Making it Personal

 

Earlier this month, I wrote about how ending racism will take people looking beyond personal manifestations of racial hate to seeing and rooting out structural injustices.  But the reverse is true too.

 

 

This has come to the fore with the horrible events in Atlanta earlier this month, which have shone a light on the reality of  the fetishization of Asian women in a ghastly way, to say nothing of the whole rash of anti-Asian violence that is being reported in the news.  

In the process, many of my Asian friends have shared how this has affected them personally, in terms of fearing for their safety and that of their loved ones.  Their outrage has compelled them to speak up for themselves and others, where before they might not have.

In some cases, this deeply personal experience has sensitized them anew to the plight of others around them, who have had longer and harder experiences being profiled, dehumanized, and assaulted.  And with that shared perspective comes a greater ability to empathize and a greater commitment to ally.

"Love wins out over hate" is a nice sentiment, but it does not happen automatically, only if we actively seek to make it so.  One thing that makes me optimistic is love wins in the end is seeing people encounter hate in a newly personal way and emerge from it not defeated by it, but rather with a deeper resolve to stand in solidarity with others against it.  

Racism cannot end if we do not see its structural elements.  But it also cannot end if we do not take it personally.  More are doing so now, and I am here for it.