Introduction
In "Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning," poet Cathy Park Hong explores the complex and often overlooked experiences of Asian Americans in the United States. Through a blend of personal memoir, cultural criticism, and historical analysis, Hong delves into the nuanced realities of being Asian in America today. The book challenges stereotypes, confronts uncomfortable truths, and offers a powerful perspective on race, identity, and belonging.
The Purgatorial State of Asian Americans
Hong begins by describing a particularly difficult poetry reading she gave in Wyoming during a depressive episode. This experience serves as a launching point for her exploration of Asian American identity and the unique challenges faced by this diverse group.
Neither Black nor White
Asian Americans often find themselves in a liminal space, neither fully accepted as white nor recognized as a minority in the same way as Black Americans. This in-between status can lead to a sense of invisibility and a poorly defined sense of identity.
Hong reflects on her own experiences, including a disappointing interaction with a Korean American therapist and a painful pedicure from a Vietnamese American teenager. These encounters highlight the complex dynamics within the Asian American community, including internalized racism and self-hate.
The Myth of the Model Minority
The author challenges the notion that Asian Americans are "next in line to be white" or that they're successfully assimilating into American society. She points out the irony of this idea, given that many Asian immigrants came to the United States as a result of American military interventions in their home countries.
Hong uses the example of David Dao, the Vietnamese American doctor forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight in 2017, to illustrate how the media often downplays the significance of Asian identity in such incidents. This erasure of identity contributes to the ongoing struggle for Asian Americans to define themselves in a society that often overlooks their unique experiences.
Race and Comedy: Lessons from Richard Pryor
Hong finds inspiration and insight in the work of Black comedian Richard Pryor, particularly his 1979 film "Live in Concert." Pryor's frank and daring approach to discussing race helps Hong process her own experiences and emotions.
The Power of Honesty
Pryor's comedy revolutionized how race was discussed in American popular culture. He fearlessly confronted racial issues, even making jokes at the expense of white audience members. His ability to weave race into every aspect of his material demonstrates how deeply race impacts daily life for people of color.
Minor Feelings
Hong introduces the concept of "minor feelings" – negative emotions stemming from racial experiences that accumulate over time. These feelings often arise when there's a disconnect between one's lived experiences and society's expectations, particularly the expectation to maintain a positive outlook despite facing discrimination.
The Complexity of Asian American Identity
While Pryor's work resonates with Hong, she also notes how it sometimes excludes her experience as an Asian American. This highlights the unique position of Asian Americans, who don't fit neatly into the Black-white racial binary often presented in American discourse.
Hong uses the example of the 1992 Los Angeles riots to illustrate this complexity. Korean American businesses were caught in the crossfire, suffering significant damage. Yet, the shooting of Latasha Harlins by a Korean American store owner was also a contributing factor to the unrest. This incident underscores the multifaceted nature of racial dynamics in America.
Growing Up Asian American
Hong's childhood experiences provide insight into the unique challenges faced by children of Asian immigrants in the United States.
The Myth of Childhood Innocence
When her ninth-grade English teacher introduced J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," Hong found herself unable to relate to Holden Caulfield's idealized view of childhood. For her, as for many children of immigrants, childhood was marked more by shame than innocence.
The Immigrant Experience
Hong shares her father's journey from poverty in Korea to success as a businessman in Los Angeles. While this story might seem to embody the "model minority" myth, Hong reveals the harsh realities behind it, including the discrimination and hardships her family faced.
One poignant example is when Hong's grandmother, who had escaped North Korea during the war, was mocked and physically assaulted by white children while out for a walk. This incident, and her father's angry reaction to it, illustrate the constant negotiation of identity and belonging that Asian immigrants face.
Shame and Cultural Disconnect
Hong recalls feeling shame in various situations, such as being sent to school wearing a Playboy t-shirt, unaware of its meaning. These experiences highlight the cultural disconnect that children of immigrants often navigate, straddling two worlds and never fully belonging to either.
Finding a Voice: Language, Art, and Friendship
Hong's journey to find her voice as a writer and artist is deeply intertwined with her experiences as an Asian American.
Embracing "Bad English"
Initially slow to learn English due to her surroundings, Hong later came to embrace "bad English" as part of her literary identity. She incorporates non-standard English into her poetry, challenging conventional language use and reflecting the immigrant experience.
Artistic Friendships
Hong's time at Oberlin College was marked by close friendships with other Asian women artists. Together, they pushed boundaries and found confidence in their artistic expressions. Hong notes the rarity of stories about female artistic friendships, particularly among women of color.
Poetry as Resistance
Ultimately choosing poetry over visual art, Hong uses her writing to confront and subvert the English language. She likens her approach to the octopus in the South Korean film "Oldboy," attempting to consume English before it consumes her identity.
The Forgotten Tragedy: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Hong delves into the story of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, an influential Asian American artist and writer whose tragic death has been largely overlooked.
A Silenced Story
Cha was raped and murdered in 1982, shortly after the publication of her groundbreaking book "Dictee." Hong is struck by how little attention has been paid to Cha's death, even in academic discussions of her work.
The Erasure of Asian Women
The silence surrounding Cha's murder speaks to a larger issue of how Asian women are perceived and valued in American society. When Hong asked why the case hadn't received more media attention, a friend of Cha's bluntly stated, "She was just another Asian woman."
Persistent Stereotypes
Hong's research into Cha's life is hampered by persistent stereotypes, such as the notion that all Asian people look alike. This experience underscores the ongoing challenges Asian Americans face in asserting their individual identities.
The Conditional Status of Asian Americans
Hong explores the historical and ongoing struggles of Asian Americans to gain acceptance and recognition in the United States.
From "Oriental" to "Asian American"
The term "Asian American," once a radical identifier coined in 1968, has lost much of its political edge. Today, Asian Americans are often seen as model minorities, embodying neoliberal values of hard work and success.
A History of Exploitation and Discrimination
Hong recounts the long history of exploitation and discrimination faced by Asian Americans, including:
- The dangerous working conditions of Chinese railroad workers in the 19th century
- The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
- The devastation wrought by American military interventions in various Asian countries
Conditional Acceptance
Despite generations of presence in the United States, Asian Americans still face questions about their belonging. Hong points out the irony of white Americans complaining about Asians being "everywhere," given that American foreign policy has been a major driver of Asian immigration.
The Persistence of White Supremacy
Hong references artist Lorraine O'Grady's claim that white supremacy will persist even as white people become a minority. This suggests that Asian Americans may continue to face challenges in fully belonging to American society, even as demographics shift.
The Complexity of Asian American Identity
Throughout the book, Hong grapples with the multifaceted nature of Asian American identity and the challenges of representation.
Diversity Within the Community
Hong emphasizes that "Asian American" encompasses a wide range of ethnicities, cultures, and experiences. This diversity can make it difficult to form a cohesive identity or political movement.
The Pressure of Representation
As an Asian American writer, Hong feels the weight of representing her community. She discusses the challenges of writing about race, which requires both polemical passion and lyrical nuance to capture the complexities and contradictions of lived experience.
Intergenerational Trauma
Hong explores how the traumas of war, displacement, and discrimination are passed down through generations of Asian American families. This inherited trauma shapes the experiences and outlook of even those born in the United States.
The Role of Art and Literature
Hong, as a poet and artist, reflects on the power of creative expression in addressing issues of identity and race.
Poetry as a Tool for Exploration
Through her poetry, Hong experiments with language and form to express the complexities of the Asian American experience. She sees this as a way to challenge dominant narratives and create space for marginalized voices.
The Importance of Asian American Art
Hong highlights the work of other Asian American artists and writers, emphasizing the need for more diverse representation in the arts. She argues that creative expression can help build understanding and challenge stereotypes.
Art as a Means of Connection
Hong's experiences with her artist friends at Oberlin demonstrate how shared creative pursuits can foster deep connections and help individuals navigate complex identities.
Confronting Stereotypes and Microaggressions
Throughout the book, Hong addresses the various stereotypes and microaggressions that Asian Americans frequently encounter.
The Model Minority Myth
Hong repeatedly challenges the "model minority" stereotype, which paints Asian Americans as universally successful and well-integrated. She argues that this myth obscures the diversity of Asian American experiences and the ongoing challenges many face.
Linguistic Discrimination
Hong discusses how accents and non-standard English usage can lead to discrimination and feelings of shame among Asian Americans. Her embrace of "bad English" in her poetry is a way of reclaiming and celebrating these linguistic differences.
The Perpetual Foreigner Syndrome
Hong explores how Asian Americans are often treated as perpetual foreigners, regardless of how long they or their families have been in the United States. This manifests in questions about origin, compliments on English skills, and assumptions about cultural knowledge.
The Impact of Historical Trauma
Hong delves into how historical events continue to shape the Asian American experience today.
The Legacy of War
The author discusses how wars in Korea, Vietnam, and other Asian countries have led to waves of immigration and continue to affect Asian American communities. She emphasizes that many Asian Americans are in the United States as a direct result of American military interventions.
The Ongoing Effects of Colonialism
Hong explores how the legacy of Western colonialism in Asia continues to influence power dynamics and cultural perceptions, both within Asian countries and in the diaspora.
Intergenerational Differences
The book highlights how different generations of Asian Americans may have vastly different experiences and perspectives, based on their proximity to immigration and historical traumas.
The Intersection of Race and Gender
Hong pays particular attention to the experiences of Asian American women, exploring how race and gender intersect to create unique challenges.
Stereotypes and Fetishization
The author discusses the harmful stereotypes often applied to Asian women, including assumptions of submissiveness and exotic sexuality. She connects these stereotypes to historical patterns of colonialism and war.
Invisibility and Hypervisibility
Hong explores how Asian American women often experience a paradoxical state of being both invisible (overlooked or ignored) and hypervisible (subject to stereotyping and objectification).
Empowerment and Resistance
Through her own experiences and those of figures like Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Hong illustrates how Asian American women have resisted stereotypes and asserted their own identities through art, activism, and everyday acts of defiance.
The Future of Asian American Identity
As Hong reflects on the current state of Asian American identity, she also looks toward the future.
Redefining Asian American Identity
Hong calls for a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of Asian American identity, one that acknowledges the diversity within the community and resists simplistic categorizations.
Building Solidarity
The author emphasizes the importance of building connections and solidarity, both within the Asian American community and with other marginalized groups.
Challenging the Status Quo
Hong argues for the need to continue challenging dominant narratives and power structures, using art, literature, and activism to create space for Asian American voices and experiences.
Conclusion
"Minor Feelings" offers a deeply personal and insightful exploration of Asian American identity in contemporary America. Through her experiences and observations, Cathy Park Hong illuminates the complexities, contradictions, and ongoing challenges faced by Asian Americans.
The book serves as both a critique of existing racial paradigms and a call to action, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about race, identity, and belonging in the United States. By sharing her own story and those of other Asian Americans, Hong contributes to a growing body of work that seeks to redefine and expand our understanding of the Asian American experience.
Ultimately, "Minor Feelings" is a powerful reminder of the ongoing work needed to achieve true equality and recognition for Asian Americans and other marginalized groups. It challenges readers to look beyond stereotypes and simple narratives, embracing the full complexity of human experience in a multicultural society.