The Asian-American Dream in Post-Election Society
Valerie Wu is a student at Presentation High School in the Bay Area, CA. She is passionate about exploring the intersection of feminism and racial justice. Her work has previously been featured in Susan Cain's Quiet Revolution, the Huffington Post, and received a National Editor's Choice Award from Teen Ink.
I had been #WithHer for the past few years. I was yellow, female, and undefined. I was looking for representation in the American government--I was looking for an individual that could advocate for my voice because I, as an individual, wasn't able to. I was searching for a solid identity within the tapestry of the American Dream, and I believed that the candidate I was rooting for could support that. I retweeted, shared, liked her quotes and articles on social media. I wrote election statements articulating what I believed and what I hoped for the future of America.
Such sentiment is only an example of the actions taken by marginalized groups in America. Living in a predominantly immigrant community in Northern California, there was a quantitative amount of unrest felt. There was talk of moving back to China, Taiwan--anywhere but here. There was talk of the lack of the American Dream in America. And somewhere in that, another thing emerged: the notion of rightful belonging. Somewhere in the movement of no, no, n o there was yes, yes, yes. That movement proposing the place of Asian-American characters in America was one that developed specifically because of the oppression against it. It was one that I started seeing in the personal narratives I heard; it was one that I started seeing in the personal narratives I've read.
This movement has in turn lead to a literary revolution of its own kind. The Wangs vs. the World is quite possibly one of the most enlightening, thought-provoking books I've read that really focus on the American Dream through the Asian-American perspective. Centered around the financial decline of the Wang family, the novel chronicles the changing shape of the American Dream in the backdrop of an American society while utilizing the atypical "road trip" story as a plot device. Charles Wang is an immigrant who lives the quintessential "American Dream" with a thriving cosmetics business until the 2008 recession hits. In the aftermath of the recession, his business goes bankrupt, and he begins to become fixated on this idea of the motherland, a land in which the land is his, the culture is his, and the concept of home is his. In this, Charles Wang and his family become literary representations of belonging in America. Despite the odds America places against them, they are ultimately able to redeem their own sense of belonging in between the two countries.
In an interview with the Asian American Writers' Workshop , Jade Chang, the author of The Wangs vs. the World, stated on her inspiration for the novel, "I felt that the people of America want to hear stories of immigrant pain or righteous struggle. Not just immigrants, people of color as a whole." In the midst of the hate-filled rhetoric of the 2016 election, I focused on the positive message of the American Dream as I--as my immigrant community--defined it. I wrote a lot. I wrote lots of essays about myself, my neighborhood, my achievements, and my home. I think in a sense, I was trying to advocate for the marginalized voices of the election, to provide them with a voice thacouldn't be heard above the protests and outrage. I joined Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Hillary , signed up to volunteer, wrote instead. I think literature has the power to effect change just as much as crying out. In a sense, literature is crying out--the crying out for social justice, for fairness in identity politics.
In this transitory period of American society, my dreams are still undefined. I still don't know whether to call myself Asian or American. The color of my skin is still yellow. But I have a firm belief in the power of the word, both written and verbal. If I had to say one thing to the future president of America--any future president--I'd tell him/her to consider our words, because they matter. I'm an Asian-American female living in Silicon Valley, a place of privilege, and I'm telling you that unless you join our movement, our movement of making the American vision come true won't become reality. It won't become reality unless we make it so. I'm working to effect change through literature, literature that empowers and inspires.
I don't think I'll ever quite realize the implications this election will have for the future. As Asian-Americans, what we want most is to be heard. As a writer of color, I believe that I fulfilled my duty by giving a new definition to American literature as a whole. So dear America, let's start a project. Let's start a project to include minorities within American history. Let's start a movement of rights for the disabled, the people of color, the LGBTQ community. Yes, the election is over. That doesn't mean the revolution is.Ā
