People on the margins and in the intersections need to see themselves and their stories in the conversation, but they also need to learn to tell those stories. A common retelling of the book of Esther is through a white male lens: Esther is the winner of a beauty pageant, and the titles of king and queen are filtered through a western understanding of power and some degree of equality if not equity and agency for both king and queen. But when I look at Esther’s story I see racial passing and the implications of a young, disenfranchised woman who has assimilated but not completely lost her culture accepting the opportunity to seek justice for her people in a misogynistic culture. I see how Esther couldn’t have come to her journey if it were not for the prior example of Queen Vashti choosing first to speak out by refusing the king’s demands for what amounts to a lap dance for his friends.
Kathy Khang: Why we stay silent and how to speak up
