Featured Image: I am not a virus by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom (2020)
China Virus. Wuhan Flu. Kung Flu. The political climate of COVID-19 has resurrected painfully familiar hate speech deeply rooted in the history of white supremacy in the U.S. As a result, hate crimes have increased against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, with elders being particularly vulnerable. Yellow Peril. Cheap Labor. Silent Minority. Unassimilable. These stereotypes have been around a long time. As a way of rejecting these labels and reclaiming cultural identities, this project seeks to engage multiple generations of Chinese Americans to tell their stories through the music they like. The purpose of this evolving web archive of earnest, at times painful, stories and songs is to explore and share the multiplicity of Chinese American experiences, the intergenerational importance of music, as well as the human will to overcome challenges to create a better future. We hope this source of positive cultural sustainability will be a contribution to the efforts of other cultural groups that are also reclaiming narratives in an increasingly globalized 21st century.
Illustrations by Kloe Chan. Translations by Homer Teng. Music transcriptions by Eva Piontkowski. Big thanks to all collaborators, visitors, youtubers, community artists, and beyond, including those from the future. More about the team coming in a blog post soon, so stay tuned!
