It happened again.
After it was first documented. After it was first reported. Hatred has grown again in the shadows and out of sight. It was cowardly, demoralizing, good for nothing, and for no reason…
Twice so far, a sick person has painted the words “No Asians!” with Soul Spray. Milpitas City Council candidate Bill Chuan’s campaign sign is painted bright red.
Mayoral candidate Hong Lian was also targeted. Last time, vandals sprayed “no no” on one of her signs. This time I did the same thing, but crossed out her name and added a third “no.” And they even took their time to hit on one of her little signs.
Last week, Chuan and Lien installed new banners to replace ones spray-painted with anti-Asian hate messages. This week, their banner was vandalized again.
It’s like deja vu. Everything happened a week ago. Then the police came. They took down the flag, which was in ruins. Candidates put up new signs, only to see defaced signs (they found the new ones vandalized this afternoon).
You can vote for Chuan and Lien. Maybe not. You might like Chuan and Lien. Maybe not. All this is not important for the problem at hand. Asian-majority communities like Milpitas, of course, must not remain passive in the face of such vicious intolerance.
This summer, after Donald Trump was shot, many voices spoke out against political violence. I completely agree with these voices. However, I had some problems with their wording. Because logically there is no such thing as “political violence.”
Politics, by its very nature, is designed as the antithesis of violence. Therefore, bringing violence into the political realm violates the core principles of that realm.
Yes: Politics is flawed. Politics creates dichotomy. Politics evokes very messy emotions.
But we do not resort to violence because politics exists. Politics, despite its flaws, is the constant pursuit of human reason. Politics defers to the civil communication and negotiation tendencies of the human animal. In other words, politics is committed to our species’ ability to solve important problems without resorting to animal-appropriate behavior. (This is why political extremists feel so alien and intractable to us ordinary people.)
That shrill red spray paint isn’t violence. But it’s hate. That’s ugliness. It reduces two people of integrity and dignity to a certain race, type, or category, while at the same time passionately denying and humiliating that category.
Unfortunately, our elected leaders have not spoken out publicly to condemn these crimes. But it’s not too late to do so. In that regard, may all of us in Milpitas take this pattern of hatred as a call to remember our city’s higher potential and to remember our collective capacity for intelligence and reason. Always come together instead of falling apart. And to reach out to our neighbors of other races, other ethnicities, and other faiths, and to let them know that we see our own humanity in them. After all, we don’t live here in tribes.
The Milpitas are a tribe. To become a member, you must be human. May this be our pact and our very strength.
And may those who violate the agreement be removed, repent, and reflect.