I understand why the Asian-Am community, particularly Vietnamese-American and Vietnamese-Canadian community that I'm a part of, has been relatively quiet in response to the riots. I try not to judge this (unsurprising) silence; the world is a difficult and scary place right now. It feels like it's burning. It's so painful and sad to watch on the news, to see on social media, any and every time we open up our apps and email inbox and group chats. It's understandable to want to take a break from it all.
But in 1978, when many Americans and Canadians were adamantly against the sponsorship and intake of Indochinese (including Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laos) refugees, many Black American and Canadian leaders were not quiet (and unlike us, right now, they do not have the privilege of deactivating, deleting, or taking a "break" from what hurts, harms, and takes its physical and emotional toll on them.) Instead, in 1978, when boats of refugees were being turned away, these leaders got together and saved up to donate, pay for ads in newspapers, and outspokenly SUPPORT the intake of Indochinese refugees. A line from one ad in 1978 (rediscovered by Cambodian-American artist/scholar Sokunthary Svay through Svay's archival research, and also circulated by Vietnamese-American author Thi Bui):
"As concerned citizens of the black community - a community which itself continues to endure widespread economic deprivation - we sympathize with our Asian brothers and sisters in refugee camps. But our concern must transcend the safe boundaries of mere sympathy. We must move toward action.
We believe that America can...reach out to an embattled minority - these refugees - and offer safe haven and hope. Thus, we call upon President Carter and the United States Congress to facilitate the entrance of these refugees into the United States in the same spirit...through our arduous struggle for civil, political, and economic rights in America, we have learned a fundamental lesson: the battle against human misery is indivisible." (emphasis mine)
"The battle against human misery is indivisible." Learning is hard, but unlearning is an even harder and more painful process. It's so easy to pay attention to the looting, the violence, the upheaval. To get caught up in the sensationalism behind it all. But you don't have to agree with the methods behind rioting to support the MESSAGE behind rioting. We need to show our solidarity, support, and compassion with the message behind the method. At the very least, it would benefit us all to reflect on the historical trajectories that got us, our families, here in Canada/America. To remind our parents and grandparents of the many efforts members of the black community made to ensure that we could be here, too. To soak in the fact that the black community isn't distinct, removed, or isolated from the Asian community at all.
We would not have been here without the support and allies of members of the black community, who saw us as "brothers and sisters" even when we did not see them as the same (and still don't). Please consider your support beyond posting a black square on social media- donate, read up on the work of black writers and research the history of racial injustices in the US and beyond, remind yourself of who writes our history textbooks, show up, and stand up right now for our black brothers and sisters. This time is not about keeping your head down and staying silent. It's about showing up with your mind, your body, your voice, your ears, your time, your energy. Especially when it wasn't easy, they did it for us.
We would not have been here without the support and allies of members of the black community, who saw us as "brothers and sisters" even when we did not see them as the same (and still don't). Please consider your support beyond posting a black square on social media- donate, read up on the work of black writers and research the history of racial injustices in the US and beyond, remind yourself of who writes our history textbooks, show up, and stand up right now for our black brothers and sisters. This time is not about keeping your head down and staying silent. It's about showing up with your mind, your body, your voice, your ears, your time, your energy. Especially when it wasn't easy, they did it for us.
Further reading:
For suggestions on how to support BLM without leaving your house and with limited finances, click here.
For a list of local bail funds to access/donate to (crowdsourced on a Google Doc), click here.
For a list of local bail funds to access/donate to (crowdsourced on a Google Doc), click here.
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Background: This blog post was originally one that I wrote and shared on Facebook for my family and friends. As my Facebook privacy settings are high, and I rarely use Facebook, I did not think about turning this into a blog post until I received several requests from friends and family members to make my Facebook post "share-able" so that they could translate it and send it to their parents and grandparents. I'd like to thank those friends and family members for encouraging me to share this on a wider platform, in the hopes that in some way, it makes the slightest difference in the minds and attitudes of those, especially from the Asian-Am/Asian-Can community, who see BLM as "not our problem." Make no mistake: it very, very much is.
Credit: As mentioned above, the newspaper clipping was not found by me. Artist-scholar Sokunthary Svay shared it on Twitter, as a product of her laborous and extensive archival research, and I came across her tweet through the post fromVietnamese-American author Thi Bui. Feel free to check out their important work by clicking on their names (linked above and here).
Credit: As mentioned above, the newspaper clipping was not found by me. Artist-scholar Sokunthary Svay shared it on Twitter, as a product of her laborous and extensive archival research, and I came across her tweet through the post fromVietnamese-American author Thi Bui. Feel free to check out their important work by clicking on their names (linked above and here).