The pent up frustration and anger is escalating here in the United States, and the silenced conversations about race and class and the respective -isms are forcing their way back on the forefront of American consciousness.
Let me preface this entry by saying that I am a privileged minority, meaning that my race and my gender has “reclaimed” some power in the general and dominant discourse of this country. The Asian American women preceding before me who have fought for (or were we given?) privilege in this country through the historical uprisings and movements grant me power and privilege in my current context.
Through long and hard battles (that we could argue as ongoing), women are given respect and rights that our male counterparts have been privy to. We are better positioned in the larger society than we were 50-60 years ago.
There are stereotypes of us Asian Americans now, especially in California, that also serve us well. We are given tickets to higher education and entry into middle class of America that gives us leverage. We are granted entry into climbing the socioeconomic status and are displayed as examples of how racism does not exist now in America.
But we can’t own this privilege given to us, and say that we have fought the good fight and won it because we earned it. It’s not because we are hard working any more than any other groups. We also can not say that the battle is over, and that other racial groups should do as we did to overcome their struggles. Because the truth is we did not earn our privilege by doing our time in American history as targets of racism. It’s because it was given to us. It was granted to us.
Let’s not fool ourselves. We are still victims of racism.
The dominant discourse of race and stereotypes have allowed us entry ways. And in our privilege, we are still victims in our model minority story.
This entry is bubbling up from my heart following an NPR report this morning about the Asian American stores being targeted in the recent riots, and I’m catapulted back to Los Angeles Koreatown in 1992. Why are we still here?
Because the Asian store owners believe the black patrons of the stores to be untrustworthy and criminal. They are threatened by the story of Black (and Brown) people in America. And because the black patrons of the stores believe the Asian store owners to be miserly, conniving, and aloof. They are oppressed by the story of model minorities in America.
These stories compliment each other and support the other; it really is a moot point where the story begins. The point here is that the distrust from the Asian store owners cause them to be aloof from their patrons, and the aloofness of the Asian store owners invite these episodes of looting and damage during the riots that reinforce the story of the black people being violent and criminal. The cycle continues.
I mull over the possibility that we’ve been pitted against each other: the model minorities against the underprivileged minority groups. And the real source of discontent is not one or the other. The real source of our conflict is this Story of races in America.
It’s the same story that paints the color black as stupid, criminal, and violent.
It’s the same story that paints the yellow as meek, submissive, and miserly.
It’s the same story that paints the brown as lazy, sexual, and hysterical.
It’s the same story that paints the whites as tyrannical, oppressive, and privileged.
First we must admit that we are all victims. All of us, even the white people. We are assigned these stories despite our agreements or disagreements about it.
We have to recognize this story and how it influences us. We have to recognize our own roles in it.
We have to stop feeding into these stories and create new ones.
All of us.
