Since the birth of America, Asian minorities have been taken advantage of and threatened. From being exploited for cheap labor to build the tracks that carry trains across America, to the 2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings that have just taken place. I wanted the audience to learn about the asian hate in America that has been occurring for years. That this is not the only time my community has been oppressed and blamed for something we are not entirely responsible for. I hope that my project will have an eye-opening impact and they can audibly say “wow”. I chose this kind of style because rap is popular with a lot of kids right now. So I start off with a cheesy sounding rap to grab their attention and kind of laugh along with me. But when I start getting into more and more verses we dive deeper into the problem. As we go into deeper waters the song changes from this rap to more of a slam poetry to emphasize the words that I’m speaking to the audience. In the song I refer to a lot of current events that are taking place as we speak like the asian hate crimes that have been targeting the elderly with lines like “Small eyes chink eyes real eyes realize to leave the elderly pick on someone your own size”. Using the critical race lense, we can apply white beauty standards to this line. One of the things Asians are mocked for the most is the shape of our eyes, since we do not live up to the big blue beautiful eyes that the master narrative shows us. We don’t have the same eyes as white people and therefore we are something less according to society. I play on that idea using the words small eyes and chink which is a derogatory word used to insult asians. As a kid this was the thing that ticked me off the most because i wanted round eyes, i didn’t want to look different. Later on I would realize that my eyes were as real as theirs and mine alone. “Asians working hard getting pennies on the dollar Hollywood man be lacking that color” , In this next line we can use the marxisist lens and critical race lens seeing how society often underpaid workers back then just because of the color of their skin. Just like how immigrants nowadays are desperate for work they come to America and are paid with chump change because capitalism makes people only think of profit. “Kung flu are the lies that you chant” Here in this line I referenced the terminology the previous president Donald J Trump used in many of his speeches and tweets. He would go out of his way to target Chinese culture and replace coronavirus with kung-flu. The critical race lense also applies because of the obvious discrimination on chinese martialarts, asian culture, and pinning the blame on the chinese. As you can see in the lyrics I referenced a lot of topics like the Vietnamese war, the Atlanta 2021 spa shooting, coronavirus, Japanese internment, and the recent attacks on Asian elderly.

Lyrics

Well I’m an Asian American and I’m here to say

Our country will get better another day

Another day, another week, another year, another dollar

Another loud shouting Asian hating racist caller

Ancestors fought in the soil they die

And all the yellow man gets is a plate white lies

Asians working hard getting pennies on the dollar

Hollywood man be lacking that color

Stop Asian hate join the cause 

don’t wait another minute hit play not pause

Kung flu are the lies that you chant

You’re allergic to milk don’t be race intolerant 

You know we don’t eat our dogs over rice

Everybody thinks we cheap with our price

Accusing us of everything bringin over ice

Saying we don’t belong here its happened more than twice

Anime, buddha, take out, and boba

Culture that you steal like Olivia jade’s diploma 

Asian elderly stricken, you racist fools be kickin

And pushing the limits while you eat delicious Kung Pao Chicken,

Stop thinking the elderly are the ones to attack 

Surprise motherfucker these Asian grandmas fight back 

Don’t come after us stop the kids with the guns in their packs

Yet you still decided to crack – down on us 

Thinking we some kinda hack 

we should just live in shacks  

Cause its the white we lack 

Just like our brothers in black  

We gotta stand up and talk back

Small eyes chink eyes real eyes realize

To leave the elderly pick on someone your own size

My words speak out to y’all like the famous king Cyrus

The Asian race isn’t some parasitic virus

Don’t pin the blame on us We didn’t start this crazy flu

It’s the views that have been already planted inside of you

So don’t act the fool and go back to school

Learn how to treat one another just don’t be cruel 

Trump telling you to be afraid of the Chinese

But you don’t even know what’s in your American cheese

I thought this was the land of the free

Take note from socrates and grab the keys

To a better life and let us be

yet you still be

Traumatizing our families, containing the Japanese

Tyrna send us overseas, treating us like some kinda disease 

My family is just trying to get me my degree  

But you still Saying we shouldn’t speak Cantonese 

Pushing and Hitting old peoples knees, given us mad fees

Mocking us saying “look they’re in the trees” 

People coming in spas with guns saying freeze 

Life ain’t no breeze

Come on America please 

Our brothers and sisters are in oppression 

Given us depression 

WE gotta fight back come right outta that recession

Put those who attack in question

And keep showing off our self-expression 

Cause culture is what takes us back from their possession 

Keep calm don’t keep building that aggression 

To America’s digressions, 

that just creates more hate and transgressions 

That’s not the impressions – our mothers told us to leave

Its to not have an obsession – with that anger and just breath

Link to audio:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j1my8Fw_SldqmPxB4mXETwrJ9oOZO5fM/view

Thomas Son is a senior at Fremont High School.

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