music video, filmed in Delano, in a TheaterWorks USA panel discussion with Gayle Romasanta and Larry Itliong’s daughter, Patty Serda. Patty described her father as a self-educated and humble man. She closed the event with her father’s words, “Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe.”
Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong has become more than a mother’s dream to read her history to her children. It is the little book that could launch a movement of awareness, pride, and justice.
To learn more about Larry the Musical, go to:
https://www.larrythemusical.com/about
To watch AJ Rafael’s music video, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFyMksU6W0c&ab_channel=TheaterWorksUSA
*****
Rachielle Ragasa Sheffler was born in Baguio City, Philippines. She immigrated to the United States in her early twenties and settled in Southern California with her big Filipino family. Rachielle belongs to the San Diego Writers, Ink, and International Memoir Writers Association. She was a featured writer in the Making Space, Taking Space AAPI Workshop funded by a California Humanities grant. She contributes to the Halo-Halo Review, a magazine promoting English-language works of Filipino authors in all genres. She launched her Substack as Baguio Girl with a series called The ABCs of Recovering Ilocano.
When not writing, Rachielle works as a clinical laboratory scientist.
Follow Rachielle on Substack: https://substack.com/@baguiogirl
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