Language and Power

When I think about language and power, one anecdote is seared into my memory: I am 22 years old. I get on a plane with one of my best friends at the time and we travel to China. My friend is white and does not speak Chinese. We had dreamed of traveling to China for so long and it is finally happening. My friend is very glad I am traveling with her because she thinks she wouldn’t know what to do if she went to China alone. After 13 long, dry, excruciating hours in the middle seat, we land in the Shanghai airport. There are Chinese-English bilingual signs everywhere pointing to immigration and customs, baggage claim…