By Jamie Cho
Dear fellow Asian Americans,
I urge you to stand in solidarity and fight for the freedom we all deserve. Now is the time to join in the resistance to white supremacy and advocate for justice. The Supreme Court decisions are a backlash to the movement toward freedom that our ancestors fought for and won. As descendants and future ancestors, we need to stand together to resist, protest, and move forward for a country we can be proud of and in which our children will be free.
As Asian Americans, many of us believe in the power of education, as a way to change our circumstances and provide financial stability for our families. Education is also a powerful lever for social change. Affirmative action is one step toward addressing the history of racism in this country that has disadvantaged Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and serving as a bridge over the opportunity gap that exists in our educational system. Affirmative action is a form of accountability for biased admissions to higher education.
We are not a monolith. Our people represent descendants from many Asian countries and have been part of a complicated history of migration, and immigration by circumstances of war, poverty, oppression, or opportunity to this land. This country has not welcomed us, but has formally excluded and banned us through laws, erased our presence and contributions to the building of this nation, and robbed us of our humanity in the creation and perpetuation of the “model minority myth.” We have been led to believe that if we keep our heads down, work hard, and be quiet and nice that we could achieve the American Dream. We believed that if we were diligent enough, we can individually break the bamboo ceilings that keep us from our rightful leadership positions. This stereotype has prevented us from being our whole and true selves. It has caused us distress, pain, and harm. We feel the malicious slights, insinuating looks, and perpetual macroaggressions that deny our right to be here and belong here.
It is difficult to be Asian American. As a child, peers pulled up the corners of their eyes to make fun of my almond-shaped eyes. And when my son, 30 years later, started first grade, those same racist taunts circulated on his elementary school playground. I was racially profiled in my own neighborhood. I grieved when the media showed widespread anti-Asian hate directed at our elderly aunties and uncles. I have stood up in court for those that experience daily harassment and intimidation. We are not immune from racism. Even if we have not directly experienced interpersonal racism (slurs, physical attacks, name calling), laws, cultural norms, and institutional policies do not protect us and value us. They were not created with us in mind. No matter how hard we work, we are forever seen as perpetual foreigners who pose a threat to white supremacy. We will never assimilate, and we shouldn’t have to.
But as Asian Americans, we do hold privilege. The model minority myth tells white folks that they can hire us into white-collar positions and we will work hard. Our perceived docility makes white bosses believe we will be obedient and uphold the status quo. Our facial features make teachers hold high expectations for us in math and academics. Many of us hold economic privilege, having used education as a means to gain financial security. It is our responsibility to spend our privilege toward the real American Dream, a reality where all people in the United States are guaranteed a right to an education, to have authority over their bodies, to vote, to be safe, to dream, and to live fully in their identities.
For all the privileges that we have as Asian Americans, we are part of a settler-colonial history that we must also acknowledge and take responsibility for. We live on land that does not, and will never belong to us. We reap the economic benefits derived from chattel slavery, which has neither been properly taught nor has been redressed. We need to stand in solidarity with Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. We need to interrogate and address anti-blackness, anti-indigeneity, and racism within our culture. Do not let white supremacy use Asian American people as the pillar of immigrant success to sow divisiveness among BIPOC people.
I am so ashamed to see Asian Americans celebrating the end of affirmative action in higher education. I am so disappointed to see Asian Americans used as a prop in legal actions that are devastating to the civil rights movement, and to liberation and justice in the U.S. I am appalled at how misguided my people may be in believing that an end to affirmative action will benefit Asian Americans. Those coveted spots that Asian Americans feel are impossible to obtain will now go to white students, not Asian Americans.
I implore you, my fellow Asian Americans, to use your work ethic, your commitment to family, your wealth, and your multilingualism and biculturalism to be activists for freedom and justice. Freedom takes hard work, sacrifice, and tenacity. We have to look at the larger picture, and think of our long-term legacy, to fight for justice, not just for our own children, but for all our children. We cannot be free until we all are free.
Jamie is an assistant teaching professor of Justice in Early Learning, College of Education, University of Washington.