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calarco 's review for:
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
by Cathy Park Hong
“For as long as I could remember, I have struggled to prove myself into existence. I, the modern-day scrivener, working five times as hard as others and still I saw my hand dissolve, then my arm… My confidence was impoverished from a lifelong diet of conditional love and a society who thinks I’m as interchangeable as lint.” (9)
Right off the bat, I can attest that there is nothing minor about Cathy Park Hong’s personal and intellectual honesty in [b:Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning|52845775|Minor Feelings An Asian American Reckoning|Cathy Park Hong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580788273l/52845775._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72657866]. Writing this review from 2020 in the U.S. where we have seen a dramatic spike in Asian American hate crimes due to conservative insistence on labeling COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” I can say that Hong is 100% valid in her scathing critiques of American society.
Specifically, she writes about the building blocks that can ultimately lead to violence—what she describes as minor feelings. She defines this term as, “…the racialized range of emotions that are negative, dysphoric, and therefore untelegenic, built from the sediments of everyday racial experience and the irritant of having one’s perception of reality constantly questioned or dismissed.” (55) Essentially, it’s a type of societal gaslighting that belittles the realities of microaggressions, which then become challenging to verbalize precisely due to standardized societal silence.
I think what makes Hong’s work so impactful, is that she not only critique’s society’s lack of empathy, but she also self-evaluates her own blind spots and biases. People who are oppressed can themselves inadvertently become oppressors of lesser protected people, and by voicing these elements of humanity that can be present in anyone (including herself), Hong is all the more able to authentically bolster her arguments and assessments.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it. Work like this is so vital and important, especially during tumultuous times like these.
Right off the bat, I can attest that there is nothing minor about Cathy Park Hong’s personal and intellectual honesty in [b:Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning|52845775|Minor Feelings An Asian American Reckoning|Cathy Park Hong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580788273l/52845775._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72657866]. Writing this review from 2020 in the U.S. where we have seen a dramatic spike in Asian American hate crimes due to conservative insistence on labeling COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” I can say that Hong is 100% valid in her scathing critiques of American society.
Specifically, she writes about the building blocks that can ultimately lead to violence—what she describes as minor feelings. She defines this term as, “…the racialized range of emotions that are negative, dysphoric, and therefore untelegenic, built from the sediments of everyday racial experience and the irritant of having one’s perception of reality constantly questioned or dismissed.” (55) Essentially, it’s a type of societal gaslighting that belittles the realities of microaggressions, which then become challenging to verbalize precisely due to standardized societal silence.
I think what makes Hong’s work so impactful, is that she not only critique’s society’s lack of empathy, but she also self-evaluates her own blind spots and biases. People who are oppressed can themselves inadvertently become oppressors of lesser protected people, and by voicing these elements of humanity that can be present in anyone (including herself), Hong is all the more able to authentically bolster her arguments and assessments.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it. Work like this is so vital and important, especially during tumultuous times like these.