uhh i am not comfortable with how readily people are affirming the idea that asians have total privilege or arent oppressed
that was the explicit 2nd point bankuei makes and i am not seeing enough people problematize that
now its being reblogged by people like stfuconservatives, who are white, and i really do not appreciate the uncritical way this is playing out. white people like stfu take cues from the poc community, and we should not be sending such a false msg.
signed,
an asian immigrant in deportation proceedings from a country being destroyed by us imperialism (in which americans of color are complicit)
I’m waiting for people to show me at what point I said asians have TOTAL privilege or AREN’T oppressed. Reading comprehension is useful, try it.
Less doesn’t equal “not at all”. Just like how Colorism works - some people get oppressed less/more privileges than others. Doesn’t mean they get full privilege and no oppression, means they sit somewhere else on the hierarchy.
Also consider this: in full solidarity, folks would have hopped the fuck up to say something the moment the Patriot Act went down instead of assuming it was only going to affect “Those other people”. A LOT of APIA folks and orgs were silent the whole time. So…
This is how less oppression/some privilege gets folks on the buy in, and eventually it fucks us all.
So do you want to talk about what I said or put words in my mouth?
Asian Americans and Asian American orgs didn’t speak out against the Patriot Act? The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), which is the oldest APIA org in the country, filed the response lawsuit with the ACLU in 2003. I don’t think the APIA community is unaware that the Patriot Act would affect them. Wen Ho Lee and the spate of hate crimes against South Asians after 9/11, being racially profiled at the airport, perpetual foreigner stereotypes, etc.
A number of other Asian American organizations have “hopped the fuck up”, such as petitioning the Justice Department and Congress in solidarity with PoC orgs. These Asian American groups include the Asian American Justice Center, Asian American Bar Associations, Asian Law Caucus, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Federation for Filipino American Associates, the Organization for Chinese Americans, snd South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow.
A Chinese American Lawyer, Manlin Chee, was retaliated against and went to jail, essentially for being too vocally outspoken against the Patriot Act.
I get that our community is imperfect. A substantial amount of sociopolitical and cultural factors influence our ability to organize effectively. But I also think that since APIA protesting and speaking out is viewed as counter stereotypical by mainstream American culture, when Asian Americans do speak out our voices are often drowned out and forgotten. Maybe that’s why so many people are quick to dismiss the contributions APIAs made to the Civil Rights Movement, or to countering the Patriot Act, etc.
I also think that exploring issues of intersectionality would be helpful for this conversation. YMMV.
