Write Back, Fight Back

Conversations on racial justice, intersectionality, and white supremacy have once again taken the front seat in political discourse; but, the conversations in the public mainstream rarely mention Asian Americans. When our community is mentioned, it is usually in superficial reference to the Model Minority Myth. Rarely, commentary will reference Asian Americans working against anti-Blackness, but the discourse never goes much beyond that.

We — Asian American writers, thought leaders, and scholars — know that the political narrative for our communities goes deeper. We remember the history of how white supremacists chased out South Asian paper mill workers in Birmingham and the past and present gentrification of Chinatowns across the country. We know how colonial thoughts in the homeland contribute to colorism, assimilationism and good immigrant narratives, and how all that is tied to White Supremacy. Given the critical moment in our history – a few years after #BlackLivesMatter and a year after the Muslim Ban – we ask: What is the Asian American story on White supremacy? What is the political narrative of Asian American identity and how it interfaces with White Supremacy? What are the stories that need to be told to go deeper on this topic?

Write Back, Fight Back (#WriteBackFightBack) is a weekly essay series by emerging Asian American writers on topics of racial and social justice. New essays will appear every Thursday.

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