The voice of Shaun King, a Black activist.
Hate crimes, violence, and harassment against Asian-Americans have dramatically skyrocketed in this country over the past year. This is not fake news. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is not propaganda. This is not Asian-Americans trying to steal the spotlight from African Americans. It’s math. And it matters. Let me explain why.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have tried to live by those words from Dr. King for the past 25 years. And I actually believe them. It’s really easy to think that what happens to one group of people that you aren’t a part of has NOTHING to do with you and won’t affect or impact you in any way at all, but that’s just not how this country works. Injustice against one group of people absolutely impacts justice for all of us.
Now, as a principle, I try to fight back against the mistreatment of people whether I think it impacts my world or not, but what I want to teach you today is that being permissive or dismissive of the mistreatment of people will ALWAYS make us all less safe. These words from Martin Niemöller come to mind…
"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."
When we allow one group of people to be spit on, called racist names, punched, slapped, pushed, and mauled - it lowers the bar of what’s acceptable in this country for all people - period. If you are OK with Asian American children or senior citizens being spit on and called “China virus” then just understand that it’s only a matter of time until that ugliness spreads to children and senior citizens that you know and love. We have to reject all of it. We have to fight back against all of it. We have to take all of it personally.
I posted about this on Instagram and Facebook earlier this morning - and I want to address a few recurring themes that I saw in the comments.
A lot of my Black followers said something to the effect of, “But when do they ever speak up or fight for us?”
Every day. I see Asian Americans fighting and advocating and speaking out for Black folk every single day. I see them marching. I see them posting about injustices against Black folk on social media. I see them in planning meetings. Everywhere - from coast to coast.
If you aren’t seeing what I’m seeing, this is because you likely aren’t following who I’m following and guess what? You see who and what you follow. You don’t see who and what you don’t follow. But I follow hundreds of Asian American activists and leaders because I have hundreds of Asian American friends - many are as close to me as family. But if you literally don’t have a single Asian American friend, it’s probably very much the case that you don’t see them speaking up for us - but that says more about you than it does to them.
A lot of my Black followers said something to the effect of, “But what about those horrible videos of Asian people mistreating Black people around the world.”
I’ve seen those videos. They are horrible. Do you know why? Some Asian people are horrible and bigoted. Do you know why? Because every ethnic group has people that are good, bad, ugly and everything in between. Period. I’ve also seen multiple videos of Black people horribly mistreating Asian people. Does that mean all Black people are bad? Of course it doesn’t. This world has BILLIONS of African and Asian people around the world. We can’t judge BILLIONS of people off of the actions of a few. And here’s the thing - I have consistently seen Asian-American people speak out against the injustices of Asians against Black people, but again, I see that, because of who I follow, know, and trust.
But let me be even more specific - if an Asian man in Kenya does something ugly to an African, that should never mean that we then turn a blind eye to an Asian-American child being spit on in New York City. That’s foolishness. And let’s be honest, we’d never want the reverse done to us.
Race and racism are both complex and painful. Our nation, and this whole world, honestly, are so deeply mired in a ping pong of racism and violence, that people’s nerves are rightly frayed. I understand. Mine are frayed as well, but I am choosing to interrupt the status quo by speaking out. And personally, I do this without the expectation of anything in return. I am speaking out because the mistreatment of people because of their race or ethnicity or national origin is always wrong.
