Powerful Quotes from Asian American and Pacific Islander Writers
In 1992, the United States Congress officially designated the month of May to recognize the contributions of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The acronym “AAPI” comprises all of the continent of Asia and the Pacific islands. They specifically chose May in order to recognize the first Japanese immigrants to the United States on May 7, 1843 and to commemorate the completion of the transcontinental railroad, a task led by mostly Chinese immigrants.
In honor of May being Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we are highlighting some powerful quotes from AAPI writers. It is important to acknowledge the contributions of the AAPI community not just in literature and not just in the month of May. As we shed a light on the United States’ history of racism and the varied experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, we also acknowledge the beauty, influence, and impact of the AAPI community.
“I resented critics who reviewed my work as Chinese literature when I felt I was writing American stories about America. I had the sense of small minds in China and America defending their smaller reality.” — Maxine Hong Kingston, poet, memoirist, and fiction writer
“Life is not simple, and people can’t be boxed into being either heroes or villains.” — Jessica Hagedorn Poet, novelist, playwright, and multimedia artist
“America is also the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the Black body dangling on a tree. America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and intellectual opportunities is closed to him. We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched Black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate — We are America!” — Carlos Bulosan, author of “America Is in the Heart”
“Don’t deny the past. Remember everything. If you’re bitter, be bitter. Cry it out! Scream! Denial is gangrene.” — Joy Kogawa
“Anger can teach us forgiveness, hate can teach us love, and war can teach us peace.” — Le Ly Hayslip, author of “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace”
“There are many ways in which America tells you you don’t belong…. A polite people, it is the facial muscles, the shoulder tension, and the silence that give away white Americans’ uneasiness with people not like them. The United States, a nation of immigrants, makes strangers only of those who are visibly different, including the indigenous people of the continent. Some lessons begin in infancy, with silent performances, yet with eloquent instructions.” — Shirley Geok-lin Lim, author of “Among the White Moon Faces”
“One does not die from pain unless one chooses to.” — Wakako Yamauchi, playwright
“To finally recognize our own invisibility is to finally be on the path toward visibility. Invisibility is not a natural state for anyone.” — Mitsuye Yamada, “Invisibility Is An Unnatural Disaster: Reflections of an Asian American Woman”
“Don’t ever think that just because you do things differently, you’re wrong.” — Gail Tsukiyama, author of “Women of the Silk”
“Painfully, in the two to three years of my employment, I came to realize that our internment was a trifle compared to the two hundred years or so of enslavement and prejudice that others were heir to.” — Hisaye Yamamoto, short story author
Who are some of your favorite novelists, poets, and playwrights in the AAPI community? Share with us @meetcopper so we can continue to share them with our Copper Community!
Photo by Trung Thanh on Unsplash
