Where Do I Stand?

Dear Ms. Lin,

Thank you for your honest and insightful piece on why Asian Americans might not talk about the Plessy v Ferguson trial. Your experience in the apartment complex resonated with me because I have had many similar experiences where not being black was in my favor even when I didn't notice it. One experience, in a shopping store, closely mirrored what you talk about. I was in a department store with a friend who is African American, and we were just casually shopping. We split ways in the store, and I noticed that the store clerk watching us slowly started to follow my friend around the store. Curious as to what was going on, after we left the store I asked my friend what the lady was doing. He said, "that happens often. People think because I'm black and a male, I'm going to steal something." This was absurd; we were 13 and neither of us were shoplifters and just because of his skin color, there was this preconceived notion he could be a thief? That experience made me analyze the many privileges I have with being lighter skinned, more "white" and the perceived innocence that comes with this color.

My connection with your piece didn't stop there. Your comment on where Asians stand in the black-white controversey is exactly my own dilemma: I have had internal struggles as to where I fit in this whole case. I haven't faced the same covert racism my African Americans have felt, but I don't necesarrily enjoy all the privileges white people either.

Your piece made me question my own privlieges and that although I am a person of color, I still have more priviliges and more "acceptance" than people of a darker skin color. Moreover, I think your piece also made me address the idea that we had been talking about in class: just as low class white didn't want to associate with enslaved people, immigrants, specifically Asian Americans, didn't want to associate themselves with people of a lower class. Not only do I see this in my own community, but I have seen from your piece that by staying silent and not talking about injustice, I would be "quietly perpetuating it."

Thank you for being honest and relatable,

Dilan

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