Another quick reminder during #AAPIHeritageMonth that if you (Asian or non-Asian) think that Asian people worked harder than other people of color and that’s why we’re doing so well or are better off, that’s some internalized white supremacy. Let me break it down a little. /1

It goes without saying that ALL people of color have worked IMMEASURABLY hard to get where they are, but white people created the model minority to make Asian people teacher’s pet, so to speak, and to “prove” they weren’t racist. That should make you mad. /2

This is important because I’ve seen a lot of anti-blackness, anti-immigrant-ness, etc. in Asian communities over the years, and people feel justified in that because Asians DID EXPERIENCE so many of the same exact things. But that doesn’t mean that we “earned” what we have. /3

Obviously ALL people of color deserve respect and to not be marginalized, but the reason Asian people (generally and relatively) experience less overt racism is because of privilege, albeit DERIVED privilege from white supremacy because white people decided we were acceptable. /4

This should make you VERY MAD, because white people don’t get to decide who is good enough or white enough to not oppress, but when you’ve been teacher’s pet for decades, of course you start to think that racism isn’t that bad because you are typically shielded from it. /5

This is despite the fact that The Chinese Exclusion Act is the SINGULAR piece of legislature that has EVER passed barring a group of people from coming to the US solely on the basis of race and the fact that Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps during WWII. /6

In addition, during the wave of anti-Japanese sentiment, a Chinese man was murdered by a white man because he was mistaken as being Japanese and Asian people were also lynched during waves of anti-Asian sentiment throughout the US. /7

Going back to the Chinese Exclusion Act and immigration, Chinese people were the first undocumented immigrants as a direct result, and later on, Indian Americans had their CITIZENSHIP REVOKED after the Supreme Court ruled that they could not be considered “white.” /8

Now enter COVID-19 and all of a sudden Asian people are experiencing a new wave of racism because our dumbass president called it the “Chinese virus.” This is a prime example in that Asian people are literally used as the model minority until it’s no longer convenient. /9

What bears repeating in all this is that there is never any true safety in siding with or being complicit with the oppressor, because doing so only makes you a tool of the system, again so that white people can say “we’re not racist!! See!! We like Asians!!” despite history. /10

I am so VERY proud to be Asian, and as such, I want to recognize this oppression in order for us to remember our history when we see the same exact things happening to our other siblings of color. We should be incensed and demand justice with the privilege we have. /12

Black people are still being lynched by the police, and Latinx people are being put into concentration camps at our southern border. These are all things we as Asian Americans have experienced in the past, but we’ve forgotten and we need to remember so we see the injustice. /12

I’m so very grateful for the many ways in which Asian people in the US no longer face this type of overt oppression, but we cannot forget and look the other way to what’s happening to our siblings of color. We are stronger when we stand together against white supremacy. 13/13

Appendix: I learned SO MUCH of this from the PBS Asian Americans docuseries and everyone needs to watch it immediately. I’d say ESPECIALLY Asian people who don’t know about our history in the US.