A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial (2023)
thoughts on the new book by Viet Thanh Nguyen
92NY pulled an event that was to feature Viet Thanh Nguyen after he signed an open letter drawing criticism that the organization was stifling dissenting voices. That got me interested in his writing. Asian Americans are a large community with as many different stories and positions as there are people. But one kind of Asian American I have become wary of over the years is how model minority are you? How much will your model minority affect my livelihood? How much will you be true to your voice, or will you throw your own people under the bus when the time comes?
As Western nations, one by one, move even more rightward and fascistic in governance, I think back to the euphemistically named Internment Camps of Japanese Americans during WWII. I think of the few voices that dissented and spoke up against their treatment. The saddest part of the story is not the way in which the colonizers treated the Japanese Americans but the model minorities that reminded those who spoke up to get on the bus quietly. Don’t fight back, they would urge. Give up your possessions. Give up your homes. Give up all that you have worked for. Do not rock the boat.
Not having read Viet Thanh Nguyen’s book, I was wary. Am I looking for representation? Will it spark fears of the inner competing minority within? Who is this book for? Is it directed to the colonizing hegemony for self-gain? Is it directed at the people from lands we have been severed from, or is it speaking to those dispersed in the diaspora?
This last month has been a litmus test each day to see how a person deals with the pressures of oppression and coercion. Social media, for better or worse, paints a new form of public judgment by how each of us decides to present our digital selves. It might not be time to get on the bus and head to the internment camps yet, but we sure are getting close. For this, I’m grateful for Nguyen’s memoir and essays. You might not be Vietnamese, and this book doesn’t discuss Palestinians directly, but it nonetheless strikes the heartfelt feelings, minor and major, that we, from the river to the sea, can all understand.