My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. Somehow I ended up here on Hollywood's biggest stage.
Ke Huy Quan, Oscar acceptance speech, March 2023
Refugees
In the Vietnam war, Cambodia and Laos were also pummeled. The refugees from this onslaught is a gift that keeps on giving, with a combined total of over 21 million till last count.
The US bombardment of Vietnam with Agent Orange and Napalm left the country’s soil infused with toxic materials for generations to come; its loss of life demolished an easy transition to socialism. Vietnam won the war but was left a graveyard of possibilities. Vijay Prashad, Washington Bullets, 2020
R&R
As is well known, South-East Asian women were first turned into prostitutes on a mass scale in the context of the Vietnam war and the establishment of American air and navy bases in the Pacific region… Not only Vietnamese women were made prostitutes for the US army; the American military bases in Thailand were surrounded by bars, brothels, night clubs and massage parlours where thousands of women worked in the ‘Rest and Recreation Industry’ for American soldiers.
Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a Large Scale, 1986Thailand
Between 1961 and 1964, seven airbases were constructed in Thailand for the use of the US Air Force in the Vietnam War.
It is estimated that the number of prostitutes in Thailand increased twentyfold, from 20,000 to 400,000, following the establishment of the seven US military bases.
from Tourism and War, Wantanee Suntikul and Richard Butler, 2013
Kung Fu, what is it good for?
and tonight we freaking broke that glass ceiling. I kung fu’d it out and shattered it.
Michelle Yeoh, Oscars, March 2023
This is Seeking Refuge in the Master’s Lair from Everything Everywhere All at Once.
this poem will swim in beauty for it knows the rock that locked your breath - and mine - for longer than the hand that stayed in wretched form the swamp that homed the song that longed for more longer than the field of vows that strung your laugh with mine and shed the longest tear in missing, in passing in warming the word, in warning the word this poem will swim in beauty -