I am the Problem
By: Mark Huang
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Social Justice, Asian American, Racism

Jane Mount/Ideal Bookshelf

I am not the first nor the last to feel like I am entering unfamiliar territory about the social climate that we are living in. Candidly, speaking I have never felt particularly compelled to entrench myself in racial and social causes. Maybe this typifies a bit of the problem within Asian American society and the Model Minority Myth. This is not to say I am criticizing or condoning how Asian American parents and children approach cultural integration into the American lifestyle. But after almost a decade of being in the “real world”, the economically independent, and self sufficient world, the one that I have been grinding through and am within spitting distance of what I consider the American Dream, I feel a bit lost.

Many sociologist argue that human beings are always searching for purpose and it comes in many forms. As I am stuck in between this transition of working for the American Dream and obtaining it, I can’t help but question my purpose in all of it. Having felt social dissociation (of which I mean a disconnection from my sense of self) brought by the onset of Shelter In Place I’ve never felt so compelled to join the Black Lives Matter Cause.

As a person that approaches and looks at solving every problem through innovation I felt naive and, honestly, a bit ashamed. Because if I’m truly honest with myself I must acknowledge that I am the problem. For the things that Matter in life Ignorance is NOT Bliss. Ignorance only proliferates the systematic oppression of minority groups and, in particular, Black Americans in this country. As a cultivator of science and a practitioner of framing the system correctly to identify and solve a problem, I cannot preclude the mountain of studies, literature and current events signaling this red flag on top of the nation’s repeated failure to educate and empower society to change the constructs of the very system oppressing minorities.

Just as so many of my friends are doing now or have already done in the realization that our own ignorance has made us into the culprits of the unfettered racial class divide in this country, I am doing what I can to learn. I am shattering the ignorance that I shamefully allowed to become my excuse and filling it instead with knowledge. With knowledge comes power and with that power comes the ability, the TRUE ability, for me to make the most informed decision to enable change. To take action without the requisite knowledge is to act without intent and true empathy for those individuals who you are agreeing to join and stand by. It is not just about volunteering resources and donating (which we all should) but also modifying our views and behaviors in our understanding of what social constructs we have unwittingly personified.

I am blessed to have people in my life that have already recommended literature that I can use to get up to speed on how we got to this point in the Black Lives Matter movement. And though I can lament how I have widely ignored these issues in the past I am optimistic about the momentum that we are currently seeing. I feel grateful, empowered and hungry to live and learn about the history of racism in this country.

*The following are some resources

Books:

Article on the Model Minority Myth