We realized that the fundamental reason our diaspora wasn’t excelling in ways we wanted was not just because of perceptual biases or systemic exclusion. No, there was an unpopular truth: The first people to pooh-pooh Asians were other Asians. Our research quickly unveiled why: We are dozens of ethnicities; have hundreds of dialects; we lack a common historic struggle, common faith and common political ground. Moreover, society is structured such that many of us have to fight for crumbs instead of baking our own pies.
We decided, in month seven, that our foundation would reverse centuries’ worth of fracture to instead foster mutual support.
Every movement needs an identity. Analogous groups called themselves every derivation of Asian American ______. But that ignores the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community. And many are proud of their ancestors’ nationalities abroad, furthered by the growing Third Culture population (i.e., they are not “just American”). With hundreds of dialects, there could be no unifying shape or word. And with split political beliefs, there was no consistent ideology or lifestyle.
In kidhood, my mother told me, “As often as you can, there is one goal in life: to give as much as you can.” And the path to giving, in her eyes, was achieved through “education and gold—or what you know and how you make it worth something.”
I remember laughing: I was only 10, so what else would I do but go to school? And gold was tacky.
But as we looked further, gold is one of the only symbols that is both specific to the Asian diaspora and universally valued. Rooted in ancient art and various religious symbols, gold has appeared across East, South, Southeast and West Asia, such as in embroidery in Korea, Buddhist artifacts in Nepal and manuscripts in Thailand. Political leaders across history used gold to signify their right to rule. For instance, Indian monarchs were often illustrated with gold nimbuses around their heads, paralleling the sun. Similar practices incorporated gold into royal apparel in Indonesia and China.
