A thread on Black, Blasian, & Asian American Enmeshed Histories. During BHM, I will go deeper into each moment (please add to it if you have time). At the end I add reflection q’s. Tag educators who might benefit #BlackHistoryMonth#blasianhistory#apidahistory#teacher 1/10
1869 | Frederick Douglas & his “composite nation” speech that condemned anti-Asian hate and favors Japanese and Chinese immigration. source: sfuhs.org/[thecompositen…] 2/10
1899 - 1902 | The Buffalo soldiers, an all Black regiment, fought with Filipino guerrilla soldiers against the US after realizing the oppression that the US was committing towards the Filipinos. Source: NPS.gov/[philippineame… war] 3/10
1899 -1902 | The Black feminist movement including Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper, & others opposed colonization openly and wrote against the Philippine American War in their newspapers source: NPS.gov/[philippine american war]
1940s | Grace Lee Boggs organized alongside Black auto workers in Detroit to denounce World War II.
1960s | Yuri Kochiyama & Malcolm X, an activist friendship starting in Harlem and ending with the mutual support of the Black Power movement.
1950’s - 1960’s | Bengali Harlem, when South Asians took root in Harlem moving from the South, and merged w/ the Black community. Malcolm X would debate the tenets of Islam w/ Bengalis. Source: thejuggernaut.com/[bengaliharlem] 6/10
1965 - 1968 | Thich Nhat Hanh & Dr. King worked together when protesting the Vietnam war. Source: thichnhathanhfoundation.org/[Martin Luther King and Vietnam War]
1968 - 1977 | During the International Hotel fight for tenant rights, the Black Panthers linked arms with Filipino & Chinese activists protecting Asian elders who moved there. Source: thenation.com [international hotel]
1969 | Black, Asian, Chicano/a/x, & Native American activists lead the Third World Liberation Front to protest in the Vietnam War & establish the field of ethnic studies. Source: berkeley.edu/[third world liberation front]
1970s - 1990s | The beginnings of Critical Race Theory, a multiethnic coalition of legal scholars including: Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Mari Matsuda, Richard Delgado, Robert S. Chang, Cheryl Harris, and more.
1978 | International Rescue Committee ad entitled “Black Americans Urge Admission of the Indochinese Refugees” (The NYTimes) shows Black leaders supporting the admittance of SE Asian refugees into the US. source: Searac
1980’s | “Vietnamese fishing community in Texas fought against violence from the KKK over shrimping territory. In 1982, the court prohibited the KKK from militant organizations & parading firearms in public.” source: unclaw.com [Vietnamese fishermen]
1980’s | Vicki Garvin and her work teaching about afro-chinese intersections. She taught African American History in Shanghai and was the editor of New China.
2013-present | Black & Asian solarity through Black Lives Matter, and later Stop Asian Hate movement.
2017-present | Freedom Inc. 501c3 a Black and Southeast Asian (mostly Hmong) coalition created in Dane County, WI. FI works to challenge the root causes of violence, poverty, racism and discrimination.
2020 - Present | The Blasian March is a solidarity action b/w Black/African, Asian & mixed Blasian communities. Source: diaryofafirebird.com/[BlasianMarch]
Reflection Questions:
1) why do enmeshed histories often get left out of curriculum?
2) What information is new to you? Why ?
3) Which histories in this series or outside of this series do you want to learn more of ? Why?
Reflection questions continued:
4) how does teaching enmeshed histories combat notions of white dominant culture?
5) how does celebrating enmeshed histories connect to notions of radical imagination?h
Asian American education policy is sweeping the nation, which is needed esp after the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. One case I want to zoom in on is Fla. If Florida passes HB 287 / SB 294, yet suppresses Black history education, it will speak volumes a/b who is preferred. 1/2
It would speak to the model minority myth & how it operates as a wedge between the Black & Asian community — reinforcing which narrative is the solution, and which narratives are the problem. That would be a direct product of white supremacy systems and culture.
Jan 30th is Fred T. Korematsu Day. Fred T. I honor Korematsu’s bravery & resistance when Japanese Americans were accused of WWII espionage & imprisoned. He symbolizes: combating the model minority & perpetual foreigner stereotype, and cross-racial solidarity. Here’s how … 1/9
Anti-model minority: Korematsu was convicted of violating Prez FDR’s Executive Order 9066 by refusing to relocate to an internment camp. He changed his name to Clyde Sarah, and acted as if he was of Hawaiian and Mexican descent. 2/9
Internment caused the imprisonment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans. It was said to cost the Japanese Americans around $4-5 billions in material losses, let alone the The innumerable psychological, emotional, and spiritual losses. 3/9
October is Filipino American HISTORY Month (#FAHM) ✊🏽🇵🇭 2022 theme: Celebrating Our History & Legacies:
>50 Years of Filipino American Studies
>40 Years of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS)
>30 years of Filipino American History Month.
Learn more 👉🏽
Honor our story by reading a/b us & knowing why we celebrate…
Important Dates:
>Oct 18, 1587 was our 1st recorded presence in Morro Bay w/ “Luzones Indios.”
>1992 by Dr. Fred & Dr. Dorothy Laigo Cordova started honoring FAHM
>2009 Congress recognizes October as FAHM
“HISTORY not Heritage.” History is a/b the experiences, lives, events of our community & their impact on society, the political culture, & the economic events that shape lives. Heritage is a/b culture heritage”
-Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon
ASIAN AMERICANS & INFANTILIZATION: Heard 2 white undergrad students talk a/b an elderly Asian American professor at UW-Madison in passing. They said he was “cute,” but in an infantilizing & problematic way & continued to describe him as such. Here’s why this is problematic…1/4
1) Asian Americans are constantly infantilized in media, “portrayed as meek and subservient.” Think how this impacts all AsAm genders differently. (Source: LA Times Column: We are human: The consequences of hyper-sexualization and infantilization of the Asian community). 2/4
2) Easy Targets of Anti-Asian Hate & Violence: Because Asian American elders are infantilized, there’s a correlation to be seen as “easy targets” to anti-Asian violence as Gun Ho Moon describes in “Infantilization of the Asian American Elderly and the Nature of the Media.” 3/4
Tomorrow is the Remembrance Day of the #AtlantaSpaShooting & recently am elderly Filipina (67) was attacked 125 times (not reposting the vid). How do you come back from that? Who else feels zapped? Holding my Pinay / FilAm / & broader AAPI community close. Some reminders 🙏🏽
#StopAsianHate is part of it, but let’s move towards language around “Stop Asian Racism & Violence” as it acknowledges a foundation built on institutions, systems, & ways of being grounded in yt supremacy, anti-Blackness, colonialism, & misogyny. Transformation calls 4 abolition
Remember that attacks on Asians have come from multiple races. (See image from @blackandasiansoulsunite). Not to dismiss the necessary work between Black & Asians but prefacing b/c I know someone might fall into scapegoating entire communities based on this event or social media: