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The Color Red
The American flag holds three bold colors
Red, White, and Blue
Each of them means different things, the blue preaches to the vigilance of one, the white
Teaches to the innocence it’ll bring, and yet there’s also red, those straight red stripes,
Red means valor and hardiness or spilled blood
and it’s different
People’s Republic of China
With its red blanket and stars, red means harmony and luck
And yellow is perhaps less beautiful
It represents the communism in China
It’s like a remix of red white and blue
But it’s only two colors that represent other things
Just as bold
And has 5 bright stars instead of 50
And yet…
The fourth of July has never meant the same thing to me as it has to others on the same land that I walk on
To me, it means an evening of fun
With hot dogs and belting the national anthem and
Oh say can you see
With snow cones and summer sweat with people with blankets around an empty parking lot
And Booms! In the night as the dark sky is illuminated with color as the fireworks shine
And Bangs! In the inky darkness as the stars meet a new friend
But I have never felt proud or deserving or even remotely connected to the blasts of color
As they parade through the air on a hot summer night
It is just but a place for enjoyment to me
Because I will never be solely part of the red white and blue land
With skies that are clean and people that are open to change
Well, some open to change
And blue lakes tinted with tears of happiness as some step farther in life
And red soil filled with the old blood of enemies that now grow and reap the benefits of a crop
And white peaks that stand steady in the middle of the vast land
And so
The people who thrive in this land will never know
The things I feel on Chinese New Year
It is a feeling That only certain people will grasp onto
It’s red and gold and bright and shiny
With scents of pudgy boiled dumplings and
Aromas of steamed pork buns
Mingled with the faint scent of the smoke of the firecrackers in the evening sky
And the crunch of sunflower seeds as the Spring Gala plays in the background
The feeling of family and peace within chaos
Is unbeknownst to most that I stand with
And the hopeful feeling and happiness of receiving a red packet
Complimented with the wishes of a good new year filled with hopes and dreams
Dance their way into everyone’s sleep as they lay in bed finally at peace
But these happy moments
My culture and I are what dig the grave of my own future
The memories of Chinese opera shows are what prevent me from succeeding as much as others
The memories of the taste of cabbage buns are the obstacles in my way
The others who do the same as me
Why is it that a white student in California with a 3.8 GPA
And a 32 on the ACT
And 5 B+ on their high school record
With hardly any leadership roles
And 2 extracurriculars
Can get them into a sea of ivy leagues
When a student with a Chinese last name
With a GPA of 4.8
And a 36 on the ACT
And straight A’s
With so many outside clubs and events more than the stars in the sky
And leads so many projects and has so many hobbies
Get waitlisted at Pepperdine?
And yet still we are all expected to be able to
Play a classical instrument
Be amazing at everything academical
Be great at everything
Every single goddamn thing
And even when someone is less great they still have a better future?
When just 50 years ago we were viewed as filthy, undesirable, illiterate, and greedy?
And why do all people think that
If anyone has
Black hair, black eyes, and darker than fair skin
Our eyes must be as thin as the string of a floss;
That we eat dogs and cats for dinner every night;
That you can scam us, and yet we’ll scam you;
That the only sports we’re anywhere good at are martial arts
That Asian woman suck at driving
And Asian men are weaklings
Whenever you see an Asian man outside
That he must speak with an accent and have trouble with English
And that all of us are proficient in academics?
Proficient in this in that?
Why must we all be proficient in anything?
And why are we considered less discriminated against
When does all the above stand true?
And sometimes it gets too hard to balance
The firecrackers and the fireworks
Because one tells me to stand out
While the other tells me to fit in
I shouldn’t want to have the wish
to
Not have a race or culture, or identity at all.
It’s not fair
Of course, the world’s not fair
But why is it that even though
Both flags are striped with red from head to toe
Why do the white stars go against the yellow stars
Why is it so hard to see
With a bit of Luck, Harmony, and Valor
We all have a little red in us
From out blood
To our flag?
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This is a free verse poem on the silent struggles of Asian-Americans, and in this piece, specifically Chinese-Americans, by a 13-year-old who wants to make her cat proud of her, heheh.
As a Chinese-American citizen, a lot of discrimination in America becomes unheard of because we're considered to have a lighter skin tone, and therefore less prone to general racism, when that's really not true. We have to be careful of every step we tred, cautious of blending cultures, and overcome the racism that others don't see in everyday life. With rich backgrounds, there always comes a price.
This poem brings to light many of the daily discrimination that we face, including more competitive college admissions, stereotypes, and how the line between being the best and succeeding becomes blurred.
I recommend reading the poem out loud as if it's a slam poem, for the full effect :).