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Call: (347) 631 8350 Virtual and In Person Therapy in NY

Dear Asian Americans
This is my love letter to you.
If you are reading this, and you are Asian American, Chinese, or struggling with your identity, I just want you to know this is a special place just for you. I have a deep love and passion for the Asian American community. 
It almost pains me as Americans say we are the model minority and next in line to be white, while we are next in line to disappear. Our Asian American history is erased in textbooks, and there is this invisibility of our voices. Where do we belong in the midst of the Black vs. White racism? Is there room for us as the Black vs White discourse takes up most of the space? I say, we take a stool and make room for us, because nobody would. We have a special fight, and nobody else can fight it for us. We also need allies. 
Racism is everywhere, we have racial trauma. It affects your career, dating, and even leaving the house. With Covid-19, all my asian brothers and sisters are extra careful about our grandmothers and grandfathers and even ourselves from being beaten up. 

Speak Up or Stay Quiet? I laugh because I was in a group that my friend who is a ABC in high school called the speak up club, and it's a bunch of Asian High School kids learning to speak up because we were quiet. It didn’t go far, but it was a nice attempt. The model minority myth coined by white people to have produced a wedge against black and asian communities also makes us the “golden child” when there is no plague. Model Minority is poison because it shows up and teaches us to stay quiet and stay out of trouble. Stay small, and not take up space. You are here to serve the needs and wants of white supremacy. It's a codependent relationship. Your needs and wants are put aside so far down, you do not even know what it is. 
I identify as Asian American now, but saw myself as Chinese, then Chinese American, and for a while friends that were Asian Born Chinese (ABC) labeled me as Fresh off the Boat (FOB). The term Asian American, I trace it back in time to senior year of College. I was sitting across from the professor, and she asked me “it's interesting you call yourself Asian American because in China or other parts they don’t use that term. I felt “shame” that this white lady was educating me on something I did not know and maybe should know. Asian American is a term coined in 1968 from Berkeley students inspired by the Black Power Movement. I remember the time when growing up Chinese in New York was not cool, I had internalized shame from hiding my school lunch, my accent, my fobby clothes from China and speaking Chinese. 

It's cool that we have representation now, representation is so important. As I look around in professional settings, there’s only one or two of me in a sea of whiteness. Thanks for representing, people will say.  Representation is pressure, when I speak, I feel like I am representing the whole continent, “don’t fuck up”.



Here are some resources I made for you:

Therapy with Shanni

Offering Virtual Therapy Throughout New York and In Person Therapy on the Upper West Side, NYC.

110 W96th St Suite 1D, New York, NY 10025 (Tuesdays & Fridays)
Call: (347) 631 8350
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