Category: Discussion Board 13

Phi points out from the article ‘Unprotected by Assimilation: Lessons from the case of Duo Ngo’ that Asian Americans should not support the wrongful acts of the system by believing it will benefit them in the long run. He also shows the dilemma a police faced and resulted to the killing of his own co-worker Duy ngo. He wants us ( the Asian Americans) to stand up for ourselves and not follow the law agency blindly. Also in Zen’s article, ‘Chinese Conservation’, he shows the Chinese should not hold on to their conservative ideas rather they need to let go of the past values to embrace the modern ( that serves equality) ones. 

The goal of this letter is to make the Asian American community realize that they should play their part to stop the discrimination towards the Black Americans. The author reminiscences about the dark history Black Americans were a part of and talks about the injustice they have been facing till today. I agree Asian Americans faced a lot of discrimination in the past and amid of all the sufferings they could create a better future for themselves but for Black Americans there is still a unfilled gap in the society. Surely, they are receiving education, are in higher positions in different sectors but sometimes they are still neglected and looked down on. It is known to us that though the statements of our constitution says we are all equal in America no matter race, gender etc but the actions of our law enforcing agencies towards them depicts a different story. I think the goal of this letter certainly met as it calls for a society where there should be zero tolerance if discrimination is shown towards any minority communities and equal opportunities for all. 

In “Lessons from the Case of Duy Ngo”, Pil talk about the case of Peter Liang, a cop who shot and killed an unarmed Black man that could get a 100,00o Asian to sign the petition however won’t show the same support when someone of their own like “the case of Duy Ngo” who was shot by an white police who said to mistakenly Duy for an Asian gang member. It said that some Asian said that they are tired of being pushed around. Asian have the right to worry about their life as they would stand in the good of the police.  Asian are being taught to yearn to fully assimilate into American-ness but history shows that we would never be fully white. Pil’s point is that we shouldn’t pick sides, taking the side of the oppressor does not guarantee our protection, no matter one thinks so. He taught that we should rather stick together as a minority and fight against systemic injustice and oppression. Chinese conservatism would show support of the oppressor. Many of the crimes would portray that black people are the threat to Asian business. True there are crimes hate with black people toward Asian however it is wrong to just put the blame on them most of the time like cases where property got destroyed or procession got stolen, they would stand by the law enforcement. There are cases that are unrelated toward black, but most would put the blame on them. This case relates to Pil as they should show support when Asian is involved with black but won’t do the same when it involves white. The goal of this letter is to make people understand that Black is not our enemy and that it is wrong for Asian American to take sides with Law enforcement because taking the side of the oppressor does not guarantee our protection. Instead we should rather stick together as a minority and fight against systemic injustice and oppression. As the black community is someone who also struggles in a society where the system wasn’t made to favor them. I think the letter meets its goal as it teaches us that supporting Law enforcement won’t guarantee our protection and that Black community is not our enemy and that we should show support and it also gives us explanation and name of those black lives lost by the system.

 

 

 

Phi’s article shined light on the very common topic of police brutality, he describes how the Asian American’s feel towards this topic and shows the extents some officers go to in order to prove their loyalty to the force. He points out the fact that even though many Asian Americans has experienced police brutality  because of simple reasons like they can’t speak english, a lot of them support the law enforcement. Phi’s goal is to try to get everyone to stand together and fight for justice. He feels that Asian officers are left with no other choice than to try to fit in and side with others In this case he mentions how officer Duy Ngo wasn’t treated fairly, Duy felt betrayed and shocked when he found that the same police force he dedicated his loyalty to turned on their backs on him. This goes to show how privileged white officers are. The white officer who shot was was put on paid leave and had no charges against him.

“Chinese Conservatism” to me is what the Asian Americans values are. For example, a lot of Asian American parents main goal for their children is for them to be successful in life. I feel both zen and phi’s message is for our commucnites to come together and fight racism and police brutality. Both are trying to get a message across which can be simply put into one category, “equal rights and being treated fairly.”

Phi discusses Asian Americans as they are caught in the confused crossfire of aligning with or against the police state. He compares the case of Peter Liang to that of Duy Ngo, an officer who experienced police brutality himself in 2003. In Ngo’s case, Phi points out that despite having followed all regulations, Ngo was still subject to life altering racist violence. By bringing this point to the forefront, Phi disposes the myth that Asian-Americans must follow white America’s rules and by doing so will be able to fully assimilate. He draws a connection from communities of color, pointing out that Asian-Americans are treated closer to Black people than white people and in order to find true justice, our communities must stand together for true “meaningful change for all people” 

Zen discusses “Chinese conservatism” as a side effect of misinformation, anti-Black racism, rebellion against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and traditional Confucian values which align somewhat with meritocracy and capitalism. The pro-NYPD protests come about from the idea that without the NYPD Asian-American communities would be prey to violence by Black people, an idea supported by right wing racism as well as misinformation via common sources of knowledge like WeChat. These All Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter protests stem from the real estate/business community of Flushing. However, other Chinese community members like the Asian American Feminist Collective, Chinese for Black Lives, and Red Canary Song showed up shortly after with a counter organizing protest in support of BLM. This piece echos Phi’s sentiment that Asian-Americans seem to view themselves as extremely detached, and perhaps even juxtaposed, to Black Americans. There are also themes of seeking to find/retain law, order, and justice. However, what is brought into question in both readings is: should Asian-Americans be content with the “justice” we have seen so far and can we do better by ourselves and by other communities of color? 

The purpose of the letter is to explain to Asian-American family members what is on the line for Black Americans, what their experience has been, and how we play a role in that experience. It seeks to humanize the Black experience and to offer a new perspective in which our communities are actually aligned, not against each other. I feel that the letter meets this goal successfully, as it focuses on what we have on common, while offering some explanation to dissuade racist stereotypes, and also providing a way in which we can take action. This call to action is necessary, direct, and timely.

 

Phi brings up an issue in the Asian American community. He touches on the way Asians in law enforcement feel the need to fit in and play along with other police officers, mainly white, to fit into that image. He said it in a way as though the only option they have is to protect themselves if no one else. When Phi mentions the police violence against the black communities, a connection is made and Asian officers tend to fight for themselves by siding with their own. In this case, their own is the corrupt law enforcement. The goal of this piece is to shine a light on what it means and must feel like to be an Asian American in law enforcement that continuously uses loyalty as a stand to keep control. They should not have to “enforce their laws on black and brown bodies” as Phi said in the article. I believe Phi aims to encourage them to stand up for themselves differently without letting race cloud their actions, the way they should think, and judgements in life. I learned that Chinese conservatism has to do with Chinese values such as the need for a good education to get out of poverty and other beliefs they need rather than want. Both Phi and Zen are motivated to stand up and act on what racism is pushing communities to do. Zen and Phi are very critical of their own in ways that make us as the readers want to understand the wrong being done and the right that can be done to fix the issues. 

 

Phis’ point about Asian-Americans relationship to police and police violence is that in the police “community/force” and in general Asians aren’t treated nicely. In the police force, for example they would help you throw the rocks and hide their hands and let you take the blame for it, they would turn a blind eye. Another example is the Death of Akai Gurley where this Asian police officer shot Akai and in Peters case he though the police force would somewhat help him walk away from his crime as other (white) police officers with the same crimes get to keep their jobs and Peter Liang does his time. Also, according to Phi he stated “Duy was shocked to find that the police force he was so loyal to quickly turned on him.” He also mentioned ” The white officer who shot him with an illegal firearm was put on paid leave for three days- no criminal charges were filed against that officer and didn’t find any policy or procedural violation.” and the goal of this is to show that no matter who white people will always come first and play their privilege card.

What i learned about “Chinese conservatism” is that The police aren’t good to Asians, they themselves have often encountered situations where they are treated poorly by the police because they don’t speak English fluently, and Chinese Immigrants genuinely feel like they are the victim of criminal activity and a lot of their struggles do not align with mainstream liberal concerns- according to Zen.

The goal for this BLM letter is to reach out to the Asian community specially the elders and bring awareness that the black community is suffering TOO and that even though other POC communities are facing some kind of racism and discrimination, we must stand together and not create conflict with one another.

In Phi’s point, he tries to unit people to stand for justice, he mentioned how the undercover officer duy ngo treated unfairly by his coworker, he shot by his coworker. Eventually, Ngo suicide in 2010. Phi tries to use this case to remind us to unite together and prevent such things to happen again.

In kate zen’s article “Chinese conversation”. I learned if we suffer unfair things, we should stand out and speak for ourselves and make some protests to let the world knows everyone is equal, no one deserves to treat unfairly. Uniting everyone together and making a protest is very matter, it’s the way to get the world’s attention and expressing our feelings. This article is kinda like Phi’s point, they both are trying to seek justice and united people together to refuse to be treated unfairly.

Yeah, I think this letter meets its goal, because it catches our attention successful, and because of it, we know in our country, there is still a lot of black people killed by white police office unreasonably. We should have the courage to stand out for those innocent lives, otherwise, this phenomenon will be getting worse in the future.

That phi point about Asian American relationship with the police is political maneuvering and also police violence is caused by playing a role in the system  and taught the only way of survival. That the goal is understanding that the system is corrupted and needed change.

That’s in the Chinese conservatism from the article by Zen the response from other Chinese community member needed the NYPD to protect them because of black on Asian violence where one accident where black people sprayed Febreze on Asian man because of Covid 19 out break.

That the goal of the letter is to help us understand why are these things happened and how we can change it. Yes this letter meets the goals because it show what neded to be change and what is bad for this community.