The TRUTH About Anti-Asian Racism & Its Neglect | An Asian Trans View

Today, I want to speak briefly on the recently hot topic of anti-asian racism. As an asian person living in the West, I am certainly happy that people are starting to pay attention to this topic. What I'm going to say is perhaps a bit controversial, but please listen with an open mind, and hear the whole story before you make any judgements.

The topic of Anti-Asian racism is now getting attention because, for certain reasons, the past year has been especially difficult for Asian people. On the other hand, the fact that anti-asian racism has been allowed to build up for so long reflects the fact that traditional movements against racism have often neglected asians. I think we need to understand what these reasons are, so that asians aren't neglected in the racial equality conversation going forward.

I think the first reason why asians are often ignored in anti-racism is related to how we 'integrate' into Western societies. Asian culture emphasizes hard work and personal merit, and indeed asian families and parents are known to be especially demanding. Trust me, the stereotypes are actually mostly true when it comes to this. Many of us are trained to be competitive people. We don't generally think of ourselves as 'oppressed people', because that would be self-defeating in terms of being competitive. Meanwhile, a lot of contemporary anti-racism is influenced by critical race theory, which emphasizes an oppressor vs oppressed dynamic. It is a narrative that asians often can't identify with. This, in turn, means that asian voices and stories are often excluded from the discourse on racism.

Other characteristics of critical race theory thinking also work to exclude asians from the conversation. For example, critical theory emphasizes historical circumstances. Asian people, or their ancestors, are generally voluntary migrants to the West, which means there often isn't a big element of historical oppression in the story, unlike, for example, African Americans, or the first nations people of North America or Australia. Critical theory's roots in Marxism and its emphasis on material disadvantage also means it effectively sees asians as 'less oppressed', simply because many of us have college degrees. That we are disadvantaged in other ways can't be so readily measured. Now, I am not understating the significance of historical oppression or material disadvantage in shaping the circumstances of other ethnic groups. I'm just saying that asians are often erased by critical race theory influenced narratives because of our lack of these things, and this has to change.

Another reason why asians are excluded from the conversation on racial equality, is because we are severely underrepresented in the cultural industries. Proportionally, fewer of us are journalists, actors, musicians, social media influencers, you know, the people who drive the cultural conversation. This probably has to do with the traditional asian focus on technical fields. As someone with an academic background in a technical field, but also doing a lot of cultural work, I know how these two worlds can seem very different, and distant from one another. The underrepresentation of asians in cultural fields is also a vicious cycle. The underrepresentation of asians mean that those in the establishment are less comfortable having more asian voices on board, and the fear of being sidelined means that many asians don't dare to go into cultural work. I think there needs to be a very conscious attempt to tackle this underrepresentation, if there is any hope of seriously addressing anti-asian racism in the longer run.