Pendulum Swing in the Asian American Landscape (Part 2): Peter Liang, More Than Just a Conviction, and Where To Go From Here

On February 11, 2015, a rookie Chinese American police officer, age 27, was convicted for a charge of manslaughter, sentencing him to 15 years in prison. This is a case that dates back to November 2014. Peter Liang and his partner were patrolling through the Louis H. Pink Housing, in East New York, Brooklyn; considered one of the most dangerous parts of Brooklyn. They were walking through an unlit stairwell, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The rookie cop had his finger slightly surfacing the trigger of his gun, heart beating, hoping, maybe even praying that this would be just like any other routine round. Empty, noiseless, and free of any sort of havoc. Deep down, fear laid dormant, waiting to bubble to the surface, at the sound of any slight sound or movement. And then suddenly, BOOM. The ticking, incendiary bomb of fear imploded; provoked by a split-second noise heard in the dark. The trigger was accidentally pressed, a bullet fired, ricocheted off the walls, and penetrated into a man. Akai Gurley, 28 years of age. Just like that, a cataclysmic situation ensued. The medical staff were not able to arrive to the scene in time — whether that be the lack of urgency of Liang and his partner or the severity of the damage. When the legal process had wound down, finally, a year later, Liang was sentenced.

But wait, not only sentenced, but convicted; not evicted. That is what sets this case apart.

Let us compare and contrast, shall we? Peter Liang, Daniel Pantaleo, Darren Wilson, Jason Van Dyke. Asian, White, White, White. Manslaughter, Manslaughter, Manslaughter, Manslaughter. Death by an accidental ricocheting bullet, death by excessive force through chokehold, death through a chase-down of the proposed criminal and 6-8 direct gunshots interpreted as self-defense, and death by 16 direct shots to a non-aggressive teenager with a knife. The result of each is death nonetheless. But which is an obvious manslaughter and which are, speculatively speaking, potential homicides? One stands out.

All I am trying to say here is that Peter Liang was convicted for manslaughter — and justly so. 15 years of prison? Well, we’ll let the legal professionals answer to the fairness of this sentence. Whereas Pantaleo, Wilson, and Van Dyke all go free through eviction from their sentences of manslaughter. Well, we don’t need a legal professional to see that something is wrong with this picture. And greater than that, something is wrong with this system. What was different between these men? Liang was Asian, the rest were White.

Since the days of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, one of the more obvious legal actions taken by our government, charged by racial discrimination against Asian Americans, the Chinese have done a marvelous job building their own communities. Along the way, they have stitched together a functioning system of economy that protects Chinese immigrants from starvation and poverty, dealt to them due to a lack of fluency in the English language. During the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the time of Japanese Internment, a lot of American taxes went into these discriminating legal actions. So it isn’t a surprise that Asian Americans were dissatisfied with paying their taxes. The taxes went directly towards oppressing their own racial group.

As a kid growing up in a Chinese household, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that many immigrants follow the same formula to gain success and sustenance in this foreign land. They either work in a Chinese restaurant, begin their own Chinese enterprises, or for the extraordinarily invested visionaries, expand upon their enterprises. I have joked and laughed about the reality of the Chinese and their relationship with government taxes. I have cringed at the very same reality. The truth is, the Chinese had, for the longest time, diverged from chasing the American dream as genuine Chinese citizens of America. They have created their own niches for that very reason. They felt that true integration was impossible if they decided to remain Chinese. And in these niches, they have their own system of politics, socialization, and economy. The monetary production of the Chinese in these microcosms continue to flow in and through the individuals in this distinct ethnic system. Early on, our immigrant ancestors laid a foundation for a functioning society apart from the rest of America, not because we pitted ourselves against America; but because America pitted itself against us.

Somewhere down the road, the second generation of Chinese, and Asians altogether, benefited from the fruits of their parents’ resilient labor through the American education system. We were then given the title ‘Model Minority’ to suggest that we were the highest achieving compared to any other minority race in America’s economic system. And such is true, as mentioned in Part 1, when I brushed through the average income of a Chinese American household. Our parents have beaten(literally and metaphorically) the principles of working hard and making money into us. In the documentary, The Search for General Tso, it was said that the Chinese are an enterprising people — an idea I’ve referenced multiple times now. It would be important to note that enterprising stands to be one of the major ways we are integrated into the American system mainly because it is the only way we have integrated.

Rallies of poignant malcontent have ignited in the public sphere on the Peter Liang case. One protester mentioned that she was raised with the principle, leave the politics to the white people. She had never thought to stay informed on politics and legal/social reform, even less so to speak out. That is not a unique account taken out of many. Asian American households were never raised on political dialogue. We barely knew when the presidential elections were! Much less how to sign up for the voting ballot! How often did we have politics as a topic of conversation over the dinner table? We would shy away anytime anything political was mentioned. We have been so disengaged that our households have almost become politically illiterate. Why is that? The Chinese have never felt themselves fully integrated into an American society, enough to meddle in political dialogue. If the system will not see you as equal, will not pursue social equity for you (as have been experienced in the past), and will not pursue an effective process of your integration into the society as functioning citizens in the economy, it would be a waste of time to expend your energies into political conversations. If Peter Liang’s case shows the Asian American community anything, it is that we have entered into a different era.

The generations that came before us was barred from integration because 1) our society’s tolerance of racism and 2) the immigrant’s language disability. Our ancestors learned to survive in this foreign land that they could not call their own even if they mustered up every ounce of strength. How could you call a country your own if it refuses to fight for your equity? Almost a century and a half later, Chinese Americans have found themselves spread across every major city of the United States. They have found themselves one of the fastest at jumpstarting their careers. They have found themselves acquiring jobs in some of the most lucrative fields of work. They have found themselves in Masters, even PhD programs in some of the most prestigious schools. They combined their parents’ work ethic with their fluency of the English language, and we see a completely different picture of integration. Yet we still see one thing, we have left the politics for the white people.

In the history of the United States, the Asian American community had little to no production of politicians running for office. The few we did have were primarily in Hawaii and California until the dawn of the 21st century. In 2009, the first Asian American woman was elected to congress in the state of California, Judy Chu. In 2012, we had the most Asian American politicians running for congress than we had ever seen before — a whopping 36(as per Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies). 21 of which earned victories. The Asian American community had been landlocked in a social impasse in the past, but along the path paved for civil rights by political giants in other minority communities, we also have reaped the fruits of integration. Asian Americans are on the rise, no longer satisfied with leaving the politics for other people to decide.

Politically speaking, much of Asian America is an enigma. The politicians hear loud and clear what African Americans/Blacks and Latinos want from our nation, but have a hard time ascertaining what exactly the Asian American community wants. Madhuri Sathish raised the question in her article Asian Americans are Invisible to Politics & Politicians, Which is A Major Problem When the Personal Turns Political — why are Asian Americans practically invisible in the political sphere? Michelle Diggles suggests that Asian Americans sway from voting Democratic to Republican and back to Democratic, election after election. Where does the Asian American community actually stand?

When we do a broad sweep of these analyses, the statistics of Asian American voting, the participation in running for office, and our historical narrative, it can be extrapolated that we, as Asian Americans, are beginning to discover our voice after much longsuffering through an extended period of suffocation. After having been barred in social impasse, we have carved out a path in this nation finally. We are learning the rhythms of integration, not only in the economic dimensions of our systems, but in the political and social sphere as well. Hopefully, we are learning social integration as Asian Americans who have preserved our ethnic identities rather than renounced them out of shame, in exchange for a simulacrum of whiteness.

I can admit that the criticisms may be true. We as a community do not have as clarified a rhetoric for civil rights and social equity as other minority groups who have clawed their way into being heard in the public sphere through the decades. There have been voices within our community that have sounded more tribalistic, fighting for our own people rather than for all oppressed people. There have been voices screeching and squawking for selective justice for our own Peter Liang, instead of a system of justice for the oppressed Black and Latino communities as well. It is counterproductive towards justice when the oppressed fights the oppressed. Yet simultaneously, we do have shepherding voices in our community, shaping tribalistic spirits into spirits that love equal justice. We are slowly but surely developing our rhetoric for social justice in the political sphere.

The case of Peter Liang, sentenced to 15 years, and Akai Gurley, is not only a Black-Asian conversation. It is not only a Black-White conversation. It is a Minority-White conversation. It is a conversation that needs to continue to be had. And in this time, where the Asian American community is inclined to play Model Minority; inclined to suggest that the case was not out of the ordinary; inclined to stay quiet from any sort of tension-filled political dialogue, I would ask you to take a step back and reconsider. Mahatma Gandhi said, silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands for speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly. The time is right for the Asian American community to find their place in the political landscape of America; and let me remind you, not so that we could learn how to fight for our own, but in order to fight for justice. Unity, not division empowers the pursuit of justice. This can only happen if we invest in this nation together with Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, etc. The time is ripe to uncover our historical narratives. The time is ripe for lamentation. The time is ripe for reconciliation. The time is ripe to rise out of our suffocation; in order to seek liberty and justice, not only for us, but for all.

We can let this be a setback. An exploitation of the ‘Model Minority’ bearing the burdens of a flawed system. Or we can allow the case of Peter Liang to spring us forward into developing a clearer Asian American rhetoric of social justice and developing a clearer political identity in the diverse racial and ethnic landscape that is America.