“What kind of Asian are you?”
We are the forgotten. We are called the lucky ones; shunned by our fellow people of color. We sometimes do not even realize we are one of them. While the likelihood of an Asian boy being shot down by the police is far less than that of other boys of color – though violence against South Asians is very much an issue –, Asian Americans suffer through the institutionalized, and normalized racism just as black, or latinx do. It is a different kind of discrimination and oppression, but no less harmful. We are not, and have never been, white.
The racism Asians experience is subtler, and less likely to be called out on. Asian slurs are common vernacular, while the mocking of our accents make you the highlight of a party. …show more content…
We teach children the whole of white history, but we gloss over the horrors they have caused. Black people are a unit, Native Americans a chapter. But Asians? We are a footnote of watered down simplification. From Transcontinental Railroads to Japanese Internment Camps, Chinese Exclusion Act to Napalm and Agent Orange, American history refuses to acknowledge the violence done to my people. 120,000 Japanese people incarcerated under the great FDR. The first people to be banned from immigrating to this country. Vietnamese children still suffer from the effects of chemical warfare today. Over 200,000 Japanese killed by the atomic bombs. Death tolls and body counts of my people are ripped out of textbooks. White people will leap through unimaginable hoops to justify the violence against my race. Nearly non-existent representation in media, and entertainment. The fetishization of Asian teenage girls. The blatant appropriation of our cultures. The fact that our cultures are lumped together haphazardly. The seemingly disastrous consequences Affirmative Actions has on Asians. The culmination is a socially acceptable path of racism, discrimination, gaslighting, and complete disregard for my people.
But it’s not a big deal, right? I should just answer the question, and stop complaining. Fine. I am a Vietnamese woman who is sick of your shit, and will not be a submissive little girl who keeps her mouth shut. Now, tell me. What kind of white are