Watch: Poem About Hollywood's Lack Of Asian Representation Wins Youth Poet Laureate Competition

TRIBECA, NY — Sharon Lin, a senior at the Stuyvesant school in Tribeca, has been named Youth Poet Laureate for 2017, winning the title for her poem “A Footnote on a Hollywood Blockbuster,” which tackled the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood, among other ways that Asian-American voices are marginalized.

Sunday night's 2017 Golden Globes ceremony was a case in point: Only two Asian actors were nominated —Dev Patel, for "Lion," and Riz Ahmed, for HBO’s "The Night Of" — and neither won. The Best Actress In A Musical or Comedy category was entirely made up of white women.

Lin, who won the title of Youth Poet Laureate in last month's contest at the New York Public Library, read a poem that included the lines:

"Tilda Swinton, your yellowface is not to blame/ If Hollywood’s standards state that Natalie Dormer is/ Japanese enough to play an Asian girl/ If Scarlett Johansson in a black wig and contacts/ Is enough to replace the thousands of Japanese/Americans interned away for your film/For the millions of Asian girls who never see themselves/Except as exotic sex toys on television..."

You can watch her winning performance below.

Lin tells Patch that "being the New York City youth poet laureate is such an immense honor and opportunity" and that she's received "overwhelmingly positive" support from "the artistic community, especially from other poets and the Asian American community."

In addition to being named Youth Poet Laureate, Lin, who lives in Corona, Queens, has a number of other accomplishments. She has been named a White House Champion of Change, a Turnitin Global Innovation Award Winner and a Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winner. Her writing has appeared in WHITETEETHMAG, Muse Magazine, The Feminist Wire and other publications. She is also a Congressional App Challenge winner for the app iVOTE.

The Youth Poet Laureate spoken word competition is a partnership between NYC Votes and Urban Word NY. As the Youth Poet Laureate, Lin will work with NYC Votes to promote voting and civic engagement among young voters throughout the city.

"I'm really looking forward to advancing the voices of youth," Lin tells Patch. "Especially in this period of uncertainty."

"I definitely understand that the political process is a cycle, and that some things cannot be controlled. Nonetheless, I have faith in our people, and I have hope that we'll be able to overcome this trying time. I'm certainly stepping up my activism and trying to amplify the voices of minorities in every way possible."

Her words of advice for others?

"Never let anyone stand in the way of your dreams, and don't ever stop reaching for the stars."

Image via Urban Word NYC