What is the Asian American Response to Minneapolis?

In A Letter from a Yale student to the Chinese American Community, Ms. Huang’s call to action for the Asian American communities is to “donate to Black-led organizations and Black Lives Matter activists in MN, to protest (either in person or on social media) against White supremacy and anti-Blackness, and to engage in  uncomfortable/difficult conversations with Asian Americans/non-Black people on anti-Blackness in our own communities”. I have worked with Asian American communities for decades on advocating political activism and I agree with engaging in cross cultural, cross racial dialogues. Nonetheless, Ms. Huang’s abrasive approach is incompatible with Asian American communication style. When progressive minded Asian Americans who promote change read the first few paragraphs, “We Asian Americans have long perpetuated anti-Black statements and stereotypes” and that “we are the model minority—doctors, lawyers, quiet and obedient overachievers. We have little to do with other people of color”, they have stopped reading. Minutes before I heard about the Minneapolis atrocities, I was watching Frontline Tank Man, a cogent and thorough report on the Tiananmen Square killing. Chinese Americans come from a very real and very recent threat to any demonstration of protest. If Ms. Huang is trying to reach newer generations of Chinese American immigrants, she shows she clearly doesn’t understand where they come from. If Ms. Huang is trying to reach subsequent generations of Chinese Americans, she shows how little she knows of the Asian Americans who raise children without prejudice. The key to empathy that leads to supporting Black organizations begins with showing compassion to one’s own diverse Asian communities. Ms. Huang would do better if she speaks to Asian Americans as if she understands herself, rather than out of self-loathing and ignorance.