Read on Twitter
Happy #ChineseNewYear 
! Like many others, my family is celebrating the #LunarNewYear and the #YearOfTheOx 
today. 
The usual festivities with my entire extended family won't be possible this year, but we hope 2021 will bring good fortune to us all.
...
1/x
! Like many others, my family is celebrating the #LunarNewYear and the #YearOfTheOx today. The usual festivities with my entire extended family won't be possible this year, but we hope 2021 will bring good fortune to us all.
...
1/x
If you're an Asian-American living in New Hampshire, come close, I'm talking to you.
I have some thoughts about where we are as AAPIs in New Hampshire.
2/x
I have some thoughts about where we are as AAPIs in New Hampshire.
2/x
As many of you know, nationally-reported violent and deadly attacks against AAPIs have occurred since the beginning of this year. They've occurred in California. They've occurred in NYC. They are a continuation of the racism and xenophobia that exploded in 2020.
3/x
3/x
It's unsurprising that the following reaction to U.S. Rep. Grace Meng's 2020 resolution to condemn anti-Asian sentiment was a precursor to the attacks against elderly AAPIs in 2021.
4/x https://twitter.com/RepGraceMeng/status/1309624152089862144?s=20
4/x https://twitter.com/RepGraceMeng/status/1309624152089862144?s=20
Somehow, this moment feels a little different because non-AAPIs are taking notice. I was encouraged this week to see AAPI and non-AAPI entertainers, respected journalists, and high-profile politicians, speaking against these attacks and in solidarity with our community.
5/x
5/x
Violent attacks haven't made headlines in NH, but we know that this brand of racism is here in our backyard. Credit is due to @frostnhstaterep for being the first non-AAPI in #NHPolitics on my radar to speak publicly against it. Again, it is encouraging to see.
However...
6/x
However...
6/x
I know that there are AAPIs reading this in NH who will think about this the way we've learned and have been taught to think about our race.
Put your head down.
Ignore.
Work hard.
Assimilate.
Suffer.
Do this enough and we get to live in peace.
7/x
Put your head down.
Ignore.
Work hard.
Assimilate.
Suffer.
Do this enough and we get to live in peace.
7/x
Most of us weren't around during Japanese internment camps, but we know that anti-Asian sentiment didn't go away between then and now. It has always slipped into the undercurrent of more pressing issues, never gaining the full attention it needed to be remedied.
8/x
8/x
We're expected to blend in, like we always have, and disappear. We're expected to assimilate to the point of losing our race with none of the real benefits of true assimilation. Or bear the slings and arrows of pasteurized racism.
9/x
9/x
What we have endured this year has been difficult. It has been amplified by living in a low-diversity state like NH. But now is not the time to suffer alone or in silence.
10/x
10/x
In NH, we don't have large AAPI communities like other parts of the US. We're not California. We're not NYC. We're not even Boston. So we must try that much harder to retain who we are and fight for our humanity.
11/x
11/x
We must become an undeniable voice for our heritage. No one will champion AAPI issues like we can and that must be the first step.
This is not a call to assimilate.
This is not a call to blend.
This is a call to own who we are; that thing about us that cannot be changed.
12/x
This is not a call to assimilate.
This is not a call to blend.
This is a call to own who we are; that thing about us that cannot be changed.
12/x
How can we do this? Get involved in your community in any way possible. Run for office. Join town boards. Take on leadership roles. Your mere presence is already a step in the right direction.
13/x
13/x
If you are out there and can't see your way into local and state politics, know that others have done it before. It will be difficult at times to see the path because so few of us have tried, let alone succeeded.
You will have allies, but...
14/x
You will have allies, but...
14/x
You must be comfortable with the idea that the power of your voice will not be handed to you. Our race doesn't amplify what we say, so we cannot and must not stop when we think no one is listening.
15/x
15/x
If you're unsure if any of this is for you, the answer is probably yes, and the @NHAAPIDems can help. Although we are geographically dispersed, our communities are starting to connect and we want you to be a part of it.
16/x
16/x
Yes, I'm forcing you to make a decision. The NH GOP just elected a state chair who continues to refer to Covid-19 as the Ch*na V*rus. Elected officials in the NH GOP continue to unabashedly display racist and anti-Semitic attitudes for all to see. #NHIsNotInnocent
17/x
17/x
Let's talk about us. You know, deep down, that our elevation to the best version of "other" was always a mirage. It pitted us against people we have far more in common with than the racial majority. The ones we should be aligned with. #BLM
18/x
18/x
Some of us have benefitted from this hierarchy, but look how little it took to throw it all into chaos.
Just a voice, a weak one at that, from the most powerful seat in the world proclaiming that anti-AAPI racism was and is acceptable.
19/x
Just a voice, a weak one at that, from the most powerful seat in the world proclaiming that anti-AAPI racism was and is acceptable.
19/x
With our safety in question and our patriotism still questioned, it is clear that generations of assimilating did not work. We didn't dissolve into the melting pot.
However, all is not lost...
20/x
However, all is not lost...
20/x
To borrow a metaphor I heard years ago from Prof. Peter Kiang, America is less of a melting pot and more of a hot pot. Like the raw food that is placed into the boiling broth...
21/x
21/x
Not only are we as AAPIs changed, yet recognizable, simply by being in America, we have strengthened America for the same reason.
We belong and we must make our voices heard.
/end
We belong and we must make our voices heard.
/end
