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Han Han Han Han
Coming to Terms with the Asian American Identity in a Major Way I
only recently found out what my last name meant. Truthfully, I was never inclined to read about my family’s cultural history until it was directly revealed to me. My name, Han, is defined as such: a Korean word that encapsulates all negative emotion—the bitterness, the shame, the hateful desire for vengeance— until it snowballs into a trauma that defines an entire nation. Cathy Park Hong brought this definition to my attention in her collection of essays
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titled Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. A cultural awakening, Hong’s memoir gives a voice to a community that has for too long been pushed to the sidelines. Published in February of 2020, Minor Feelings establishes itself as one of the most pertinent reads of our time. Climbing to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, Hong’s collection of essays carries a newfound magnitude as violence rises amongst the Asian community.
A seemingly prophetic telling given the times, Hong’s memoir asks Asian Americans to question their identities. What part do we play in this world, one that refuses to accept our racial identities while simultaneously holding us to a standard that is used to put other minorities down? How do we navigate these “minor feelings”—feelings that we are unable to express so we continue on in silent damnation? These questions are not to be answered outright; rather, they
