Inside Out Off and On

Jeff Chen, who identifies as Taiwanese American, protests Chinese president Xi Jinping and then-governor Bill Walker’s meeting at the Hotel Captain Cook.

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Six years ago, I was at the museum in downtown Anchorage. I got a text from my friend Evan Anderson who told me Chinese president Xi Jinping is in town. I looked down at my shirt that boldly spells out T-A-I-W-A-N, and laughed to myself, “well, I’m wearing the right shirt!” Within minutes, I was out the door, heart pounding, walking with exigence to the Hotel Captain Cook, where Governor Bill Walker was hosting Xi for a visit to talk about natural gas.

As I arrived, my heart knew what to do, but I had to force my brain and my throat to cooperate. “Taiwan is a sovereign nation!” I yelled to the top of the hotel, where I presumed they were meeting. U.S. law enforcement immediately put up barricades and began to monitor me. And then Chinese officials began to circle me in silence. I talked back about Taiwan’s democracy.

Everyone else in Anchorage was just doing what they do on a First Friday. One friend did stay with me the whole time while I yelled phrases like, “Stop pointing missiles at my homeland!” and I’m grateful for them and the other friend who took me to a safe place afterward.

At the time, I had been helping in some community organizing spaces in Alaska, but the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty had never come up – it still hasn’t. Everyone’s got their own issues they care about and fight for, so sometimes you just gotta light your own match and say what’s in your heart.

The next day, I ended the governor’s press conference by asking why he wanted to do business with an authoritarian government that has missiles pointed at my homeland. He didn’t have an answer. Like a light switch – when the need arises, you turn on your lights and shine.