Is This America？ 我在最近的游行集会上的两次演讲

前言：这里刊登了两篇我最近的英文演讲稿。3月20日，当我在纪念亚特兰大枪杀案受难者烛光悼念会上发言时，我的心情是悲痛，枪杀案及其他攻击亚裔的事例让我想起多年来在美国，我们华人勤勤恳恳，非常努力地想要熔入所谓的主流社会。当受到不平对待时，我们首先是自省，告诉自己既然我们讲英语有口音，来自不同的文化，也难怪别人要区别对待。可是我们的孩子在美国生美国长，他们却仍然被视为外国人。愈演愈烈的针对亚裔的迫害让我们退无可退，必须高声宣布：这里是我们的家园，我们的国家。

4月7日当我再次有机会在Kent State University的集会上发言时，我的情绪已经从悲痛转为愤怒了。我们亚裔已经发声，这几个星期来，已经有了很多集会游行抗议，但是对亚裔的攻击仍然没有停止，包括我们当地的政客们依然用“中国病毒”这样煽动性词语。所以这篇演讲的基调变成了愤怒质问：“美国到底怎么了？”

和许许多多站出来发声的朋友们一样，这是我第一次演讲。希望能够激励更多的华人，利用各种机会，分享自己的经历，表达自己的想法。在美国，沉默不是金，声音大才有人听见。

An 84-year-old grandpa was violently shoved to the ground during his morning walk and died.  An 89-year-old grandma was slapped and set on fire.  A 61-year-old’s face was slashed with a box cutter.  The list of violence against Asian Americans goes on, and then, on March 16, six Asian women were shot to death in Atlanta.

Is this America?  Is this America?

Most of the victims are immigrants.  President John F. Kennedy said: “It is a proud privilege to be a citizen of the Great Republic, to hear its songs sung, to realize that we are the descendants of 40 million people who left other countries, other familiar scenes, to come here to the United States to build a new life, to make a new opportunity for themselves and their children.”  President Lyndon B. Johnson said: “Our beautiful America was built by a nation of strangers.”  President Ronald Reagan said: “Anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.” So here we come, to the beacon of freedom, to the promise of a better life.

20 years later, as I walk on the streets of this free country, I look behind, I look around for the stranger who may attack me.  I sign up for self-defense lessons.  Last week, I bought a pepper spray.  

Is this America?  Is this the promised land of liberty?

We held rallies and marches all over the country to protest the violence and hatred.  Yet last week, another grandma was beaten while two security guards watched.  Some politicians continue to use words like “China virus”, “Wuhan virus”, “Kung flu”.  It is as if we are invisible.  Our tears do not matter.  Our blood does not matter. Our people do not matter.

Is this America?

We have woken up.  Our journey will not be easy.  After all, 22 days’ effort cannot be enough to overcome more than a century of persecution, discrimination, and prejudice against Asian Americans. It cannot overcome the increasingly toxic environment where intolerance and bigotry are being fostered for political gains.  

Let us stand together with fellow Asian Americans.  We are not Koreans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, … – we are all Asian Americans and must stand together as one group. Let us stand together with other disadvantaged and marginalized groups.  Let us stand together with anyone who loves America and believes in justice, liberty, and humanity.

Share our stories in newspapers and meetings, on TV and social media.  Support each other and participate in politics and civic affairs.  Take all the actions we can, and we will prevail.

Tonight, we stand here to mourn the eight victims in the Atlanta killing.

In a way, we are mourning ourselves.  The past year has not been easy for anyone, but for us Asian Americans, there is an additional layer of anxiety and fear as we witness the growing attacks against our people.  It is even more torturing as the victims are mostly the weakest among us – the elderly, the poor, and the women.

We are mourning the trust that has been shaken.  We came to the United States based on trust – We trust the Bill of Rights, we trust the promises of equal opportunities, and we trust that melting pot means inclusiveness and respect for those who look different.  We did not expect that we ourselves, our children, and our children’s children will be viewed as foreigners in perpetuity based on their faces.

We are mourning the endless effort Asian Americans made to prove we too are Americans.  Since the Civil War, Asian Americans have served in the military with distinction.  We have made great contribution in science, education, business, arts, and many other fields.  In the pandemic, a large number of front line healthcare workers who fight the Corona virus are Asian Americans.  The Asian Americans communities were mobilized in the very beginning to make PPE donations to the hospitals, nursing homes, police stations, homeless shelters, and others in need.  We believe action speaks louder than words, and we work hard and remain quiet.  But hard work alone is not enough to combat prejudice and racism.

Tonight, we stand here to mourn all the victims who suffered racist attacks and prejudice.  And we are no longer silent.  We stand here to condemn hate, violence, racism, and prejudice.

Our message is loud and clear:

This is our home.

This is our country.

This country is great because in history justice and humanity has always prevailed in the end.

Now is the time that we continue this fight, that we do not regress and lose the progress made.

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