In Soya Jung's "Why Ferguson Matters to Asian Americans," the one line that struck me is "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal." There's a conflicted topic among minority groups when it comes to ethnicity. (I'm carefully avoiding the word "race," because scientifically, we are all the same race—human; lest we get technical, then some people are lacking humanity.) The Black Lives Matter movement has become a hot topic these past two years, probably even longer, but it's prevalence in modern news is no surprise. We see black lives taken by police brutality, by racists, by hate. And, it matters.
The oppression of black people has been stretched into longevity, and it's come to light in recent times. As Asian-Americans, I do believe we should acknowledge the importance of this movement because this is our fight too. Although we cannot relate to their struggle exactly, we simply cannot relate to one another in the reason, because we are all different, ethnic-wise. We all have histories that follow us, even to this modern day.
As a Filipino-American, I acknowledge the subjugation that my people have suffered, and continue to suffer. I acknowledge my role as a minority in this white supremacist world as someone who needs to call out these injustices and make a difference in some shape or form.
The problem that many minorities face when trying to understand this complex issue is how neoliberal we all tend to be about it. We tend to say, "This is a black problem, not mine." But it is. We are ethnic groups at war in our own country, our own world, because of the color of our skin, because of what our histories carry, and because of the way other groups view us. Everything is skewed. We've lived in a world where everything had been neatly wrapped and presented, no racism, no bias, no subjectively "evil" things that have been combated by simple words and stories, but it's completely bullshit.
The world is not just black and white, there are grey areas that tell us that not everyone in the world will like us and that's because of our differences. It feels like it's becoming more and more evident now. I believe we need to think critically about this—rather than thinking that this is just a [insert ethnic group's name] problem, we should see this as a minority struggle, because this is everyone's struggle. We are being oppressed, silenced, and retaliated against, and we need to show that we will not fall into the government's attempt to separate us by banding together and fighting this injustice.
Rap - Lyrics (2008) is a video of a song called "Trapped" by Tupac, and among many of his songs, talk about the black struggle. As a black man in America, he acknowledged the struggle for his people, often doing his best to speak for them through his lyricism. He has often criticized the U.S.'s way of dealing with minorities, poverty, and voiced it without a second thought. It's almost unsurprising, but many of the issues he spoke out against in the twentieth century remain relevant to today.
References
Jung, S. (2014, August 20). Why Ferguson Matters to Asian Americans. Race Files.
Rap - Lyrics. (2008, July 30). Trapped [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/vWLkxVS5VXU
Question
In what ways can we build solidarity among minority groups? Is this possible?
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