Finally read through the @andrewyang article, the source of recent controversy, and these are my thoughts. I'm throwing them out into this twitter abyss because, well ... What else can I do with them ...

First, my heart sank. Andrew, how can you suggest that the solution to racism is that victims work harder to prove they are not whatever the judgements say they are? How can you put this on them? ...

Like those in poverty have been told for years to just work harder, prove their worth, keep digging. I know Andrew knows the fallacy in that. So, why? Why would he perpetuate that Asians need to prove something? ...

Then I thought about my son. He is First Nations. I have taught him that there will be times in his life when he will have to work hard to prove ppls belief systems wrong. This saddens me, bc he is an extraordinary person, but it is a sad truth....

Why is it true? Why should he have to? He shouldn't have to, but what else can he do? He can't force others to think differently, and they won't listen to him, as long as their beliefs dismiss him. He can only show them that they're wrong...

That is his only power in it. Andrew is speaking truth to ppl he cares about. He is telling them the only power they have. It's a hard pill to swallow, wrong, unfair, painful, infuriating, but it's the only way to fight...

He also notes that the disease is the enemy, not the ppl. There are two diseases, the virus and ignorance. I don't think curing the virus alone will solve the ignorance. But the virus invokes fear, and fear breeds ignorance...

You can't heal an infected wound without treating the infection. We are wounded. Ignorance and fear are awful open wounds. They've been around since long before any of us, left open, ignored, even prodded at times ...

This virus is spreading, infecting that wound and threatening every part of life. Heal the infection first, and care for the wound as best we can, knowing we can only bandage it for now...

I also thought of MLK and his efforts in non-violent resistance. Was that a way to 'prove the racists wrong?' Fight without fighting? Prove despite all abuse that we're not violent? Prove that they're wrong? ...

And I thought of Andrew, and the internalized racism of a lifetime. His mentality has always been, in all problems, big or small, how do we fix it? This is the only way forward he can see. Right or wrong, he just points, that way.

#YangGang