Politics June 15, 2020
It's time that Asian-Americans recognize their privilege.
Photo by Mike Von on UnsplashAsian-Americans need to start fighting for black lives. As an Asian-American I have failed the black community and it’s time that you realize you have too. Take a second to reflect on your privilege.
Politics have always been an uncomfortable topic for me. I’ve always been the “silent” one. I’ve listened to my peer’s opinions, kept up to date with current events, but rarely spoke out. However, with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve come to confront the fact that my silence does nothing to change the world. It’s time that I use my voice to educate, empower, and demand change. It’s time that Asian Americans, like myself, start fighting for Black lives and civil rights as a whole.
I am not saying that we, Asian Americans, haven’t faced racism, hate, and violence. But we have not endured it to the extent that our black brothers and sisters have. I want to bring light to the dark history, similar challenges, and progressive relationship between Asian Americans and Black Americans in the United States.
The “model minority” myth promotes the idea that Asians were seen as easier to assimilate to White culture and, simply, were not black. The purpose of this was to prove minorities were able to assimilate and that it wasn’t impossible. It was seen as a social standard that Black people had to aspire to. White Americans believed that Asians were more capable of assimilating into White culture for a variety of reasons, therefore providing an adequate excuse for Asian Americans to shy away from the world of civil rights: they were already the behavioral “model” for other minorities.
We need to recognize that we have been misguided and are still not fully accepted as White. Asian Americans struggle to know where we stand in America’s racial hierarchy, but when we are pressured by society to become “More White” and we accept that status, we are proving our privilege and passively accepting its benefits at the expense of Black lives. It’s time to accept that it benefits us, but not other minority groups.
However, being a “model minority” is still a minority. Asian Americans only make up about 6% of the entire population of the United States. We are a minority. And the myth of the model minority is exactly that: a myth. Regardless of how you say it or redefine the term, we will never be seen or accepted as White people. We are only ever Asian people aspiring to be White.
The minorities in America all have the same oppressor, so why are we falling silent when it comes to fighting for others’ civil rights? The Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century was what paved the way to the anti-discrimination laws regarding employment, voting protections, interracial marriages, and immigration laws. Asian Americans have reaped the benefits of these new civil rights laws, often with little or no active contributions to political change. It is time that we fight the cause, do the dirty work, and ensure that all minorities benefit from social changes. We don’t fear for our lives if we get pulled over by a police officer and we don’t fear for our children’s lives if they want to go play out in the neighborhood. We don’t have to fear for our lives the way Black people do, and that is our privilege as Asian-Americans.
That being said, our own struggles are not invalidated in this fight. Our history cannot be erased. It is important that we remember the internment of Japanese Americans from 1942-1946, and we must learn from it. However, we know what it is like to be racially discriminated against, so we need to empathize with other people of color and join their fight for their lives. While we might not fully understand their struggle, we must be willing to listen and learn. Change will not happen if there is no willingness to learn.
Photo: Jama Abdirahman/The Seattle Globalist
So as you go forward into the world from here, think about how you can challenge the myth of the model minority, and how you as an ally to minorities, can help the Black Lives Matter movement. Take a second to reflect on your privilege. Pledge to make an effort to keep the flow and pressure of the Black Lives Matter moving forward. Have those difficult conversations with your parents, friends, and community. The standard of inclusivity is changing, and change starts with you.
Here are some resources that you can check out online to better educate yourself about Asian Americans as allies to Black Americans.
Letters for Black Lives is a crowdsourced platform that provides a safe space to discuss racial inequality, police brutality, and anti-blackness in our lives and communities. This forum is meant to educate and inform others about the fight for racial justice around the world.
These are two Instagram posts that highlight and open a discussion about anti-blackness in the Asian American community.
This documentary showcases the disproportional amount of Black Americans incarcerated in the American prison system, while further discussing the history of racial inequality in the United States.
This article further discusses the myth of being a “model minority” and how it’s promotes prejudice between Asians and Blacks in the United States.
Empowering girls of color ages 7-17 in becoming scholars in STEM fields and leader in the real world through exposure to computer science and technology.
Explore, Experience, and Evolve. My Block, My Hood, My City provides underprivileged youth with aspirations to change the world the opportunities to do so outside of their neighborhood. Mentors take students on trips focused on STEM, arts and culture, citizenry and volunteerism, health, community development, and entrepreneurship.
An organization that focuses on creating empowering campaigns that fight for Black civil liberties and to find innovative solutions to propel people of color forward in our society.
This organization advances the liberation of Black and Brown communities in the United States through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization, and to motivate the next generation of young leaders of color.
Founded by 3 Black American women, this foundation is the first transgender district that is legally recognized worldwide. They celebrate, educate, and empower the transgender culture in the United States.
