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Militance, Not Apologies
Julia Oh
7/29/04
Fighting racism can be exacerbating, but Asians must stay strong. Last month, for the unpardonable sin of daring to confront a powerful white male, an Asian female journalist received over 300 pieces of hate mail. Did she write that all white men should be castrated for their past and present violations against women? No. Did she write that poetic justice for white men would be for them to be enslaved and have their lands taken away? Hardly so. She simply wrote a news article in which she denounced a white man for using the term "Jap"1. This action, which was merely a reaction to racism, provoked hundreds of whites to send cruel, malicious, and ironically, racist, letters to the author.
The reaction that this woman received is by no means atypical for Asians who speak out against racism. Another example that comes immediately to mind is that of an Asian female college student who spearheaded a demonstration in front of the Abercrombie & Fitch store in downtown San Francisco a couple years ago to protest their racist caricature t-shirts. She received "hundreds" of hate mail daily after her photo appeared across the news. Even the articles that I have written (for Asian audiences) have aroused anger from whites, and especially from white men.
In fact, it is often the case that when Asians speak out against racism and injustice, it brings such discomfort among whites that they will either deny it completely, or they will attempt to deflect their own guilt by going off on other matters that do not pertain to them, such as the history of oppression that Asians have inflicted upon each other (Chinese invasion of Korea, Japanese aggression against China, etc). When Asians take direct action, such as writing an article or leading a demonstration, it has been shown that this arouses such fury and vitriol among many whites that they will launch a hate campaign against those who dared to challenge their authority. Such phenomena make it clear that while there may be a small handful of whites willing to right the imbalance of power, the majority will kick and scream and do whatever it takes to keep their white privileges intact.
Because of the backlash that sometimes accompanies the fight against racism, I know that many Asians have been inclined to give up the cause or to soften their stance. However, giving up is not an option for Asians who wish to maintain their dignity. I say this, because for Asians, fighting racism is not simply about protesting the white hegemony, it is about not allowing others to step on us and not sitting back while others mock us. The fact is, no matter how righteous or justified our claim against racism is, there will be plenty of those who will either oppose or belittle our cause. But by giving up and succumbing to such pressures, Asians will have lost twice: first to the racist incident, and second by allowing the perpetrators to make us feel bad for speaking out against the hate. We cannot allow this to happen.
