ABOUT

Following the onset of Covid-19 in the United States, against the public health expert recommendation, prominent politicians popularized racially charged terms for the virus, including “Chinese virus”, “Wuhan virus”, and “Kung Flu.” These terms -- these few words -- sparked misplaced fear, the spread of misinformation, and the scapegoating of an entire community of people. Studies show this rhetoric largely fueled the vicious rise in violence against people of Asian descent around the world. Including verbal harrassment, physical assault, and murder. A report revealed that while overall hate crimes fell 7%, those targeting Asian Americans increased 150% nationwide in the last year. That percentage continues to climb. While there are a few messages that intellectualize why these words are dangerous, our film is among the first to humanize it -- from the intimate perspective of an Asian American woman living with the reality of it. This work was inspired by the poet’s background as a daughter of Vietnamese refugees. The English in this spoken word piece is not the English taught in schools. It is born from the experience of growing up with refugees and immigrants. In a community where everyone has a different first language, we learn to communicate through the only language we share: broken English. Short words. Fragmented. Action-oriented. Limited to immediate subjects -- simply, you and me. The idea of the power of a single word is one that children of refugees and immigrants are profoundly familiar with. We have always understood the importance of words. Because our non-English speaking parents have always needed our words. To help them order food, to translate bills, to decipher legal jargon. This film is a natural extension of that. At its heart, it’s the voice of a daughter, using her words to help her parents.