# Quote — Cathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings

> The indignity of being Asian in this country has been underreported. We have been cowed by the lie that we have it good. We keep our heads down and work hard, believing that our diligence will reward us with our dignity, but our diligence will only make us disappear. By not speaking up, we perpetuate the myth that our shame is caused by our repressive culture and the country we fled, whereas America has given us nothing but opportunity. The lie that Asians have it good is so insidious that even now as I write, I'm shadowed by doubt that I didn't have it bad compared to others. But racial trauma is not a competitive sport. The problem is not that my childhood was exceptionally traumatic but that it was in fact rather typical.

- Author: [Cathy Park Hong](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cathy-park-hong.md)
- Book: [Minor Feelings](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cathy-park-hong/minor-feelings.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cathy_Park_Hong#%22The_End_of_White_Innocence%22) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/cathy-park-hong/minor-feelings/the-indignity-of-being

## More from this book

> I’d rather be indebted than be the kind of white man who thinks the world owes him, because to live an ethical life is to be held accountable to history.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cathy-park-hong/minor-feelings/id-rather-be-indebted.md)

> Because I didn't learn the language until I started school, I associated English with everything hard: the chalkboard with diagrammed sentences, the syllables in my mouth like hard slippery marbles. English was not an expression of me but a language that was out to get me, threaded with invisible trip wires that could expose me at the slightest misstep.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cathy-park-hong/minor-feelings/because-i-didnt.md)

> When I hear the phrase “Asians are next in line to be white,” I replace the word “white” with “disappear.” Asians are next in line to disappear.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/cathy-park-hong/minor-feelings/when-i-hear.md)