Bringing the Marginalized into Conversations about American Raciality - Erin Kane - Keely Gaeta - Emily Norris

“ASIAN AMERICANS INHABIT A PURGATORIAL STATUS: NEITHER WHITE ENOUGH NOR BLACK ENOUGH, UNMENTIONED IN MOST CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACIAL IDENTITY … HOW DO WE SPEAK HONESTLY ABOUT THE ASIAN AMERICAN CONDITION—IF SUCH A THING EXISTS?” ― CATHY PARK HONG, MINOR FEELINGS: AN ASIAN AMERICAN RECKONING In this collection of analyses that explore the multi-faceted Asian American identity, we hoped to speak honestly about the Asian American condition. The Asian American condition is one constantly without a seat at the table of American racial consciousness. This zine delves into Asian American identity through the lenses of history, psychology, and lived experience. The historical perspective of Asian American identity has been explored at the hands of the “benevolent” West. History is written by the victors. For Asian Americans, the victor has always been the United States, meaning the interpretation of their identity has been sculpted by those who single handedly erased it. In many accounts of history, Asian countries have served as a tool to either unite a country or a manifestation of the Western inherent desire to paternalize. Countries have been invaded, colonized, reduced to a device used to expand a country’s influence and power. The citizens of these countries are left to determine their fate. To either stay in their native country and rebuild or flee to America under the false pretense that the American Dream is the answer to their plight -- only to realize for racial minorities, it is unattainable.