Dear Jennifer,
I don't even know where to start and I didn't even want to bother with a greeting because I don't think you deserve one, and if that sounds harsh, well good for me, because that's what I was going for.
Do you even know what you've done?
You said:
“Our Caucus does not find any of the statements by the president to be offensive,” Jennifer Carnahan, a South Korean adoptee, said, according to Resonate. “When the president refers to the coronavirus as the China virus, he is simply talking about the country it originated in and a lot of other viruses in the past have been labeled as such.”
“I think that people are completely misconstruing his words and it has absolutely nothing to do with racism,” Carnahan added.
I don't know if you've been living under a rock doing who even actually cares, but do you realize that Asian Americans--us (although I use that term loosely for you)--are getting set fire to, beaten, harassed, bullied, losing jobs and places of business, and having to defend ourselves at such an alarming rate that you have to wonder if we've stepped back in time--all because of racism and xenophobia from everyone who's not Asian?
Are you so whitewashed that you plugged your ears so full of white servitude that you didn't get that message?
You didn't hear the news?
I just don't understand how someone doesn't see, that by legitimizing those statements, it feeds into the racist ideology that allows people to think we're less than them. That when push comes to shove--and it happens time and time again--that they don't care if you're Chinese living in China, or Chinese American living in the Midwest.
Or even if you're Chinese.
To them, we're just dirty brown people and an excuse to pour out their frustration on, and by being a mouthpiece for the pillars of society that White Racist Men have always been--you put us all at risk.
You've put Asian American lives at risk.
So What. You Were Adopted By White People.
Don't get me wrong. I have compassion for being thrown into a White Washed Colonized system being a TRA myself--and while who you are isn't necessarily your fault alone--because the environment plays a role--at the end of the day it's your decision what to filter and stand up for.
Do you know how many progressive TRA's--mostly Asian American--I know who stand up to racism? Who fight for social justice? Who may have gotten very similar doctrines of colonization thrown at them, but who came out of it without being filled with so much self-hatred and internalized racism?
Who understand, unlike you, that the Republican Party in it's current form, and with this current President--is truly racist?
You don't get a pass just because you were adopted by White People. It doesn't get you off for a crime you just commited.
It can be information that's used in possibly helping to determine why you might be the way you are, but it's not an excuse--you're still liable for your actions.
I'm not going to let you off the hook just because you're a product of the system.
All right - here's to hoping I just don't run into you because I think it's gonna be awkward,
Adam