Beyond Empathy: Combating Racism Against Asian Americans
Story originally posted 3/17/2021 and modified from Boys & Girls Club staff Club Experience Blog
Michael Vuong, Clubhouse Director of the Tenderloin Clubhouse at the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco
A horrifying rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans, some escalating into physical violence, has taken place over the past years. These racist encounters are often rooted in misinformation and hateful rhetoric around the COVID-19 pandemic.
I have lived most of my life in a very strange place as it relates to identity. My parents were born in Vietnam, their parents born in China, and here I am, the first American-born child in the family. Our family moved to San Francisco when I was two years old and for the next 17 or so years of my life, I lived in the Mission District, a neighborhood that was full of families of Latino descent at the time.
Of course, the neighborhood had a mix of all races, but most of my closest friends growing up were Latino. I never took the time or made the effort to learn Vietnamese or Chinese, in fact, I would say I probably know more Spanish than either of those languages. I preferred a burrito over fried rice. The running joke, even among my brothers sometimes, was that I was Latino at heart. And it made sense.
Reconciling My Identity with Today’s Reality
But I know my history.
My grandparents moved to Vietnam to escape the political climate of China at that time. My family’s name changing to “Vuong” due to not having a “W” in the Vietnamese language. My father fought in the Vietnam War. And my mom and a few of my dad’s brothers pushed him to move to America where our family had a better chance of surviving life and being happy. My family’s story is remarkably like many other Asian Americans currently living in America now.
Fast forward to our current reality.
It isn’t that I never realized the types of racism that Asians and Asian Americans endured since coming to the States, it just was not a cause my brain really wrapped around. When the pandemic happened and the number of violent crimes against Asians and Asian Americans grew, I read articles and watched videos, and I had to really sit with my thoughts and feelings.
I work in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, a neighborhood with a high volume of low-income residents and the highest density of people and kids. While there are a lot of community-based organizations and nonprofits trying to make things better, the Tenderloin neighborhood faces many compounding challenges including open-air drug dealing, homelessness, vehicular accidents, and more.
When the pandemic started, our Boys & Girls Club shifted to a 100% virtual programming before reopening our doors safely to youth during the school year. Meanwhile, I helped the neighborhood bring in resources because of COVID-19, bringing in testing, food pantries, combating street violence, supporting efforts around pedestrian safety, supporting local businesses and helping to create safe outdoor street closures for kids to be able to safely play.
But I sat looking at these videos and stories and — being Asian American — I had to ask myself, “What have I done for my own people?” With each video I watched, I thought “That could easily be my mom or my dad,” and then going back into my own thinking, asking “Where have I been spending my time, is there more I can do?”
As it stands now, I’m building out a campaign with friends, community-based organizations, and MMA gyms trainers, where we will collectively develop situational awareness videos for a YouTube Channel that will help the populations and demographics being targeted, the elderly among them. We are working on a virtual personal safety training series along with a phone app to hopefully host all of these resources along with a few other applications that will provide immediate safety support.
Teaching Kids the Strength of Character to Do the Right Thing
Now you are probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with Boys & Girls Clubs and the youth we serve?
At the end of the day, there are a lot of things wrong with how our world works. Systemic racism, old infrastructures built on discrimination, technology gaps, language barriers, and so much more still run rampant today.
My story represents the power of advocacy. If you see something that looks, feels, or sounds wrong, it is probably wrong. Individuals have the ability to push against what is wrong and change it. We want our young people to learn how to say, “I’m not ok with that” and make it better. We must teach them how to use their voice to drive positive change from a young age.
To a degree, this goes beyond empathy. It is about having the strength of character to do the right thing even when the right thing is hard and creating a strong enough support system to deal with the impacts of those decisions. It is about providing opportunities for our young people to be leaders in the community, to voice their opinions, and learn how to work with others to truly impact change.
Be it through policy and legislation, volunteerism, information gathering, research, or simply teaching and informing others – we have to build new generations of critical thinkers, problem-solvers, transformative and generational leaders. We must equip our young people with an equity lens and a utility belt full of skills. Let’s get our young people voting, sitting at tables with decision-makers, and to question the answers given to them if they look, sound, or feel wrong.
Our young people will have an opportunity to do the things we never could if we set them up for it.
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Michael joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco as a member when he was 12 years old, and was heavily involved as a youth in leadership programs like Keystone Club and serving as Youth of the Year for his Clubhouse. He has now been on staff at Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco for nearly 20 years, serving several roles at multiple sites. He currently serves as Clubhouse Director for the Tenderloin Clubhouse and is heavily involved in the Tenderloin District community to ensure that youth and families are supported no matter where they are and feel safe accessing that support and resources.
