If you’ve been living under a rock (in terms of Asian-American issues, at least) for the past three days, check out the #NotYourAsianSidekick feed on Twitter. Twenty-three year-old freelance writer Suey Park started it (never imagining that it would blow up into a nationwide trend) with an aspiration to create a new feminism that embraces human beings across racial and cultural boundaries. According to a recent interview with the Washington Post, she feels that “Asian American women are often seen as a ‘token’ at the current ‘feminism table.’”
The overwhelming response so far shows the liberating effect that the hashtag has had on a social issue that’s been ignored and/or hushed for too long. While the hashtag feed is acting as a platform from which to shout out the founding grievances of a new Asian American feminism, the question really is whether the valuable conversation started here will solidify into something more tangible and sustained even after its original springboard loses popularity over time.
For now though, here is some advice from Park (obviously, via Twitter): “This is not a trend, this is a movement. Everybody calm down and buckle down for the long haul, please.”