{"id":21941,"date":"2020-09-05T22:42:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-05T22:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=21941"},"modified":"2020-09-08T14:29:49","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T14:29:49","slug":"kamala-harris-represents-an-opportunity-for-coalition-building-between-blacks-and-asian-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/kamala-harris-represents-an-opportunity-for-coalition-building-between-blacks-and-asian-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Harris represents an opportunity for coalition building between Blacks and Asian Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danielle Casarez Lemi<\/a>, Southern Methodist University<\/a><\/em> and Melina Ju\u00e1rez P\u00e9rez<\/a>, Western Washington University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Kamala Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother; she is Black and South Asian. She celebrates both sides of her ancestry, which unites two racial groups that are often seen in the United States as being opposed to each other.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve heard anything about Black and Asian American relations in the U.S., what you\u2019ve heard likely focuses on hostility and conflict<\/a> between the two groups.<\/p>\n

In electoral politics, research on multiracial legislators<\/a> indicates that those with dual nonwhite backgrounds like Harris have the potential to serve as bridges between groups and use their backgrounds to influence policy that serves multiple communities.<\/p>\n

Harris\u2019 nomination as Joe Biden\u2019s vice presidential running mate is an opportunity to understand the history of the relationship between America\u2019s Black and Asian communities. It\u2019s also a time to consider the possibility for political coalition building between Blacks and Asian Americans in this moment when racial discrimination is an urgent subject for much of the country.<\/p>\n

Racial triangulation<\/h2>\n

The 1991 killing of a Black 15-year-old named Latasha Harlins<\/a> by a Korean store clerk, and the violent unrest in Los Angeles<\/a> that was partially stoked by that killing, are perhaps the most prominent instances and depictions of violence and conflict between Black and Asian American communities.<\/p>\n

Similar dynamics continue today. For example, one of the police officers involved in the killing of George Floyd, Tou Thao<\/a>, is a Hmong American with a history of use of excessive force charges<\/a>. Floyd\u2019s murder bolstered calls from Asian American communities to address Asian anti-Blackness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d argue that Black and Asian American people are pitted against each other by media, government and society to maintain the United States\u2019 social hierarchies.<\/p>\n

When dismissing Black people as stereotypically \u201clazy<\/a>\u201d or \u201cdeviant<\/a>,\u201d media commentators and lawmakers often use stereotypes of Asian Americans to bolster their claims<\/a>. They stereotype Asian Americans as a model minority<\/a> who are \u201cdiligent\u201d<\/a> workers who have \u201crespect for authority.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
George Floyd\u2019s killing led to calls by Asian Americans for solidarity with Blacks.<\/span>
\nAnnette Holloway\/Icon Sportswire\/Getty<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the same time, Asian Americans are treated as \u201cforeigners\u201d<\/a> whose citizenship is fair game for questioning. This is especially true for those with darker skin and more recent immigration histories<\/a>, such as Hmong and Filipinos.<\/p>\n

Japanese internment<\/a> during World War II, for instance, is one example in which Japanese Americans were considered security threats to the United States. They were forced by the federal government, through various methods, from their homes into camps. Today<\/a>, Japanese Americans, many survivors of those internment camps, are active in opposing immigrant detention centers through the national \u201cNever Again Is Now<\/a>\u201d Jewish-led movement.<\/p>\n

Black and Asian American common cause<\/h2>\n

Yet despite the stereotypes of these two communities in opposition to each other, Black and Asian American communities have historically had close political relationships, drawing on shared struggles to build solidarity. These connections are also mirrored on a personal level.<\/p>\n

People who identify as Black and Asian on the U.S. Census<\/a> are among the fastest-growing groups of people who identify with two or more races on the U.S. Census. As Myra Washington<\/a>, a communications scholar who writes about Blasians, or people who are Black and Asian, shows in \u201cBlasian Invasion: Racial Mixing in the Celebrity Industrial Complex,<\/a>\u201d the existence of Black-and-Asian people predates multiracial recognition on the 2000 Census<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interracial marriage<\/a> is increasingly common, although intermarriage between Black and Asian American communities is not new. Between the 1880s and early 1900s, South Asian men working on British ships abandoned those ships in Louisiana and New York and worked as \u201cpeddlers\u201d<\/a> in New Orleans and New York City. Some intermarried with women from Black communities, such as when Bengali Muslim trader Moksad Ali married African American Ella Blackman in New Orleans in 1895<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Black feminist scholars like Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw<\/a> use the notion of identities as de facto coalitions<\/a>. This means that individuals can use their identities, such as race, gender, sexual orientation and class, and their stature within their own communities to build relationships between groups.<\/p>\n

Among the most famous friendships and political connections between Asian American and Black political movement leaders was between Japanese American political activist Yuri Kochiyama<\/a> and Black radical Malcolm X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kochiyama\u2019s politics were deeply influenced by her imprisonment in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. She consequently became radicalized upon meeting Malcolm X<\/a>. She built relationships with those engaged in Black struggles including defending political prisoners, but also worked with other groups such as Puerto Ricans in their struggles against police violence, for better schools and dignified housing for all working-class communities.<\/p>\n