Can I just say how hypocritical some progressives and liberals are about what they decide can be or not be a “big deal” when we’re fighting for racial/gender/sexual/etc. equality? By saying certain communities are blowing this out of proportion shows a lot of fucking privilege that is being exerted by those groups.
If you don’t want to get involved, then don’t get involved, but don’t tell us to shut up when this girl or any other person is attacking our race, our culture, our parents, our identities, our fucking lives with stereotypes and lies that have been set in tone pretty much since Asians started immigrating to this country. It has been a VERY LONG TIME since we started to have to deal with this bullshit. Why do you think this “not a big deal” video went viral? Maybe because it is a big deal? Maybe because a lot of us have had enough of this bullshit?
This might be news to some of you, but a lot of Americans still hate and fear the growing Asian communities in this country. The only reason why you probably don’t know it is because you don’t fucking live or experience it as a NON-ASIAN. You don’t hear the white people dissing the crowds of elderly who take the bus to Chinatown. You don’t have white tourists walk up to your grocery stores and remark about how disgusting and dirty and WEIRD the food is. I can’t count on my two hands the number of times I’ve heard white people on the buses going through Chinatown talking about how we are “taking over the country” and “Communist this” or “Communist that.” Always in ENGLISH. Because, God forbid, some of us might actually know the fucking language and can call you out on your racist bullshit.
Recently, I was on a crowded bus to C-town, and this white person just starts muttering to himself about how it smells, how dirty it is, etc. No, not some “troubled homeless man” or whatever it is that people like to use to try to excuse this behavior, but a young adult, dressed for work, holding a briefcase, looking like he should probably fucking know better. Finally, when he needed to get off the bus, he started yelling at the rest of the people in English, knowing most of these Chinese adults and older adults wouldn’t understand (this is just one of the many cases I can list off the top of my head): “EXCUSE ME. Move OUT OF THE WAY. Ugh, you people are so ridiculous, just let me get off the fucking bus.”
And you know what these people usually do when I turn to them and say, “Excuse me, sir, that is really racist”? They just stand and stare in shock. They can’t even begin to think of how to get defensive, because the standard for an Asian girl is not to ever stand up and speak like that. I’ve had so many who just couldn’t even muster up a response before I started walking away.
It’s about time we feel like we can stand up and call out injustices like these. Because, yes, I’m fucking angry. I’m angry that women and girls like me as individuals are fetishized sex objects, but huge groups of families and communities of my culture and heritage are a threat. I’m angry because we’re “highly welcomed” to help America fight for Nobel Prizes and international academic prestige, but our parents and elderly who can’t speak English should just move back to Asia. I’m angry because when we try to create safe, comfortable places for us to live, the Americans who made us feel excluded accuse us of never trying to assimilate.
So fuck off, all you so-called activists and progressives who are commenting with the “not new” and “not a big deal” statements. I’m fighting for you and your causes because I believe you do not deserve such injustices and mistreatment. I may never personally know how you feel when you are wronged, but I respect the fact that you are hurt and deserve to have a voice and deserve to be treated with respect. Your suffering may not be new, but it IS A BIG DEAL.
You don’t have to feel like my cause is an important cause. I can fight for my cause. Just don’t get involved in the first place by making ignorant comments that trivializes our anger over racism and injustices against our own communities.
6 replies on “Big deals, Blowing Things Out of Proportion, etc”¦”
I probably wouldn’t have been brave enough to say anything, but I’m glad you did. How else will anyone learn that this behavior isn’t socially acceptable?
I grew up in a rural area in southern Virginia, and when I return to visit I am ashamed at how even my own family speaks. Now that I’ve started pointing out that I don’t want to hear any racist or homophobic comments they are more likely to think about what they say and what it means (at least around me).
This comment is a little bit of an aside to the conversation, but it’s an important aside.
After reading the @STFUConservatives link and then this post, I have to tell you that I totally, totally agree with everything you (both) said. But if there’s anyone out there who hasn’t seen it yet, you absolutely must watch Jay Smooth’s How To Tell People They Sound Racist. It is illuminating, and since adopting his strategy, I have gotten much, much further in my conversations than I ever had in the past.
“I’m not a racist, but…” That’s great. I don’t care if you think you’re not a racist. That thing you just said is unexcusably racist, so if you don’t want other people to think you’re a racist, maybe you ought to stop saying it. That argument goes a hell of a lot farther to getting people to curb their actions and apologize than the slash and burn to the ground emotional response that we feel when we see something so wrong going down.
It’s not “not a big deal.” It IS a big deal. But we need to be able to have the right conversation about it. We need to be able to have a conversation about “this thing is wrong and people in general should not be doing this thing.” The whole online discussion right now is about this blonde girl and her video, and NOT about the ongoing, widespread issues that Anonymous tries to bring up in this post.
As Jay Smooth said, “When you say ‘I think he’s a racist,’ that’s not a bad move because you may be wrong, that’s a bad move because you may be right. If he really is racist, you want to be sure you hold him accountable and not let him off easy.”
I really liked the video, thanks for linking that.
THANK YOU for calling people out. I wish this would happen more often. I realize that there are situations when it may be unsafe to do so, but most of the time the person spouting hate is not going to physically attack you. It’s usually more likely they just stare at you in disbelief.
You’d probably appreciate this video: Spoken word artist Beau Shia’s response
His explanation for his work:
after watching “asians in the library,” and many subsequent postings in response, i wrote this. rather than attack alexandra wallace for her thoughts, i decided to write a persona piece in her voice, as a means to address some of the greater issues revealed in her rant. in the end, this poem isn’t really about her and what she said, but more the thoughts and beliefs people hold, without considering the entire history that may have led them to think and believe in the manner that they do. my hope is that we can all use this moment to recognize that we all need to improve our ability to understand and share this world with each other. this is just a small contribution to furthering that conversation. thank you for listening.
(courtesy of Angry Asian Man)
And to quote crazylady, “Sometimes, people just don’t give a shit about others.”