Thread: Filipinos don't need the fact of the Buffalo Soldiers and David Fagan to actively fight anti-black racism. What you need is a conscience #blacklivesmatter
This history doesn't teach us about our debt to African Americans per se. It teaches us about mutual enmity—constructed by the simultaneity of Jim Crow & imperialism. It teaches us, too, how we might regard one another—mutual seeing. That's the real lesson
Black soldiers took an oath essentially to fight (and kill) Filipinos on behalf of US nationmaking & empire. If you read the Black press of the time, African Americans wanted to colonize the Philippines themselves. At best, Black Americans were ambivalent about their involvement
What struck me & the scholarly reason for my research into our shared history was the period that was for a long time known as "The Nadir" of African American history—a kind of historical "vacuum" (approx) between Plessy v. Fergusson (1896) & the Great Migration
So the official history not only suppressed Af-Am & Fil-Am history in virtually the same turn-of-the-century decades, it erased the complexities of our relationship.
Is there anti-Black racism in Filipino communities? Yes, and it's terrible. Is there anti-Filipino sentiment in Black communities? Equally so. But when I reach back into Fil-Am history, what do I find? African American history
And when I search through African American history, especially throughout the 20th century what do we find? Filipino & Filipino American history. To me, stunning revelations. Our histories are inextricable
To be clear: "The Nadir" coincides remarkably with the invasion, war with, & colonization of the Philippines. Was it just a coincidence? Even if it was, the racialized history of Af-Ams & Filipinos have had a century of uncanny intersections since 1898
If you saw my talk at @cavecanempoets a few years ago, I offered just a small sample of our mutual seeing—which was a kind of informal cooperative resistance against white supremacy... which is still rich & vital in many Af-Am/Fil-Am communities to this very day
Citing David Fagan, the 24th & 25th infantries and 9th & 10th cavalries, is just a kernel of the continuous, complicated, bloody, heartbreaking, & really beautiful ways we have found each other, despite white structures that benefit from our enmity
A story that says Filipinos "owe" African Americans requires a heroic, salvation narrative. It also undermines a story of two peoples' subversion of systemic racism by mutual recognition. Seeing each other beyond what whiteness says we are.
By now, we have a contemp sense of the pervasiveness and power of systemic white supremacy. I want us to have a space that makes inquiries about—and even honors—the ways we kept (& keep) dismantling oppressive structures with & for each other
Current power structures count on us being busied with addressing the white center, making it damn near impossible for us to witness each others' histories and lives. But mutual regard makes us incredibly strong. & frankly I think it is the future of art & education & community
So I'm glad more people are aware of the history, but in our sense of urgency I hope we can hold off on simple transactional versions of racial narratives (which is vulnerable to capitalist & neoliberal exploitation)
Our shared story as I understand it offers so much more to think about esp in terms of a historical model where whiteness, white governance, white institutions do not mediate how we interact. That feels really important now #filamhistory #filipino #black #history #davidfagan
