Canto Cutie - Volume 2

Some of your comics address the
feeling of alienation in different
cultural contexts and the unspoken
boundaries that seem to keep certain
people out of certain identity groups.
How do you feel like the Hong Kong
identity as it is being imagined right
now has its possibilities and
limitations? How do you see yourself
seeking ownership of your particular
identity and fitting into this
imagination?
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I can only speak for my own
experience as a single Hong Konger in
a community of others, and I feel that
Hong Kong identity is shi!ing. People
feel called upon to ask themselves
what is it that actually connects any
of us, or what we feel are the values
that compel our most important and
revelatory decisions. I greatly
appreciate people starting
international conversations about
solidarity where activists connect
over shared struggles against racism
and xenophobia. Jeffrey Andrews, a
Hong Konger of Indian descent who
recently began entering formal
politics in addition to his experience
as a social worker and a former triad
member, is one of the many people
doing the important work of
reminding Hong Kongers that we are
not one ethnicity, and people of many
different ethnic backgrounds have
every right to claim a stake in the
city's future, the city they also forge
their lives in. The Africa Center Hong
Kong has also been tirelessly
organizing programming that centers
African and African-American
experiences, and attending their
events this year has illuminated me to
how much more every ethnically
Chinese Hong Konger can do to be
vigilant about our internalised and
socially conditioned racism and
classism. Other great initiatives I
want to shout-out include Table of
Two Cities, ArtWomen and The Gamut
Project, all Hong Kong based
initiatives that are fighting
hegemonic powers. I hope to be useful
in reminding myself and others to
stop gate-keeping Hong Kong identity
and redistributing resources in a way
that underscores how Hong Kong is a
place where people deserve to be
heard.