A Grain of Sand
《一粒沙》

26 April 2019
A Grain of Sand
Courtesy of Henry Chu, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Collection
1882年5月19日美国财政部通函
Scott Seligman捐赠,美国华人博物馆(MOCA)馆藏

A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle of Asians in America, is widely recognized as the first album of Asian American music. In the album, Chris Kando Iijima, Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto, and William “Charlie” Chin attempt to verbalize all the political and personal conclusions they have come to as activist and Asian Americans. Personally, they view their own music “primarily political of which music was only a part of.”

In the song Yellow Pearl, they relate the oppression Asian Americans have dealt with to that of a grain of sand that gets trapped inside an oyster. In We Are The Children, they portray the experiences of Japanese Americans who were placed in internment camps during World War II. In Somos Asiaticos, they speak directly to the Latino community and express the similarities of our struggles. The other songs deal with topics of war, oppression, capitalism, and socio-economic struggle, they cause one to see and question the inhumane treatment of Asian Americans and other oppressed groups in America.


《一粒沙:献给在美国奋斗的亚裔的歌》(A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle ofAsians in America),是公认的第一张亚裔美国人的音乐专辑。在这张专辑中,克里斯·饭岛(Chris KandoIijima)、宫本信子(Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto)和陈健文(William“Charlie” Chin)试图用语言表达他们作为活动家和亚裔美国人所得出的所有政治和个人结论。就个人而言,他们认为自己的音乐“主要是政治性的,而音乐只是其中的一部分。”在歌曲“黄珍珠”(Yellow Pearl)中,他们将在美国遭受压迫的亚裔美国人与一粒被困在牡蛎中的沙子联系起来。在“我们就是那些孩子”(We Are The Children)中,他们描述了在二战期间被关在拘留营中的日裔美国人的经历。在“我们是亚洲人”(Somos Asiaticos)中,他们直接与拉丁裔社区对话,表达了我们在斗争中的相似之处。其他歌曲涉及战争、压迫、资本主义和社会经济斗争等主题,它们使人们看到并质疑关于亚裔美国人和其他在美国受压迫群体所受到的不人道待遇。

Countdown to the TCS NYC Marathon on November 3, 2019: 216 Days.

2019年是美国第一条横贯大陆铁路建成150周年,为了纪念第一批华人来美建设这条铁路所做出的巨大贡献, MOCA将其2019 TCS NYC Marathon的活动命名为 MOCA Spike 150 – Running Forward With Our Stories! 鼓励大家通过马拉松公益跑,全国线上接力,以及一天一个故事的方式讲述150个华人的历史故事,敬请大家持续关注, 讲出华人自己的故事,回顾过去,立足现在,展望未来,共同书写美国历史,使之更加充实完整。

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