DEAR AMERICA

Dear A M E R I C A, Written by Ariana King, Culture Editorial Assistant Illustrated by Katie Herrick, Arts Curator

I hear you say things about my people all the time. You say we’re intelligent, beautiful, exotic and successful. That we’re innovative, creative and scientific. You also say that we’re model minorities, that all of our fellow people of color should aspire to be like us. You throw a fit whenever Asians want to talk about discrimination because racism against Asians “doesn’t exist.”

Well, my friends, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven you all wrong. As hate crimes go up and an Asian family was nearly stabbed to death by a racist in a Texas Sam’s Club, it’s clear that our “model minority” status doesn’t mean jack shit in a crisis where we make easy scapegoats. You only call us model minorities for your benefit—to drive us people of color apart. You stereotype Asians as “good” to reinforce the rhetoric that continuously puts down black, Latinx and indigenous communities. You only put Asians on top to justify putting everyone else on the bottom. We’re only given a pat on the back so that you can claim America is kind to its minorities.

But, at the same time, your bettering of my “otherness” to downgrade others has given me advantages I was too ignorant to realize until I got a good college education. For twenty years, I lived my life as a light-skinned, ethnically East-Asian, English-speaking young girl in relative peace. Sure, I had the occasional creepy old man ask me where I was from, or white people saying hello in any Asian language, or that kid in first grade who thought it appropriate to pull his eyes into slits “like mine.” But I still could access health care, I was safe from state violence, I was allowed to wear cultural jewelry to school, I was “cool” for speaking my “native” language and I was never in true harm’s way. That is until now.

This is the only point in my life where I have been afraid to be Asian, where I have feared for my safety because of how I look. I used to have days where I’d “flaunt” my Asianness—wear giant jade necklaces and cloisonne earrings. Now, I don’t do that. I don’t feel I can. Hell, I can’t even go into the store without worrying about what wearing a face mask will supposedly tell people about me. Will they think I’m sick and spreading the virus? Or will they think I’m being proactive and leave me alone? So, this is what it feels like to be a minority in America. It’s fear, it’s uncertainty, it’s having to hide or downplay a part of who you are. It’s so unfair, and yet I lived twenty-one years of my life without having to deal with it. I have only an ounce of understanding of what darker-skinned people of color experience. I’ve feared for my safety for only a month or two since COVID-19 picked up in America. Black, Latinx and indigenous communities have to do that every damn day. I cannot imagine being black in America.

For me, this experience then drives the need for a coalition amongst us. People of color need to come together and have a real conversation about what it means to be a racial minority in America. We must acknowledge our differences, but we cannot let white America drive us apart.

To my fellow light-skinned East Asians, let the fear you feel now drive you to reach out to darker-skinned people of color. Know and own your privilege. Understand that the pain and paralysis you feel for your safety is what they deal with every day, but let it drive you forward to advocate against their oppression and ours.

Yes, we were once “model minorities”, but we are not anymore and never were. So, to hell with our “model minority” status. If it meant “being white” and staying silent, we refuse to comply. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that we will always be an “other” no matter what white America wants us to believe. So...

Dear white America, the fallacy of model minority status has been broken. We will not be silent or complacent. We will fight against your oppression. We will wear our “otherness” so incredibly proudly. We promise to never forget this moment and will never seek your “allyship” again.

Yours truly,

Ariana King