Asian Americans in an Anti-Black World Standing at the juncture of white supremacy and anti-Blackness, Asian Americans have been imagined as not-white but above all not-Black –as undesirable but the lesser of two evils–for almost two centuries. In her explosive new book, Asian Americans in an Anti-Black World, Claire Jean Kim, Ph.D., argues that Asian Americans have benefited from anti-Blackness at the same time that they have been burdened by white supremacy. Throughout history, they have been weaponized against (and have sometimes weaponized themselves against) the Black freedom struggle and used as an alibi for a racial capitalist U.S. state whose legitimacy is often in question. For whites, the principle is: Whiteness is best, but the most important thing is not-Blackness. Or, better Asians than Blacks. This is key to understanding how Asian Americans have been positioned and how they have negotiated their social and economic mobility in an anti-Black society. This event, hosted on June 13, 2023, featured Dr. Claire Jean Kim in conversation with Dr. Charlene Sinclair, Colorlines’ Editor, to discuss how these theories might guide Black and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities into solidarity with one another. This event was co-organized by the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund and Colorlines, and co-sponsored by the National AAPI Power Fund, California Black Freedom Fund, Four Freedoms Fund, Groundswell Fund, Groundswell Action Fund, and the RISE Together Fund.
LA Times | Writings on The Chicano Moratorium On Aug. 29, 1970, more than 20,000 demonstrators marched through East Los Angeles for the National Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War. But the protest for peace devolved into conflict between demonstrators and sheriff’s deputies. By day’s end, hundreds were arrested and trailblazing Latino journalist Ruben Salazar was dead. To commemorate the march’s 50th anniversary, the LA Times has launched a website to house stories and articles which give context to the movement and its still reverberating effects. Click here for more details.
CAA | Documentary on Advancing Education Equity in San Francisco’s Chinatown Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) has a long and storied history of advancing education equity for low-income, working class, and immigrant students. CAA is now announcing their new short documentary Block by Block: The Struggle to Bring Community College to San Francisco Chinatown. This documentary constitutes the first activity of the CAA Oral History Project in collaboration with UC Berkeley Asian American Research Center and Ethnic Studies Library. Read more about it here. In-person public and private showings of Block by Block are currently being scheduled and if you’d like updates as they are available, or to consider hosting a screening, please fill out this form. Watch the trailer below.
SEARAC and EPIC | Report on COVID-19’s Impact on NHPI/SAA Youth Mental Health This report was written in collaboration with researches from Illinois and Maryland whose work focuses on racially marginalized groups and the Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition Helping Achieve Racial and Gender Equality (AAPI CHARGE), which includes AAPI Civic Engagement Fund grantees Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) and Khmer Girls in Action. Voices Unheard highlights the experiences of more than 200 respondents and focuses on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) and Southeast Asian American (SEAA) youth. The report touches on the pandemic’s effect on mental wellness, the importance of culturally appropriate mental health support, and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center’s (SEARAC) recommendations to reduce barriers to mental healthcare in California. In addition, EPIC and SEARAC also launched fact sheets highlighting mental health research on Southeast Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander youth. These are available in eight languages including English, Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Mien, Samoan, Tongan, and Vietnamese. SEARAC-Voice-Unheard-2023-InteractiveDownload
LTSC | Podcast and Conversations on Mental Health Changing Tides, a program of Little Tokyo Service Center, focuses on opening up the conversation around mental health, especially within the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Guests on the podcasts are from a variety of professions, backgrounds, and experiences. Over 40 episodes touch on topics such as LGBTQIA+ experiences, adoption, anxiety, eating disorders, sobriety, AAPI therapists, and family. Listen to the podcast at this link, and visit Changing Tides’ Helplines page for resources if you or a loved one is struggling with mental illness/seeking resources.
Claire Jean Kim | Essay on Asian Americans and Affirmative Action In her essay “Better Asians than Blacks,” published in the American Scholar on July 20, 2023, author Claire Jean Kim examines the lead up to the SCOTUS decision on conscious admissions with the lens of historic and present racial dynamics in the United States. This essay provides a useful entry point in discussing the weaponization of Asian Americans against the Black struggle and in previous legal cases/rulings.
We Are More | AAPI Art & Stories We Are More is an art series which seeks to break down tired worn out cliches and stereotypes of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and forge in its stead a brilliant, multidimensional identity that encompasses the resilience and range of AAPIs. Featuring dynamic visuals, bold typography, and human stories, this art series consists of seven free digital posters. In May 2021, this series was on view in Times Square, New York City, in partnership with Times Square Arts; subsequent installations appeared in Boston and other cities around the United States. The website also features stories from Asian Americans and a discussion guide based on 20 hand-selected prompts and inquiries from the We Are More campaign, designed to facilitate discussion and exploration of the AAPI experience. This guide is freely available to educators, activists, and allies. Website visitors are also welcome to submit their own stories.
Behind Closed Doors | Part 2 This four-part webinar series took place from December 2022 to March 2023. It was hosted by the USC Price School and its Center for Inclusive Democracy, the California Black Freedom Fund, the Latino Community Foundation, and the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. Part two of these moderated sessions explored the entrenchment of racism in U.S. politics, and its impact on political power and representation in communities. Titled “Behind Closed Doors,” these sessions served as a public space for open and challenging conversations examining the nation’s entrenched relationship between racism and politics, a situation recently brought further into the spotlight by the secret recording of a meeting of Los Angeles City Council members making racist remarks. Watch the full video below, or click here to watch the webinar highlights. Moderator: Mindy Romero, Founder and Director, Center for Inclusive Democracy, USC Price Panelists: Claire Jean Kim, Professor, Political Science School of Social Sciences, UCI Gloria Medina, Executive Director, Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) Tracie Stafford, Vice-Chair, Northern California, California Democratic Party Black Caucus Executive Board; Founder and CEO, Stafford Consulting Group, LLC
CMSI | Report on Representation and Documentary Filmmaking The Lens Reflected is an independent research project of the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), under the Center’s Documentary Power Research Institute. It specifically examines race, gender, and topics in documentary films between 2014 and 2020. Under the direction of Principal Investigator Caty Borum and Lead Researcher Paula Weissman, the CMSI research team for this study included David Conrad-Pérez, Aras Coskuntuncel, Kimberly Reason, L Cedeño Miller, and Natacha Yazbeckl. CMSI’s Varsha Ramani served as operations director and publication manager. Olivia Klaus created the report design. The study was shaped and facilitated in collaboration with Sonya Childress (Co-Director, Color Congress) and Ani Mercedes (Founder/CEO, Looky Looky Pictures). Read the report below. CMSI_LensReflected_final.12.1-1Download
Define American & USC | Report on Immigrant Representation on Television Define American, with USC Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project, presents the third television impact study: Change the Narrative, Change the World: The Power of Immigrant Representation on Television. Define American looked at the portrayal of immigrant characters on 79 scripted television shows that aired between July 2020 and June 2022 and surveyed viewers on how four immigration storylines shaped their attitudes toward immigrants in the real world. The findings? Immigrant representation on television has shifted in important ways — both positive and negative — since 2020. Read the report here or below. ENT-Report-Final-2022Download