Week 9

Thao-Nhi Vu

Section A02

Week 9: Solidarity Movements

We’ve spent this class learning about Asian Americans and their issues. However, one of our biggest issues is how we interact with other races. This week’s readings highlight the importance of intersectionality and how all of us will benefit from stronger relationships with different communities.

Often in our eagerness to organize, Asian-Americans often overlook issues of other groups, as demonstrated in Why Ferguson Matters of Asian Americans and Building a Culture of Solidarity. Why Ferguson Matters speaks out against our lack of empathy for the plights of black people in America and tries to channel our own anger so that we can understand the emotions of the black community. The article draws on the dichotomy of how America views the deaths of black and Asian people: black murders are normalized, while Asian corpses are all but nonexistent. There is also the issue of a white and black America: though Asians do not “fit” on either side of this line, we still must take a position. Will we stand against white supremacy, even if it means we must examine our mentalities? Or, will we be complicit in the deaths of fellow people of color? These are the choices we must make, and they will influence the people we keep close to us.

The other article, Building a Culture of Solidarity, touches upon how Asian activists co-opt the movements of black activists. Hashtags like #AsianLivesMatter, while well-intentioned, work primarily through conveying the notion that black issues are “too” visible; that is, that the work of black activists is somehow responsible for lack of attention on the issues of other people of color. This sort of attitude is one of our biggest roadblocks to solidarity, and a major tool of the oppressor. Our SAPSA group, while researching, came across the term “defensive othering”. In order to validate their identity, oppressed groups often create divides and separate themselves from each other. This idea of “us vs. them”, then, prevents effective organization and successful outreach across communities. We are not each other’s enemies! Working to dismantle white supremacy is a long war; we need all the help that we can get.

My question then, is, where do we go from here? How will we prioritize ourselves? What is the most effective way of tailoring messages of solidarity; after all, Asians ourselves are not all the same. I’m fascinated where this will go, and I hope that I can be a part of it.

This is a project that was going around quite recently among the Asian-American communities. This project, Letters for Black Lives, relates back to my question of tailoring messages. Asian-American youth and adults have been working together to make a universal "letter" for their communities, demonstrating the urgency in protecting black lives. Are movements like this what we need?

Resources

Jung, Soya. "Why Ferguson Matters to Asian Americans." Mike Brown | Race Files. Race Files , 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 27 May 2017.

Ramos, Santos F. "Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice." Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice | Enculturation. Enculturation, 20 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 May 2017.