Asian American
ASIAN American
Asian AMERICAN
I am an immigrant’s child
Born and raised in your country
I didn’t migrate myself
No accent
No credibility
Others see my parents
Others hear my parents
Language, accents, or no English
They see what I eat at home
Smell fried fish on my clothes
They see my flat nose
The dark brown I turn
in the summer sun
What does all this make me?
Educated in your schools
Without a single word about my people
in your textbooks
Especially nothing about your empire building efforts
I am brought up in your land to believe
Honest, hard work is all you need
Don’t be like them
They are too loud and aggressive
Finish college
Find a job
Get married
Have children
Make a life for yourself
Well,
Mom I did all that
Dad I accomplished everything
you told me to accomplish
And what did that leave me with?
I’m only accepted if I’m quiet
And avoid conversations about being
a person of color
I’m seeing so many that look like me
Unseen and unheard even though
they’ve achieved so much
I’m seeing that people’s idea of
diversity will not include me
Mom, what is my goal here?
Dad, where is this life supposed to
take me?
My goal is to gain the status of
Honorary White
My goal is to suppress all of myself
that comes from you
And just blend in
But you had me educated here
You asked me to read books and
I read them
I read about oppression
About this country we call our home
talk about us like we are heathens
Uncivilized jungle people
And people still believe that about migrants
And we learn to believe that about migrants as well
Because we did it the right way
We earned this
And we don’t want to lose our status
As Honorary Whites
About Andrew Ignacio
Andrew Ignacio was born and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, with parents from Pampanga, Philippines. Currently living and working at Jubilee Partners, a Christian Service community in Comer, Georgia with his wife Camille and five year old Ellie. Before that, Andrew spent seven years teaching English in South Korea.
