Not Your Model Minority
[Music]
60 days
24 states 20 activists
one asian american in the summer of 2018
i was a member of march for our lives
nationwide youth civic engagement tour
road to change i hopped on a bus from
houston texas
went all the way to oakland california
speaking with survivors of gun violence
and youth doing amazing work within
their own communities
as well as speaking on panels about gun
violence prevention
and youth civic engagement it was one of
the
most transformative and life-changing
moments of my life
yet it was also one of the most
difficult
not only was it difficult because i was
talking about gun violence
every single day in nearly every single
one of my conversations
but being the only asian american
identifying person on that tour
also proved to be a challenge this
challenge culminated in one night i was
in a hotel room
with all of my friends and at this point
we got to know each other pretty well
we’re hanging out having a good time
until two of my friends started making
fun of another guy’s feet
they were joking around saying stuff
like why do they look like that
until he got angry and suddenly wasn’t a
joke
he looked at them and yelled
while i’m sorry the qing chong lady
messed up my feet
the room went silent and i was to say
the least
shocked this was supposed to be
a safe space meaning this was supposed
to be a space
where something like that should not
have been said but it was
and i am lucky enough to be in places
where young people are doing incredible
things
places where change is happening
but i learned to stop being grateful for
simply having the opportunity to gain a
platform
and to start getting comfortable with
critiquing the spaces
i am in as a member of a movement and as
an asian american
through this i hope to prevent things
like what happened to me
from happening in other organizing
experiences
as well as to encourage people in my
community to show up
and be active members of change
looking back at my experiences and at
the microaggressions i encountered
on that tour and in other progressive
spaces
i realized that the core issue was less
about representation and more about the
overall lack of education
and a need to make fundamental changes
within society
in short there are several reasons as to
why i was the only asian american on
that tour
and many of them were years in the
making
i am a big believer in learning from the
past
but we need to make a point at learning
history that
isn’t eurocentric or whitewashed
how many of you remember learning about
a significant asian-american figure
in your textbook or about the
lived experiences of japanese attorneys
i wouldn’t be surprised if nothing came
to mind
not many countries like to disseminate
information about the atrocities they’ve
committed to other groups of people
for example when i was a junior in high
school learning about world war ii
i remember learning a lot about the
triumphs
of the allied powers and the horrors
committed by the access powers
we then spent maybe one or two slides
not days slides on the internment of
japanese people
sugar coating history is not a novel
thing
especially in texas history classes
did you know that the texas essential
knowledge and skills
also known as peaks requires zero
percent of its content
to include asian americans
i didn’t learn the story of vincent chin
a chinese-american man who was brutally
murdered by two white men
over their frustrations of the success
of the japanese auto industry
or about yuri kochiyama a japanese
american internee
and civil rights activist i didn’t learn
that the term
asian american came from radical roots
to fight racism
imperialism and degrading politics
i didn’t learn any of this until i came
to ut and took an intro to asian
american studies course
this past spring but these stories
the stories of asian american people
places and events matters
telling them helps break monolithic
stereotypes
and barriers put up internally and
externally
to prevent asian americans from being
civically engaged
like being a part of nonprofits which
are traditionally white spaces
it took a while for march for our lives
to get where it is now
and the organization is still evolving
learning
and growing through this process
i got to see the impact of relearning
history
firsthand in april i led a virtual march
for our lives workshop about xenophobia
and explained how anti-asian sentiment
did not begin with coping 19.
after talking about the perpetual
foreigner stereotype
as well as the model minority racial
project and the story of vincent chen
all the participants were put into
breakout rooms to process
and divulge the content
many of them expressed how this was
their first time learning
any of this and one person even cried
feeling guilty as to how little she knew
about asian american history
before my short seminar now i’m not here
to make anyone feel guilty
i frankly don’t want your guilt but i do
think it’s okay to make people feel
uncomfortable facing that discomfort
and trying to understand why something
makes you uncomfortable
is how we start to unlearn and dismantle
the sugar-coated version of this world
we were taught in schools
this process of unlearning and learning
is an important facet of becoming more
involved with
organizing and civic engagement and it’s
something that asian americans must do
with ourselves within our communities
and we’re discussing our place in this
country
many of you may have heard that asian
people don’t vote
because we don’t have to we don’t have
to be civically engaged since we are the
model minority
we are successful driven
crazy rich these stereotypes could not
be more wrong
asia is comprised of 48 different
countries
but in the united states those 48
countries are compressed into one label
called
asian american
grouping the asian american experience
as one model minority
trivializes and undermines the
individual struggles
and experiences that each asian american
has to go through
in the united states southeast asian
americans
have the lowest high school graduation
and bachelor degree rates
furthermore 13 of asian americans this
includes
east asian south asian southeast asian
live in poverty
the white house initiative on asian
americans and pacific islanders
also did a study that showed that this
demographic
is the least likely to get healthcare
so reducing the asian american
experience allows for complacency
by lawmakers when they write education
or health care policy
and hurts the community as a whole
are there successful asian americans of
course there are many in
fact who benefit from and lean into the
model minority myth
to gain proximity to whiteness
but asian americans especially those
with lighter complexions
must remember that we will never be
white
and we will never attain white privilege
in turn we must recognize how we can
perpetuate anti-blackness
and white supremacy so that we can
achieve our collective liberation
a part of the reason why it seems like
asian people aren’t civically engaged
or part of large movements is because
this work
requires community and partnership
but there is a valid distrust of the
asian american community
the story of richard aoki is a good
example
richard aoki is an asian american who
has garnered intention
and recognition for his work with the
black panther party
he became a figure of solidarity of
black and asian co-organizing efforts
but in 2012 it was revealed that he was
actually tasked to be an fbi informant
and was giving critical information
about the black panther party
to the fbi this
is appalling the only asian american
with a leadership position in the black
panther party
was actually actively working to
dismantle it
and this president has presented itself
today at the beginning of the
coronavirus outbreak
it seemed like assaults against east
asian people were rising more than the
illicit itself in the u.s
but when i saw asian americans post
about
these attacks and condemning them they
would end their comments with things
like
why don’t you all rally for asian
americans the same way you do other
people of color
but we need to stop doing this and stop
playing oppression olympics
other minorities don’t owe us anything
in fact other black indigenous people of
color have shown up for us
time and time again through the
anti-vietnam war protest
helping increase access to immigration
and more
so this is my reminder that asian
americans we must not
only rally to our own causes
i would see tweets from asian american
youth talking about
the coronavirus doesn’t give you an
excuse to be racist to asian people
but two tweets before that would have
the n word in it
we are stronger together than we are
apart so asian americans must not be
afraid to hold each other accountable
and to be in solidarity with others
there are people who did this and did
this well like yuri kochiyama who i
mentioned earlier
who was a prominent civil rights
activist and what if malcolm x’s closest
confidants
or grace lee boggs who worked her entire
life to alleviate poverty in detroit’s
communities
with methods like mutual aid
their activism was beyond themselves and
this is something i had to learn as well
by learning from and working with
non-asian organizers
i became a better organizer and person
going back to that night i heard the
words ching chong lady
ring through the hotel room i didn’t
think i had
this voice i didn’t know how to critique
someone
in a powerful and progressive space
because i assumed everyone knew
better so that night i opened my mouth
expecting the best comeback in the world
to come out
but nothing but people aren’t perfect
and we grew up in a racist and
prejudiced country
that doesn’t easily give us the tools to
dismantle this thinking
so i left the room and i thought a lot
about the reason
i was there i joined march for our lives
because of the cause
because of the issue of gun violence and
the passion i have to end it
and even though i was the only asian
american on that tour
i wasn’t alone those two friends from
earlier had my back
and helped me hold that person
accountable
the conversation wasn’t easy but it was
one of the first times
that i had to confront the idea that no
place is perfect
and it’s okay to continue relearning and
learning
moving forward i will not be the token
agent
i cannot represent 48 different
countries as a korean american
but i will continue to critique the
spaces i am in and be a critical thinker
and ask myself what does a safe space
look like
what does that mean for the youth
organizing community
the asian american community for bypass
and for our collective liberation
but i will continue to reimagine spaces
i am
in and i encourage and challenge you to
do the same
thank you
[Music]
you