SF Chronicle (picture via Flickr by mleung@CCA)

With the recent attacks on Chinese immigrant seniors emerging in public discourse, let us remember that Asian Pacific Americans, like everyone, are entitled to be heard. We have not cornered the market on truth - but we do deserve an appreciation that discrimination affects each community differently, and that our experiences are as valid as others.

As Asian Americans, we consistently confront the myth that we are a model minority - stereotyped as having fewer needs, more resources and extraordinary capacity for work and suffering. This myth has masked the vulnerability of many of our community members and also muted our capacity to have our issues fully understood and addressed.

Absent well-tailored solutions, resentment festers below the surface until a flash point triggers an outpouring of emotion that displaces reason.

That is part of what is happening in the aftermath of the recent deaths of Huan Chen and Tian Sheng Yu, both older Asian men who were attacked by young African Americans. But it is only part because the equation also involves race, and our collective failure to discuss race beyond the simple question of whether it matters.

In America, especially for communities of color, race matters. But the relevant inquiry should be how race matters, and how to make it matter so we are moved toward hope and unity, rather than despair and division.

Though extremists do welcome racial conflict, Asian Americans who want to be heard on the issue of race ought to be encouraged to do so without being accused of starting a race war. Otherwise we miss the clues that lead to the solutions we need.

To many, the violence by a very small subset of African American young men against Chinese American seniors reflects a problem that has finally boiled over - the product of decades of bullying and harassment that have gone unchecked. These incidents are often unreported because of cultural norms and language barriers, or unsolved. Without intervention, a cycle begins in which harassment escalates into robberies and assaults, and even homicides, with the stereotyping of African Americans as assailants growing on the one hand, and Chinese American elders and youth as targets on the other.

The nature of the problem requires a different approach:

First, an exhaustive effort to document the scale of the problem, coupled with mental health support for victims to address what has become public trauma in some neighborhoods.

Second, use federal stimulus dollars for a multiracial civilian escort program that stops harassment before it escalates. More cost-effective than police, this can remind us that our diverse communities overwhelmingly do live and work together in peace.

Third, fund a team of San Francisco interpreters and translators who prioritize public safety needs.

And last, a broader dialogue and action plan around race - one that addresses the mentality of the small number of perpetrators, as well as the systemic issues of unequal access to education, employment, housing and transit that serve primarily to pit communities of color against one another.

Vincent Pan is the executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.