Transforming America: Queer Asian/Pacific American activists speak out 

It’s been years since I last heard the phrase “melting pot” in reference to American society. The idea, which is now accumulating dust in the back of the American consciousness, stated that different races and ethnicities could integrate to pursue their common hopes, dreams, and aspirations. This was achieved in part by emphasizing one social narrative, the “American experience,” above all others, and it was supposed to speak for everyone.

America has changed a great deal since the idea of the “melting pot” was first introduced. Today, there are multiple interpretations of the American experience. Holding one social narrative above others is no longer practical or realistic. Some of the different voices that are a source of inspiration and change are captured in the new book edited by Kevin Kumashiro, Restoried Selves: Autobiographies of Queer Asian/Pacific American Activists.

Restoried Selves is a collection of first-person essays from queer Asian Pacific American activists. The writers detail the discrimination and marginalization they confronted, based on their ethnic and sexual identity, and how that experience led and inspired them to become activists. Although the book might initially appear to represent a specific community, Restoried Selves is particularly striking and poignant because it tells stories that many of us can identify with and that all of us should care about: being different, being discriminated against because of it, and making a difference in spite of it.

The writers were labeled “different” because they are queer and Asian, the intersection of which is a difficult place to lay claim. They were discriminated against and marginalized by the Asian community because they are queer, the gay community because they are Asian, and American (read straight and white) society because they are queer and Asian.

In one of my favorite chapters, “All-American Asian,” David C. Lee describes growing up gay and Asian American. He says, “I was teased at school for being Asian, and I was teased at home for being gay. I was a sissy for being too sensitive, too sensitive for protesting being called sissy, and a ‘big mouth’ for being too articulate.” As an adult gay man, he searched for adoration and validation from gay white men, only to find himself frustrated because so many of them ignored him. He did not fit their discriminatory and unforgiving white standard of beauty. Additionally, he became fed up with his white partners analyzing his experience of racism into abstraction and oblivion as a means to deny responsibility for it or to invent an excuse to not do anything about it. Now he advocates for white people to help in the fight against racism. He says, “People of color cannot fight racism alone. We need allies. It’s an ongoing fight, and it’s not only our fight—it’s everyone’s.”

Narratives, like this, contained within the pages of Restoried Selves are compelling, inspiring, thought-provoking, and even humorous, but they do not speak, nor do they try to speak, for all queer Asian Pacific Americans. Like the population itself, the writers come from diverse backgrounds. Some are foreign-born, while others are from the United States. Some are students, some are professionals, some of are from mixed ethnic and racial backgrounds, and many of them have different sexual and gender identities. Still, Editor Kevin Kumashiro cautions us against generalizing Asian Pacific American experiences. It is important, he says, not to “overlook our complexities, our differences, and the many ways that we exceed our stories.”

Oftentimes generalizations are problematic because they are based on stereotypes and misinformation, and they cause harm when they are applied to and imposed on individuals, groups, and communities. Kumashiro continues, “no one book can encapsulate the infinite diversity among queer Asian/Pacific Americans, just as no single story can tell everything about any one author.” He concludes, “Stories are always partial.”

But as partial and individual as these stories may be, they have one thing in common: their ability to speak to us all and remind us of our humanity.