On Friday, May 7, 2021, LexPride hosted the Uncovering Anti-Asian Racism event for the Asian American community. CALex was invited to give an opening speech. Many residents including Helen Yang and Dahua Pan from CALex shared their stories on the discrimination they have experienced. Actors from True Story Theater did great job on performing the stories improvisationally.
Here is the opening speech from CALex.
Uncovering Anti-Asian Racism
May 7, 2021
Good evening. Thank you Valerie and LexPride for the invitation. It is a great honor to be here. Tonight I am going to share some thoughts about anti-Asian racism that bothers me for a long time.
Let me start by sharing some numbers first. According to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center, one third Asian adults say they have feared someone might threaten or physically attack them. And 81% of Asian adults say violence against them is increasing.
Also from Pew Research Center conducted in last month, June 2020, and February 2019, respectiviely, about three-in-four Asian Americans say they have personally experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity.
It is shocking to see such high discrimination rate to Asian Americans in today’s society. The discrimination against Asian Americans exists since the first wave of Asian immigration in 1850s. I keep asking myself, what is the fundamental issue here? What is the real solution? A few decades later, will the situation get better for Asian Americans and all minorities, or is it an unsolvable problem in this greatest nation in the world?
I know that any long history of discrimination is not going to be solved today or any time soon. But we must have a plan and take action today. One thing we should start now is to educate our young generation from K-12 to help them understand that Asian Americans are significant contributors for this country and that they have been mistreated for centuries.
When building the first transcontinental railroad in 1860s, Chinese immigrants were not chosen initially but the schedule was delayed again and again and there was no hope to complete the western section of the railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains without reforming the workforce.
We learned that Chinese railroad workers eventually made up 90 percent of the workforce building the most challenging and dangerous section of the railroad, but they were noticeably absent from the historic picture when western half and eastern half were connected at Promontory Point.
We learned that Chinese Exclusion Act was not the only exclusion bill. Japanese immigrants, Korean immigrants, South Asian immigrants, and Filipino immigrants experienced the same mistreatments later on.
We learned that South Asians who had become naturalized citizens were abruptly denaturalized. Without citizenship status, they were forced to sell homes, business stores and other properties by state laws such as California’s Alien Land Laws.
We learned that two U.S. government reports found the vast majority of Japanese immigrants were overwhelmingly loyal to this country, but that didn’t stop the Internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
History is a mirror for us to reflect on the past and learn the lessons to build a better future. The younger generation is the future of the country. They are future leaders, policy makers, civil rights advocates, justice upholders, and professionals and experts in every field we need.
Teaching Asian American history in school K-12 helps the younger generation build the right mindset — Asian Americans are Americans, they are contributors for this country, not threatening outsiders, and absolutely not invaders.
Thank you!