Upon reading Who Killed Seok Fang Sim by Wang Ping, I felt an eerie sense of relatability to the poem. Coming from a South Asian/South East Asian family, we had always been told that we were not good enough (even when we had worked diligently). That is to say, we would have to work twice, triple, or even quadruple the amount to even be recognized on the same podium as our Caucasian peers. If we did something extraordinary, it would be because of our "smart genes" not because of the hours and hours we put into our work. The alienation described in the poem was described as cancerous and I would have to agree; it is something that is not visible, but eats at you. With thousands of us going through this, how come we all feel as if we are alone? The poem, however, asks us to join hands and stand as one (a theme of revolution and call for brother in arms I see repeated in a lot of Wang Ping's Poems).
Furthermore, the line "the law won't speak justice/ we will sing it with our poetry" reminds me of a famous Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh and what he said about how the laws are expressions of the will of people, therefore, Asian Americans are treated unjustly because of people not speaking up/wishing we continue to be oppressed.
Sources: Top Ten. (n.d.). Bhagat Singh quote [Digital image]. Retrieved July 1, 2019, from https://topten.co.com/editors-pick/top-10-inspirational-quotes-by-bhagat-singh/
No comments:
Post a Comment