Kevin Nguyen Week 9 A02In "Why Ferguson Matters to Asian Americans" by Soya Jung, we explore the idea of invisibility of Asian Americans while discussing the death of Mike Brown. In discussing the anti-blackness culture within Asian American communities, I think it's important to discuss why there is anti-blackness in the first place. With the "model minority" idea, as well as, many Asian Americans not seeing the parallels between our communities and the black community and thus we begin to see this culture of anti-blackness arise. Many Asian Americans, especially older folk, only see black Americans as what is portrayed in the media, which is usually related to violence.
A good friend of mine, who is involved in a lot of student activism and social justice movements, was recently approached by a young black male who immediately felt the need to say "I'm not going to hurt you. I thought you were cute and wanted to introduce myself." Initially she felt shaken even though he did nothing to warrant the reaction. Anti-blackness is something relevant within ourselves and requires for us to dismantling this toxic culture.
Q: what are the first steps to dismantling this culture?
Jung, Soya. "Why Ferguson Matters to Asian Americans." Mike Brown | Race Files. Race Files , 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 27 May 2017.
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