I want my fellow Asian Americans to know that…

We disempower our parents & elders when we only speak of them in terms of what they’ve “sacrificed.”

We dehumanize them when we don’t speak to their contexts—their whole being as humans in America AND Asia (and elsewhere!)—outside of our narrow context of them as parents who “served” us.

I don’t know if this is part of American individualism rubbing off on us…but trapping Asian American narratives into individualist perspectives that center only ourselves as the site of struggle doesn’t truly free us—it also will not free everyone else, not even our parents.

Today’s social media/general media/the-self-as-a-brand-type individual representing a whole means certain Asian Americans have been thrown into the spotlight. And when we have the mic we can’t keep centering personal anecdotes/insecurities as some kind of starting point.

I also think in 2020, believing that Asian Americans are still “invisible” is a disservice. It also disempowers ourselves. We are hyper-visible in certain spaces & for particular reasons. We should understand why, leverage it & protect ourselves from getting cozy with that power.

In higher ed, in corporate, in online influencer/content creation, in art industries, in small businesses—I see my fellow Asian Americans. All I ask is: Distribute what you have; contextualize yourself & others in history, and globally. Maybe cut fruits for your parents for once.