Model minority by McKayla Tan
I am the model minority
Meticulously missing the misfortune of minority
By pleasing the people with my passivity and perception and pliant perspective
And my silence.
The silence that it is expected when others rise,
And when others roar and remonstrate I am relied on to rest restrained and remain relieved and
Grateful that I am the model minority
***************
Model minority
I am the model minority,
Until I am not.
Until I am condemned for conflicting the China Virus,
And until I am close to conquering my Caucasian competitors and accused of cheating instead of creating change
Until I am not silent.
***************
Silence is a weapon worn by whites to withhold the weakness and to pile the power which they already hold.
Silence is a bomb waiting in an unexpected building, ready to shatter the captives.
Close your eyes as you hear it stand by.
Tick, tick, tick and
***************
I swear!
I swear I only shot the boy on the bridge because he was pointing the gun at me,
And I am the victim.
Believe me. Listen to my words.
See, he’s holding the bomb.
Can’t you hear it?
Tick, tick, tick and
***************
It was a bad day!
Bad days are the reason these people go rampant with weapons and shoot these innocent people.
Stop making everything about race.
Look at me.
You’re holding the bomb.
You’re making this a racist act.
Look at your hands.
Can’t you hear it?
Tick, tick, tick and
And
And no noise.
No sound because we are still all so silent.
And we still say silence is a solution
That to solve the situation
We must suppress the press
Ignore the gore
Forget the threats, and pretend that that is an end.
***************
Maybe it was never about the model minority.
Maybe model was a method to motivate the minority and manipulate the masses but maintain the might
Maybe model minority was a supremacy in the guise of being glorified
And being the model was a lie
The respect you had to buy
The cost of consideration was to comply
And live a life where your labour could never be amplified
***************
A world where you had to work to be white
For your eyes to be wide
And your accent to be right
And even then you won’t be respected before you’re exploited and fetishised
***************
Where being told you’re not like the other Asians is a praise
And being called chink or yellow is just a phrase
Just another word you have to deal with for days and days
Wondering when you will think it’s okay
And stealing our eyes and pulling them back is just a craze
And God forbid if you’re gay
***************
Because that is too much
Too much political correctness if you’re more than one minority
Better to keep your head down and join the majority
***************
Model minority
But not a model, and not a minority.
Just a crowd of guilty Christian Halls and oriental Chinamen and Chinagirls trying to take your jobs
Trying to take your spot in the top maths class
And all these insults, these accusations,
they begin to choke.
The chink has been choked.
And isn’t that poetic?
***************
Model minority isn’t a choice
It’s a set of chains expecting us to chant your cheers
To command your congrats
And you have no clue
That we are chalk and cheese
Because you think our nationality is the disease
And believe that our expertise can be squeezed to appease your decrees
But you are wrong.
***************
Because we will be free
Fly away from your supremacy
And you will see
the absurdity
Of model minority
I am not model minority
My people are not your mistakes to be modified
They are people who don’t need to earn not being denied
And our decisions are not yours to decide
Because we are not your models
And we are not your model minority.
***************
