Week 9 - Nelofer Siddiqui A03

This week's article, 'Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice', is one that really hit home for me personally, although it didn't deal with my specific race. It describes cultural rhetorics, racial hierarchies, and social justice in general, which are topics I find very interesting and relevant today. We have the privilege of being in a society that can afford to be very focused on bettering inter-racial relationships. However, in recent years, and even months, it seems as though these relationships are just getting worse as more and more news comes out about gun violence and racism. The only way these issues are going to get better is if people are educated about them; thus, I believe the work the author of the article is doing in social justice is very important.

The topic of racial hierarchy is a complex one. With so much emphasis on the conflict being mainly white vs. black people, bringing other people of color into the mix can make things very blurry and confusing. One the one hand, it can be very easy to make white privilege the common enemy. But there are other types of privilege that certain races have. For example, I've noticed through being Indian that my race is often viewed as smarter or more hardworking. If your doctor is Indian, that's typically viewed as a good thing, as opposed to potentially having a Latinx doctor or one of another race of color. I believe it's important for people of color to recognize the privilege they might have and use it to lift other races up.



Question: In what ways can we as Asian Americans "lift up" other movements such as the #BLM movement?

Ferguson, S. J. (2016). Race, gender, sexuality, and social class: dimensions of inequality and identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.