This week we went to Monterey Park City Hall, to learn from City Council Members, and other guests like attorney Jason Liang, and alongside staffers from the Stop AAPI Hate campaign. We learned about the recent storm of growing anti-Asian resentment that was caused by increasing tensions with China and COVID-19. Jason Liang illustrated how illogical the narrative of anti-Asian rhetoric had gotten. For example, Jason brought up a Boeing engineer who was persecuted for his supposed allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, even though he had immigrated to the US before the formation of the party! He died in prison serving his 15-year sentence. It frustrated me that someone who had spent his almost entire life working and living as an American citizen, couldn't be seen as being loyal to this country. This moment was reminiscent of our tour around the Japanese museum, where Japanese Americans faced internment camps due to the US’s war with Japan. They were Americans who were questioned for their allegiance to the United States, based on their race, even though generations of them had lived here.
For us Asian Americans, it constantly feels like we’re visitors in America, and when Asian Americans receive hate, we have to take it on the cheek. Recent attacks on the Asian American community including the Atlanta attacks, and attacks on Asian elders have brought forth a growing wall of Asian American support. Jason made it very clear that prosecuting and punishing those who actually were committing treason is fine, but bending over backward to overtly punish those who were simply Chinese-born and had no treason echoes the Red Scare era. For example, Greg Chung the engineer, who Jason Liang helped defend, was unfairly prosecuted due to a lack of cultural competency in the translations, and there were no monetary transactions between him and China. Because America always questions the American authenticity of immigrants, Greg was punished for helping a friend, not spying. For that he was sentenced to prison, having his and his family’s reputation tarnished as forever unAmerican.
The most important question is: how do we prevent rising hate? As a child, I clearly remember how Muslims and South Asians were treated post 9/11, where these people had been here all their lives, yet their Americaness was being questioned. Innocent teenagers and people were being accused of being “terrorists” for the sake of the United State’s campaign against the war on terror. Muslims and South Asians were being told to go back to their country, just like how Chinese Americans today were told that we should go back to China. Islamophobia’s rise was an important moment for me to reflect on 2020’s uptick of Asian Hate. It showed me that as a community, we can’t just look out for ourselves. If we only care about preventing hate when it involves our communities, there won’t be people left to look out for us. This quote from WW2 best encapsulates this. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” If our communities are indifferent to hate against any minority groups, and we sit in silence and look on with apathy, we can’t be surprised when they come for us. If we’re there for other communities, and we build that trust and relationship, I know they will have our back as well. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in this generation must confront rising hate and challenge exclusion wherever it arises for this to happen. America’s story has always been a battle between exclusion and the people’s fight towards progressive trends of inclusion, as people from different backgrounds are welcomed into America’s ever-expanding melting pot. We must continue to create a path for those behind us, lest we forget the debt we owe our predecessors for fighting for our seat at America’s table.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by William Chao, Leadership Academy 2023 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.