The death of George Floyd, and the seeming indifference and approval of an Asian American police officer has raised the question of where do Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders stand in this country’s quest for freedom and justice for all.
In the days after Floyd’s death, a strong cry is emerging from Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to recognize that (to quote the Rev. Martin Luther King) “an injustice to one is an injustice to all.”
It is time that AAPI assert that we will no longer be the wedge to divide People of Color;
It is time to align ourselves with the oppressed, those whose cries go unheard, those mothers whose children are being beaten and killed, those children who will never know their parents because they have been killed or imprisoned;
It is time we put aside our own fears and biases to join our black brothers and sisters to demand equal treatment in the eyes of the judicial system, from the highest court in the land to the cop on the beat;
It is time we acknowledge the deep debt that immigrants owe to the Black community for the blood they have shed and the lives that have been lost in their centuries-long battle for equality;
It is time that health-care-for-all, education-for-all, opportunities-for-all and justice-for-all are recognized as inalienable rights in our country’s “pursuit of happiness;”
It is time AAPI stand side-by-side with Blacks, Latinos and immigrants from other lands in the courts, in the capitols, in our neighborhoods and in the city streets;
It is time for the history of America being taught in our schools to include the important roles and contributions of all Americans;
It is time that we demand that America become America!
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RE:Opinion: George Floyd’s death reminds AAPIs that an injustice for one is an injustice for all: I think a lot of us knew growing up, but not our older, first gen relatives. Compassion and education are definitely key, in both educating our families, and in how they can approach relationships with others.