summary ofMinor FeelingsBook by Cathy Park Hong

first KEY POINT

Being Asian American often means feeling unseen

There are many ethnic groups in the U.S. experiencing racism and unequal treatment. The Asian American community is often the group that doesn’t get mentioned as much as perhaps the Black community or the Hispanic community.Does that mean they’re not subjected to racism as much as other groups? Not at all. The difference here is that Asian Americans are somehow invisible yet still divisive amongst many White Americans at the same time.

According to Cathy Park Hong, “Asian Americans inhabit a vague purgatorial status ... distrusted by African Americans, ignored by whites, unless we’re being used by whites to keep the black man down.” Asian Americans are constantly struggling to work out where they fit in, often toiling and compensating too much just to be noticed by those around them. For many years, Cathy Park Hong struggled with her identity, and she often felt invisible. She worked hard to prove herself yet never really knew what she had to do to be accepted.Hong’s parents traveled to the U.S. from Seoul, Korea. Hong herself was born in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Throughout her childhood, there were many ups and downs, including a distinct lack of money. However, her father eventually bought a business that funded Hong’s education. Hong shares how her father’s experiences of racial injustice have shaped the way he sees those around him today. For her father, every small thing comes down to the fact that he is Asian and not White. This mistrust has been born out of years of unequal treatment.