True Left

“The racism overall against Asian Americans is another form of white supremacy. As Asian Americans dismantle the racism directed toward us as outsiders, we’re partnering with African Americans in dismantling how they’re racialized and oppressed,” Jeung said. “In a lot of Asian American issues, we become the wedge group to divide and conquer people of color rather than focusing on our unity and trying to dismantle the overall system. We need to dismantle white supremacy together.”

This is not lost on organizers and activists who have worked to combat this narrative for decades. With that, here are a few ways for Black people to practice solidarity and allyship with Asian American communities.

Education Is Key
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“Try to learn history and learn about Asian American histories and cultures, the migration patterns of immigrants and refugees, and why we have an Asian population in the U.S. to begin with,” Wong said. “From there, look at the history of Asian and Black solidarity and joint struggle … the civil rights era and even the early joint labor movements. I think people could do their due diligence to seeking it out and learning it up.”

Mutual Aid

Mutual aid is a centuries-old radical political practice that emphasizes solidarity and interdependence to meet people’s basic needs. Mutual aid happens when everyday people come together to meet one another’s needs, like providing food and domestic violence resources, without relying on government power structures.

“Mutual aid is really beautiful in that it really recognizes that if I have something I can give, someone who needs it can benefit and we can all be in community together,” Wong said. “Last year, through the pandemic was a really big showing of how mutual aid is so effective, especially when our government isn’t taking care of us or investing in us and the resources that we need.”

Several mutual aid efforts have popped up across the country in response to anti-Asian sentiment and Covid-19’s devastating impact on Asian American communities. In Oakland, California, hundreds of people have volunteered to escort fearful elders on walks and errands around Chinatown. Asian and Black creatives have raised more than $150,000 for Asian American advocacy groups in California that serve several Asian American communities through everything from food delivery to legal help. In New York, a coalition of activists have filled refrigerators with food in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

“Mutual aid, at its core, is really a form of political participation. It necessitates everybody taking responsibility to care for one another. So you see a reciprocal exchange of resources and services,” said Senti Sojwal, of New York’s Asian American Feminist Collective, which has launched its Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities project. “Mutual aid is such a beautiful concept because it’s so huge.”

Get Active in Organizations

Organizing has always been key to liberation efforts for several oppressed groups, whether it be through planning solidarity marches, mutual aid efforts, or even approaching government leaders. There are several groups doing this work in Asian-American communities including the AAFC, Stop AAPI Hate, the APEN, the Chinese Progressive Association, Womankind, Filipino Cultural Center, the Southeast Asian Community Alliance, and others. Lai Wa Wu of the Chinese Progressive Association said that participating in such groups is a great way to be an active ally to Asian American communities.

“Join, support and donate to organizations that are working on the ground to build cross-racial healing and racial justice work,” Wu said, as well as “restorative practices, and for long-term economic and racial justice that lifts up all communities, especially working class communities of color, even after media attention has died down.”
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Know That Police Aren’t Always the Answer

Experts have noted that the recent violence against Asian Americans has led to calls for increased policing. But organizers note that more state control isn’t always the answer, because further empowering police in these moments could do more harm than good.

“At these moments a lot of people’s natural reaction is to revert back to the institutions and systems they think they know and can rely on because, in many ways, they are socialized to believe it is the only way,” Wu said. “We need to redefine accountability and safety that’s rooted in empathy for ourselves and for others.”
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Be a Good Bystander

“Bystander support and intervention is so important because it helps us shift our responsibility for each other towards the collective community,” Wu said. “We need people to call in strangers, community and family members on racism, slurs and stereotypes. When something happens, check in on each other as you would your own loved one. Help guide them through what they need, be there to show you care and that you are with them.”