Hi everyone, my name is Elizabeth, and this is my open letter to Asians, and why you should care about Black lives. I should think that “empathy” should be enough, but apparently that’s not the case. Because there’s a lot I want to say, but I want to keep it focused, I will break this down into multiple parts.
Part 1 is for Asian immigrants, first-gens, children of refugees, and those who still identify with and have close connections to the motherland. Because I am Southeast Asian, Thai-Chinese specifically, I will speak personally from that lens, and how the experiences of Southeast Asians should help us have more empathy for the experiences of Black people in the United States and throughout the Western world.
The effects of colonialism last many generations.
First, my Southeast Asians should understand firsthand the effects of colonialism, even if this generation may not have experienced it as acutely as previous generations. The power grab between forces both within and outside of the continent – China and Russia within, the US and Europe without – tore apart Vietnam. Power imbalances and vacuums in the region led to atrocities such as the mass genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge. Guerilla incursions by the ousted KMT government, supported by the US, led to the drug and eventually human trade in the Golden Triangle. The Secret War by the CIA against Laos led to 2 million tonnes of ordinance dropped on the country over the course of 9 years – that’s a load of bombs every 8 minutes – and a generation of refugees. And in between all that, generations of “ethnic minorities” caught up in these dealings, from the Karen to the Hmong all throughout Northern Thailand, Burma, Vietnam…
How does this relate to the Black experience in America?
It doesn’t directly compare, but the most important part is, beyond the destruction of lives and material is the destruction of foundational institutions. Not just governments, not just land and buildings, but families, cultural practices, spiritual centres, communities. For those who understand or have experienced or are children of those who have survived war, what do you think happens when an entire generation is lost? How does a people rebuild when its wealth, its workforce, its educated population are lost either to violence or from fleeing / leaving their home?
Knowledge is power. Communal knowledge helps us better understand and question the systems in place.
These are the same things you should ask about the many times in history that Black people built up their institutions, only for them to be torn down over, and over, and over again. Despite being scattered and having their various languages and cultures taken from them in the Middle Passage, Black Americans built new institutions around spiritual centres, music, dance, and oral traditions that are the creative heart of Western culture today.
And after emancipation, as they engaged in the things we are all told to do – build strong family ties, invest money into the community, start businesses, pursue education, practice civic engagement, amass generational wealth – these were taken from them again and again by not just individual racists but the entire racist institutions of this country. From the school-to-prison pipeline to the War on Drugs to the to police brutality – understand that these are all ways that American institutions have systematically dismantled Black institutions, from the family unit to civic communities.
Ignorance keeps us apart.
Many Asians, especially in groups that benefit to some extent from the “Model Minority” myth, still experience the effects of racist institutions but *still* do not question them. We’re like Ah-Q in Lu Xun’s satirical novella, pep-talking ourselves out of humiliating situations and perpetuating the oppression by bullying and denigrating those who have it worse than us, not understanding that we are just playing into the game.
There’s a reason that most don’t know about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, the complete demolition of an area that, even in segregated America, was affluent and known as Black Wall Street. The charge that led to this clash was bogus, and White rioters burned the city into the ground as the national guard came in and detained or arrested the Black residents “for their own protection.”
Civil rights for Black people are civil rights for everyone.
Only those who benefit from the oppression of others should oppose Black people fighting for their rights. The Black Panther Party is seen, even in sympathetic portrayals, as violent and militant, if necessary for the times. In reality, their members were highly intelligent, believed in building self-sufficient communities, and therefore patrolled neighbourhoods of colour carrying (legally obtained) guns to protect residents from police harassment, instituted school breakfasts, and promoted cross-racial collaboration (yes, including White allies).
They defended Filipino Americans in San Francisco when the city was trying to oust them from their own community. They opposed US military involvement in Asia. But we don’t hear about this. We don’t hear about how the FBI was so threatened by the idea of an autonomous, educated, politically active, and socially aware Black body politic that it started COINTELPRO – a counterintelligence programme – and assassinated Fred Hampton, an intelligent and charismatic 21-year-old Black man who had become the chairman of the party in Chicago, whose only crime was being a great uniter of people.
This isn’t “their problem.”
Even though in many of our cultures, we think we should simply work hard, shut up, mind our business, and not get into other people’s problems, whether we know it or not, the actions of Black people willing to speak up have led to hard-won civil rights in America. And many of those ideas actually inspired other groups to stand up for themselves around the world. Knowledge is power, and lies or lies by ommision is the tool of those who want to keep us divided and fighting amongst ourselves.
It’s important that we learn and share the knowledge in our communities. That means talking to our families, our friends, having those uncomfortable discussions. Getting out there and checking our own biases and learning. And that means standing up where it matters.
If you’ve watched this far, thank you, and I’ll include references and resources. Remember, this is just the start, and stay tuned for further videos.
Notes / subjects referenced:
- The Secret War (1964-1973)
- China’s “Lost Army” in Thailand (drug trade)
- Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66
- School-to-prison pipeline / zero-tolerance policies
- Nixon, Erlichman, and the racial motivations behind the “War on Drugs”
- Cold War / 1965 / Model Minority myth
- Tulsa Race Massacre 1921
- COINTEL and the assassination of Fred Hampton
- Anti-Racism Toolkit: bit.ly/SEA4BlackLives
