Anika Troeger
ASA 002
Section 3
Week 8: Student Activism
Asian-American communities contain a lot of anti-blackness. I think most Asian-Americans can admit that. There are many cases of excessive violence against African-Americans done by Asian-Americans - the case of Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old girl shot in the head by a Korean shop owner for supposedly stealing orange juice, or the more recent case of a black woman being beaten by a Korean shop owner for supposedly stealing faux eyelashes, are just two examples of such brutality. It is no secret that the Asian-American community has its issues regarding its treatment of the African-American community, but does need to be confronted more within the community.
Asian-American student activists in particular are plenty involved in standing in solidarity with their fellow people of color, despite what the stereotype may be. Supposedly, Asian-Americans aren’t involved in politics, nor are they active in student run protests on campus. This is a common misconception, and can be easily disproven by actually witnessing a student protest and seeing minorities binding together to empower each other, with posters saying “APIs4BlackLives”. This type of solidarity between minority student activists isn’t new either, slogans like “Yellow Peril supports Black Power” have existed since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, as shown in Mark Tseng Putterman’s article, “What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice”. Putterman’s article highlights some of the many examples of Asian-American political activism, showing how they fight for themselves as well as their fellow minorities.
It’s actually pretty harmful, in my opinion, to perpetuate the false stereotype that Asian-Americans don’t care about politics or that they’re not active on University campuses. It labels Asian-Americans as uncaring and selfish toward other communities, as if they don’t care about the struggles other minorities face. I’ve seen Asian-American activists work to support other communities, which includes criticizing members of the Asian-American community for their anti-blackness. One of the most valuable parts of student activism is it’s intersectionality, and Asian-American activists do their part in keep student activism strong and intersectional.
Question: This is separate from what I wrote about, but what happened to the article from Democracy Now? Was it supposed to be that short?
References:
Putterman, M. T. (2016). What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice. Race files.
Nguyen, S.V. (2014). Asian Americans, a Popular Tool in Anti Black Propaganda.[Digital Image]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sahra-vang-nguyen/asian-americans-a-popular_b_6357922.html
Blay, Z. (2017, March). Video of Beauty Store Owner Attacking Black Woman Sparks Outrage. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/video-of-beauty-store-owner-attacking-black-woman-sparks-outrage_us_58c80594e4b081a56def82fd
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