History and Memory

The way Asian American history gets presented usually goes like this: history is important because the past affects the present. If Asian American history doesn't get taught, we remain invisible and it will be like we didn't exist. And to some extent, that's true. Asians came to the Americas before the US was a country, and if this fact isn't recognized, then this country can continue to treat us as if we've just arrived. The photographers at Promontory Point kept all the Asian Americans out of the picture so that people would think honest, white American sweat had connected the East and West Coast with the transcontinental railroad.

But let's not get too carried away. Let's not give history too much power. The things written in books and taught in schools was never the sum of history because history is only part of memory. Its the memory that everyone is supposed to share. Asian American history has been able to rewrite the "official history" because we preserved our memory. We trusted our memory.