Unbreakable Solidarity Against White Supremacy #StopAsianHate sol·​i·​dar·​i·​ty | \ ˌsä-lə-ˈder-ə-tē , -ˈda-rə- \

by Dominique DiPrima

Let’s talk about solidarity. Webster’s dictionary defines it as: unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and standards. 

To me that means standing with someone or a group of people when they need you because you believe in their cause. Like when we choose not to cross a picket line to honor labor, or when we boycott a company because of their unjust practices.  The summer’s Black Lives Matter protests were a resplendent show of worldwide solidarity with people of African descent against racism. I believe true solidarity aspires for mutual support but at it’s best it is unconditional. Meaning, for example if a white woman who marched with BLM seeks help for her feminist cause -it’s great if it happens, but her support of BLM should not depend on that, it should be given simply because it’s the right thing to do. 

The same with standing against attacks on Asian and Asian Pacific Islander communities. In some ways we have those shared interests,  objectives and standards.  In some ways we do not. Sometimes we have lived in harmony, at other times we have not. It’s easy to cite past tensions between Black and Asian people, and forget that it is all poison fruit from the same rotten tree of white supremacy.  Of course we will never forget LaTasha Harlins, the 15-year old African American girl shot in the back by a Korean shopkeeper over a bottle of orange juice. And some Asians may be shaken by attacks and mockery at the hand of certain Black folks.  Of course there is still work to do to end anti-blackness in Asian communities as well as backlash and ignorance against Asians in ours. Thankfully, activists, especially the younger generations are doing that work. Both Asian and Black organizers have been working together and forging ties for decades. 

As Dr. Melina Abdullah of BLMLA pointed out on my radio show:  the only member of the original Black Panther Party leadership who was not Black,  was Asian – Richard Masato Aoki. Jesse Jackson’s rainbow coalition is heavily supported by Asian Americans and many API people have marched with BLM since the beginning. And the reverse is also true, as far back as Frederick Douglass, African American civil rights leaders have stood up and spoken up for the rights of people of Asian descent in this country. 

As Di Barbadilllo, an Asian activist with the group 3rd World Power,  pointed out on the air, right now intergenerational conversations are taking place among API families in which woke young people are pushing their immigrant parents and grandparent towards anti-racism. API Millennial and Gen-Z youth are stepping it up, challenging the toxic “model minority” narrative and empowering their elders to step out of shadows and silence to demand justice.

So it is truly natural and absolutely necessary for the Black community to stand in solidarity with people of Asian descent now as they are facing a torrent of hate – 3800 crimes in the past year alone. As Black people we have historically been and remain the biggest targets of white supremacy and hate crimes. We know how it feels, we know the deadly cost and we know how to fight it. Once again Black people must stand forcefully against Asian Hate…simply because it’s the right thing to do.