Andre Yang

Why I Feel the Way I Do About SB 1070 *

“If the hurt in someone else hurts us, in a man
we don’t know, who is
present always and is the victim
and the enemy and love and all
we need to be whole.”
~ Rosario Castellanos, “The Other”

Because my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Sanchez
compared my future to gold. Because,
when I told my friend Ernesto
about an uncle’s 3-day funeral,
he told me about his grandmother’s 3-day funeral.
Because of what Christianity has done
for me. Because there is corruption
in all organizations. Because we’re all victims
of colonialism. Because
when the first girl I thought I loved
didn’t feel the same way back,
Tommy Bernal surprised me with the first hug
I’d ever received from a friend.
Because no one else hugged me
again for another three years. Because
Sherman Alexie recognizes that the Hmong
are the Native Americans of Asia. Because
John Doe Xiong is suing the United States
for the right to go back to Laos
to die with his family on land he still calls