Dear Liz Lin,

After reading your article “Why Asian American Might Not Talk About Ferguson”, I am strongly impressed by your ideas and feel resonated with most of them, especially for the stereotype one.
I strongly agree with the connection which you have mentioned between traditions and stereotypes. A country’s traditions have really great impacts on its people, and therefore have indirect impacts on how its people often viewed by others. If the views last for a long time, they become what we called as “stereotypes”. In your article, the example of Asian American keeping silent towards racial movements shows the relationship between stereotypes and traditions clearly. It reveals the reason why it is so hard for us to break stereotypes — most of them do not come from nowhere, instead, they are reflections of our own cultures and traditions in some historical periods. 

I totally agree with your idea that Asian Americans should break the silence. However, the problem which they are facing right now is that they have the willingness to speak up but there are so many boundaries. Like what you have said in your article, Asian Americans have been consistent targets of individual and systemic racism in the whole country. What’s worse, they are in an embarrassing situation that a lot of people do not consider them as minorities. In this way, they are automatically excluded in the marches of minorities. The awkward social status of them undermined their willingness and power to speak up.

You may say that, the stereotype will not change only if they speak up and take actions. But how can they speak up when nobody cares about their opinions? As time passed by, Asian Americans had already changed a lot. The new generations have new thoughts and take part in equal rights movement actively. However, the society is unaware of that, and that is the real problem. I hope you can recognize and talk more about the changes among the young Asian Americans.

Yours, Fiona


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