“ It seems to be a result of America’s preoccupation with Black rights..” are your words, not mine. We can split hairs all day, but “preoccupation” is synonymous with “obsession,” so I’ll just leave that there. But this indicates to me that, in general, you need to choose your words more carefully.

What I think you need to work through is why your understanding of racial marginalization between groups amount to the same thing. In other words, I can recognize that I, as a black woman, am subjected to racial discrimination similar to, but not in the same way as, let’s say a native american woman. I would never try to equate our treatment even while recognizing that structurally we occupy the same side of the fence. And so to suggest that we flatten those distinctions in an effort to fight for equal justice for all type strategy is just naive. As marginalized groups our encounters with racism and marginalization are formed by and through our different histories. That needs to be taken into account. You’ve been called the C — -word by people who wouldn’t use the N — — word does not suggest that beyond that encounter black people are more valued than Asians, it says you’ve encountered some pretty stupid and ignorant people. How you manage to project that into a large scale claim on the relationships between two marginalized racial groups is baffling to me. At those points of encounter is when you speak up and try to educate people- that is your responsibility as someone who advocates for equality. But we must also acknowledge the differences between you being bullied with videos, which is absolutely disgusting, and people getting killed at alarming rates because it has been entrenched into the national psyche that black bodies must always be read as dangerous and thus defended against. These are similar, but not the same. The same strategy cannot be employed in tackling both these things, and you should be able to understand that without concluding that you as an Asian person do not matter.

But what you’ve articulated here is that there needs to be a recognition of all who reside in the margins, this is true. So what you as an activist for Asian visibility need to do is devise a means by which ally-ship is not rooted in “hey you’ve had your say, now it’s my turn” into something that’s more collaborative, “we are stronger when we act together.” This approach cannot be constituted in articulating pro-blackness as a preoccupation. And I especially disagree with you in one regard: you do need to scream your presence in the face of white oppression- that’s how you get heard. The imperative part of activism is TO ACT. Engaging in these mediums (blogging)is great for your own mental health, I suppose, but socially and structurally, what is this DOing?Black people’s mere presence in American society was obviously not enough to make a claim for our equality (’cause we still not). The Civil Rights movement shows that this is not how change takes place. You can’t ask for a seat at the table, it must be taken. And so being put off by the vocal-ness of pro-black advocates is your problem, not theirs.

If your grouse with the Liang case is the NYPD’s hypocrisy in their treatment of him- I would ask two questions: why would you assume Liang would get the same treatment as a white officer? Is it perhaps because you are willing to read him as not non-white but non-black and therefore under no valid suspicion? And two, who is seeing this as a black and white issue? Is it the white privileging structure that wants to protect whiteness even at the expense of other non-white citizens as long as it leaves them unaccountable for their anti-black policies? Who is scapegoating who? And even with this collusion who still ends up dead? Your disdain for Black Lives Matter in the shadow of this case leads me to point out one thing: Peter Liang still has his life. So who is it that doesn’t think Asian lives matter? In this case which Asian life was under threat? Think carefully now of the differences between life and livelihood, and if you’re equating those two things, you have serious work to do. For me these are questions you seriously need to grapple with before bandying about claims such as what “real equality” could look like-here’s a hint: it involves holding white supremacy accountable for creating rifts between similarly aligned marginalized groups while managing to remain invisible. It is critiques such as yours that allows that invisibility to persist.

Your vision of equality that wants to ignore history is untenable. You’re right, we cannot pursue equality piece-meal and have different groups wait their turns, but what we do need to do is act on what feels most urgent (All Lives Matter is impotent in this regard, as is the vague and tepid “Pro-Rights”), and consider the ways in which victories for one group can create conditions of possibilities for the victories of other groups. Instead of sitting around waiting for Black Lives Matter to die out or shut the f**k up, what would it mean for you to create your own act of social protest by not saying “Black Lives Matter, but..” and instead lead with a charge of “Black Lives Matter AND…” ? The weight of those conjunctions are immense. As a writer you must know this.