Bassanio Gratiano

“WTF” by Fong Tran

To Texas State Republican Betty Brown who told Asian Americans to make their names more white, more simple

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Historical Land Colonist
Under White Supremacist Cover Texas Republican: Betty Brown states -

“Would it behoove you and your
citizens to adopt a name that
we could deal with more readily
here?”
And history of oppression and suppression continues
As Tiếng Việt Vietnamese
an oral tradition shared by
smooth S indigenous lips
hard sharp T tongues
exchanged/felted/ passed on
by heart and mind connections
was colonized by French imperialist letters
and accent marks
and it would never
be the same

the same colonists
constrain my name from its
original form and life
my name was Phong
P-H-O-N-G
my name meant wind
so I was the feng in shui
like wind-water breeze through lush open fields
during the currents of May
but Phong
was ripped out from my chest
scratch off my back
scribble out
written in as Fong: F-O-N-G
like product of a disenfranchising hegemony
like a broken record fading in and out
of the national anthem
My mother
my mother gave birth to my
name on this manifested 13 colony soil
she bent letters on bent knees
to serve this white majority culture
and cater ignorant American tongues
Ignorant American tongues that couldn’t comprehend
the beauty behind Fong
the beauty behind Mai
Huyen
Erica

It wouldn’t understand how vowel sounds
could rise up in crescendo
and topple over like falling star
It wouldn’t know how dấu nặng accents
are so heavy
that it brought us down to earth
to show us how deep
we can really be
Betty Brown words
are the words of conquerors
conquerors who dictated Vietnamese people
for far too long
from the Chams
to the Chinese
from the French
to the Americans
after the Southeast Asian war
Vietnamese people came to America on refugee boats
not as wanting economic immigrants
out of financial opportunity
but
needing political refugees
out of pure instinctive survival
we did not come here
for Betty Browns to change
our names
our culture
our identities
remove your short colony take-over mindset
of my “rather difficult language”
So please Betty Brown
I maintain what’s mine
and you can have what’s yours
and
Since “Fong” is construction made under you

What the Fong does your name mean?