This poem was originally written and performed as part of PMA’s 2023 Vision Convocation. You can learn more about red-tagging and the experience that inspired Cathy’s poem here.
This banner is an act of red-tagging. It shows Cathy’s face with a demand to leave the country.
You want the 411
Here’s the 411
You say that I am red –
You know what’s red
My lips are red
Red is my lipstick
My painted toes are red
My menstrual blood is red
But I am not red
What do you want people to read on my garage?
Read that I am a terrorist
Read that I am a communist
Read that I should get out of the country
Read that I should be condemned
Read this – I am not red
I bleed, I paint, I gloss
I am what I am – and not what you say I am, who I am, or where I should go
I am
Cathy Chang serves as Acting Regional Liaison for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Regional Facilitator for Migration and Human Trafficking for the PMA.