Thread by @reappropriate

Just really, really, really not in the mood for people using immigrants as model minority wedges against kneeling black athletes today.

"Immigrants love America so much they flock to our shores. These athletes should learn to see America the same way." #wedgepolitics anew

Just not here for the new "success story; immigrant style" version of the Model Minority Myth.

Don't romanticize immigrants, like we're only here to reinforce your "shining castle on the hill" narrative of American moral exceptionalism

Don't ignore or sweep under the rug the many ways in which US imperialism and military violence contributed to our displacement.

And don't expect that we will quietly or idly allow our stories to be repackaged as a political cudgel against #BlackLivesMatter #TakeAKnee

If you want to talk about patriotism and the beauty of the US flag, go for it; just don't sweep POC history under the rug at the same time.

Immigrants - including Asian American immigrants - will not be your "exhibit A" for why the world thinks the US is too great to critique.

Indeed, lets acknowledge that these protests aren't about the sanctity of the flag, but about the hypocrisy of US racial injustice.

These athletes ask by their symbolic act of defiance why they shld stand at full attention for a country that does not stand fully for them?

This country has long history of civil rights activists using such tools of defiance to hold this country accountable for social inequality

Mostly because it's on my mind right now, I'm reminded of Japanese American "no-no boys".

During WW2 incarceration, the govt distributed a loyalty questionnaire to incarcerees asking if they would reaffirm their loyalty to the US

They were also asked if they would swear to give up their loyalty to the Japanese government.

For nissei JA citizens, this was bizarre. Give up loyalty to foreign govt not their own, while swear loyalty to a govt that imprisoned them?

Those who answered no - often as acts of protest against a govt that had violated their basic rights - were branded traitors.

But what sense does it make to expect (empty) acts of symbolic loyalty and patriotism from those who are openly oppressed by that country?

The athletes taking a knee right now are drawing attention to the injustice of a govt that takes Black lives with impunity.

When you ignore that, you are complicit in maintaining a system where black lives only matter if they fight each other for our amusement.