Catalyst - Volume 22 - Fall 2020

Page 28

When They Ask Me What I Am

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Kab Vue

When they ask me what I am I will tell them that I am a Hmoob woman. Unwavered by echoes of “not all men” And “Bitches like you are the reason why our culture is dying”

When they ask me why I am the way I am, I’ll tell them my mother’s trauma is hereditary That her mother’s trauma was hereditary

My mother’s name is Choj It means bridge But don’t confuse that with her existence Because the women in my life did not make their backs bridges for men They did it for each other

When they ask me who I am I tell them my parents didn’t raise a follower That I raised myself To be more than my parent’s traumas And to be worth my parent’s sacrifices

When they ask me where I am from, I will tell them, I am from HERE. And that my people would still be in our home country if the United

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