Kimmy Profile picture
Aug 18, 2018 8 tweets 2 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
You’re 8 years old.
Your 3rd grade class orders chinese food & your father delivers it. You are so excited to see your pops in school. He’s your hero. But apparently other kids don’t think he’s so cool. They laugh at him and mimic his accent. You don’t want to be Chinese anymore.
You’re 9 years old.
You attend ballet camp. Someone tells you that another girl *hates* you. She thinks your eyes are an “ugly shape.” You don’t have the vocabulary to describe why that’s hurtful. But now, you hate your distinctly Asian face. You don’t want to be Chinese anymore.
You’re 16 years old.
It’s Halloween & 2 students come to class dressed as “Asian tourists.” They’ve taped their eyes back, strapped cameras around their necks and chucked up peace signs. You feel uncomfortable. When a teacher asks if you find the costumes offensive, you say no.
You don’t want people thinking you’re uptight. You laugh along with everyone else. You don’t want to be Chinese anymore.
You’re 17 years old.
You’re off to college & you meet other Asians. They have pride that you never had. You meet a boy & he wonders why you don’t speak your family’s tongue. Why your favorite food is grilled cheese, not xiao long bao. You say your family doesn’t live that way.
But you know you rejected your culture a long time ago. You know you refused to speak Chinese & you remember calling your mother’s food “disgusting.” It’s fucked. It clicks. It’s a race to reclaim everything you’ve hated about yourself. For the 1st time, you want to be Chinese.
You’re 20 years old.
You’ve spent the past several years repatriating yourself. You get your family’s name inked into your skin. That character is there forever. You won’t let anyone make you feel the way you did all those years ago. You love being Chinese.
You’re 25 years old.
You see a movie with an all-asian cast at a screening and for some reason you’re crying and you can’t stop. You’ve never seen a cast like this in Hollywood. Everyone is beautiful.
You’re so happy you’re Chinese.
#CrazyRichAsians #RepresentationMatters

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More from @kimmythepooh

Sep 1, 2018
I sat down with @ronnychieng just ahead of the Asian August madness he is hands-down one of the most interesting people I've ever talked to. Some highlights:
huffingtonpost.com/entry/daily-sh…
On that shitty Jesse Watters Chinatown segment:
“As soon as I got out of the car, people lined up around the block [to talk to us]. People in Chinatown are politically active and they were angry about what happened. I basically gave people a platform to talk about it.”
On his accent:
“I’ve been living with this accent. I had already been doing standup for a while. I knew my voice already. I myself never wanted to make my accent the butt of the joke. I never want it to be, ‘I’m laughing at your accent.’”
Read 4 tweets
Aug 15, 2018
Hello friends. I spoke with #CrazyRichAsians' director @jonmchu , who opened up about his struggle with his Asian-American identity -- something so many of us AAPI's go through. Some highlights:
huffingtonpost.com/entry/crazy-ri…
On why #CrazyRichAsians is his first dive into any Asian/Asian-American material:
“The reason I did this movie and the reason why it took so long for me to explore this as an artist, explore my cultural identity, was because it was such a sensitive part of my heart and my soul.”
On why he ultimately reclaimed his heritage and took on @CrazyRichMovie :
“I am a complete, residual effect of people speaking out. I was someone who wasn’t awake to those things only because I had my head down to the ground.”
Read 4 tweets
Aug 6, 2018
I had such an awesome time kickin' it with @henrygolding ! some highlights:
huffingtonpost.com/entry/henry-go…
On being mixed race/criticisms that he's not "Asian enough":
"When it comes to cultural identity, when it comes to being an Asian, there’s no litmus test for how Asian you need to be to be considered Asian."
On the beauty of cinema and its power: "People look to cinema to spread the word and to tell these wonderful, outrageous stories or true-to-life documentaries. It’s such an important format for us to put our faces on and normalize."
Read 4 tweets

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