I Support #BlackLivesMatter And Was Threatened With A Lawsuit By Shannon Thomas, A White Therapist, For Speaking Up

I never thought I’d write anything like this, but here we are.

My name is Ivy Kwong and I am a first-generation Asian American psychotherapist. I support #BlackLivesMatter. In case you’re thinking, “But you’re a therapist and you shouldn’t be bringing up political issues,” I offer the following quote by Aristotle:

Human beings are by nature political animals, because nature, which does nothing in vain, has equipped them with speech, which enables them to communicate moral concepts such as justice.

We are political animals. The color of our skin makes us political. The neighborhood we grew up in makes us political. The history of our ancestors makes us political. It is impossible to remove yourself from the context in which you find yourself. If you are a human being, you are political.

Which brings us to what happened on Sunday, June 7 2020. I saw the following public Instagram post by licensed therapist Shannon Thomas in Southlake, Texas who “specializes in healing trauma and working with people who are victims…