The Asian American Experience

I’m going to keep my personal words pretty short on this one. It is simply not my place to step in and talk about experiences I myself had never had or will ever had. It’s my place to listen, empathize, and do better.

I will say that I recently took the time to write out every single Asian American stereotype I had heard growing up. I sat with the list, I read through it, I thought how it would feel to hear people making these assumptions about my culture and ancestors. As someone who has always considered themselves a “good person,” it felt utterly shameful to recognize how I’ve laughed at and brushed off marginalizing jokes.

The following words and resource list comes from my absolute best friend, who is Chinese American. I am consistently floored by how she handles everything with conviction and resilience. Rachael, thank you for sharing your heart, your energy, your strength. Thank you for creating space to talk with me about how I’m confronting white supremacy.

From Rachael -

“The Asian American experience is constantly being told you should be smarter, better, work harder, more respectful, more submissive, too Asian, not Asian enough. It’s being told to minimize your experiences because someone else always has it worse.

While I’ve been cycling between sadness, anger, and numbness these past few days/months/who knows how long it’s been anymore, the small glimmer of hope is that these issues are finally being talked about. Keep talking about protecting Asian lives, keep talking about protecting Black lives. Keep talking to your white friends and family about how they are confronting white supremacy.”

Resources recommended by Rachael -

Read:

1. Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank H. Wu

2. NY Times Article "The Muddled History of Anti-Asian Violence" by Hua Hsu

3. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

Agencies to Donate/Support:

1. The Police Violence Report policeviolencereport.org

2. The Equitable Giving Circle equitablegivingcircle.org

3. Asian Americans Advancing Justice advancingjustice-aajc.org

4. StopAAPIHate.org

5. Gofundme.com/AAPI to donate to victims/families

6. AdvancingJustice-Atlanta.org/donate

7. Asian Mental Health Collective asianmhc.org

Phone Contacts:

1. Arizona Crisis Response Network:

• Central AZ 602-222-9444

• Northern AZ 877-756-4090

2. Crisis Line: 1-800-273-TALK

3. Asian Languages: 1-877-990-8585