Uncle David was born in 1966 in Hong Kong and immigrated to the Lower East Side of NYC at the age of 4. This story isn’t about immigrating, but more of his time living in America as an immigrant in the lower east side projects. These places were the types where you had to check every corner and crawl with rats. Uncle David did not have friends being one of the only Chinese children growing up in his neighborhood. My uncle never had much confidence growing up. He would get bullied by the neighborhood kids who would beat him up for just being Chinese. He turned to art and comic books to get away from his neighborhood bullies. He would read Marvel, DC, and other Kung Fu comic books. He watched other science fiction and action movies to pass the time. He loved taking the fiction and creating drawings and art with them. Even though he was passionate about this, his family would not approve. In Chinese culture, artists did not make a good living and were of lower social status, so his family did not want him to pursue it. They wanted him to be an engineer or a doctor. However, he really felt that he gained a passion from comic books and pursued art anyways. Through his pursuits he went to the School of Visual Arts, worked in graphic design, and now passed on his love of comic books to my brother and me. He collects and buys these high quality action figures of these comic book characters. He passed on some of these figurines to us and it really helps us bond together as a family. 

– William Chu (Audio: "Fist of Furry" Bruce Lee)

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant