Out of Sight

When I was younger, I was fascinated by street cleaners. These large, uniquely shaped orange vehicles would go up and down our street every Friday. They would slowly proceed in front of my house, with their spinning brushes and a driver leaning out the right side of the vehicle to make our streets look a little better. I could not get enough of them!

With a fire hydrant in front of our next-door neighbor's home, one of the other things I observed was the street cleaners letting out the dirty water at the sewer, hooking up to the fire hydrant, and taking on fresh, clean water. As a five-year-old boy, this really was appointment viewing. I knew the street cleaners would come every Friday, like clockwork. 

When I started going to school regularly, obviously, I didn't get to see them as often. I also remember asking my parents (at too old of an age) what the street cleaners did the other days of the week when they weren't on our block. Of course, I was told they were working in other parts of the city where I grew up. But for that five-year-old boy, with his face pressed against the window, it was out of sight, out of mind. 

Our country suffered, once again, from another horrible violent incident targeted at people because of their race. A gunman shot nine people and killed eight in Atlanta on Tuesday, March 16. This is another shameful example of white supremacy. There has been a surge of anti-Asian American discrimination and violence in the past year. The New York Times reports that a Pew Research Study from June of 2020 that surveyed nearly 10,000 Americans found about three in ten Asian-Americans reported they had been subjected to slurs or jokes because of their race or ethnicity since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. That number is higher than any of the other groups surveyed. 

Perhaps you think that this is not a problem in Vermont. According to the US Census, the percentage of Asian Americans in Vermont is 1.9%. Perhaps you think that number means it is not a big problem in in our state. I offer to you this tweet from one of my former graduate students, now an Assistant Professor of Education at St. Michael's College, and founder of Seed the Way LLC: 

The recent violence in Atlanta, the research from Pew, and this tweet from Dr. Haslam demonstrate that racism and sexism expose women to violence and discrimination. And that is happening right here in Vermont. Do not dismiss it because it is just one tweet. No one, I repeat, no one should have to feel invisible, be fearful, and instinctively hide who they are when they leave the house. 

In case you doubt Dr. Haslam's fear, a University of Michigan researcher, Dr. Melissa May Borja, when analyzing more than 4,600 news articles, found that last year alone, women of Asian descent were "screamed at, shoved, coughed on or spit at, shunned, assaulted, and subject to other forms of harassment or discrimination that coupled hateful remarks with sexist, misogynistic language." No one, I repeat, no one should be subject to this kind of treatment, ever. Not once. 

I am a forty-six-year-old white man, with my face pressed against the window of our world, struggling to find a way to stand with our Asian American brothers and especially, sisters. Our neighbors. Our colleagues. 

I denounce this continued white supremacy. I continue to work for the eradication of systemic racism. I am an ally. 

I see you. 

Photo Courtesy of www.huffingtonpost.com

P.S. Dr. Haslam posted this tweet in the days following the one earlier from this blog post: