Bruce Lee died in his prime. For Chinese all over the world, he is still in prime time. His impact on Chinese Americans, in particular, is long-lasting if not ever-lasting. I was born almost two decades after his death, but I always feel his presence strongly. Indeed, he never ceases to be alive and kicking.

Kicking.

Bursting onto the scene as the Green Hornet’s sidekick, Bruce Lee brought himself into every TV-watching household in America as a role model who defined Chinese character by defying every last apologist for racism. He broke all racist bones in his way. He never looked back.

If Bruce Lee looked back, he would find...

In the 1930s, there was a Chinese-American actress named Anna May Wong who was quite well-known in Hollywood. She made every head turn when visiting pre-war Shanghai. Back home -- America -- she, however, had to live with stereotyped roles that made her cry deep inside. She had no doubt that she deserved better, much better. But she could only do so much.

Chinese Americans did not generally fare better than Anna May Wong, as a matter of fact. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act kept Chinese from entering or reentering America. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was once held up under this racist act. Slowly but surely, though, racial tolerance had been working its way into mainstream America since World War II and the F.D. Roosevelt administration. For the record, however, the number of Chinese Americans only inched up at a snail’s pace. In 1960, there were no more than 240,000 Chinese in the Beautiful Country.

Then ice broke. In 1965, the U.S. Congress passed the Immigration and Naturalization Act. This opened the floodgates for Chinese immigrants among other Asians and along with Africans, Middle Easterners, and Latin Americans. The 2020 U.S. Census reports that there are 5.2 million Chinese Americans.

Himself interracially married, Bruce Lee never stood for xenophobia. What he stood for was dignity. In word and deed, Chinese should and could hold their heads up, especially in times of adversity. Beating the daylights out of Japanese chauvinists in Fist of Fury, Bruce Lee successfully made his point: Chinese, wherever they live, are NOT sick men. (Here, the word "men" and the gender-neutral term "human beings" are interchangeable.)

Roaring with Bruce Lee, Chinese Americans should therefore reject the patronizing “model minority” label thrown at them. Minority or otherwise, we are Americans first and foremost. Like every American, we are entitled to freedom and dignity, no more and no less. At the same time, Chinese should not let themselves be enslaved by any Chinese regime in the name of ill-defined nationalism, which takes away freedom and dignity from individual descendants of the legendary Yán Huáng.

Bruce Lee's time is history. His spirit is not. He was imperfect, but he was perfect enough to be a global icon. No one paints an artificial halo above his head. He shines naturally.

--- Lingyang Jiang