A few weeks ago, a community-written letter began to circulate from young Asian American activists in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Their goal was to help explain the importance of BLM, why it exists, why it matters, and what we can do to support it. Specifically, these letters were addressed to these young people’s parents and grandparents, many of whom hold mixed views on BLM.
Like the parents of these young activists, my parents immigrated to this country in hopes of a better life. They keep America in high regard, and hold traditional and conservative views. So you could imagine that BLM isn’t something many immigrant parents typically hold in high regard.
Asian immigrant families have put their hours in. They’ve worked extremely hard, and now they have the privilege to raise their children in what they consider to be the greatest country on Earth. Many of them had to escape persecution and violence from their home countries to do it. So their animosity towards the BLM movement is understandable. Why can’t black people work harder like us? Why can’t they be lawful like us? I’ve never seen any of my people beg on the streets. And I’ve never seen any of them act like thugs.
The point that many of these well-intentioned sentiments miss is how deep-rooted the animosity towards people of color is from America itself — everything from segregation to disenfranchisement to mass incarceration. An animosity that many of these Asian immigrants missed since they were still in their home countries, and an animosity they perpetuate without knowing African Americans’ entire story.
Can we pin the model minority stereotype on this as well? In some respects, yes. Asian Americans have been extolled while our black brothers and sisters literally live and die by the gun. They’re still treated as second-class citizens, even after a century-and-a-half after their supposed emancipation. The core of the model minority stereotype is to use Asian Americans’ perceived successful qualities to justify the mistreatment of other people of color.
My people have been used as a bargaining chip to justify the subpar treatment of blacks and Latinos by this country. BLM seeks to dismantle such a system, and I’m all for it. If you’re an AA, and tired of living up to an impossible standard, you should stand with BLM too.
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