Asian Americans continue to fight two pandemics:

One against COVID-19, the other anti-Asian racism

This time, COVID-19 is the thinly veiled analogue

To the Japanese auto-industry

This time, We lost Park Soon Jung

Kim Hyun Jung, Kim Soon Cha, Yoo Yong Ae, Tan Xiaojie

Feng Daoyou, Ho Pak, Vicha Rattanapakdee, Zheng Yong

Juanito Falcon, Christian Hall, Angelo Quinto, Ee Lee

Last time, it was Vincent Chin

But Asia's rise and the Pacific Century remain dominant motifs of a fearful, anxious West

The cabal of old superpowers, threatened by this Asian menace

Like the orient, we Asian Americans pose a threat

Like in Gran Torino, we were, and are cowed into silence

We stood in for a mute, terrifying and despotic Asia

When we spoke up, we were told that it was a harmless joke

And our pain and hurt were met with the question of why we couldn't take a joke

We were always told what we were

We were always told how to feel

We were always told that Asians had it too good, never feeling the real sting of racism

The point was: we were told, never listened to

Those who have killed us had the last word,

They spoke for the dead

Just as the West spoke for an imagined Orient

But the imperative will always be for us,

To check our privilege

Because that's the violence of being spoken for

So we say "No more."