By Ed Diokno
She’s 18 years old and she’s a student in the Boston public schools. She presented her poem “My Chinese” and brought down the house at the “Louder Than A Bomb” slam poetry contest held in Boston last week.
Unfortunately I don’t have her name. Who is she? If anybody knows her name, please let me know.
Her words touched a nerve with a lot of people, including me. You don’t have to be Chinese to feel her powerful poem.
RELATED: ‘Dear Young Man of Color’
“My Chinese is a racist joke I threw in the garbage, wrapped in a napkin stained with my culture and it made a sound as it hit the bottom: ‘chink.'”
Wow! She touched me deeply, recalling those moments in my life when I felt ashamed or embarrassed
Any Asian understands what it means to have one’s heritage suppressed by a culture will then turn around and appropriate it, exoticize it, make fun of it, or … to render it invisible or irrelevant.
Ed Diokno writes a blog :Views From The Edge: news and analysis from an Asian American perspective.
AsAmNews is an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/asamnews, following us on Twitter, sharing our stories, interning or joining our staff.
RE: Athena Chu, pretty sure she’s not 18