After reading Vera Chok's essay 'Yellow' in The Good Immigrant, my mind was filled with a storm of thoughts on how I felt about that the use of that word. Vera writes, ' I use the word 'yellow' offensive as many find it, because this is how I believe I'm seen. I use it because we can't often tell what someone's race is, we do see colour. I use yellow because I'm not black, nor white, nor brown, and I feel I need a little flag to fly...' Do I need a flag to fly? I'm not sure, but the word yellow as a defining adjective for who I am feels more and more apt. I am East Asian, Canadian, British. I'm also a mother, a daughter, a wife, friend, aunt, colleague. But what most people will see first is that I am yellow. After my first welter of thoughts I realise I am okay with this. Humans are visual creatures. Sight is one of our five senses and the one we might find the hardest to be without. What people see first is how I look, yellow. It's how they react in the following moments based on that visual input that can determine our interactions. If we are able to lose some instinctive assumptions and prejudices it is that capacity that will allow us to connect more easily with others whatever our eyes may tell us. So I am happy to help reclaim that word, neutralise it and strip it of its negative connotations. I'm yellow.
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