We Asian Americans have weaponized our proximity to whiteness in order to
murder Black people. George Floyd and Latasha Harlins should
be here today, but they aren't because of our individual actions and our
collective inaction. We can't just blame white people for pitting us against each
other either because the fact of the matter is is that Asian cultures have a
huge colorism problem and a huge problem with Black people!
Hey guys welcome back to my channel and today is part two of my three part
series about unpacking anti-Blackness in the United States, and if you're new to
my channel last week I posted part one of this series. Part one is a basic
one-on-one conversation about how white supremacy operates in the U.S. in order
to maintain Black people as second-class citizens. The next video in the series,
which will come out next week, will be about Gone with the Wind,
so if you're interested in that please subscribe and ring the bell so you're
notified when I post new videos, but today is part two, and today we're going
to be talking about anti-Blackness in the Asian-American community.
Sorry it's always really awkward talking to you guys after being gone for a while,
almost as awkward as my dad around my Black friends.
"Hey dad!"
"Hey Mr. Wu!"
"Is it cool if my friends stay over?"
*scary music plays*
*stuttering* "Of- Of, c-c-course."
"Where my gun at?"
"Teach me how to dance."
"And don't worry my dad has
nothing against Black people. He's just a little uncomfortable around you guys."
*slow motion voice effect* "He's just a little uncomfortable around you guys."
I post a lot on my channel about racism that Asian people face, but today I want
to talk about the racism that Asian people take part in and perpetuate.
Though I was adopted into a white family and grew up in a very white world,
doesn't mean that I haven't seen anti- Blackness at play, quite to the contrary
actually. When I was younger I was very invested in becoming "Asian American". I
took traditional Chinese dance classes with both Chinese American students and
Chinese-American adoptees, I was friends with a lot of Korean American kids, who
were mainly children of recent immigrants, and after I graduated high
school I took part in a few Asian American clubs at my college. And even though I'm
still seen as "whitewashed" by the community, due to the fact that I grew up
white, I am still Asia and not enough of us are speaking out in support of Black
Lives Matter. And I think that's for a few reasons, which I'll get into at the
end this video, but first I'm going to talk
about how Asian Americans benefit from white supremacy and use our proximity to
whiteness in order to subjugate Black people. And I decided to structure this
part of the video in a numbered list with five main points, so let's get
started. So number one - conditional whiteness. Asian Americans have benefited
from white supremacy. Though Asian Americans face their own set of racist
stereotypes and have their own racist history in this country, our "model
minority" status given to us by white people is somewhat of a privilege. It
means we don't get racially profiled by the police and that we can walk freely
without someone calling the cops on us. For the most part we're seen as
"non-threatening". However, as seen with COVID our privilege
is conditional. I said this in my COVID video, but there are so many Asian
American people, who for the first time were saying "America is so racist" and
"racism against Asian people in the US has been re-awoken", and like, I don't think it
was ever asleep? But that just goes to show how much white people have made us
feel comfortable at the expense of Black people. White people only treat Asian
Americans better than Black people so we don't realize that they're full human
beings, so that white people can create this culture war between us so we Asian
Americans don't empathize with their plight. And if you're an Asian American
person who sees Black people as thugs, congratulations you've successfully been
turned into Uncle Sam's puppet. So Asian America, here is your wake-up call -
stop trying to claim whiteness and stand with Black Lives Matter. So fuck Tou Thou, the
Hmong immigrant who stood by and watched and let George Floyd be murdered. And do
not stand in solidarity with him or any other Asian American right-wing pundit -
I'm looking at you Lauren Chen and Joey Gibson. So number two -
let's talk about colorism again. Half Black Asian kids have it really tough.
They're similar to adoptees in a way in that they are never fully accepted by
either community that raised them.
However, they're specifically not welcomed into the Asian community for
being Black. Kevin Wu, who used to be a very famous YouTuber, used to make skits
with his dad and make jokes about how Asian American parents see Black people as
criminals just for being Black. Asian people are specifically taught to never
marry outside of their race, but specifically not to date Black folk and
that's really racist and needs to stop. So number three, anti-Blackness and
appropriation in the Asian-American community. A few very well-known Asian
American celebrities have gotten famous for using AAVE and popularizing this
narrative that they "come from the hood" and that they're "not like other Asians."
Constance Wu, who played Jessica Huang in Fresh Off the Boat, was
written to speak in AAVE and say things like "Hell no". And not a single person on
set - specifically an Asian person on set - thought that this could be racist.
Awkafina, who has been very quiet since the BLM protests started, has created
this narrative herself that she grew up "on the streets" and is "ghetto"
and uses AAVE so much that it's downright uncomfortable.
"You're right."
"Damn straight right. Strike that I'm always right." "But you can swerve." "I'm not
gonna swerve, not for her." "You're not a chicken, you gonna roll up to that
wedding and be like bock bock bitch."
Eddie Huang claims "street cred", uses AAVE,
and heavily identifies with Black culture, even though he's not Black. And
lastly, the Jabberwockeez, who are primarily made up of Asian members, won
America's Best Dance Crew for their hip-hop routines. They have one
Black member, but they market themselves primarily as an Asian-American group
working to "break" the model minority stereotype. So why do a Asian Americans feel
this need to appropriate Black culture? I think it boils down to two main reasons.
1. Asian kids use Black culture as a way of "acting out". To many Asian parents
the worst thing that they could possibly be perceived as is Black, AKA the "bad"
minority group. Asian Americans are very invested in staying under the radar,
being the good minority, and that basically means just being as white as
possible. And this can be a very oppressive environment for some kids, so
they choose Black culture as a way to act out because it'll make their parents
the most angry, and it'll also help them shed the quiet and demure Asian
stereotype. And let it be known that these stereotypes that some Asian people
are so invested in breaking were created by white people, just like how the
stereotype that all Black people are "loud" doesn't exist in any way shape or
form. So Eddie Huang and Aquafina you are wasting your time. So the second reason
why Asian American people love to appropriate Black culture is because
they want to do what's "cool", and like white people, to them Black culture is
the definition of cool. And yeah Black culture is awesome,
but it's not for you, or for us, especially when the creators of Black
cultural products are mainstreamed to be for "everyone" and even worse is that the
Black creators of these products and trends are never given their check and
proper dues. Black music and fashion can have an influence on you, but you can't
go around sporting gold chains and using AAVE and not say anything about Black
Lives Matter and not interrogate how you with your light-skinned model minority
privilege have added to anti-Blackness in this country. So number four -
Appropriation in K-pop. K-pop is heavily influenced by Black American culture.
From the music videos, to street fashion, the looks like you'll see you are taken
straight out of Black neighborhoods in the U.S. Athleisure or street wear,
velour tracksuits, bucket hats, big sneakers, and of course braids are all
staples in South Korean high fashion. And this is very dangerous considering
countries in East Asia are very racist and profile Black people as criminals, but
are completely open and ready to accept Black culture. And it's not just fashion.
South Korea loves rap. South Korean rappers are seen as extremely
talented, but their influences are the originators of that music - Black people.
And this is where the hypocrisy comes in. Many K-pop artists acknowledge that rap
it in hip-hop were created by Black people, but they still mock AAVE and Black
people in general, and that's not even to mention that their wealth and status is
piggybacking off of Black innovation. And this reckoning with racism in the K-pop
fandom and K-pop artists being racist themselves is being addressed by much
more knowledgeable scholars than me. I highly suggest Stitch's content on anti-
Blackness in the K-pop fandom, especially. Her links to her Twitter and YouTube
will be in the description down below. So number 5 -
The last point on this list describing how Asian-Americans perpetuate anti
Blackness, before we delve into why it's so hard for Asian Americans to talk about
anti-Blackness in the Asian American community is - number five - Experiencing
anti-Blackness as an Asian-American growing up in a white family. So I'm just
gonna be honest with you guys, I grew up in a very racist household. I once told a
relative of mine that I was taking an African-American studies course in
college and they asked me why. Black history was not something that was
spoken about. Black stories were not something I heard going up, unless it was
from an extremely racist children's book. I watched Gone with the Wind from a very
early age. I was taught that the founding fathers were great guys and that the
Civil War wasn't fought over slavery. I was taught that racism was solved in the 1960s
during the Civil Rights movement. Watching shows for Black people such as
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and That's So Raven was looked down upon because those
shows weren't "for me". My family didn't even want me listening to K-pop. Nothing
was "for me" unless it centered white people and that was extremely hurtful.
And because I had this growing resentment for white people and their
media, I looked for a representation elsewhere -
through K-pop and K-dramas and other Asian driven media. And later in my college
years I studied a lot of Black history and watch a lot of Black media and
really enjoyed it as well as learned a lot. And I highly suggest that if your
family and community is mostly white or homogeneous that you should look outward
and educate yourself on Black history. So now that I'm done talking about these
five points about how Asian Americans hold up white supremacy and perpetuate
anti-Blackness, I now want the answer this very complex question and that is -
Why is it so hard for Asian Americans to talk about how they take part in anti-
Black racism. I think the main reason is that there's a lot of resentment between
the Black and Asian communities. We've hurt
each other, but only one of us has benefited from white supremacy. We, Asian
Americans, have weaponized our proximity to whiteness in order to murder Black
people. George Floyd and Latasha Harlins should
be here today, but they aren't because of our individual actions and our
collective inaction. We can't just blame white people for pitting us against each
other either because the fact of the matter is is that Asian cultures have a
huge colorism problem and a huge problem with Black people. And in this
idea that we can't just blame white people, but that we have to blame
ourselves and look inward is hard and uncomfortable, but it should be. It should
make you feel guilty and wrong, and those are tough feelings to process, but do you
know what's tougher? Being hunted down and murdered just for existing. Asian
Americans must stand in solidarity with Black people we cannot continue to stand
idly by and the let fellow people of color get murdered. Our whiteness is
conditional, and not something that we should cling to. Our fight against the
white capitalist patriarchy is the same and we need to understand that. So that's
it for this video. Thank you so much for watching. Please comment down below about
what you think of anti-Blackness in the Asian American community and please
don't forget to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about next week's
video, which will be about Gone with the Wind and is the third, and for now, last
installment in this series about anti Blackness. So please like, share, and
subscribe, and I'll see you all next Friday. Thank you again for watching bye :)