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Love Poem for Sandra Oh photo


On that spirited Emmy night,
when the camera cut to you
and you radiating in red satin
said to the world
“It’s an honor just to be Asian”
I lost my breath.
Time stopped,
blindsided by this moment.
Sandra,
no one works harder than you,
grinding through the Grey,
you played countless roles,
bearing the burden of “marketing person” or “fourth fired employee”
to make sure we could see ourselves
on that ever changing screen.
“It’s an honor just to be Asian”
but it didn’t always feel that way for me.
To be Asian meant being bullied daily in the back of the bus,
meant being alone at school in a sea of white,
meant feeling like a piece of spoiled fruit
rotting away among the bunch.
But you Sandra,
you made history that night
with your nomination,
you helped the world see y/our talent, y/our skill, y/our magic.
That night the world not only recognized you but us.
“It’s an honor just to be Asian” was now our war cry.
It was our anthem, our echo, our melody, our badge we proudly wear.
Sandra,
that night you brought us all to the screen.
Held us up for the world to see and with just seven words
we finally got to shine.

 

image: MontyLov


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