UBC APOLOGIZES FOR DOCUMENT ON ASIAN `PRIVILEGE.'
A document entitled “yellow privilege,” which claims East Asians benefit from advantages that other people of colour do not, has caused a furor at the University of British Columbia.
The document, which was sent to students by an unidentified residence adviser, says East Asians in particular receive advantages from being both the oppressor and the oppressed. Citing academic research, the document says this is linked to the idea of a “model minority.” Asians in Canada are considered “` hard-working' or `smart' and are `successful' from our `innate talents.' It's shaped how we view ourselves as the Asian community and of other minorities.”
This, it argues, leads to oppression because East Asians distance themselves from working class and poor Southeast Asians. But East Asians are also oppressed because they are subordinate to white people and are “quiet,” being not especially politically active, in order to maintain their status as a model minority.
The six-page document implores recipients to consider which privileges they're aware they have and which they're unaware they have, and asks recipients to consider how they may “elevate those who are harmed by this form of privilege.” It also lists several resources students can use to explore these concepts further.
“This is so victim blaming,” says a post by an anonymous account that uploaded the document to the website Reddit. “I can understand why he wants to raise awareness towards Asians being racist to black people. But sending this out during a pandemic, when Asians are getting attacked for this virus, and Asian businesses are vandalized and closed down? Let the community have a chance to recover first.”
While it's not known exactly how many students were sent a copy of the document, a followup email from Sean Ryan, the associate director of student housing, was sent to 66 students.
“We sincerely apologize for this communication and its impact, in particular to members of our Asian communities,” Ryan's email said. “We recognize the email and its content have even greater implications in the midst of a pandemic that has spurred a climate of increased negativity towards Asian communities.”
The email described the “hurtful impact” of the document as “greatly regrettable.” Ryan wrote that the residence adviser did “follow an approval process before sending their email,” and that the fact it was approved “raises important questions for us about how we review RA initiatives generally.”
A spokesperson for UBC said Ryan's email constituted the school's comment on the matter and did not respond to the Post's followup query about how the “yellow privilege” email would have been approved and who was responsible for approving it.
The Reddit discussion features a robust argument about the letter.
“This (document) is completely unacceptable to see. I'm a little horrified to see this, both as a former RA and in my current role. Glad to see actions are being taken to report this incident,” says one post on reddit, from Georgia Yee, the vice-president academic and university affairs for the UBC Alma Mater Society.
“With this twisted logic you can basically turn any oppressed group in ` oppressors.' How exactly is that supposed to help solve the systemic problems at hand???” says another post.
Yet another calls on the “silent majority” to “take a stand.”
“I want to start a bipartisan student organization that stands for free expression and civil discourse without being a right wing dog whistle like the Free Speech Club. If we don't stand up now, we'll only live in more fear going forward,” the post says.
Of particular concern among students was the fact the document appears to downplay anti-Asian racism during the pandemic. There has been an uptick in hate crimes and Human Rights Watch has called on governments around the world to come up with national strategies to address it.
According to Vancouver Police Department statistics, hate crimes against Asians rose 878 per cent.