美国华裔的种族主义大讨论

时间：2020-06-12 来源：美国华人作者：黄艾琳等条评论

“我们站在平等正义社会进步一边”，回复耶鲁华裔学生的公开信

乔治·弗洛伊德(Goerge Floyd)惨案引发美国再起冲突抗议和多处暴动，近日也有华裔二代耶鲁在读大学生，就种族问题给华人社区发了一封公开信。此文是对信件的回复，只代表作者Yitao的个人观点，信件原文为英文，后附编者的翻译。

Letter in English | Yitao

Dear Yale Student,

You wrote a letter blaming your parents and relatives for being indifferent to the racism against the black community, accusing them for siding with White Supremacists, and you extended this accusation to the broader Chinese American Community. It is sad to see that even though you must be getting a good education at a very fine university, you are still so ill-informed and wrong.

I don’t know about your family. But most first-generation Chinese Americans came to the US, not with capital and power, but with ideals and industry, to pursue liberty and happiness through hard work and self-reliance. They built their American dreams, contributed to society, and sent ABCs like you to good schools. Since the first-generation Chinese Americans rarely complain or protest, there is a perception that they must be selfish and indifferent to social justice. This is a STEREOTYPE that they hope you, the new generation, could counter instead of perpetuating!

On the contrary, I believe you will find your fellow Chinese Americans, including your relatives, are among the most courageous and compassionate people. That courage drove them to overcome difficulties unimaginable to you to come to the US, to fight stereotyping and racism, overcome challenges in a new language and culture, to become successful and responsible citizens.

They are stories of success not failure, and should be the source of your pride not embarrassment. Their successes come from their values, which if you really care to understand, are exactly what is needed to advance your social justice causes in order to improve the lives of disadvantaged minorities.

The first value is societal responsibility. I hope I don’t need to translate this Chinese saying to you “天下兴亡，匹夫有责” (anyway in case you can’t read Chinese: the rise and fall of a nation is the responsibility of every ordinary person.) This is a core Confucius value deeply ingrained into Chinese culture. Every Chinese American I have met deeply cares about the fate of this great country, and believes they have a role to play. Just recently during the COVID19 pandemic, many Chinese are contributing their time, money, and connections to donate PPEs for hospitals and local communities. Many of our fellow Chinese Americans volunteer community service to disadvantaged groups including blacks and Latinos.

They not only help those in need, but also help them to help themselves (授人以鱼不如授人以渔). That is why many Chinese Americans are involved in PTAs and School boards to help public schools to be more responsible and more competitive. This leads to another Chinese core value, self-reliance.

The first-generation Chinese Americans had very little to fall back on. They believe in hard work and self-reliance instead of government hand-outs. They also understand that in a humane society, some groups do need help and social safety programs are important. But to fundamentally lift the disadvantaged out of their bad situation is to let them become self-reliant, through better education and hard work and entrepreneurship.

Last but not least, American Chinese believe in creation, not destruction. We stand firmly by the black community against the atrocity and wrongs committed to them. But we don’t condone violence. There is no way that Chinese Americans will participate in rioting, not only because it is wrong, but also because it is totally counter productive to solving the problems.

To be clear, the wrongful death of George Floyd is outrageous. Every person, including every American Chinese, should demand justice in this case. Chinese Americans share some painful histories with blacks as victims of racism. But generalizing, moralizing, or victimizing will not solve problems. Rioting and violence will only make matters worse. If there is a way for Chinese Americans to make their unique contribution to social justice, sharing our cultural values is probably the one. And we can and should do a better job at this. We need your help to let whites, blacks, browns to better understand Chinese Americans, not to box us in.

Now a specific suggestion. When your parents say things that appear to be racist to you next time, ask them to stop. Don’t be afraid to educate them on equality and the other western values you learned at school, but also try to understand their values and where they are coming from. Between you and your parents, there should be no reason for being lost in translation. And by the way, don’t tell them we owe our freedom and rights to others. We don’t, we earned them.

You quoted Cathy Park Hong. While I am sure I am not as well-versed in Asian American poetry as you are, I can tell you Chinese Americans will NOT be in line to either be white or disappear. We are poised to have a stronger identity of our own, a more participative and contributing one in the American society. And as for which side we are on, we are on the side of equality, justice, and a greater America!

Sincerely,
Yitao

Author Bio: MIT educated engineer and MBA. Have lived in Asia, Europe, and the US，labored days and nights along side steel mill workers; “strategized” with executives at multinational companies; visited hundreds of factories in dozens of countries. I have seen first hand the winners and losers of globalization. I consider myself Chinese-American, intensely Chinese and intensely American.

翻译 | 琥珀风筝

亲爱的耶鲁大学学生：

你写了一封信，指责你的父母和亲朋对针对黑人社区遭受的种族歧视漠不关心，指责他们站在白人至上主义者那一边，并将这一指控扩大到更广泛的华裔社区。这令人非常遗憾：虽然你在一所很好的大学接受着教育，但是你却缺乏一些基本的认知。

我不了解你的家人，但是，大多数第一代华裔美国人不是通过资本和权力，而是凭借理想和勤奋来到美国，通过努力工作和自力更生，追求自由和幸福。他们建立了自己的美国梦，为社会做出了贡献，并将像你一样的在美国出生长大的华裔孩子送到了好学校。

由于第一代华裔美国人很少抱怨或抗议，因此社会上存在有一种偏见，认为华裔自私，对社会不公冷漠。这是一个有色眼镜，希望新一代的你们能去打破这个陈见而不是固化它！

相反，我相信您会发现华裔美国人，包括您的许多亲友，是最勇敢和最富有同情心的人。这种勇气驱使他们克服了你们难以想象的困难来到美国，与刻板观念和种族主义作斗争，克服了新的语言和文化中的挑战，成为了成功和负责任的公民。

他们是成功的故事，而不是失败的故事，应该让你引以为豪，而不是尴尬。他们的成功来自于他们的价值观。如果你真的很想了解的话，这些价值观正是可以促进你的社会正义事业和改善弱势少数民族生活所需的东西。

第一个价值观就是社会责任。希望不需要翻译你能看懂“天下兴亡，匹夫有责”这句中文（假设你不会读中文我用英文翻译一下），指一个国家的兴衰是每个普通人的责任。这是儒家深深植根于中国文化的核心价值。

我遇到的每一个华裔美国人都非常关心美国的命运，并相信个人可以发挥点滴作用。就在COVID-19大流行期间，许多华人在花时间、财力物力，联系医院和当地社区，捐赠个人防护设备。我们的许多华裔志愿为包括非裔和拉丁裔在内的弱势群体提供社区服务。

他们不仅帮助有需要的人，而且还帮助他们自助（授人以鱼不如授人以渔）。这就是为什么许多华裔美国人参与PTA和学校董事会，帮助将公立学校建设成更负责和更具竞争力的地方。

这带来了华人文化的另一个核心价值，自力更生。

第一代华裔移民生活缺少现成的依靠。他们相信努力工作和自力更生，而不是政府施舍。他们还了解，在文明人道的社会中，有些团体确实需要帮助，社会福利保障网也很重要。但是，要从根本上让弱势群体摆脱不利处境，需要通过接受更好的教育，努力工作和创业精神，使人变得自力更生。

最后一点是，在美华人相信创造，而不是破坏。我们坚决支持黑人社区，反对针对他们的残暴和错误。但是我们不容忍暴力。华裔美国人反对骚乱，不仅是因为这是错误的，而且因为这种手段完全不解决问题。

需要明确的是，乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)先生遭受的不幸是令人发指的。每个人，包括每个美国华人，都理当要求肇事人被绳之以法，给被害人正义。华裔美国人跟非裔一样，也是种族主义的被害对象，有过痛苦的历史。但是，占据道德高地来攻击和自己想法不同的人，把社会简单分为施暴和受害两个群体，无法解决任何问题。一些人的暴乱和暴力行为，只会使问题愈演愈烈。如果说华裔美国人能为社会正义做出自己最具特点的贡献，那么沟通和分享我们的文化价值观可能就是其中之一。我们可以而且应该在此方面做得更好。我们需要你们的帮助，让白人，黑人，西裔等各种人更深入地了解华裔美国人，而不是加深刻板让我们陷入困境。

给你一个小建议。当你遇到父母辈的人下次用种族歧视性的语言的时候，请不要犹豫当场让他们停止这类语言。不要害怕对他们进行平权教育和用你们在学校学到的西方价值观教育他们，但也要尝试了解他们的价值观以及成因。在你和你的父母之间，应该没有任何理由产生沟通障碍。顺便说一句，不要告诉他们我们华人自由和权利受恩与他人（像你文章里所说的那样）。你错了，我们华人自由和权利是我们跟有同样信念的人一道争取的。

你引用了凯茜·帕克·洪（Cathy Park Hong）。虽然我肯定没有你那样精通亚裔美国人的诗歌，但我可以告诉你，华裔美国人既不是排队在成为白人的路上也不是走向消失。我们会以更强大的华裔美国人形象为荣，将更加积极地参与社会建设和发挥更大的贡献力。

如果要说我们站在哪一边，我们站在平等，正义和更强大的社会一边！

祝学业圆满。

一涛

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