A Response to the Unrest in the Asian Community: Do Justice

I know in the past, I have been vocal in my thoughts towards the social unrest and racial injustice occurring in our nation. I rebuked the aggressiveness of policing towards Black-Americans, biases and systematic racism I believe are perpetrated on Black-Americans, excessive destruction of cities and businesses, and at the same time defended the police organization as a whole. I know it sounds contradictory to rebuke and support these things all at once. However, these are my Christian convictions as I seek to better understand how we can engage in doing justice among all unjust situations. In all of this, I searched for facts and had dialogues with a number of people to make it make sense to me. I am still learning and growing to become a better ally to my Black-American brothers and sisters who have experienced racism on every side throughout America’s history. With that said, I ask that you all are open to learn, grow, and walk with the Asian community as we embark in a time where hate crimes against Asians have increased tremendously. 

Racism against Asians (or any POC in this matter) has always been there—it’s the fact that we have technology and data to document these hateful crimes. I speak for my Asian brothers and sisters when I say that we’ve all grown up in a world where being racist towards the Asian community is normal. From elementary all the way through my undergrad years, there wasn’t a week that went by where I wasn’t mocked for the way I looked or my cultural differences. I seem to be able to always recall a specific time when I was outside during recess in the second grade. In this recall, a few boys mocked me by mimicking what they thought was the Chinese language. It must have been excessive enough to the point where I ran to the bathroom afterwards to cry in a stall, and later told my mom I didn’t want to go to school anymore because I kept being made fun of. I was teased and labeled as the Chinese girl, as if there was something wrong with being Chinese. Throughout the years, students would slant their eyes with their fingers to imitate the Asian stereotype of “chinky” eyes, and put their palm on their face to insult my flat face. As a result, I grew up thinking it was wrong to look the way I did so I desired bigger eyes with eyelids and a nose with a bridge. Unfortunately, I experienced racism in a place I thought I would be safe in, the workforce. How do you expect me to react to, “I love scrunchies because it doesn’t make your eyes look Asian” as a 27 year old? Due to the Asian culture’s emphasis to remain poised and honorable, I shook it off, turned the other cheek, and allowed people to continue the name calling and physical mockery. Until this day, I hate the phrase “Chinese girl” and still wonder why the way I look is an issue.

So why is racism towards Asians normalized? Why do people still think it’s okay—where comments and gestures are pushed aside as if it's a harmless joke? You may or may not agree with me on this, but it’s because the Asian community has always done what we knew to stay out of trouble. We shook it off, turned the other cheek, and allowed people to continue perpetuating racism towards us. Our “model minority” disabled us to speak up when we knew things were wrong. Our “model minority” enabled the normalization of mockery towards our culture and appearance. The model minority framework has led us to see the climax of mockery transform into physical violence against the Asian community. Our elders, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, ourselves, and even our children deserve justice. Now is not the time to subject ourselves to our cultural standard of being poised and honorable. How much longer should we see the data on hate crimes increase? How many more generations should our children ponder on the idea of whether being Asian is beautiful or unattractive? The Bible teaches us that all humans are equal before God and have the right to be treated with dignity and fairness. So what we need to do is justice as commanded by God (Micah 6:8). I know this sounds like a route that would have us turn the other cheek because this command comes from the Bible. However, we are actually told to go a step further than just speaking justice by “doing justice”.  Justice is a verb. We need to seek out vulnerable people and groups, such as ourselves, to help restore dignity and fairness where it’s been taken. We need to advocate for the vulnerable by taking steps to change the social structures to prevent injustice. Doing justice is about a radical change of life as Jeremiah 22:3 proclaims, “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.” How do we change the social structure? Instead of enabling our peers to pass over racist comments, we need to be bold by confronting racism head-on; we need to take the first step to engage in uncomfortable conversations so they can be made aware of their actions. Lastly, we need to intervene when we see someone vulnerable being verbally or physically assaulted. No more turning the other cheek, we need to face this growing issue.

To all my brothers and sisters of every color, help us stop the ugly normalization of racism towards Asians by aiding us in the change of today’s social structure. That is, understanding that racial ignorance bleeds into racism. Racial ignorance starts off as a small creek but then turns into a grand waterfall that can destroy anything falling from it. You can be an ally by educating yourself on dialoguing with an Asian peer to better understand what racism looks like on their end. I know it can be difficult to have a conversation like this. But it is better to ask a foolish question in order to turn out wiser at the end of it, than to remain a fool. One thing I will never regret is asking the foolish question of why people thought calling COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus” was racist. Though many of the conversations I had was difficult, it helped me understand how it was racist, and how my vouching for the “Chinese Virus” normalized racism against Asians. As I reflected upon this, I realized I couldn’t recognize its racist connotation because I had gotten used to the common racist slurs. Labeling COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus" is no different than labeling me, or any person of Asian descent, “Chinese girl/boy".

At the end of day, I pray that we can look to the cross to see what Christ has done for us. His life gives us the example we need to do justice like He did as He sought after the vulnerable and restored their dignity. His death gives us the hope we need, wherein He died for the sins of the world so that we can have eternal life in a Kingdom where there is justice and peace for all. His resurrection let’s us know that we will not be in this broken world for long. But for as long as we are in this world, let us come together to do justice for the vulnerable. 

CY