Ally Chats: Continuing Education

Introduction

Welcome to another installment of Ally Chats. A lot has been happening within the world since the last installments. We have seen a sharp increase in anti-Asian xenophobic attacks. An Indian family attacked in a supermarket, a Thai elder beaten, the shooting of several Korean women, two Asian American women, attacked with a cinder block while closing up shop at their work, while two more were stabbed on the opposite coast, another attacked with a hammer, and another kicked and assaulted. This is an exhausting and emotionally draining year for our Asian communities. How have you been stepping up to show that you are an active ally?

Now is a good time to remind ourselves that the onus is on us as allies to educate ourselves and ask key questions without placing an undue emotional and cognitive burden on the community. We must take it on ourselves to become more educated in ways that we can help. Take the time to do your own research into the history and social threading of racism into the fabric of our daily lives.

Before you start asking about other’s experiences, please take the time to ask for permission as you begin your conversation. Remember to listen, not just hear the words. Listen with empathy and humility.

ALLY EDUCATION

Allies must be educated, mostly self-educated or guided in their education by those they are allies with, on the history and all of the impacts carried over through history to the present time. Research and questioning are only small parts of what one can do for their self-education.

As an Ally, you need to remind yourself of the following regularly, and yes, you will make mistakes, but be certain to own them and make corrections so you do not repeat them.

There are those whose sole purpose for joining is for self-promotion at the risk of alienating those whom they are supposed to have been helping. Each person who says that they are an ally should be judged based on their individual actions and contributions, not just by the correctly said words. I would say that everyone needs to take the time to sit with themselves and ask the questions, “What is driving me to do this?” and “How can I be of service to those in need?” If “ego” is the answer or involved in the answers, I would strongly suggest that you reconsider your involvement within the underrepresented communities and learn more about yourself.

Here is a brief list that I hope you will find useful on your journey to being a proactive ally.

• ALLY IS A VERB- you need to show up and follow up with authentic and consistent actions. It is an active and evolving process. This is neither the time nor the place for just performative allyship.
• TAKE ON the struggle as your own. Use your empathy to help lead you in the steps you take. Take ownership of your actions. Be consistent and not just passing on a hashtag (the window dressing ally). Invest time within the community.
• ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PRIVILEGE. Here is a link to a simple, quick quiz from BuzzFeed from their article: How Privileged Are You? (This is by no means a truly scientific quiz, it is more for helping to make you aware). Acknowledgment of your privilege is also part of the education step to becoming more self-aware.
• USE YOUR PRIVILEGE as leverage to promote and advance those who lack it. You have benefits within society created by your varying degrees of privilege. Use that to your advantage to help promote others.
• THE CONVERSATION IS NOT ABOUT YOU. While you may have taken on the struggle as your own, you still have a privilege, so the impact is not as profound for you. Keep listening and hearing what is being said and pay attention to that which is not being said.
• STAND UP even when it pushes you out of your comfort zone.
• SPEAK UP FOR. Be the voice at the table for those who do not have a seat there.
• SPEAK UP, NOT OVER — don’t speak over the community members you are supporting. Speak in an impactful way to support and educate others.
• LISTEN, don’t just hear what is being said. Listen to what is both being said and not said- silence is valid as well. Use your empathy to understand different perspectives.
• EDUCATE YOURSELF. Research, ask questions, learn and keep learning.
• ACCEPT FEEDBACK. Build your relationships so that you can receive unvarnished feedback. These feedbacks you receive are gems that are hard won. Show that you value the directness of the feedback, and again remember that you need to be thoughtful and sincere. Take a few deep breathes because you will hear what you don’t want to hear at times. When that happens, it is a learning lesson to help you become better at being an ally.
• SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. We see this a lot but not about what it means or how to be active. There is a lot of assumptions in practice. If you see that members of an Underrepresented Group are missing from the table of discussion, ask the organizers, “Why are they missing?”, “ Was it an oversight?” By bringing this to the attention of others, it brings awareness to the situation that unconscious biases may have driven.
• BE TRUSTFUL. When you are brought in and accepted by the community members, you are an ally; that is a huge step of faith and trust. The community has faith that you are there for them, and they trust you to keep their best interests in mind as you move forward. It does not give you the right to become braggadocious about what you are doing. It instead means that your actions should be meted out with even more humility. It is a privilege and an honor to be accepted and proactive for those in need.

Further Resources to help you become a stronger ally and aware:

This list was created by me as part of the work I do for the Asian Leaders Alliance for their Education segment. This is a basic educational resource list for Allies old or new, to utilize for their self education as to the issues and problems that Asian Americans have faced and continue to face. These articles help to highlight areas that need to have more advocacy by allies so that the silencing of these concerns becomes more difficult and the voices of those we are allied with are continuously heard.

PBS Asian Americans Series

5 episode series from PBS that explores the impact of Asian Americans on the country’s past, present and future. From early historical documents and articles to exclusion to loyalty during war, and the creation of the myth of the model minority to challenges for civil rights to the coverage of economic disparity and how to move forward.

PBS The long history of racism against Asian Americans in the US

PBS article by Adrian De Leon assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity at USC whose field of research is Asian American history writes about the sobering reality that anti-Asian racism is deeply rooted and the myth of the model minority developed and adapted since WWII along with other historical support highlights the need for education and awareness while calling out how inclusion has been used to undermine progression of activism. Covers the Civil Liberties Act from the work of Yuri Kochiyama, her husband Bill and from her friendship with Malcolm X working together for the reparations and apology movement .

NatGeo Americas long history of scapegoating its Asian citizens

National Geographic coverage of the the state sanctioned discrimination against Asian Americans, the increase of racism since the emergence of COVID-19 an the racist rhetoric fueling the fears. The articles covers the struggles of fighting disinformation fueling current attacks. It also covers the history of exclusion

Time In 1968 These Activists coined the term Asian American and helped shape decades of advocacy

Time article covering the formation of the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) by Emma Gee and Yuji Ichioka in 1968 to help increase visibility of activists of Asian descent as a way to help unite activists under a handy umbrella term

Asian Nation Asian American History Demographics and Issues

Article from the Asian Nation organization covering the Manila Village to the first Chinatowns. This site provides research resources and recommended readings

Ancestors in the Americas Asian American History Timeline

A simplistic timeline adapted from Sucheng Chan’s book Asian Americans: An Interpretive History provides insights into little publicly known facts of APIs in the Americas from as far back at the 1600’s to 1992

NBC News How advocates are writing Asian American stories back into history books

Coverage of the activism of Julia Wang and Kathy Lu to develop curriculum about the Chinese American history and their establishment of the nonprofit Immigrant History Initiative. It also covers the Sikh Coalition to include the history of Sikhs into school curriculum and the states where laws are being changed or challenged to start including the roles of and histories of Asian groups

Asia Society Centers for Global Education Asian Americans Then and Now

Asia Society organization’s Center for Global Education article again covers the racism and the laws created to justify the racism briefly touching upon the effects through the decades in a high review.

The Conversation The long history of US racism against Asian Americans from yellow peril to model minority to the Chinese virus

This article in The Conversation covers the history of anti-Asian racism in American society and ties in to the current issues being faced by the pandemic and social response to it.

NEH EDSITEment Teachers Guide Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage and History in the US

Reading through the teacher’s guide and through the lessons provides one with basic information from which to start while in the individual lessons addressing the advancement of civil rights in their experiences and civics education section, addressing the model minority myth it provides the information needed to allies should be made aware of.

National Park Services: History of Chinese Americans in California

National Park Services focus on Chinese Americans within what is now the state of California. References to early contacts prior to 1850 and up to the Act to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1943 and the abolishment of national-origin quotas in 1965. It does not go into the last decades of the 1900s nor up to the current time of 2020s. Does contain links to Chinese American Historical Sites within the state of California. Many of the links are broken, however, one can do a search from the list to find active weblinks.