Sunday, February 28, 2021

February 28 Update

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to discuss the race-based attacks that has been reported across the country as well as in our local communities. I am sure all of you have heard about the increased incidents of physical assaults targeting Asian American elderly residents out West in the Bay Area. One of these attacks resulted in the death of 84-year-old Asian gentleman named Vicha Ratanapadkee.

Local communities such as Winchester and the town I live in have been subjected to public Zoom bombing incidents that involve hate speech directed at local officials who are people of color. Jeremy Lin, an Asian American professional basketball player of the Linsanity fame from several years back, recently came out and stated that he has been called “coronavirus” and has experienced other racial taunts while he was on the court. Mr. Lin wrote the following:

“Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans. We are tired of being told that we don’t experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble. We are tired of Asian American kids growing up and being asked where they’re REALLY from, of having our eyes mocked, of being objectified as exotic or being told we’re inherently unattractive. We are tired of the stereotypes in Hollywood affecting our psyche and limiting who we think we can be. We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren’t as real.”


Mr. Lin’s claims are being investigated, but I can assure you the behaviors he described and the impacts of those behaviors are very real. I have experienced them personally while growing up in this country, and I have experienced them as an adult in both professional and personal settings. Racist tropes directed at Asians such as being asked, “Where are you REALLY from?” and comments about all Asians look the same are referred to as microaggressions because they are not seen as egregious as racial slurs or physical assaults. These behaviors are often exhibited by folks who were not intending to hurt others. However, other scholars of race and discrimination such as Ibram Kendi prefers not to call these acts macroaggression because the impact of the behaviors on their recipients can be as damaging as being targeted with racial slurs or even experiencing physical assaults. Instead of microaggression, Kendi calls these behaviors racial abuse.

The physical and emotional impacts on individuals who experience microaggression or other more open acts of racism are not just felt in the moment that they occur. They linger long after the incidents had happened. Cathy Park Hong in her book Minor Feelings wrote, “What is harder to report is not the [racist] incident itself but the stress of its anticipation.” Those who have experienced racial abuse knows very well how it feels to walk into an unfamiliar setting wondering if and when they will be the recipient of racial abuse.

In the age of social distancing, microaggression among students are harder for adults to detect because opportunities for interpersonal interactions have decreased. However, they appear through social media, gestures and other nonverbal communications, and other forms of communication that adults do not even know about.

McCall teachers and staff will continue to monitor and address incidents of microaggression. We will also continue to check our own practices to reduce bias. I also ask all of you to look for them outside of the school day as well. I hope I can count on you to inform my staff and me when your students are expressing to you that they have witnessed or experienced these forms of abuse. Those reports should not be ignored, and we are committed to partnering with you to address these difficult issues when they are brought to our attention.

 

Thank you,



James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School