Sanah RoyChowdhury

Professor Enos

First-Year English and Writing

October 22, 2018

To Mrs. and Mr. Warchol: A Proposal

Topic Overview:

“It is the very nature of this fight for civil rights and justice and equality that whatever

gains we make, they will not be permanent. So we must be vigilant,” Half Indian, U.S. Senator

Kamala Harris said after the 2016 Presidential Election.1

Today, while civil rights movements spread across the United States, the anger spreads

as well. We are living history. This is the time America defines their stance on minorities in this

country, and the Asian community wants a seat at the table. Since the release of Hollywood

blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians,” people have been questioning the roles of Asian Americans as

part of the country as a whole, and the conversation is only becoming more prevalent2.

Members of the Asian community are standing in solidarity with one another and speaking out

against widespread Asian persecution.

I will be writing an open letter addressed to the parents of my middle school bully, Sandy

Warchol. Sandy is known in my life for being the girl who truly made me uncomfortable in my

own skin, and all it took was one comment. Sandy implied that my inherent skin color was the

reasoning behind the lack of male attention inc my life.

Raising kids is hard. While I have no first-hand accounts of this, I know from various

perspectives, stories, etc. However, raising kids to be educated, and simply not-ignorant is what

1
Reilly, Mollie. “Kamala Harris: 'Do Not Despair. Do Not Be Overwhelmed.'.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Jan.
2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-donald-trump_us_582333f0e4b0aac624888b08.

2
Yap, Audrey Cleo. “'Crazy Rich Asians' Doesn't Represent All Asians Everywhere, and That's Fine (Column).” Variety, 22 Aug.
2018, variety.com/2018/film/columns/crazy-rich-asians-representation-1202905965/.
my letter will focus on: the steps Sandy’s parents didn’t take. The past five years of my race

insecurity would have been minimized exponentially had they simply taught their daughter what

is (and is not) socially acceptable to say to a person of color.

Audience:

My open letter is addressed the parents of a girl named Sandy Warchol. Using her

parents as my addressees gives me the chance to reflect on my interaction with racism in order

to show my primary audience, the parents being my secondary, a potential consequence of

ignorance. My primary audiences targets all parents of white children. I am not trying to change

their minds or views on racism as a whole, but rather open their eyes to the various pitfalls that

could result from a lack of sufficient education on the topic of racism. Having the primary

audience be parents also proves to be more helpful to the problem of widespread ignorance

resulting in racism, because if the parents are educated on how to educate their children, the

future would include less of these interactions between minorities and the White community.

Another benefit to addressing Sandy’s parents directly is that doing so will induce pathos and

ethos from the primary audience. The letter will use ethos because the topic of racism is

ethically questionable, so it will invoke the audience’s morality. The letter will also use pathos

because parents would never want their children to feel the way I felt as a child as a result of

Sandy’s ignorance.

Access: the parents will have access to my open letter via the internet. If I ever were to

publish my letter, it would be on the New York Times, print and digital. Print would target

parents of an older age who routinely read the paper, while in contrast digital would make sure

not to leave out any potential millennial parent, or parent that is digitally inclined in general. The

greatest benefit of using the New York Times as a platform for my letter, as aforementioned, is

ensuring that I do not exclude any potential readers.

Purpose:
 I’ve introduced my purpose in both the topic overview, and in passing within the

audience portion. However, my purpose is explicitly to evoke emotions in parents who are often

times ignorant to their children’s ignorance, and convince them to educate the youth in order to

prevent further unintentional acts of racism. In my letter, I will bring up the possible actions that

Sandy’s parents could’ve done in order to prevent her from believing that saying what she said

was ok. Some of those possibilities are showing children various documentaries and or articles

informing them of the history of racism, within America and in general. Another option is having

an open conversation with your child about what they think racism is versus what it really is, or

what comments would be considered racist. My purpose is action, concrete changes that the

White community can make in order to prevent ignorance among the youth.

Genre:

An open letter, like any other tangible piece of writing, is directed to a primary and

secondary audience. However, with an open letter other audiences are implied. An open letter

is open to everyone, so while my primary audience is parents of white children, my genre will

help me not exclude any potential readers. Michael Luo’s open letter for the New York Times is

a great example of what I’d like to accomplish. Luo uses multiple types of media in order to

stress the importance of his point against Asian oppression, but also to improve the readability

of his open letter3. The various tweets and quotes included in Luo’s letter only improve his point

by actively adding multiple voices to the same conversation. The types of media enhance the

argument because they keep the audience focused on the problem at hand, while validating that

Asian oppression is prevalent in many communities, and has serious consequences.

Motive:

3
Luo, Michael. “An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China.” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 10 Oct. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/nyregion/to-the-woman-who-told-my-family-to-go-back-to-china.html.
Now is the time to make a change. To address what hasn’t been addressed in the past. With

hundreds of civil rights movements stepping out from behind the shadows, there has never

been a better time to talk about Asian oppression. Of course, Asian oppression in America is an

especially good topic to talk about right now considering the release of all-Asian casted “Crazy,

Rich Asians,4” a film that came out within the year of 2018. The film sparked an uproar within all

communities. No one knew how to react to the idea that Asian oppression was also a problem,

which is why I want to write this letter now: to force the public to keep reacting, keep arguing,

keep understanding the ideals behind the Asian movement. Equality, understanding, empathy.

That’s all the Asian community wants. My letter will stress that. That is my motive.

Persona:

My persona tends to shine through my writings. I tend to be blunt, informal, and honest,

qualities I hope my letter possesses. That is what I want to bring to this letter: my tone, my

language, and my perspective. This does involve a “fuck” or “shit” here and there, but those are

the words I need to use to emphasize the importance of what I’m saying. That’s how I speak in

real life! This letter should be a reflection of real life, not a fictitious, more elegant, or

personable, version of myself. And it will be. With each piece of advice will come rude

awakening of what it means to be a minority in America. Using phrases, words, and sentences

that evoke emotion are the best way to get my point across, because parents are more likely to

be susceptible to empathy. My persona will help me argue my side of the debate while still

using human emotion to my advantage. This may seem like a manipulation of sorts, but all

good writing is. Good writing is convincing the audience of your argument, without their

knowledge of it. That is the point of my loud, expressive persona, to do just that.

4
Yap, Audrey Cleo. “'Crazy Rich Asians' Doesn't Represent All Asians Everywhere, and That's Fine (Column).” Variety, 22 Aug.
2018, variety.com/2018/film/columns/crazy-rich-asians-representation-1202905965/.
Works Cited

Luo, Michael. “An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Oct. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/nyregion/to-the-woman-who-told-my-family-to-go-back-to-

china.html.

Reilly, Mollie. “Kamala Harris: 'Do Not Despair. Do Not Be Overwhelmed.'.” The Huffington Post,
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Jan. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-donald-
trump_us_582333f0e4b0aac624888b08.
Yap, Audrey Cleo. “'Crazy Rich Asians' Doesn't Represent All Asians Everywhere, and That's

Fine (Column).” Variety, 22 Aug. 2018, variety.com/2018/film/columns/crazy-rich-asians-

representation-1202905965/.