Storytelling / Racial Climate – The Discussion Continues

The current racial climate is perplexing, to say the least. Regardless of the location of study (i.e., on-campus or online), race and discussions related to race seem to dominate the everyday landscape. While the focus of our class allows for a deeper understanding of how race/racism has personally impacted our lives, most individuals outside similar classrooms are not afforded the chance to see the faces impacted by the nebulous nature of racism. Covering the issue of racism in general and broad-brushed terms is a disservice to those who have suffered and are still suffering racism today because there is no parsing of the nuances, which can elucidate the reality of racism as lived by its sufferers. Are all White people racist? Should innocent young White children forever be tattooed with/wear the sign of an oppressor, much like the story described by The Scarlet Letter?

Close your eyes and imagine your skin color as being the visible tell-tale sign of a racist, for which you can never escape, and how that is eerily comparable to the wearing of the Star of David during WWII. Consequently, the one difference we must consider is that the star can be removed, but skin color is forever. I often think about my bi-racial son, while writing posts for this class. His inherent dichotomy of being from the historically “oppressed” and “oppressor” population is inconceivably dizzying should the collective majority decide to make skin color the monolithic definition/identification of racism/the oppressor. I, for one, will not accept the ill-fitting, simplistic manner for which racists/racism is globally assigned. I have suffered at the hands of all races, including my own. Racism has no boundaries; it is insidious, much like the warning sounded by the idiom of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

I am unsure how my White classmates are feeling because the materials we have covered thus far have been very uncomfortable to read. Their truthful reflection of history’s evil actions justified by White European settlers and their descendants seems to be the Scarlet Letter for which no amount of White guilt will erase. However, I want to ask, has feeling guilty left you without a voice or place at the table to contribute to repairing today’s suffering, which lingers from historical evil doings? Have you felt like you have been vacuum-sealed into a space that demands evolution but gives no room for growth? Consequently, if you have felt this way but were not allowed to voice it, what label/word/moniker would you give to identify what is happening properly?

Beyond the questions I have just posted to my White classmates, I want to address the current happenstances of Asian Americans being labeled as White adjacent. I will not dignify this ill-conceived and irrational assignment to the collective Asian diaspora, which encompasses numerous countries with a definition. Please look it up should you feel it is appropriate. I can tell you, as a first-generation Asian immigrant, my cultural heritage, upbringing, and life-progression beg anyone to point out the White adjacency benefits I apparently reaped. The reason I mention this issue is because I have noticed the dismissal/negation of the Asian population with the recent resources used in class. The Asian population as a collective is summarily used as the White-proxy example pitted against other minorities.

Excluding the book documenting the wrongdoings of American history, even the book written by the other Asian American author left me feeling the cold shoulder. His description mentioned some issues I grapple with, but the hollow, just throw it out there, afterthought of a chapter definitely gave his White adjacency away, while it shackled me to his apparent representation of me, the other, other White meat. I hope everyone understands that this is not a petition against the reading materials because I appreciate reading all sorts of things regardless of personal comfort or agreeance. However, I would be remiss should I not mention this because this is the purpose of the class. Thank you for reading. I welcome open discussions, whether in the classroom forum or in private. I believe honesty is the only way to get beyond being snowed by eloquent speakers and figureheads (regardless of group) charging a population into war with cause-worthy but hollow actioned missions of uncertainty by design. I wrote the poem a couple days ago, please let me know what you think!