AT A GLANCE WITH: ESEA SISTERS
As I sit on my balcony, soaking up the remnants of summer in the UK, the sun casts a vicious shadow in my mind, a reminder of the turmoil caused over the last 18 months: Coronavirus, BLM, Asian hate crimes, all of which share the common thread of violence and death. In the hopes of receiving some insightful guidance to help navigate this time; I reflect on a few cultural heroes of the past and discuss future prospects with ESEA Sisters.
Recent acts of hate and violence towards our community have traumatised us, injured us, even horrifically killed some of us. But if there is any silver lining in the devastation, it’s that it has brought us together and allowed us to find solace in one another’s stories. Although these experiences are shared amongst all British ESEA people, they are often unspoken of. We’ve been taught to conceal our emotions through generations of conditioning. It’s now time to share them with one another. To confront the uncomfortable, together. We now find ourselves in a position where simply having a voice and using it gives us more power than ever before. With the abundance of platforms that now exist, allowing us to facilitate our voices, we must be reflective of the time when they didn’t. This luxury was not available when our grandparents and parents were subjected to racial discrimination. As a result, we must be mindful and grateful, but most importantly use these resources to promote change as best we can.
Interviewer Daisy Haywood
Illustrator Angie Zou
With their growing Discord community, ESEA Sisters, a collective of like-minded, determined, and courageous womxn, queer, and non-binary folk, who all share a common goal, are already taking the initiative to change our future. Having amassed an impressive network of over 600 members, they’ve established themselves as prominent community figures who are inspiring others in a variety of ways. Each member contributes to increasing the visibility and highlighting issues of ESEA people in the UK, ultimately paving the way for future generations. And, if 2021 has taught us anything, it’s that community is precisely what we all lack.
“What I lacked until recently, was an ESEA community in my life, beyond my family” ，“It was early in the year after being racially abused,” Ying Suen , a founding member of the group, tells The WOW. “I needed to vent, and Instagram felt like the only way I could. From that a few ESEA women – some I knew but didn’t know well and others who I had never spoken to before – reached out to me as a result. We started as a WhatsApp group of 11 and have since grown to a Discord group called ESEA Sisters with over 600 members. This all happened in a matter of months, which I think really demonstrates just how much we all needed to connect.”
ESEA Sisters was born naturally, possessing a unique charm in the tale of how it came to be. It all started with an Instagram story that just so happened to make an impact on thousands of people. Its distinct identity stems from it’s strong sense of community, upheld by the group’s non-hierarchical ethos, which insists on an absence of clear leaders. It’s the perfect embodiment of how a community group should be in 2021: progressive, inclusive, safe, and most importantly, equal for everyone.
For some, the idea of becoming acquainted with complete strangers may be unsettling. But there is a pressing need for this at this time; there’s a need for community and common understanding: sharing with those who know what it’s like to be the target of Asian racism. It’s not only finding those people that draw you to this community, it’s also the fact that nothing like this has ever existed in the UK before, at least not for Gen Z or millennials. It’s also the first, localised, ESEA community to spread far and wide, with only women, queer and non-binary members.
“It was something I had grown up with, which as I mentioned, slowly disintegrated,” continues Suen. This also really resonates with me, as someone who’s lacked the presence of an ESEA community in their life - extending to my family as well, as all my Chinese relatives have lived in China since I was born. As a result, I’ve never fostered a strong cultural presence, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realised how much I needed it. It’s always meant that I’ve gone above and beyond in my own research and attempts to learn about my culture. One way of doing this, for me, was through having icons. One of my first introductions to an Asian female face on television was Brenda Song, who played London Tipton in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. I probably considered her to be my icon for a long period during my early years. It wasn’t because she’d done something heroic or revolutionary, but simply because she had a face that resembled mine, something I hadn’t seen before in Western mainstream media, and that made me feel seen. As I grew older, I realised the importance of having icons, specifically, cultural icons. They act as a guiding force, a source of inspiration you might lack from elsewhere in your life. I often look to poignant ESEA figures from creative disciplines, both past and present, like Anna May Wong, Bruce Lee, Gemma Chan, Sandra Oh…the list goes on. Looking back on their achievements helps to reignite the inspiration that I’m lacking in the present moment. Bruce Lee is an icon to me for so many reasons, too many to culminate in a simple list. He was not only an extraordinary artist but a revolutionary who opened the doors for many more generations of aspiring East and Southeast Asian actors and martial artists to follow in his footsteps.
Growing up, Suen’s inspirational figure was her grandmother with whom she shared a deep connection. As she describes it: “She made everyone feel deeply loved and I have never known anyone as generous and giving.” Our elders serve as a reminder of the generations that came before us who fought tooth and nail for our right to live in this country. Hence, in Chinese culture and generally all East and Southeast Asian cultures, our elders are highly respected, even revered as the chiefs of the family. As such, we praise their accomplishments and admire their tenacity, striving to be as great as them.
“We honour our ancestors and the struggles they endured to give us the lives we have now.”
The presence of activism comes as no stranger to ESEA Sisters, who have found themselves to be a disruptive voice in the present political landscape. Earlier this year two ESEA Sisters, Susie Lau and Annie Ma forefronted a campaign to get the Sunday Times to retract its racist, slitty eyes comment made by Editor, Christina Lamb, in her tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh. The article read: “Prince Phillip was the longest serving royal consort of British History - an often crotchety figure, offending people with gaffes about slitty eyes, even if we secretly rather enjoyed them.” The campaign was backed by an incredible number of 65,000 signatures on the change.org petition, along with support from actress Gemma Chan who also rallied for the cause and used her platform to publicly campaign on social media and in television interviews. Recently, theSisters also called out the institutional racism in the pages of some other British newspapers, claiming that they were perpetuating an anti-Asian rhetoric in their headlines and imagery, further fuelling the narrative of Asian people being associated with Coronavirus. Kimberley Pang, an ESEA Sister, persisted in confronting the perpetrators of anti-Asian sentiment and was successful in convincing one of the newspapers to change its imagery. Despite the fact that it appears as if they’ve been activists for years, Suen proclaims, “ESEA Sisters is still finding its feet and voice when it comes to the activism side of the community. Activism wasn’t something we set out to do; however, we found a mutual desire to act and speak up. For many of us, activism is still very new, which can be daunting and difficult to know where to start. We would love to see more people who might not have engaged with such issues otherwise, feel that they finally can and for our collective voice to be listened to.”
ESEA Sisters is a symbol of hope amidst the chaos of a fragile social climate. They provide an insight into a hopeful and potential, future cultural shift. When I asked Suen who she considers as her cultural icon today, she replied: “For where I am in life right now, I would say Grace Lee Boggs. She’s an American activist and philosopher born to Chinese immigrant parents in Providence, Rhode Island. As a young adult in the 1940s she managed to overcome many obstacles and her work with multi-racial and intergenerational communities has been important in the activist and political landscape. She was a first generation Chinese American and being a first-generation Chinese Briton myself, her work and theories resonate with me profoundly, despite the fact that it is 2021.” Changemakers like Grace have led us to where we are today. It's crucial as a society that we reflect on those that came before us, to allow us to make even more impactful changes in the future.
“It’s important to look at history to learn what worked, but most importantly, what didn’t.”
For anyone wishing to join the community, there is a Linktree in ESEA Sisters Instagram bio, with a Google form that will take you to the ESEA Sisters Discord group. There’s also an identity verification process along with this, as keeping the community safe as they continue to grow is ESEA Sisters main priority.