Hi,
I’m Diane and I was the one who found Commissioner Alison Collins’ infamous anti-Asian tweets. I didn't write or post those racist Tweets, she did. She has yet to take responsibility for her words. In fact, she now denies they were racist. She says they were “taken out of context.” As if there exists a context in which it’s acceptable to call a third of your constituents “house n****r.”
I understand that Commissioner Collins is now peddling a conspiracy theory that I, and all her detractors, are bots or trolls on the payroll of that old bogeyman “Republican dark money.” Unfortunately, I am not being paid by anyone to tell the truth about Commissioner Collins and her racist, anti-Asian agenda. As to her baseless characterization of all who disagree with her as bots or trolls – let me reassure you that we are real human beings who are tired of Commissioner Collins’ ridiculous obsession with race. She accused Asians of not speaking up against injustice, and now she dehumanizes us for doing so? How dare she discount our humanity for refusing to quietly accept her racist diatribe.
Commissioner Collins and her supporters love to call people racists. But none of us are hurling racial slurs at entire groups of people. What they really mean when they call us racist is “I have no logically sound argument to refute what you say, so I will call you names to frighten you into silence.” But who is the racist here? Is it the Asian woman who speaks up against anti-Asian racism and being called a “house n***r”? The one who refuses to accept that Asian students are less valuable and should be shunted aside in favor of more “diverse” candidates? Who believes that students of all backgrounds should be held to the same high academic standards? Or is it the elected official who calls Asians “house n****r” and implies Asian accomplishments are actually unearned gifts from white masters?
Commissioner Collins likes to paint herself as a brave crusader who speaks truth to power. But what is truth and who is power in this equation? Power is the elected official from a privileged background, married to a multimillionaire property developer, living in tony Pacific Heights. Power is the elected official who is so proud of her anti-Asian tweets that she not only appealed when Twitter suspended her, but immediately re-posted a screenshot upon her return. Power is the elected official who deliberately excluded Asian community groups from discussions about Lowell’s new lottery admissions. Power is the elected official who calls parents and community members who believe in merit-based admissions “segregationists” and “racists” in an effort to silence them.
The truth is that anti-Asian bias motivates Commissioner Collins’ hypocritical crusade against Lowell High. This is not about equity. Collins’ own daughters attend Ruth Asawa School of the Arts — an SFUSD high school with merit-based admissions. A school that requires years of expensive private arts lessons for an applicant to have a fighting chance at entry. This is a school with a higher proportion of white students than Lowell and a lower proportion of low-income students. Most tellingly, it is as underrepresented in Asian students as Lowell is in black students. In what way is RASOTA more equitable than Lowell?
Where’s the board resolution to increase the “diversity” of RASOTA? Why isn’t Commissioner Collins fighting for RASOTA to enroll students by lottery so everyone gets the same chance at a first-rate arts education?
Commissioner Collins is right that I went looking for her racist tweets because I disagree with the Lowell lottery decision. Everything that I saw from her: the contempt for people who disagree with her, the exclusion of Asian voices, the rush to push the lottery resolution through without community input — all of that pointed to anti-Asian bias. She clearly wanted to shut Asians out of the discussion about a majority-Asian school. I searched her tweets because I wanted to know what motivates her to target Asians. And I found out. So now you know. Now we all know. When we know better, we must do better. Any supporter of Alison Collins is a supporter of anti-Asian racism. Period. Full stop.
Should we tolerate that in a city that’s 35% Asian? No. In fact, it must not be tolerated anywhere. Let’s make sure Commissioner Collins and her supporters never again hold positions of power. And tell them what you think, constantly. Until they find the roar of our voices impossible to ignore.
p.s. – A few friends and I started the nonprofit Friends of Lowell Foundation to fight back against the Lowell lottery and the race to tear down academic standards in the name of equity. We hope you’ll join us in pushing back against elected officials like Commissioner Collins.
Excellent article, Diane. You make a compelling case against Collins. Voters should take note and recall this woman. Also, Twitter should ban her again. Keep up the good work.
Diane Yap is a real piece of racist work!