And will I always be seen this way? Just another Asian kid blending into the background like all the others Lumped in with everyone else the looks start the assumptions start half Asian, I’m not like they are half white, I’m not like you half Taiwanese, I bet you don’t even know what that is I wasn’t what anyone was expecting we weren’t what anyone was expecting The checkout counter, the employee thinking my mom wasn’t part of my family Science class, the girl who made the joke why did you make that joke? The teacher in social studies I’m not Chinese but you asked me to read it and you did that racist impression and it hurt so much So I am of many worlds not just the ones you see not even the ones I can see I know I will not always be understood I do not want to I am an amalgam of all who came before me uniquely myself my parents’ legacy I am not just the Asian kid not just the queer kid. the emo kid. the quiet kid. the funny kid. I am not who you think I am. I am me. All of me. And I will make sure you remember my name.
