The Beautiful Tension: Restoring Conflicts Between Black and Asian Communities

• In Event: Building Racial Solidarity Across Black and Asian Communities in K–20 Education Beyond COVID-19

Abstract

The relationship between Black and Asian communities have been complicated and filled with immense tension. We can think about countless moments throughout American history where a wall of hostility divided the two communities apart from each other. Events such as the Immigration Act of 1965, the LA riots in 1992, and now the Covid-19 pandemic have further separated the two communities and exposed the existing tensions that America thought was resolved. However, after the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other black bodies, and the violent attacks on East Asians and the Georgia massage parlor shooting, movements such as Black Lives Matter and Stop AAPI Hate became a fight against the injustice of racism against BIPOC minority groups in America. These movements further revealed the true root of the problem: White Supremacy, a hierarchical system set in place where the white community are deemed the superior race to all ethnic minority groups in America and should therefore dominate society. All the conflicts that rise between the Black and Asian community are now used to discount the fact that White Supremacy actually drives these tensions because the system is designed to pin minority groups against one another. Black and Asian solidarity is vital, not because it is a movement that is trending, but because there are histories of activism and solidarity with Black and Asian communities that are missing and hidden. We need to reclaim that history and share stories that show Black and Asian solidarity such as the relationship between Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama, and the involvement of Grace Lee Boggs in Detroit’s Black Power movement.

As an education consultant who mentors children and youth from East Asia, many of the histories of Black and Asian solidarity are vacant. Due to all the stereotypes and narratives about Black Americans and the Anti-Blackness that is still embedded within East Asian values, I feel the responsibility to help students unlearn the distorted perspectives they may have about people in the black community and educate them about the American White Supremacy system they were forced to live in. The fact that students outside of the U.S. believe in these false narratives proves that White Supremacy is not only an American issue, but a global issue where everybody around the world is influenced by a social structure based on race and color.

Author

• Michael Cho, Teachers College, Columbia University