这一期我们请到的嘉宾是Annie Tan, 哥大本科毕业，目前在纽约当老师，同是也是一位作家和知名社会活动家，经常为亚裔平权运动发声。她的文章曾发表在纽约时报，赫芬顿邮报， 新共和杂志。她也作为线上特辑的嘉宾参与了PBS的纪录片，Asian Americans。
Annie本身对种族歧视有着非常深刻的体会，她的表哥，Vincent Chin, 在1982年被密西根底特律的车厂员工误认为日本被棒球棍殴打致死。
我们三个聊完之后都深有感触：
Annie:
Our country is hurting right now because of the legacy of people forcefully taken from their homes, kidnapped into slavery and forced to do later, and all the aftermath, including segregation, discrimination, and lynching of Black people in America. While Chinese Americans and Asian Americans have also gone through terrible legacies of discrimination, exclusion, and lynchings, which shows itself more clearly with events like the coronavirus pandemic, we've also had a different experience and history from other people of color in this nation. For example, I know that, as a Chinese Asian American, I am not afraid to be harmed or threatened or even killed by the police, and I know I don't bear the trauma and grief from that terrible American history that other groups have. I am fearful for the lives of my Black friends who are stopped, harassed and arrested by police at much higher rates than any other group in America, and who tell me stories of how they feared for their lives. I listened to my Black friends who suggested books like "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander and "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson, which taught me so much. Black people have been repeatedly killed and murdered by police officers who are supposed to protect us. I encourage our community to think hard about this and learn right now. For example, Asian Americans benefited greatly from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, led by the Black community, which led to changes in laws, including immigration laws which led directly to our families being able to immigrate to America. As I said in the video, the movement for justice for Vincent Chin was built through our coalitions with Black communities and other racial justice organizations. The Black community needs us to support them in the Movement for Black Lives right now, and I hope you will support. We are all bound up in each other's freedom: we cannot be free until all of us are free.
Cindy:
Because of COVID-19 and rising anti-Asian sentiments, we had been planning for this discussion on racism in the US for quite some time, but it was difficult to find someone in the Asian community with relevant experience who was willing to speak publicly on the subject. Then with the death of George Floyd, it seemed like suddenly everyone had a view and felt compelled to share that view with the public, some out of fear of being lambasted as a heartless bystander, and some pushed into explaining his/her absence in the discussion. There was that Yale student letter asking for solidarity with African American protesters that I'm sure most of you have seen. There was the response to the Yale student letter written from the parents'perspective. There was the article titled "Do We Have the Right to Silence" written by parents of a high school girl who was cyberbullied by her peers for failing to give timely public support to the protesters.
The friction between white and black folks in America had finally boiled over, and, ironically, created a secondary chasm within the yellow-skinned community.
How do we bridge those divides? I personally don't believe choosing sides is the right way to go; it forces us to focus on the differences and edges us towards the extreme. Instead I think we should focus on the commonalities in order to move forward. Everyone agrees discrimination exists, and it doesn’t just exist based on race. There is also discrimination based on gender, socio-economic status, country of origin, etc. Although we may not realize it, we've all been perpetrators of discrimination when we make judgements of a person's character based on a single trait or encounter without taking the time to learn his/her story. Rather than pointing fingers as victims or sympathizers, how about we take the time to reflect on our own failings first? If we could all just change by a little bit, a bit more open to differences, a bit more hesitant to draw conclusions, and a bit more engaged with those outside the Asian community, these small differences in aggregate could make a huge difference towards creating a more harmonious society.
丁丁：
"If we can learn from history, we can avoid repeating it. 如果我们能从历史中汲取教训，就能避免重蹈覆辙。"
这话说到我心坎里了！在国内长大的我，对于大部分亚裔（尤其华裔）在美国的历史是完全不了解的，更别提八零年代美国华裔陈果仁被杀案了。推荐PBS近期推出的系列纪录片《Asian Americans亚裔美国人》，我看完非常触动，并觉得这种类型的历史教育片五个小时远远不够！
我们在筹备这期时，不想为“蹭热度”而评论是非对错，只想以贾乙丙丁一贯风格，客观理性地介绍美国的种族主义。一来不鼓励大家盲从选边站，二来不以“‘黑人的命也是命’的运动跟我们亚裔无关”的说辞而劝说。我们希望通过陈果仁的故事，让大家不要遗忘掉这段确实发生过的历史；更希望它能引发大家对自身和未来的思考。这期嘉宾Annie以自己的小故事教会我：每个人都有属于自己的战争。冷静且尽量全面了解情况后，再做出相对独立的判断，从而决定如何在社会长期发展中，扮演好自己的角色，这才是可持续的做法。这样，陈果仁和乔治·弗洛伊德的悲剧才不会重复上演。
