Live Chat with the New York Times: Confronting Racism Against Asian-Americans

On October 18, AABANY Issues Committee Chair Chris M. Kwok participated in a New York Times live chat with:

• Michael Luo, Deputy Metro Editor of the New York Times
• Anthony Christian Ocampo, Sociologist at Cal Poly Pomona
• Grace Meng, Congresswoman, D-NY 6th District
• Simran Jeet Singh, Senior Religion Fellow, The Sikh Coalition
• Erika Lee, Author of “The Making of Asian America: A History”
• Anand Giridharadas, Author of “The True American”
• Arun Venugopal, Race Reporter, WNYC

The live-chat addressed the important topic of confronting racism against Asian Americans. Earlier in October, Deputy Metro Editor Michael Luo wrote an open letter to the woman to yelled at him to “go back to China.” Since then, thousands of Asian Americans have come forward with their own experiences of racial prejudice. During this conversation, the live-chatters asked the questions of why the letter resonated with so many and what can be done to address the ‘otherization’ of Asian Americans. They addressed many topics including the ‘right’ way to respond to racist attacks and microaggressions, the inadequate education on Asian contributions to American history, and how to contextualize this Asian American moment which has galvanized so many.

We encourage you all to read the conversation at the above link. Among the many contributions of our Issues Chair Chris Kwok were:

• “Asian Americans are hungry for their stories to be heard, and their experiences with discrimination given a platform. They feel its not often given serious attention.”
• “We need to remember AAPI is bound as political category, and not an ethnic and racial one.”