From a Model Minority — An Introduction to BLM

Why I’m writing this as a NBPOC (non black person of color)—because my community has asked me how to gain more knowledge and how to further their education. All of these topics are a part of daily life for BIPOC (black indigenous person of color) but they may not be common knowledge for the rest of us.

You may be seeing multiple articles, posts, stories, and tweets about the current protests with the Black Lives Matter movement, and want to understand more about what it means and why it’s happening. I hope my article can bolster the bridge you use to understand these current events. You can use the FIND command for various subjects I touch on.

Who I Am

First and foremost: I am not a BIPOC. I am an Asian American who currently is living in Seattle after going to college in Pittsburgh and growing up in Hawaii, India, and China. I’m writing this piece because I believe there are many people who want to further educate themselves, but don’t know where to start. I’ve had friends with minimal exposure to these issues ask me where to look. It is through these conversations that I understood where many gaps have formed, and how I can help to try bridge it.

Why is educating myself about this important?

RACISM. It’s not gone. It hasn’t left our communities. It hasn’t left our actions and biases. It’s a part of our daily lives, and while we may not be conscious of it, it’s there and something must be done about it. The first step to that something is education. There is an entire group of people that is being treating unjustly. They’re seeing mass incarceration, shootings, loss of loved ones, and police brutality just because of the color of their skin. And while this is going on they have also had their culture taken, used by corporations to turn a profit with almost no acknowledgment given. Jazz, rap, R&B, streetwear — these are just a few examples.

Understanding that this is a reality and learning the history and policies behind this is the first step we can take in our journey.

Why is this happening now?

George Floyd was killed by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, after having his neck pinned down by the officer’s knee. He wasn’t resisting arrest and the basis of his arrest was suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. And this isn’t an isolated incident. Just a few months ago Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black 25 year old, was jogging in Georgia when he was shot dead during a confrontation with Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Trevor, 34. While these two incidents may seem different, they are similar in multiple ways. Both Floyd and Arbery were unarmed black men. Both of their murderers were armed white males. Both Floyd and Arbery were outnumbered. Both of their murders were caught on tape. The murders and treatment of black people has not changed, but our exposure to it has. As social media and technology now makes information sharing faster than ever, non BIPOC who may not have been faced with this reality are shown its truth.

Why is protesting a part of American history?

This may be a bit foreign to some since historically, protests may have only led to violence and mass imprisonment of people such as the Tiananmen Square Protests in China and Bu-Ma Democratic Protests in South Korea. But this country, the United States of America, was founded by protesters. The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was an open destruction of property and a protest. The American Revolution, Women’s Suffrage (women’s right to vote), Civil Rights, Women’s Liberation, and Gay Rights movements were all also protests. Even the US withdrawal from Vietnam in the 1970s was largely due to protests and a loss of support from the general public. Now, the protests are for sweeping changes to be made to protect the lives of African Americans who are being murdered, unrightfully incarcerated (put in jail), and systemically oppressed due to a long history of racism, segregation, and over policing.

Protesting is one of the main methods people have used to join their collective voices to speak out against injustices to our fellow human beings in the US.

Other than protesting, how else can I help?

There are various reasons one would not want to protest. One, is obviously the fear of being arrested and deported if you are not a citizen. If you currently live in the US with a visa or are under similar circumstances, this is a real threat to you residing here. Another could be that you, or someone you live with is at high risk for complications from COVID-19. There is obviously also police violence, as protesters are dousing their faces with water and milk after being teargassed and pepper sprayed, and bandaging wounds from rubber bullets shot at them. However, the risk of police violence to an individual not at the front lines of the protest is minimal, and there are areas where people can protest while maintaining social distancing.

One way to support the movement is to spread the word: you should tell people what you’ve learned and have conversations about the movement. While there may be some who have different opinions, discussions of social topics is important. If the difference in opinion is due to false information or lack of understanding, it can be reduced through a civil and educational discussion. One thing I’ve personally noticed through this is that everyone is passionate. However, sometimes passion can come off as aggression, which may not lead to the creation of new allies within your community. Some people may just need a discussion about these topics to see life and their opinions through a different lens.

Monetarily, there are various organizations that you can donate to: such as your local NAACP, the George Floyd Memorial fund, ACLU, your local bail fund organizations, as well as a multitude of organizations. A larger list is here. You can also patronize locally owned black businesses. A quick google search for your area would suffice. In Seattle, I love Amy’s Merkato (Ethiopian), Delish (Ethiopian), Plum (vegan), and the Original Philly’s.

Why are these protests so violent?

The media needs views in order to turn a profit from the fifty ads you see on your screen. Scary photos and headlines are what drives traffic to their sites. A majority of the protests are non violent and completely peaceful. In fact, some corporations that were videoed being looted such as Target and Nike have come out in support of the protests; as they believe that their financial loses can be recuperated while the lives of those lost cannot. Gandhi Mahal, an Indian restaurant burned in Minneapolis wrote:

Thank you to everyone for checking in. Sadly Gandhi Mahal has caught fire and has been damaged. We won’t loose hope though, I am so greatful for our neighbors who did their best to stand guard and protect Gandhi Mahal, Youre efforts won’t go unrecognized. Don’t worry about us, we will rebuild and we will recover. This is Hafsa, Ruhel’s daughter writing, as I am sitting next to my dad watching the news, I hear him say on the phone; “ let my building burn, Justice needs to be served, put those officers in jail”. Gandhi Mahal May have felt the flames last night, but our firey drive to help protect and stand with our community will never die! Peace be with everyone. #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd #BLM

That being said, not everyone has shared the same sentiment. It’s fair for small business owners to not want their livelihoods up in flames or ransacked, especially as COVID has hit them hard. While I’m not telling anyone how they should feel about this, I will impart this knowledge. There are those not with the movement who are using it as a means of satisfying their own goals, and there are those who are openly vandalizing and looting stores to try to delegitimize the movement. Do not think that every person in these protests is there for the right reasons, and do not think that the actions of a few speak for the peaceful actions of the majority. White supremacists do go to protests in order to accelerate civil disorder and foster polarization (division of people into two sharply contrasting groups). Jason Mason, a prominent Neo-Nazi is even quoted in his book saying that they must “FAN THE FLAMES!”

What is systemic oppression?

I’m going to break this up into 2 main topics. Redlining and Mass Incarceration.

Redlining was how many lenders for loans drew literal red lines around neighborhoods that they believed were at a higher risk of default (not being able to pay back their loans). Many of these identified areas were largely Black and Hispanic communities. This only left members of these communities with very expensive loans, or none at all. They were unable to secure homeownership due to this, which is known to be the number-one method of accumulating wealth. Without wealth accumulation and investment in their communities both on a governmental and individual level, services such as education, law enforcement, public health, and other public services in these areas were left underfunded and understaffed in comparison to those in white communities. Today, 80 years later, we still see the effects of redlining not only financially, but also in relation to health.

Neighborhoods that were redlined have higher levels of pollutants in the air as studies have shown that “people of color are exposed to 38 percent higher levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) outdoor air pollution compared to white people.” The article further states:

The health impacts from the difference in levels between whites and nonwhites found in the study are substantial. For example, researchers estimate that if nonwhites breathed the lower NO2 levels experienced by whites, it would prevent 7,000 deaths from heart disease alone among nonwhites each year.

In the case of Louisiana, petrochemical companies were approved to have facilities closer to redlined areas. This has resulted in the creation of their “Cancer Alley.” A 85 mile stretch of land, where residents are 50 times more likely to have cancer than an average American. About 150 facilities line the area, which equates to about 1 facility per 656 residents. A larger article can be found here. End Death Alley is an organization working to prevent further creation of facilities along Cancer Alley.

Mass Incarceration is the act of putting a large number of people in jail. This is a large issue in the US, as the number has exponentially grown within the past few decades. The US only accounts for 4% of the world’s population, but we have over 20% of the global prison population. And within this prison population, the largest demographic are African Americans. Statistics show that African Americans are arrested more often for the same crimes committed by White Americans, and their sentences are often longer. On top of this, African Americans who have had to deal with systemic financial oppression are asked to pay a cash bail that they cannot afford. Bail is basically an exchange of money for freedom while awaiting a trial. The court will hold the money until all proceedings and trials are finished. While by definition this may sound like a simple deposit, it directly takes advantage of people who do not have the means to pay it. If one cannot post bail they must stay in jail while waiting trial, and trial doesn’t just come the next day. For some, they must wait over a year to even see their first trial. People lose jobs, businesses, houses, and lives before they can even be proven innocent in a court of law. In these cases, they’re proven guilty before being proven innocent. Many under these circumstances take plea bargains to get out of jail faster, and live with felonies that can keep them from receiving housing assistance, food stamps, cash assistance and jobs. But when faced with a hard decision of spending months in jail away from family (with many having the possibility of losing custody of their children), or receiving this mark on their record, those accused have their lives torn away either way. This is why many bail fund organizations are asking for donations. Many right now are working to get peaceful protesters out of jail, which is a tedious process. If you’d like to donate to a bail fund, I’d suggest looking at your local organizations.

What happened in LA in 1992?

In 1991 Rodney King, an unarmed black man, was ordered out of his car following a high speed car chase. 4 officers from LAPD then kicked and beat him repeatedly with batons for 15 minutes as other officers watched. No one went to intervene. King’s injuries resulted in a skull fracture, broken bones and teeth, and permanent brain damage. A man who happened to be filming outside his house caught the incident on tape. Back then, this was unheard of since common video cameras were inconveniently large and couldn’t record long periods of time. The tape was shown across the country as everyone was able to witness King being beaten within an inch of his life. The 4 officers, Koon, Briseno, Wind, and Powell were charged for excessive force. However, instead of having their trial in LA, they were tried in the suburb in Ventura. Ventura in relation to LA had a higher median income, and had less POC (people of color) as residents. In 1992, a jury consisting of 9 white people, 1 latino, and 1 asian person found them not guilty.

The same month Rodney King was beat, Latasha Harlins, a 15 year old black girl, was shot and killed by a store owner, Soon Ja Du, in Southern LA. Harlins was carrying cash in her hand and was buying a bottle of orange juice. After Du confronted her thinking she was stealing, they were involved in a scuffle. As Harlins went to leave the store and left the orange juice at the counter, Du took out a gun and shot her in the back of the head. The entire incident was caught on tape by a security camera. Du was tried and only received 5 years of probation, 400 hours of community service, and a fine. Tensions boiled over as Koreans that had recently immigrated were running successful businesses with mainly black customers while also being able to exploit the unfair criminal justice system that undervalued black lives. Riots broke out, as stores were looted, lit on fire, and burned to the ground. Some people may be familiar with the term Rooftop Koreans. Korean store owners who owned guns took to the roofs of businesses in order to try keep looters and rioters at bay. This was largely due to the complete inaction of the LAPD. Calls to 911 went unanswered, as LAPD’s presence was nonexistent since almost all calls were coming from POC.

After five days of unrest, more than 50 people were killed, 6,000 people arrested, and 2,000 businesses damaged or destroyed. A city wide curfew was put into effect from sunrise to sunset and many residents couldn’t go to work or school. After about a week the rioting and looting stopped and residents slowly went back to daily life. However, the social issues plaguing African Americans were exposed and a string of similar encounters would be filmed for years to come.

What preferential treatment is given to police officers in the US?

So a lot of this depends on the state, as bills related to this are mostly passed at a state level. However, this is a clear pattern of a lack of transparency. In NY specifically, under section 50-A of the their Civil Rights Law, they classify all personnel records of police officers, firefighters, and correction officers. Basically, this means if anyone wants to read complaints, misconduct records, or further records of a police officer, they’d need to get permission from said police officer. This not only pertains towards an inquiry from the general public, but also inquires from a court of law. A bill at the state level is currently in motion to repeal this. That being said, in general in all states it is hard for a member of the general public to get records of police officers and to make a complaint about repeated offenses. Only being able to file a single complaint without context of past behavior and complaints can easily be ignored by commanding officers and other leaders in their organization. If you visit the webpage of your local ACLU, you can find more information on police transparency and accountability. Color of Change currently has an online petition for better police accountability if you’re interested in learning more.

Country wide though, there is a large shield that protects police officers from civil lawsuits. It’s called Qualified Immunity. It states that it must be proved that a constitutional right was obviously violated — and that there were official laws that would have made their actions clearly excessive. This second step kills most cases. In Brooks v City of Seattle — a 7 month pregnant woman who was driving at 30 MPH in a 20MPH zone refused to sign a speeding ticket. The only other person with her was her 11 year old son as they were being confronted by two police men. She was tased three times in under a minute. While it was obviously unconstitutional to be tased three times, the Ninth circuit held that there were no laws that made it obvious to the police officers that they were violating her constitutional right by tasing her three times. Officers can also say that they made a reasonable mistake about facts. Representative Justin Amash (L-Michigan) is readying a bill to end qualified immunity. If you feel strongly about this topic, contact your local representatives and make sure your voice is heard.

Overall, sweeping changes or reform can be hard in relation to law enforcement due to their well funded and politically powerful unions. Police unions have been known to advocate for hearings to be behind closed doors, and have made complete implementation of former reforms difficult. Police unions have written labor contracts that bar law enforcement agencies across the country from immediately interrogating or firing officers after egregious acts of misconduct. Mayors can have talks and meetings about further reform of police conduct and training, but in the end these conversations end with the police union. Talk to your representatives and also talk to your local labor coalitions (sort of a union of all unions) to understand the current state of your local police unions.

How can we defund the police, won’t we live in completely anarchy?

There seems to be a bit of confusion around this topic. The intent isn’t to completely defund the police. It is instead promoting allocating some of their 500M — 6B budgets towards community based solutions to combat rising crime in communities. In addition to sweeping police reform, this movement looks towards allocating more money toward social services, mental health care services, etc. that can provide services that aren’t police related as well as increase budgets for education, healthcare, youth programs, and community programs. There have already been attempts at de-escalation training, riot training, and mental health first-aid, but their results are questionable. Perhaps instead of sending law enforcement to homeless camps, the government can fund social workers that can work closely with homeless peoples to get them into shelters or other forms of temporary housing. Social services has long been an underfunded and heavily overworked section of the government that hasn’t been given as much attention as law enforcement overall. Perhaps shifting funding from law enforcement to social services can more effectively combat our mental health and drug abuse crisis.

If like me, you live in a city that wants more to be done in regards to homelessness as violent crimes lower and property crimes increase, then the case for more social service funding seems very strong. Many people echo NY state Senator Julia Sazaar’s view:

I think we need to consider a divest/invest model. When we look at their resources, and how they’re deploying them violently and recklessly, it makes the case even stronger for reducing their budget, and then using those funds for social services, and specifically for things that New Yorkers would want the police to do but the police are not currently doing: harm reduction, community-based public safety.

Not only is this movement (although there are various forms of it) calling for a reallocation of funds, they’re also calling for a removal of ticket and arrest quotas as well as a limit to the amount of funding municipalities can obtain from fines and fees. These policies contribute to racial profiling, as police officers go to primarily black and latinx communities to fulfill their quotas. More details on this as well as a petition can be found here.

What liberties did we all gain due to the efforts MLK and the Civil Rights Movement?

The movement not only ended segregation, but it also introduced the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which abolished literacy tests that targeted to disenfranchise (to remove the right to vote) racial minorities. Section 2 of the act also required jurisdictions with a significant language minority to have bilingual ballots and voting material. My own home state of Hawaii has its entire election site translated in both Chinese and Ilocano.

We also gained the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which got rid of immigration racial quotas. This lifted the Immigration Act of 1924, which had limited immigration visas to 2% of existing populations based on the 1890 national census in order “preserve the ideal of American [Protestant Northwestern European] homogeneity.” A majority of immigrants of Hispanic and Asian descent immigrated after this act. Immigrants that weren’t from Northwest Europe also benefited from this: such as Italians, Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Latvians, and many more.

Conclusion

The judicial system and law enforcement (and society in general as a whole) has shown time and time again that they see black lives as more expendable and less deserving than the lives of other races and ethnicities. The BLM movement is to draw attention to this — to show that their communities are being decimated and that America needs to change. BLM isn’t saying that ONLY black lives matter. It’s highlighting the years of systemic racism and oppression that has affected black people in the US that continues to the present day. I hope you’ve furthered your education with me, and that you continue on your journey past here. Thank you.