I wrote my book Isolation partly in response to Black Lives Matter injustices. Today over FaceTime my sister told me the news of an elderly Asian woman being beaten up on 43rd street in New York, blocks away from her college apartment, while the security guards who witnessed the unfolding closed the glass doors on the deed.
Hearing this, compounded by the disbelief of so many recent cases of violence towards the AAPI community and loved ones, I’ve never felt more livid towards how this has been unfolding.
Once my seething contempt for these security guards settled, I realized it wasn’t purely an individual, calculated decision to close those doors, but a rippled reflection of the responses of security reacting to past cases.
We can’t always save individual people from their hatred but we can collectively stand for protection and justice. We all look to each other as examples, and unfortunately, by setting an example of acting as passive accomplices in the violence, those certain police and members of civic defense have effectively failed their duty to their jobs and as people. The events of 2020 and the recent AAPI events have reared ugly examples of where bureaucracy and capitalism trump doing the right thing as an individual. It brings attention to the need of certain people in this country to institutionalize and maintain hierarchies of power to soothe their individual egos.
I’m not used to expressing my political opinions, but as angered as I am towards the racism, the violence towards women and the elderly really pushes me over the edge. These crimes may be the irrational manifestations of scapegoating and hate, but also point to something much more insidious. These incidents are an attack on humanity, against women, against the elderly, against all minorities- those who have always had less literal and figurative power in our society. It is not a threat limited to one identity or profile, but to us all.
Only now- upon feeling the volume of my indignance and realizing how little I can currently do in proportion to the horror of these crimes- do I realize that in the past I should have acted on more opportunities to make an impact while given that chance. In fact, my mind begins to pinpoint every critical moment and decision that I could’ve made to do the right thing: to more strongly support minority politicians, to challenge my apolitical nature, to help in propelling dialogues and movements. I recoil realizing that I had foolishly made a Faustian bargain whose consequences I could not foresee.
I now feel the whiplash guilt of my contribution to this status quo, one that is fundamentally limiting the well-being and safety of women and other minority groups.
The problem of racism is not unique to our country, nor is it a force that our country has ever fully tried to contain. It is a complicated problem at the heart of our culture that hasn’t been resolved even after hundreds of years of people fighting tooth and nail for justice. It requires a change much more than what words can impact and outline.
But as a woman wanting to empower others through my work, I realize the futility and irony in continuing to stay silent and having a muted political stance.
These recent incidents have, along with many other reflections, evoked my fundamental entrepreneurial motivation to make a change and positive impact for future generations. Recently, I keep thinking back to the Politician, a TV show on Netflix whose second season ends with a wink of encouragement and faith to our generation’s ability to take a stance and create tangible change. I don’t doubt it for a second: I’ve seen so many outstanding individuals and seen such caring communities. Every day, I witness young leaders and change-makers who speak up for what is right- and so my hope for our generation is constantly being re-affirmed.
Every day, as individuals, consumers, students, managers, teachers, parents, siblings, lovers, and friends, we have the opportunity to make little choices through our words and actions whose impact can’t be measured or rationalized linearly, but instead, contribute to a ripple effect with an impact and momentum comparable to that of a sleeping beast. With the support of the ethical leaders and great thinkers currently in power, I know that our generation will do better to pave a clearer trajectory towards democracy and to establish the proper justice against oppression and violence. The next time you’re given the opportunity to make a difference, be sure to take it.
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