This post is part of my 3DR newsletter where I share what I’m (un)learning to build just futures. It centres around my 3DR approach to equity: Decolonize. Disrupt. Dismantle. Rebuild. If you approach the world with curiosity and you’re looking for courageous and compassionate conversations around social justice and collective liberation, subscribe to my newsletter.
Happy Asian Heritage Month!
First and foremost, let me begin by saying that cultural or heritage or other commemorative months for different oppressed peoples have never sat well with me. Those of you who have been following my work for a while now should know this about me already. But for those who don’t, a quick explainer on my stance (or you can read the long version here)…
While the creation of these holidays may have been well-intentioned and a symbol for progress at the time, the reality is that it can largely be performative and more often than not, limits us to the bare minimum.
It encourages all of us to learn of these histories, heritages, cultures, and communities only during these specific times of the year instead of all year round as an integrated part of our educational curriculum and our collective consciousness. It’s lazy at best, and deeply harmful at worst.
It’s harmful because these cultural heritage months subtly reinforce the mentality of scarcity that plagues so many of us who are part of these marginalized communities.
It teaches us that X month is our month to speak out and stand up. That we must only take up space during those allotted weeks. No more, no less.
And heck, we should be grateful to even be given this time.
What I find to be the most harmful though is that this mentality of scarcity signals to us that we are in competition with one another. In June alone here in Canada, we celebrate Pride, we celebrate National Indigenous History Month, and in more recent years, we celebrate Filipino Heritage Month.
There are only so many months in the year and it feels like we must compete for airtime. We must jostle at each other for recognition of our very worth and value.
Even in these months that are meant to honour our communities and our contributions, we are still playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Remaining within the distinct lines that they created.
But listen, if we are going to accept the (flawed) premise of Asian Heritage Month, if we are going to play the game of clumping those of us from the largest continent on the earth into a single month to commemorate and tick off some DEI checklist, then let’s play!
By which I mean to say:
If your Asian Heritage Month “celebration” does not include Palestine, then it is meaningless. You do not get to pick and choose which of our communities you celebrate and honour, especially in the face of a genocide.
In case you need a reminder: PALESTINE IS IN ASIA.
And its cultural heritage and very existence is being systematically and violently erased. No more universities exist in Gaza. Art galleries, museums, and historical museums have all been destroyed. Artists and poets have been under attack and killed.
Even all the way here in Canada, the Ontario government has banned the keffiyeh, a cultural and traditional headdress of the Palestinian people. We’ve seen this erasure before and we know what it amounts to.
In the last few weeks, I have been uninvited from speaking engagements because of my activism and very vocal stance around Palestine. Organizations and other institutions claiming to stand for justice and equity and using Asian Heritage Month to prove it, have suddenly forgotten a crucial community that is a part of this heritage month.
I’ll have more words to speak about these cowardly and performative organizations, but for now, I just wanted to remind you of this:
If you want to truly honour Asian heritage this month, then talk about the cultural genocide that we are witnessing in real time right now. Otherwise, your efforts are meaningless.
To honour Asian Heritage Month is to advocate for a free and liberated Palestine. Full stop.