Nightly Write #10

Okay. Let me just freak out for a moment.

So, if you care about the zeitgeist of the United States since COVID-19 was reported here, you’d be aware of the fact that hate crimes against Asian Americans have spiked, due to this xenophobic view of Asian Americans just because Covid started in Wuhan, China. Started. Most countries have gotten their cases under control. We have 400,000 death toll and we’re attacking Asian Americans because we view them as the virus. It’s wildly fucked up.

A little tangent. One memory of me being outraged at people discriminating against others in history class was in fifth grade during the civil rights movement unit. You know the spiel: Dr. King, the Montgomery bus boycott, “I Have A Dream” in Washington D.C . ,etc. I’m not sure whether this was covered in the textbook but someone wondered where were the other BIPOC groups in the U.S. while African-Americans were boycotting and protesting Jim Crow segregation? Our teacher told us that other POC were there protesting alongside Dr. King, the SNCC, clergy allies, college students etc.

And that got me thinking, we technically cover the history of BIPOC in the United States. We knew somewhat about the Native Americans and their removal from their own lands, slavery, segregation, the fight for integration and so on. But for a while, I can’t shake the fact that history taught to me in public American schools was very sanitized from a BIPOC perspective even though Black History Month was definitely celebrated and so was Hispanic Hertitage Month. We don’t hear the narrative from them it seems or feels.

Fast forward to college, I’m revisiting the civil rights era again. And I notice that we discuss African-Americans fighting for civil rights. Asian Americans, Latinx Americans, and Native Americans are mentioned, but it seems they’re kind of tacked on at the end. When you think about it, 1960s through the 1970s, most BIPOC groups were organizing and protesting, separately and together. But you don’t hear a lot about Asian Americans fighting for civil rights.

The one activist I know most about is Yuri Kochiyama, and even then I’m ashamed to say I don’t know much. And I only know of her because I saw a photo of her next Malcolm X regarding their friendship and his assasination.

I’m not a valid source on anything but it’s just kind of odd (but it’s really not) that there’s this invalidity applied to Asian Americans and their experiences. The reasons stem from the model minority myth citing the stereotype that since Asian Americans can excel academically here’s proof that minorities can become acceptable in a white supremacist society. It’s actually harmful. That and what history I do know about Asian Americans is the U.S. government and their citizens treating them awfully.

So naturally I wanted to educate myself about anti-Asian racism/xenophobia in the U.S. and why it’s so ingrained in our society. But it makes me anxious/nervous. I’m confronting an unconscious racist belief that feels ugly and hateful. I don’t get how I can be pro-BLM as a black person and not feel miffed about other BIPOC Americans being treated horribly.

So yeah that’s the rant. I don’t want a pat on the back for basically saying “Racism bad,” but I don’t know anyone else I could talk to about this so it’s getting immortalized on the internet.

Remember we’re fighting a virus, not Asian Americans. “Yellow peril” and xenophobia are still a thing in the U.S. and we have to actively disprove and debunk these old racist beliefs. It’s simple but not easy. And it’s opened my eyes. So, stay safe and don’t stay up too late, like I’m going to.

Good night.