My little MJI,
Since seeing those two pink lines, I've worried about you. I've worried about what it will be like to a little girl to grow up in a world in which people blame a virus on a race of people. A race that you will identify with.
I have been terrified to have you leave the safety of my body. My body was born into a society with an unearned privilege that I know you probably will not have.
You are being born into a time which breaks my soul. A time in which my AAPI friends voice fear and pain. A time in which they consider buying guns to protect their families. A time in which they fear people who look like me. And rightfully so.
You are being born into 2021, a time when hate crimes against AAPI people are drastically increasing. They are attacked while working. Attacked by a hammer when walking down the street. Holding their children. Elderly stabbed on the street. Slurs and spitting at children. Being attacked with cinderblocks. Guards beating the elderly. A 70 year old man beaten on the bus. A man attacked at a baseball game for the Arizona Suns when he was with his children. An elderly man killed in Phoenix.
You will grow up to find out that this is not the first point in history in which AAPI people have been discriminated again.
You will grow up to learn the history of discrimination and exclusion for Asian Americans, and also for Muslim Americans, Black Americans, as well as many other groups of people.
You will learn that similar to how Asians are blamed for a virus today, they were once pushed out of this country via the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 1800's for being a 'cause' of leprosy, small pox, malaria. Up until the early 1900's, Asians were believed to be dirty, and the cause of disease. The plague. They were perceived to be taking jobs away from white people.
I've learned that people will stand up for your rights.. until they see their privileges dampened.
In 1917, Arizona passed an Alien Land Law which was designed to deter Asians and other "undesirable" immigrants from being able to own land. It wasn't until 1952 until this was deemed unconstitutional.
You will grow up to find out as recently as when my grandparents were alive in the 1930's, your dad and I would have not been allowed to be married. In the state of California, Filipino men marrying white women were denied the right due to anti-miscegenation laws. This was not overturned until after 1960.
In 1933, mobs of white people attacked Filipino farm workers --- because they were seen dancing with white women. Had your dad and I been born a century earlier, this could have been us. In response, Congress restricted immigration to allow only 50 Filipinos per year into the U.S.
In the 1940's, the Japanese were forced into concentration camps during WWII. It didn't matter if they were citizens or not. They were imprisoned.
In the 1960's, Filipino-American farm workers went on strike for higher wages and better treatment. Larry Itliong, with the support of Cesar Chavez (who our favorite park is named after!) lead the movement. Eventually Filipinos and Mexicans combined forces -- something that groups in power do not want to happen.
We are now in 2021, and while the "Asian Model Minority" myth persisted for a small period of time, it was not inclusive of Filipino Americans. This myth was designed by white people -- consistent with history - to disrupt the connection between other minority groups and Asians. Similar to how the Belgians once waltzed into Rwanda, and designated three ethnic groups in rank of superiority out of a population of people. This induced genocide. This power, and this ability to pit groups of already oppressed people against each other.. is dangerous.
We are now in 2021, and Filipino Americans are the most affected ethnic subset of COVID-19 deaths due to the disproportionate amount in healthcare and other essential positions.
We are now in 2021, a year in which states are attempting to pass anti-hate crime laws because people who look like your dad are being targeted, attacked and killed.
I want you to grow up to question laws. To question everything. I want you to know that just because things are "the law," it does not make them just. Our current norms do not indicate equity, and often times, history is not taken into account in this country.
I gave you a name that is notably derived from your heritage because I want you to be proud of your history, and what your community has fought for. I want you to never hide that. I want you to know that your name represents truth, beauty, tenderness and kindness. While I would love you to harness these things, I also hope you will harness a fire in whatever direction you choose, and create change.
You may be born to be white-passing, or you may be born to look like your dad. I know that someday people might ask you things that they will not ask other white people. They may ask you where you are from -- no not Arizona -- but where are you from? What are you? You may be seen as an object, a quest, or even exotic when you become older.
Know that you are born with a history of ancestors who have been both oppressed and oppressors.
We will not live in a colorblind home, because we do not live in a colorblind society. Colorblindness indicates that a very traumatic history for many people is insignificant, and that equality exists. The truth is that people are born disadvantaged with challenge after challenge arising while other people are born into stability and success. Equity doesn't exist.
I'm not sure what it will be like to grow up in Arizona a decade from now. I know that white people feel threatened by their children being taught history that portrays white people in a negative light -- as oppressors, slave owners, colonizers, racists.
But know that I will teach you your history. All history, and not the bullshit history of white heroes that your schools will force down your throat. We will teach you who you are so you will never question it, and to respect differences among everyone. We will teach you that different does not indicate threatening. The world is full of different languages, cultures, religions, skin, rituals, beliefs.. and all of that is beautiful and to be celebrated and respected.
Always remember the importance of where you come from.
Love always,
Mama
