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There's uncomfirmed reporting that Miller is hapa Asian (she looks it and her memoir has a cover inspired by kintsugi—the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with gold). If so, it adds layers of context to her rape, her courage in fighting back and her decision to disclose her ID.
It's impossible to unpack the degree to which being a woman of color, and specifically an Asian American woman, shaped how sexual predator Brock Turner saw her. Perhaps not at all. Perhaps significantly.
But we definitely know how traditional Asian communities hide the shame of victimization—and even blame targets for their assaults.
We know how hard it is to stand up in the face of whisper campaigns, and to be a public voice from a culture that prefers to paper over pain.
We know how hard it is to stand up in the face of whisper campaigns, and to be a public voice from a culture that prefers to paper over pain.
Maybe this wasn't her experience. (And of course, maybe the reports of her heritage are false.)
But I know Asian women who've been sexually assaulted, and this is what they say they've had to deal with.
But I know Asian women who've been sexually assaulted, and this is what they say they've had to deal with.
Regardless of her background, I hope Miller's memoir triggers a critical conversation that extends deep into our community.
I have heard from close sources that Chanel Miller's mom is in fact May May Ci Zhang Miller, a Chinese American documentary filmmaker from Yunnan Province who made the film THE FAITH IN AILAO MOUNTAIN, about her relationship with her terminally ill mother.
