It took twenty-three years and living a continent away before I was finally able to talk to my parents directly about anti-Asian racism in the United States. It wasn’t that we had never spoken about discrimination or microaggressions before. It was just that it was mostly about non-Asian people of color — and often, the Asian community was the perpetrator. My siblings and I … [Read more...]
#CloseTheCamps: No 4th of July While Children Die
On July 2nd, I participated in a #CloseTheCamps rally demanding that the illegal concentration camps for undocumented children and their families -- with 71% of migrants being held in for-profit facilities as of November 2017 -- be shut down. I stood on the sidewalk of a local park with about 60 other protesters as we held signs and rattled noisemakers, chanting and begging our … [Read more...]
Black and Brown Solidarity Post-9/11: Why I Refuse To Engage in Respectability Politics
I used to engage in respectability politics. I was taught that, if I proved I was of "good character,” I would be accepted by white society. I learned that it was my job to convince overtly and covertly racist white people that I was okay. I needed to make myself less threatening to shift their conscious and unconscious racist views and thereby make my life better. I was … [Read more...]
Black in Maine: 4 Ways Black Folks Take Care of Each Other in Majority-White Communities
NOTE: This is an article about Black bodies in white spaces, but this is really a love letter to all of the beautiful, dope ass Black women – femmes and non-femmes – speaking the truth and holding it down in one of the whitest states in the country. They’re my homegirls. After the 2017 white terrorist attack in Charlottesville, VA, an article about a man flying a Confederate … [Read more...]
9 Reasons Why Acting in Solidarity for Racial Justice Is Preferable to “Allyship”
There is almost nothing more dangerous in the lives and livelihoods of Black men and women than a well-intentioned white woman with no political framework for her interactions across race. White women’s well-being, our ‘safety,’ is constantly deployed to justify white supremacist violence, especially police violence. Our casual conversations with Black and brown people on the … [Read more...]
From My Abusive Mother to White Supremacy’s Violence: There Is Danger in Premature Forgiveness
(Content note: This article contains descriptions of anti-Black white terrorism, including a racist slur.) When my mother was stalking me, she had a man assisting her in her efforts. Prior to me getting a restraining order against her, he called several times saying, “You need to forgive your mother.” My mother has never admitted any brutality or abuse against me. She has … [Read more...]
4 Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions Without Hijacking the Conversation on Racial Justice
This article originally appeared in EverydayFeminism.com under the title "4 Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions Without Bringing the White Tears" and is reprinted by permission. If you’re a white person who has been in many activist spaces, then you’ve probably experienced a specific, often unspoken ground rule: There’s no room for white tears in this … [Read more...]
7 Ridiculous Things Not To Say to Mixed-Race People
What Does it Mean to be Mixed Race? I am mixed race. There are many ways to be mixed race -- the dictionary defines it as people whose parents or ancestors are from different ethnic backgrounds, but the definition can vary based on context. For the most part, mixed people have the right to define their own identity and their relationships with their varied ancestry, but … [Read more...]
Wading Through Whiteness: Reclaiming My Identity as a Filipina Immigrant
My very first experience of shame (that I can remember) occurred in the third grade after my family had emigrated from the Philippines to Canada. We were asked what we had had for breakfast that morning, and I volunteered "Vegetable soup!" as an answer. In response, I heard a chorus of laughter and a "What kind of weirdo has soup for breakfast?" On the surface, this … [Read more...]
3 Things You Should Know About Racial Justice 101
In the wake of continuous acquittals of police officers killing unarmed Black civilians, racial justice activists across the U.S. continue to fight to hold the police and law enforcement agencies accountable for the increased controlling and surveillance of communities of color and the routine murder of Black people during police interactions and while in police custody. Race … [Read more...]
“You Sure Are Hot for an Asian Girl”: How Words Devalue People of Color
What do I look like? To linguistically dissect the parts of my body, to cut it apart with words, means to twist and twine it with conjunctions. This is my physical appearance: I am on the shorter side of the human height spectrum at five feet, two inches (well actually, five feet and two and three-quarters, excuse me). I am thin. I have a small nose, small ears, and small … [Read more...]
3 Ways Black People Have Shown Solidarity With Asians That We Don’t Talk About
Asians generally don’t participate in discussions about white supremacy. Even more rare from our communities are conversations about our own active part in racism, specifically the ways we let ourselves become weaponized to perform anti-blackness. We subscribe to white supremacy’s “Model Minority Myth,” believing that we do not share the same experiences with black … [Read more...]
Why Black History Needs To Matter to Everyone Else, Every Month
Let me start by saying that I have Attention Deficit Disorder. It's hard for me retain anything at all without a lot of repetition. Unless I’m continually reminded of something, I inevitably forget it. It’s for this reason that I have come to value Black History Month on a personal level. Totally by accident, it provides for my disability. But, as is often the case, my … [Read more...]
One Way To Honor MLK: Please Stop Saying You’re Colorblind
This article was originally published on Write Away and is republished with permission. “I don’t see race. I’m colorblind.” I’ve heard it said many times, and I’m confident the speaker always meant well. However, those words have never made me feel better. The intention is well meaning, but the words, at best, are misleading—suggesting that the impossible is feasible. … [Read more...]
