We Need to Talk About Asian American and Black Solidarity
Imani Gandy joined the Yo, Is This Racist? co-hosts in a conversation on the long history of Asian and Black communities fighting against white supremacy.
When communities of color are pitted against each other, as Asian and Black communities historically have been, that’s white supremacy at work. But there’s a long history of Asian and Black communities working in solidarity with each other and other communities of color to fight white supremacy.
With that in mind, Imani Gandy, Rewire News Group‘s senior editor for law and policy, recently hosted an Instagram Live with Andrew Ti and Tawny Newsome, co-hosts of the podcast Yo, Is This Racist?, in which the pair answer listener-submitted questions. Recent episodes have focused on Chinese privilege, white people taking classes online at historically Black colleges and universities, and friends who send hate crime videos.
The Instagram Live conversation, which closed out Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May, began with a discussion about the Atlanta spa shootings in March. Ti talked about East Asian Americans grappling with how they may have benefited from the “model minority myth” and their proximity to whiteness.
“It’s been a bit of a wake-up call, in a good way,” Ti said.
Watch the full chat on Instagram.