My Story is Golden
My Story is Golden creates opportunities for belonging by gathering community and elevating the voices, journeys, contemporary experiences, and cultural stories of the pan-Asian community of Albuquerque.
COMMUNITY
My Story is Golden began in 2023 as a series of story sharing circles with Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) community.
By sharing and witnessing one another, the community mapped cultural knowledge in a space that centered our stories and voices.
BELONGING
My Story is Golden brings to focus the journeys, contemporary experiences, and cultural stories of Asian diasporic people in Albuquerque, whose identities exist in a liminal space of underlying cultural erasure and loss. The project disrupts hollow and flat narratives told about us. The most persistent one is that we do not exist in the Southwest: we are erased in the tri-cultural myth of New Mexico and it disinherits us from belonging.
VOICE & VISION
The voices of community storytellers are woven into a soundscape that narrates a communal story of migration, identity, and rooting in place.
As Asian American community members, we acknowledge that we gather on the traditional, unceded lands of the Tiwa People—including the Isleta, Laguna, and Sandia Pueblos—and the broader Indigenous communities of New Mexico, including the original Puebloan Peoples, Diné Nation, and Apache Nations. We recognize the history and ongoing impacts of genocide, forced displacement, and assimilation endured by Indigenous communities. We acknowledge the enduring legacy of Black enslavement and the distinct history of Indigenous enslavement in the Southwest. We recognize that our presence on this land is not neutral. As a diverse pan-Asian community, we commit to taking responsibility for our impact and building accountable allyship and lasting relationships with Indigenous communities in the collective fight for liberation and justice.
Collaboratively written by the My Story is Golden focus group, with editing and input from Noel Begay, the group’s Native American liaison, 2026
Honoring Land, Labor, and Community
