Minor Feelings

In this collection of essays Cathy Park Hong examines her racial identity as an Asian, cis female, professional, atheist living in the United States. Immediately she's struck by how minor and non-urgent this feels. Compared to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake her specific griefs can feel small. She wrestles with this and the presumptuousness to think she could invoke any sort of Asian we.

These minor feelings in response to micro-aggressions are easily dismissed. We're the model minority, the next in line to be white as she puts it. Asians don't take up space, we're still relatively non-existent in the political and cultural discourse. We're an emergency relief valve when things get too hot to resort to anti-black sentiment.

But Hong, tired of writing for an imagined white audience of academia, poetry prize panels and fellowships, decides to lay it bare, acknowledging her racial identity and playing it personal - giving some credit to Richard Pryor and stand-up comedy in the process.

Hits and misses in this collection of essays but when it hits, it packs a punch. Acknowledging her Asian-American identity and exploring what it means to inhabit that space in this moment - this is what it feels like to be seen in such a specific way. It's not something that I'm used to. That alone is a revelation and worthy of a read and I'm sure subsequent re-reads.