Learning to Speak

About

How do you connect with your parents when they don't speak English and you're not fluent in their Chinese languages? For Annie, through a family secret. When Annie learns she's related to Vincent Chin, a man whose 1982 Detroit murder started an Asian American movement, she seeks out the story, wanting to make something of her family’s legacy. Just as Annie is building the life of teaching and activism she wants, her parents threaten never to talk to her again. In this storytelling show based on a memoir-in-progress, Annie Tan (NPR's The Moth Radio Hour, PBS’ Stories From The Stage, RISK!) explores what it really means to communicate– maybe in English, Spanish, Mandarin, or Annie’s home languages of Cantonese and Toisan– and make change.