美国国家公共电台 NPR--'Biting the Hand': Korean American author calls for weaponizing invisibility

'Biting the Hand': Korean American author calls for weaponizing invisibility

Transcript¹

Julia Lee once had a mentor² who told her, "You must bite the hand that feeds you." That phrase informed how she saw the world, as she told NPR's Michel Martin in an interview about her memoir³, Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America.

The lesson Lee learned from that piece of advice was, "All the structures of power make those of us in marginalized positions feel like we can't speak out, we can't resist," she said. "And one of our obligations is to bite back, to bite the hand that feeds us in order to speak up for justice — for social justice."

Lee's parents are Korean immigrants who landed in Los Angeles and worked long hours at sometimes dangerous jobs to give their children a chance at the American dream: prep schools, Ivy⁴ League universities and prestigious⁵ jobs.

She was a teenager in 1992, when four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted⁶ after savagely⁷ beating Rodney King. An uprising followed in L.A. In the weeks thereafter, Lee saw racial tension explode in her own community in the aftermath of another violent event. Soon Ja Du, a Korean American liquor store owner in L.A., was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for shooting an unarmed Black teenager who she falsely accused of shoplifting; but her sentence was suspended and she was placed on probation⁸.

Nearly 30 years later, as social justice campaigns rose up spontaneously across the country after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, Lee started to reflect on her own experiences with racism⁹ in the U.S.

In Biting the Hand, Lee confronts the way that the Asian America experience is often ignored by the U.S.'s dominant¹⁰ black and white racial binary¹¹. In her memoir, she works through the realization¹² that she had been missing out on a sense of who she is and where she fits into a country that sees whiteness as the standard by which all else should be judged.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm really trying to figure out why I'm not legible, why I am not visible or readable to other people. When people look at me, they see somebody who is foreign or somebody who is vaguely¹³ "oriental." And there's the sense that we're all the same or that we can all be slotted into one category.

On defining her peers as either 'too White' or 'too Asian'

When you're in a position in which you are a distinct minority, then you start to see other people of color as rivals rather than as allies. There is so little space for you — there's such scarcity¹⁴ — and so you fight with other people who are of your same identity in order to get the spoils. It's evil and it's destructive.

On self-loathing in her Asian American community

It's hard to share those stories because and part of me hates often reading about people of color who go through this period of self-loathing. Now that I am older and wiser, I just want to reach out and say, stop it. Don't deprecate yourself. But what I've realized is that it's foolish to blame the victim, because that is what it is. The victim is just trying to survive. And so when they develop this sense of self-hatred, that's because the system has taught them to hate themselves. It's not their "fault" that they don't have more race pride or something like that.

On how she sees herself today

That position of invisibility is actually an incredible position of power. Cathy Park Hong, an Asian American poet, writes about how invisibility can be weaponized. Ralph Ellison, great Black novelist, also writes about this in his famous work, Invisible Man. Asian Americans might reside in a position of existential invisibility and yet that also makes us incredibly powerful and subversive¹⁵, because nobody is looking at us, and we are looking at everything.

On what keeps her hopeful at a time of rising anti-Asian violence

I find incredible solace¹⁶ and inspiration in young people today. They have this capacity to make connections across race, ethnicity, gender¹⁷ and sexual identity, and an ability to think more flexibly. Seeing a racially diverse group of supporters at George Floyd marches, including young Asian Americans, standing¹⁸ up and saying, no, this hate against black people does not just affect black people. It affects all of us.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

3 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

4 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

5 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

6 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

7 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

8 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

9 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

10 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

11 binary   

adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星

参考例句：

• Computers operate using binary numbers.计算机运行运用二进位制。
• Let us try converting the number itself to binary.我们试一试，把这个数本身变成二进制数。

12 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

13 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

14 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

15 subversive   

adj.颠覆性的，破坏性的；n.破坏份子，危险份子

参考例句：

• She was seen as a potentially subversive within the party.她被看成党内潜在的颠覆分子。
• The police is investigating subversive group in the student organization.警方正调查学生组织中的搞颠覆阴谋的集团。

16 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

17 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。