As a school community, Bay is redoubling its efforts to be both an anti-racist institution and an active force for educating our students and staffulty about racism and the history of the United States. Below are condensed versions of the talks given by Head of School Luke Felker and Associate Head of School Lise Shelton on Monday, March 22, at Morning Meeting.
Lise Shelton, Associate Head of School
Recently, we learned of the murder of several Asian women and a man in Georgia by a white man. We saw the video of a crying elderly Asian woman in SF, her face swollen and bruised after she fended off a white, male attacker. We have heard stories from around the country of attacks on Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans—most of them women and many of them elderly. Since the COVID pandemic, attacks on Asians have increased 1900%. Stop AAPI Hate has recorded approximately 3,800 racially motivated attacks. Sadly, this is not new.
Asians, like many immigrant groups came to this country for their manual labor, which they were later vilified for. This is not just ancient history—in my lifetime, in your parents’ lifetime, these things occurred.
I experienced schoolyard taunts, like “ching chong ching chong,” and people making “slanty eyes.”
During college in New England, I was told there would be no one to date because there were no people of color at the school. I was refused service in a restaurant.
At a school in the Bay Area, a fellow teacher referred to the Chinese language as “chingchong, chingchong.”
And, of course, you’ve seen all the YouTube videos of Asian-American or Anglo-Asians being asked, “No really, where are you from?” Or people being surprised that someone Asian speaks English so well. These are microaggressions. Microaggressions that reinforce the notion of always being foreign, alien, not belonging.
And this is all before the pandemic.
Stereotypes about Asians are often contradictory, just as they are for Latinx, African-Americans, and Arab-Americans. People are reduced to cartoon caricatures: tiger moms, exotic seductresses, kung fu masters, math-loving nerds. And these caricatures are done—just as they were in Nazi Germany with regard to Jewish people—to dehumanize, to make it easier to not see them as people.
Whether it is the murders of these Asian women in Georgia or the murders of Black people by law enforcement, what we see is white supremacy and patriarchy at work. What I mean by that is that, in explicit and implicit ways, often through media, we are all taught that it is white lives which really matter, that non-white lives are expendable. We see again and again that laws are not equally applied. And we see that women’s lives are worth less than men’s. Women are objectified and women of color are fetishized. Murdering non-white women is called “having a bad day.”
What can we do to counter white supremacy? First we need to be aware that white supremacy IS at work. Whether it is in the stereotypes played in the media or in the unequal application of the law, we need to NOTICE because we are being taught and retaught the ideas that reinforce white supremacy, and this impacts us for generations.
We all must be aware of our conditioning and say NO MORE. All of us, no matter how we identify, have been conditioned. We must stand against the violence and against the systems and behaviors which perpetuate the idea that one skin color, one gender identity or expression, one way of loving, one way of experiencing the divine, one way of communicating, one type of labor, one way of being, that one way is superior. We know that is not true, and we know that it isn’t right. We need to know that it is ALL OF OUR WORK to undo this conditioning.
Luke Felker, Head of School
In my role as Head of School, I work closely with Lise, and I specifically want to acknowledge the role that those we work with, those we learn with, those we are friends with can have in asking important and hard questions about identity.
I have my own work to complete as a white male. And that is no one’s responsibility other than my own. I have learned so much from the wisdom and experience of Bay colleagues, including Lise, that have informed my work and growth.
Which brings me to the most important question at hand today: the work. Our work. My work. Your work.
We’ve spoken before about how elements of white supremacy culture—such as a culture of perfection, a culture of urgency—pervade society and our schools. I recognize that I can fall into a trap of intellectualizing and analyzing an issue or a problem, which can at times obscure what must be really spoken about and delay the discussion around action.
Today, I want to get right to the point.
Lise has shared important context that reminds us that the current dramatic rise in anti-Asian hate and violence is also part of a larger arc of racism and hate that has persisted for centuries in this country.
So, what do we do? Here are some thoughts:
First, check yourself. That this kind of racism and violence “couldn’t happen here,” or only happens because other people are racist…and that’s not us…that’s not me… We’ve already seen how SF and CA are as much a hub for this violence and hate as anywhere else. And while no one wants to consider themselves racist, I would posit that you cannot just be neutral. One has to seize the work of being an anti-racist. That requires action, not just supportive words.
You may hear phrases like “we stand with” Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I want to acknowledge that standing with is better than nothing but simply standing with is insufficient.
Consider your both/and: how will you be not just an ally but an active ally?
We’re standing with the AAPI community and… What does active allyship look like for me? Broadly, it’s looking at how I spend my time, in my personal life, in my professional life. It’s reviewing systems and policies where racist and uninclusive practices can live. It’s about personal and institutional accountability.
Specifically for me, it looks like:
- Reaching out to relatives who identify as Asian-American to simply be there in dialogue and in shared space.
- Engaging in an outside group similar to Bay’s White People Unlearning Racism, where I join with other white educators to unpack our privilege and systems of white supremacy, own our stuff, and share best practices in the actions we’re bringing in our communities. Then asking, what’s my next form of learning? And making it happen.
- Donating to various non-profits, like StopAAPIHate and Southern Poverty Law Center, that work to address hate and racist incidents
- Working as a school leader to hold our community accountable for improving in diversity, equity, and belonging work
- Asking each week as part of my routine, How do I put my values to work through the resources I have—my time, my financial resources, my position to drive systemic change?
What might active allyship look like for you? It might be further educating yourself. Talking about race, equity, privilege, like any complex topic, takes practice. Bay has many lists of resources to keep building your knowledge base.
You might reach out to student leaders in groups like SEID to discuss how get more involved in equity work. In SF there are near-countless groups you could engage with to act. Start Googling or check in with our Dean’s Office for resources!
Dialog with your friends, your parents, your community. Do you talk about hard topics like racism? If you identify as white, have you ever asked about white privilege in your home? Naming the things that society often doesn’t name is a great step.
Continue your own practice of mindfulness; how do we create space between inputs and our reaction so that we can stay grounded in our values?
Center other people: keep those you know in mind, those who may identify as AAPI, or identify as any number of ethnic groups that have been systemically marginalized, and may feel the impact of these killings, and this pattern of hate. You don’t have to know what to say—just letting someone know you’re here for them is so important.
This is not a perfect or all-inclusive list. It’s a start to get your mind rolling.
There’s a seminal book in discussions of diversity, equity, and belonging in schools titled Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? The author, Dr. Beverly Tatum, shares: “Our ongoing examination of who we are in our full humanity, embracing all of our identities, creates the possibility of building alliances that may ultimately free us all."
As the Bay community, we remain steadfast in promoting understanding and justice and remaining vigilant against hate. We stand with the AAPI community, and more important, we act. We keep asking ourselves, What have we done today and this week to counter hate? How will each of us be an active ally?
Important Episodes in Asian American History to Learn About
- Chinese-exclusion Act in 1882 (the only group until Trump’s Muslim ban to have a specific exclusion).
- Anti-Asian rhetoric about Yellow Peril and later Yellow Fever
- Uninvestigated murders of Asians (my mother knew of two growing up in LA’s Chinatown)
- Internment of Japanese Americans
- Demonization of Vietnamese fisherman in Houston in the 1970s
- The Killing of VIncent Chin in 1982 when Japanese were targeted as the reason for the dying American auto industry
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