• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

VIDEO: Migration is Both Natural and Magical to This Artist

by Jess X Chen - May 11, 2017

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

From the PBSNewshour:

It took poetry and a community of writers of color to get Jess X. Snow to overcome her stutter. Now, the child of Chinese immigrants — who writes about the nature of migration — feels like she is the first person in her family to be able to tell their story without fear of censorship. The artist and poet gives her Brief but Spectacular take.

Video transcript:

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now another in our Brief But Spectacular episodes, where we ask interesting people about their passions. Tonight, we hear from artist and poet Jess X. Snow, who uses her art to help her overcome a speech impairment.

JESS X. SNOW, Artist and Poet: My parents, they grew up in a government in China that had a lot of censorship.

And when I was discovering art for the first time, I felt like there was a door that opened in my family’s ancestry, and I could be — I could be the first person to tell our story without the fear of censorship.

And I felt like me reclaiming my voice in the U.S. and overcoming my stutter created a doorway into being able to share my family’s story to the public.

I would get bullied a lot in the classroom, and people would finish my sentences for me. Through my art, I was able to see myself overcoming my stutter. I found a community of poets of color when I was in college. And that was the first time I was able to share my poetry on a stage.

When that happened, I just stopped. I stopped stuttering.

Imagination is daring to love what is not in front us. So, what then is immigration, if not imagination given a destination? Migration is magic. Of course they’re afraid of all who possess it.

A lot of my work is inspired by the idea that migration is natural. And I just think a border drawn upon the earth’s skin is extremely unnatural. And when people’s families and lives are policed by borders, the result is that young immigrants grow up feeling like their identities are divided and they have to give up, like, their homelands, they have to give up their connections to their families.

Maybe I will have a stutter for my whole life, but, regardless, I’m able to accept it because to be an artist is to create a home for yourself in your work, regardless of how many times your identity has been split, whether it’s by immigration or a speech impediment.

My name is Jess X. Snow, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on why migration is natural.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Jess, we’re cheering you on.


Find a link to Jess’ latest short film, “Migration Is Natural,” by clicking here.

Migration is Both Natural and Magical
EMPIRE INTO FOREST by Jess X. Chen in Gouache / 2014
FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: DC Authors Tagged With: China, Political Artwork, Worldwide

About Jess X Chen

Jess X Chen is a Chinese American multi-disciplinary poet, artist/activist and filmmaker, and the author of chapbook, From the Earthworm To The Night. Her work intimately exposes narratives of ecological and colonial trauma, Asian-American diaspora, often from the perspective of the Earth itself. She is a member of Justseeds, a collective of socially-engaged artists.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | DC AUTHORS | VIDEO: Migration is Both Natural and Magical to This Artist

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

A Dangerous Reprise Of American Exceptionalism In Ukraine

By Jamie Lampidis May 15, 2022

The stakes are too high to cave into Putin’s phantasmatic imperial play, and too high to believe that this war can be won by arming Ukrainians.

On The Coming End Of Roe v. Wade

By Peter J. Dellolio May 11, 2022

Anyone who says that the evolution of law has nothing to do with politics is either very corrupt or very stupid. Laws evolved through the centuries.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

Goodbye Roe v. Wade, Goodbye Rule Of Law

By Andrew Straw May 5, 2022

Congress should impeach judges who act like that because it is not good behavior, and they were asked not to act that way when they were confirmed.

PODCAST: Debating The Future Of Debates

By Jenna Spinelle May 4, 2022

We love a good debate — and have certainly had plenty of them on this show. But how effective are they in today’s media and political landscape?

What “Pro-Palestine” Student Groups Get Wrong

By David Anderson, J.D. May 3, 2022

Back then – as now – this fit into a “colonialist” narrative of European Jews oppressing Arabs – an easy, eye pleasing but intellectually lazy fit.

Examining Government As A “Necessary Evil”

By Gary Berton April 29, 2022

Thomas Paine defines government as separate from society, and indeed if society functioned perfectly there would be no need for government.

Ukrainian And Polish History: Fighting The Empires

By Maxim Sidorenko April 26, 2022

On February 24th, Russia started an unprovoked war against Ukraine. It has become one more attempt of the empire to demolish the Ukrainian state.

PODCAST: What Student Debt Says About Democratic Institutions

By Jenna Spinelle April 26, 2022

In a new book, Josh Mitchell draws alarming parallels to the housing crisis, showing the catastrophic consequences student debt has had on families.

Aging White Men Who Commit Voter Fraud Have Nothing To Fear

By Steve Schneider April 22, 2022

The sentences stand in contrast with the actions of the Governor who recently got the state legislature to create an election integrity police force.

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

North Korea Cracks Down On 'Capitalist' Pop Culture

North Korea Cracks Down On ‘Capitalist’ Pop Culture

May 6, 2022

North Korea has increased its campaign against “capitalist” style clothing, others, in broader crackdown on foreign pop culture.

DiCaprio, Ruffalo Urge Brazilians To Vote, Irking Bolsonaro

DiCaprio, Ruffalo Urge Brazilians To Vote, Irking Bolsonaro

May 6, 2022

Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo joined other celebrities making a final push for voters in Brazil to register to vote.

Mock M&M Election Teaches Alaskans About Ranked Voting

Mock M&M Election Teaches Alaskans About Ranked Voting

April 26, 2022

There are paper cups with eight different kinds of M&M near the entrance to Amalga Distillery in Juneau for a mock ranked choice vote.

How Moral Echo Chambers Increase Likelihood Of Radicalism

How Moral Echo Chambers Increase Likelihood Of Radicalism

April 21, 2022

Moral convergence – group of people who share moral standards – emerges in online situations where communities share similar values.

Dr. Oz Seeks To Make History In US Senate Bid

Dr. Oz Seeks To Make History In US Senate Bid

April 16, 2022

Trump’s endorsement of Dr. Oz in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania adds a new wrinkle to the tight race for GOP nominee in a month.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy