This Viewpoint was submitted anonymously by a College of Wooster student following the March of AAPI lives.
“You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you.”
– Colors of the Wind, Pocahontas
The statistics: disheartening.
The victims: countless.
The perpetrators: walking free.
As per the current situation, many Asians, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are angry, hurt, sad and afraid. These are all very real and very valid feelings that are most definitely being experienced at this moment in time. Lives have been lost. Changed. Completely uprooted, like a tree that’s fallen in the woods with nobody around to hear it. Yet, the rest of the world acts as if they were not the ones who cut the tree down in the first place.
I spoke to Mochi Meadows ’24, who had a lot to say regarding the matter. As a multi-ethnic, Asian-American individual, they articulated just how angry and frustrated they felt, and that they are disappointed in the way that overall authority figures (eg. police), and influential individuals, such as government officials, have chosen to react … or not to react. The killings of multiple Asians within America has been treated like a trend — as if this is something that is completely isolated and not actually happening in our day to day lives. No human is a trend. No one’s pain is a trend.
At this moment in time, it is imperative that we be there, not just show up for the sake of showing up. Mochi spoke up against performative activism, which is something they, among other members of our community, have seen becoming more prevalent on our campus, specifically from the white students who think they have fulfilled their community service quota by reposting something on Instagram once or twice. The AAPI community needs support, love and respect. We are all humans, and yet somewhere along the line, some people thought they were more human than others. When I say be there, I mean check in on your Asian friends. Donate to worthy causes. Support BIPOC-owned businesses. Educate yourself. Read a book, an article, listen to a podcast. Watch a documentary. There is so much around us. This world is not our own. And in this moment of fear, hate and destruction, it is imperative that we play whatever part we can.
A website with links to different resources for AAPI individuals: https://asianamericanstudies.cornell.edu/anti-racism-resources-aapi-community
Dedicated to all the lives lost, to all the ones who are gone but never forgotten. You have a name. You have a name. You have a name.
