Banner Removed at City Hall

The ruckus raised over the banner showing a dog being roasted on a spit at the City Hall exhibit of Filipino-American art illustrates how our perception of what is acceptable does not emanate from some absolute principle but from cultural upbringing (“Banner of Roasting Dog at City Hall Art Exhibit Is Removed,” May 25). I am sure that if the banner had instead shown a pig being roasted, no complaints would have been registered and the banner would have stayed up.

We are shocked at the cruelty to this dog, yet a pig has a similar brain and the same feeling that a dog has. We are outraged at the Japanese for their practice of killing and harvesting intelligent whales, yet we allow monkeys and chimpanzees to be subjects of medical experimentation.

One Filipino woman protested that the banner was terrible. “We really don’t roast dogs. We don’t do that,” she said. But as a Filipino, I know that this custom is still common in the Philippines. Rather than being embarrassed and going into denial, we should acknowledge that these things are happening and speak out against the practice. Only by removing cultural biases regarding cruelty to animals can we truly say that we care about them.

HECTOR SANTOS

Los Angeles

* The Filipino-American art exhibit on “dog roasting” smacks of bad taste. Particularly, the banner is an utterly false portrayal of Philippine culture in its real sense. It lacks sensitivity depicting a dog, with a pole through it, above burning charcoals. A man’s best friend, dogs are not given this most cruel treatment and are never the normal source of meat in the Philippines. There is a much better way to showcase the culture of the Filipinos. GERRY M. EDEJER

Los Angeles

* I am a Filipino-American who was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States with my parents in 1972. I became a U.S. citizen when my parents were naturalized in 1980. Throughout grade school, high school and college I often heard white classmates refer to me and other Filipinos as “tree-swinging monkeys.” I’ve been teased at barbecues about “tasty recipes” for the family dog.

There was a statement being made with this banner. It was a sort of “here’s what they think about you” message. Unfortunately this was missed in the uproar. The dog roasting, the monkeys, these are stereotypes that were placed upon Filipinos by white America. I find it amusing that these stereotypes that were created by white people now offend them so.

KENNETH M. ROJAS

Redondo Beach