Minor Feelings: a Reckoning on Race and the Asian Condition

The term Asian American was invented at UC Berkeley in 1968 to “inaugurate a new political identity” that was “radicalized by the black power movement and anti-colonial movement” (190). The term replaced how Asians were referred to as before, by the nationality of the country of their ethnic origin. While the moniker was an unapologetic term used by the students to describe who they are, Hong considers that it “is now flattened and emptied of any blazing political rhetoric” (190). Instead, it has become synonymous with notions of a model minority and complacency with the current system.

Although Hong’s subject-matter explicitly centers on the experiences of Asian Americans, she acknowledges that it is difficult to define exactly who this 5.6 percent of the American population are. Lack of unity is a key feature of being Asian American, as this demographic hails from the many countries of a huge continent and occupies all the different levels in the class system. She acknowledges that she can best speak for the Korean American experience, although she refers to examples from the lives of Asians with other ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, this demographic dislikes being around each other in large numbers because “instead of solidarity, you feel that your are less than around other Asians, the boundaries of yourself no longer distinct but congealed into a horde” (9).