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Maybe it’s too late to comment on this anymore, but these are the 12am thoughts I’m having now. In spite of everything this op-ed has ignited, I couldn’t bring myself to stay mad at Yang. So much of what he wrote and what he ran as reflected what I’d once internalized. https://twitter.com/postopinions/status/1245462711594561539">https://twitter.com/postopini...
I grew up in the states and spent several years in China. When I came back I was horrified to find that I was now different, and I took it upon myself to fix everything that was un-American about me. Perhaps because I was bullied severely for the accent I’d acquired.
I worked hard to become American. I lost my accent through reading books out loud to myself as a middle schooler. I never thought about ethnic identity again. To put in his words, “my place in this country felt assured.”
This assurance is precisely what skews us away from examinations of our role and our identity. We have become comfortable and complacent.
And it’s much easier to place responsibility on people rather than institutions, to lead ourselves to think that we have power and autonomy over our own roles and image. People say it’s easier to blame others, but I’ve always found it easier to blame yourself. Within your control
So instead of examining institutions, histories, legacies, we point to things we can tackle more easily. Like eliminating the virus. Action items like demonstrating patriotism.
Not things like how capital has pitted groups of immigrants against each other when they arrived as laborers and field workers, or how the model minority myth is perpetuated as ways of division and control.
I thought Yang would address this when he mentions wrongful attributions to upheaval, but he doesn’t. Makes sense for a candidate who’s utilized the model minority stereotype to his benefit. And yet again I am mad but cannot stay mad.
Because growing up the model minority myth was something my parents and my community believed in and almost felt proud of. It was also justification for the appalling amounts of racism I’ve heard from fellow Asians.
It’s this thing again: America has always told us to assimilate. But call me optimistic but I think we can redefine that—we are American because we are here. Wasn’t I taught America as a melting pot and an ever evolving entity anyways?
I’m not even sure what this thread has become at this point, but my last thought reflecting on Yang’s run in general is one of sadness. Sadness that when an Asian American ran, he ran a conforming campaign. He ran as an Asian American candidate for white people.
And Yang is a great example—he’s engaged. He has demonstrated his commitment. Yet still he is unacknowledged—excluded during primary coverage, not cited for bringing UBI to the table.
But I can’t stay mad at him because I understand him. You gotta play the game. It’s easier said than done to tip the tables. So maybe I’m just mad now, just mad in general.
