Asian-American Voices Unit
Why is it important to understand the Asian American experience?
Understanding Asian American experience is complex. However, it is crucial for students to understand the complexities of the American society as Asian Americans are integral part of it. Students explored the rise of asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the model minority myth, downward mobility, and the facade of the American dream through a variety of works written by Asian-American authors.
“Chil Kong, the producer of Nickelodeon’s Bossy Bear, spoke to Ms. Cho’s AP English Language and Composition classes to share his Asian American experience. He recounted his upbringing as a Korean-American in the Northern Virginia area in the 1980s and discussed how he found his voice in storytelling to represent the Korean-American and Asian-American communities in mass media.”
It’s a unique condition that’s distinctly Asian, in that some of us are economically doing better than any other minority group but we barely exist anywhere in the public eye. Although it’s now slowly changing, we have been mostly nonexistent in politics, entertainment, and the media, and barely represented in the arts. Hollywood is still so racist against Asians that when there’s a rare Asian extra in a film, I tense up for the chinky joke and relax when there isn’t one. Asians also have the highest income disparity out of any racial group. Among the working class, Asians are the invisible serfs of the garment and service industries, exposed to third-world work conditions and subminimum wages, but it’s assumed that the only group beleaguered by the shrinking welfare state is working-class whites. But when we complain, Americans suddenly know everything about us. Why are you pissed! You’re next in line to be white! As if we’re iPads queued up in an assembly line” (Hong 19).
“Lesson One” and “Lesson Zero” by Tablo (Epik High)
Ms. Cho’s English 12 Honors class read, listened to, and analyzed “Lesson One” and “Lesson Zero” written by Tablo from Epik High. Students deconstructed each lyric to understand the Korean-Canadian writer’s choice to communicate his message about the harsh truths of religion, education, societal issues. They further compared and contrasted the two songs written in two different years: 2004 and 2021. In June 2024, Ms. Cho sent students’ work and letter to Tablo in South Korea, and he responded with a signed CD of Epik High Is Here Part 1, where the song “Lesson Zero” was released, expressing his gratitude!
