A young woman who is a student at UCLA decided to put her feelings about her fellow students, ones who are Asian Pacific American in particular, on a video and post it to Youtube. Her name is Alexandra Wallace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7XAJo3rQn8
It sparked remarkable response online. A good deal of it redoubled the thoughtlessness of the original post and focused on lashing back. But there were some very thoughtful responses that avoided crude comments about Alexandra’s appearance, gender, race, intelligence, and larger worldview. Here’s an open letter to her. And this is a video response to her which I find moving in its attempt to empathize with her, and transform what started as a pique-filled, snippy, casually ignorant bit of venting into a real, surprising opportunity for expression and mutual understanding.
Call it a teachable moment. Alexandra Wallace gets schooled by slam poet Beau Sia.
