It’s Time!

I watched as an Asian woman walking on the sidewalk in Manhattan was knocked to the ground in broad daylight by a man who came out of nowhere. I watched as he repeatedly kicked the heap that was her body and then moved on. I watched as the men in the building at the scene observed this from their lobby, and then closed the entrance door.

It was March 2021 and I watched this on my phone, from the safety of my home. As I watched, something in me broke. I couldn’t ignore it any more: There is hate against Asians in America. Hate against people who look like me precisely because of the way we look.

It’s time for Asian Americans to stand up and shout about this. For too long, we’ve been happy in the role of model minority, but at what cost? We work hard and we don’t protest. We don’t attract attention to our differences, we want to blend in.

We don’t talk about our needs and the injustices Asians have been subjected to — not even to our children. Who has heard of The Chinese Exclusion Act? Who knows how it feels to be identified with Hop Sing, Suzie Wong, or any of the other kowtowing or exotic figures that Hollywood has promoted?

We have been so self-effacing that we’ve made it easy for society to ignore us as individuals and as legitimate stakeholders.

Have we become invisible?

No, just ask any racist. But we have been ignored and this has got to stop.

It’s time for Asian Americans to find our voice.