Model Minority
Songwriters: Alan Zhu, Ann Chung, Jason Chu
In our wallets they're thinkin we got commas,
Really in back pockets we're carrying deep traumas
Hang-tied us, by our own trousers
Seen as outsiders, they used to red-line us
Time called us "out-whiting the white" scholars,
Drove a divide between us and our Black brothers
You got admitted to dominant white college?
Still you ain't valid for most of them white collars
Southeast Asian dark cousins
Drive down the streets, police radio buzzin
Gaslighted to thinkin we made progress
Still they killed Christian Hall and said nothin (Shh...)
Not a model, not a monolith, ay
Not a pawn for your politics, nah
Learned from Gandhi and Dr. King
If the system don't bring peace we must abolish it, yea
Chorus
If you only knew
Walk a mile in our shoes
If you only knew
We're not so different from you
We're not invisible people
I'm sick of people believing that we got privilege and we're passing as white
When that's a myth they fabricated to combat civil rights
Pit us against the Black and Brown, a means to divide
And dehumanize, like See them chinks? They doing fine!
Just to justify their various slurs
Model Minority is not a portrait, it's an Asian caricature
To lump us together is parody work,
Before you call us wealthy, let's talk about our income disparity first
They're lying, claiming that we're white-adjacent
Then why do racists say Ching Chong, slant their eyes at Asians?
Bamboo ceiling blocking high positions, higher wages
They hired us centuries ago for only migrant labor, my guy, they hate us
From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Hart-Cellar Act
Where they let us in to be pawns only part of their trap
Silence our issues like It's in the past!
We ain't got no political power or media coverage
Where's the privilege in that?
Model minority
Got people ignoring me, me
Me and my community
And just because some of us found success
Does not mean we do not know that we are being oppressed
Oppressed...see some of us have been here for generations
Others, children of immigrants,
And even others still immigrants themselves
We struggle with our own histories of American colonialism
Yet we stand by our Black brothers and sisters
Because we share the pain, and we say your names
Vicha Ratanapakdee, Noel Quintana, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, and so many others
Rest in peace
This is not a privilege
This is not political
We are America
And we will never again be invisible
Never again be invisible
Christian Hall was adopted from China in hopes giving him a better life. Last year, he was shot and killed by Pennsylvania State troopers on December 30, 2020. The police had been responding to a report about Hall, who was suspected to be suicidal and found with a firearm. Though he appeared to disarm himself and surrender, Hall soon picked the firearm back up and began moving towards police as he was fatally shot. Christian was 19 when he fell victim to institutional failures that harm those who don’t fit the “model minority” myth.
Rapper/Activist Jason Chu speaks hope and healing in a broken world, blending high energy performances with thoughtfully crafted lyricism.
Most recently, Jason's work has been presented on the National Mall in Washington DC (In America: Remember) and curated in the LA Dept. of Cultural Affairs virtual exhibition Reimagine Public Art: House and Home.
His music has been heard on Warrior (HBO Max), Snowpiercer (TNT), and Wu Assassins (Netflix). He has shared poetry at the Obama White House, been featured in the Chinese American Museum of LA, and presented at the Getty Center, Flushing Town Hall (with Joe Kye), and the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (with Clairobscur Dance). Jason tours extensively, with hundreds of shows across the US and worldwide.
As an expert on AAPI identity and hip-hop culture, Jason has spoken and led workshops at UPenn, Dragon*Con, NYU, Yale, and beyond. He is a contributor to the St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture.
Follow Jason at @jasonchumusic everywhere.
