A Response to Crosscut and Glenn Nelson’s Racist Op-Ed Towards Chinese Americans

Crosscut published Glenn Nelson’s racist op-ed towards Chinese Americans on October 8th, 2019.

Glenn’s op-ed was crazy and insulting. After our protest through social media and email, Mason Bryan of Crosscut offered below:

“I also want to offer you the opportunity to share your own thoughts on the affirmative action debate, either in our comment section or through a letter to the editor. We don’t always publish letters to the editor, but if it speaks to the issues and arguments you support, we would be happy to consider it. We ask that it be no more than 500 words. Let me know if this is of interest to you, or if you have any questions.”

We sent below op-ed to Mason Bryan.

     All people of Asian decent should be shocked by your recent opinion piece on Chinese immigrants.   In response to the Op-ed by Glenn Nelson in Crosscut on October 8th, we must respectfully disagree with the basic premise that Asians who oppose I-1000 are somehow uninformed, racist and/or disloyal to “leaders” who represent Asians as a whole.  Additionally, we also reject the premise that Asians cannot actually understand racism because, as your op-ed states,  “Asians have escaped centuries of slavery” a statement which is grossly offensive.

     Your concept that any person of Asian descent who is not in lock step as an unthinking supporter of I-1000 is deeply offensive as well.  You go on to state that this is the only conclusion that can be drawn from opposition to I-1000, yet any objective analysis of the construction of I-1000 itself would actually shine a light on the deep flaws in this measure that have given rise to such strong opposition by many groups, including ours.  We do not oppose I-1000 because we are uninformed, we oppose it because we have read and understand it. 

     I-1000 will fail at the ballot box in November when people find out what it does and how it works.  The proponents clearly knew this when they wrote it, so they put in language that seeks to misinform voters.  Stating that it will accomplish its goals without quotas, does not make it so.  A careful analysis of the mechanics of how it will be implemented leads any thinking person to see that quotas are the only possible outcome.  The proponents know how dangerous and divisive this would be, so they just keep saying that quotas do not exist, but there are no “alternative facts” in this case, I-1000 will create quotas at a time our society can least afford to be more divided on racial lines.

     Another nonsensical fiction in I-1000 is how the creators included veterans.  Veterans already have significant benefits in employment and education by both state and federal law, far beyond anything that they could possibly receive under I-1000.  The writers of I-1000 knew that their measure would be defeated unless they tricked voters into believing that it helps someone they generally support, like veterans.  So in I-1000 they seek to make veterans a class of citizens that are equated with race, sex or sexual orientation, as if that makes any sense, just so they can say that they are offering them benefits that they already do not receive under current law.  But veterans would lose existing benefits and have to compete against these other groups for benefits that they already have today.  This was done to trick voters. 

     The failure of I-1000 will not occur because Asians of Chinese descent are unformed, racist or disloyal.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  We come from all political beliefs and are united because we are informed and see the dangers of this ill-conceived and deceptive measure that would divide us on racial lines.     

Then we received below response from Mason Bryan:

“Thank you for sending this to us. Unfortunately, as I said in my initial note, we do not publish direct rebuttals to Op-Eds.
 
We do occasionally publish letters to the editor in support of an initiative or candidate. If you are willing to amend the response you sent me so that it lays out a positive case for your cause, we would consider it. I’m sorry to say that we cannot publish the response you sent as it currently reads.”

     Total B.S. ! Yes. Luckily, we are living in 21st Century. Crosscut can’t silence us.

Crosscut thinks it is totally OK to publish Glenn Nelson’s racist piece, but refuse to publish a much more polite and calm piece from us. Why? Crosscut has a Chinese American problem. In particular, Chinese Americans who think independently and refuse to be a puppet.

As Yvonne Ward summed up in her brilliant commentary piece

“Those groups have dismissed us in the past, and now they expect us to support discrimination against our children. To this we must say no. In honor of those who came before us who sacrificed so much, and on behalf of our children who have done nothing wrong to warrant discrimination, we must stand our ground and fight this prejudice. We must take our stand at the ballot box because there, the anti-Asian Establishment cannot ignore us. With your ballot in hand, focus on our children’s future, their right to dignity, their right to fairness, and their fundamental right to respect. Reject racism. Reject I-1000.”

2 thoughts on “A Response to Crosscut and Glenn Nelson’s Racist Op-Ed Towards Chinese Americans”

  1. After a millennium and a half of relying on standardized tests for placement in important jobs, China is now the peerless master of meritocracy. The size and intelligence of her population is unmatched as a result of Chinese attention to the demands of nature, of evolution in the civilized environment. Though the West was where evolution and its implacable rules was discovered, China is where these inescapable precepts have been put into practice for an evolutionary significant time, and it shows. While the West allows itself to descend into a ruinous anti-natural cult of equal outcome, Chinese here as well as in China instinctively know what is best to insure that their children can have successful families. The best education a parent can give his child is key to success, and for Chinese to turn into tigers when this is threatened is a deeply engrained behavior. For so-called progressives to demean the Chinese parents’ effort to fairly give the best they can for their children as somehow being a ‘tool’ of evil ‘white’ interests shows not just scurrilous offensiveness, but puts the moral bankruptcy of ‘progressivism’ on display. This bankrupt morality now rejects fairness, colorblind standard test results, and giving to those who showed higher performance, the admission or the job a truly equitable society must if it is to remain competitive in the natural world. The people who would foist I-1000 on us must be either stupid as hell or maniacally hell-bent on turning America into a one-party, two class, Third World failure. I commend WA Asians for Equality for their valiant effort to keep America truly competitive, therefore truly equitable, and free.

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  2. Thank you for this rebuttal piece. I completely agree that using any racial premise for diversity based hiring decisions or university admittance decisions is completely unlawful. In a world with true equality, the admittance and hiring managers would be completely blind to race, religion, gender and sexual preference. That said, all decisions should be based on merit and personal experience and never ever race.

    Asian Americans are a relatively new presence in America and are considered “model minorities”, which I consider an offensive and racist opinion. Nelson seeks to use our income and education against us. Using model minorities as an excuse, politicians like Nelson seek to undermine us, using new ways like the I-1000. This bill will hurt all asian americans’ chances of employment and university education. It is unethical and deeply rooted in racist beliefs. It still amazes me that America only reached some semblance of “equality” for minorities in the 60s after MLK’s demonstrations, but equality and freedom is being reversed through a draconian bill like i-1000.

    I am thankful that this organization exists to fight for our rights. Asian Americans need to be more politically active and get into politics. We need to stop supporting incumbents like Nelson, who have racist beliefs and are completely out of touch with the outside world. To make disgusting remarks such as ” Asians have escaped centuries of slavery.” This statement is disgusting and undermines the struggles of Asians in America as well as the struggles of other minorities in the US. It implies that you only receive rights as a minority if you were a slave. Nelson seems to not understand the concept of economic enslavement, when less than 100 years ago, when there were colored fountains and Chinese worked and died in dangerous conditions on the rail roads for less than pennies a day Signs in San Francisco would read no dogs or Chinese allowed. Japanese were sent to concentration camps for simply being Japanese. Glenn Nelson obviously yearns to return to that period in time, but sneakily sliding his political agenda in under the guise of a democratic platform. I-1000 is unconstitutional and unamerican and whenever we see something like this, we must strike it down!

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