“From minor to Major feelings, I am more than just Stop Asian Hate”

Alice Tsui 徐晓兰 shares excerpts of her original spoken rap verses calling for change at New York City's Stop Asian Hate protests in 2021. Alice experiences a multitude of “minor feelings” and builds on the racial negotiations that she made leading up to the protests and after them. Alice reflects on Cathy Park Hong's term “minor feelings” in her own lived experiences as an Asian American woman. In the elementary music classroom, Alice continues to have “minor feelings” as teaches about Black and Asian historical and present-day solidarities through music while simultaneously grappling with criticisms from the Asian American community. Alice listens to the demands her students have, and amplifies her students' voices in public spaces. Alice's speaks to more than just Stop Asian Hate as she reckons with the “activist” label, and reclaims her identity from minor feelings to major feelings with her golden power.

Keywords: AAPI ; Abolition ; Activism ; Affirmation ; Antiracism ; Asian American ; Black Lives Matter ; Golden Power ; Intersectionality ; Music Education ; Poetry ; Rap ; Self-reflection ; Solidarity ; Spoken Word