We have work to do, America
By John C. Yang
As I think about Black History Month, I reflect back six months, when I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 57 years to the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have A Dream” Speech.
I was there to be part of the 2020 March on Washington called The Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks. It was a day that I am proud to have been a part of and proud that Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC was the only Asian American organization invited to speak at the march. The energy, commitment, and passion were clear. It was a peaceful rally and march.
Six months later, the motivation for the Commitment March — speaking out against racism and white supremacy — is just as urgent as ever. It is a stark contrast to know that place where other speakers and I stood for the Commitment March in August 2020 became the site where insurrectionists and white supremacists gathered to start their assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Black lives continue to be ignored, including on COVID-19 health planning and economic recovery, and put at risk every day. And in the last two weeks, we have seen an increase in attacks on Asian elders, including the murder of an 84-year-old Thai American. We have seen questionable police force used in our community with the recent death of Angelo Quinto, an Asian American navy veteran.
Sadly, tragically, these excerpts from my original speech for the Commitment March were poignant not only to that moment but also to the time we are in now where our communities are continuing our fight for equity, respect, and more starkly, our lives.
“I am honored to be here on what is the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington. It is humbling to be here speaking in the aura of revered personal heroes, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Honorable Congressman John Lewis. It is not lost on me that this is the day Emmet Till was abducted and murdered sixty-five years ago in Money, Mississippi.
Six decades later, we’re still seeing too many African American lives lost to systemic racism and criminal police brutality. One life lost is one too many. When the world watched the video of George Floyd struggling for breath, fighting for his life, we at Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC came together to show strong support for African American communities, and to say Black Lives Matter.
Let me say that again. Black Lives Matter! Until African Americans are able to achieve the equity they so richly deserve, none of our communities of color are safe from oppression and racism.
As the majority of Asian Americans are immigrants or the children of immigrants, we are aware that Asian Americans are precariously placed in this society. Held up often as a model minority when it is convenient to draw a wedge between Asians and fellow communities of color, we also know that we are only one moment away from a Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Incarceration, or a Muslim ban.
If your eyes have been opened after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the senseless shooting of Jacob Blake, then be our ally in this fight. We need everyone from White, Latino, and Asian communities to come together for racial equity.
Maya Angelou said, “When you know better, you do better.” It’s past time to do better. It is on us to speak up whenever we see racial injustice.
As Asian Americans, we must be steadfast in defying the model minority myth that tells us to be silent and constantly pits Asian communities against Black and Latino communities. The model minority myth is a false narrative that uses Asian communities as a racial pawn to uphold white supremacy and anti-Blackness.
We have long recognized that we will not win justice for Asian Americans without winning justice for all. We will continue to fight racism as we rise in solidarity.
Our society needs immediate and massive transformations to end systemic oppression and racism. While we are an organization dedicated to advancing the civil and human rights for Asian Americans, Advancing Justice | AAJC has the ultimate goal of building and promoting a fair and equitable society for communities of color and all of us.
COVID-19 has laid bare how disparities impact communities of color. We cannot let apathy or voter suppression efforts keep us from voting in every local, state, and the presidential election. We cannot let privileged politicians continue to enact laws that perpetuate or sustain a system of racism and oppression.
It is time to be better.
Let’s get to work, America.
John C. Yang is the President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.
