I know you think I’ve forgotten 

The days of yellow peril

Your fear of Asian invasion

My Asian persuasion 

The massacres of Rock Springs

Of Snake River

Written out of your history 

All the mystery 

Of my past

 

How can I be forgotten if I was never known?

 

They say that ignorance is bliss

But your ignorance is my oppression

You tell me I’m stuck in the past

But how can I have a future 

Without knowing myself?

 

I know you think I’ve forgotten

Your yellow faced lies

The days of my chinky eyes

The supreme court cases 

That established the basis of your racist past 

All of the policies 

All of the colonies

That ruined the lives of my ancestors before me

But please

Don’t tell me I’ve forgotten

If you’ve never known

 

I know you think I’ve forgotten 

But I haven’t forgotten 

I’ve relearned my past

To make my future bright

To ignite a fire inside of me 

So that one day you’ll see

The ignorance of your white history

Your white supremacy

All the things you think I’ve forgotten

 

I haven’t forgotten your yellow face

Your Breakfast at Tiffany's

For you a classic Cinderella story

For me painfully derogatory  

As if all yellow was

Is some makeup and a set of buck teeth

 

I haven’t forgotten 

The blood, sweat, and tears of my ancestors

Slaving away

Paying the price 

Connecting this country 

Your country

Together

Joining railroad tracks together

Piece by piece

Clinking together 

Just for you to call me chink

 

I haven’t forgotten

The case of Lum vs. Rice 

Where I paid the price

For your ignorance

Your white public schools

Were merely a tool 

For my subjugation

When your president said

That your fourteenth amendment

Doesn’t protect me against segregation 

In this free nation

 

I haven’t forgotten 

How your land of freedom

Of endless opportunity

Excluded me

How you prevented my ancestors from entering

Solely because they were Chinese

 

I know you think I’ve forgotten

The pain and suffering

All of the lives

All of the lies 

That you think aren’t worth remembering

But yet they live 

In a box of forgotten memories 

In the ashes of 

My ancestors before me

All those who were forgotten

 

But I guarantee 

The hopes and dreams of my past before me

I will carry with me into eternity

The preservation of my past is my progress

The memory of my ancestors is my future

And I will make you remember

Everything

You think I’ve forgotten