Done here twice, a hyphen atop a hyphen gives a newfound meaning, one that is universal and desired.

“I was inspired by the musings of Asian-American authors Viet Thanh Nguyen and Maxine Hong Kingston; hyphens serve to divide even as they are meant to connect. Their use in racial and ethnic identifiers can connote an otherness, a sense that people of color are somehow not full citizens or fully American. A concept even harder to grapple with when one is not yet a citizen or American, like myself.”