Dear Asian Activists, Do Your Own Work
The recent brutality against Dr. David Dao on a United Airlines flight has stirred up emotions in regard to the double standard that people of color face in society, specifically at the hands of authority figures. Social media has allowed this story to be shared and discussed at rapid pace, leading to hashtags such as #BoycottUA and #DavidDao. While these hashtags help mobilize and organize movements, it is important for any would-be hashtagger to make sure the hashtags that they use are not problematic themselves.
Zhang Zishi, a Chinese student from the UK, created a petition requesting a federal investigation be launched as well as an apology issue and utilized the hashtag #ChineseLivesMatter. The hashtag is an obvious appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
So let’s break that down. Initially, it seems convenient and practical to create a variation of #BlackLivesMatter and build on the steam of an already powerful movement in order to gain traction and visibility. However, use of this hashtag co-opts the Black Lives Matter movement and centers the impact of white supremacy on Chinese and Chinese-Americans. The work of Black Lives Matter activists who have consistently reached out to non-black folks with support and solidarity is washed away with the intended purpose when you take the Black out of Black Lives Matter. Similar to those who have altered the hashtag to #AllLivesMatter or #BlueLivesMatter, Zhang fails to realize that #BlackLivesMatter does not mean JUST black lives, but recognizes the disproportionate impact of white supremacy on the black community.
Asians-Americans have a long history of working with the black community but have no inherent right to their labor and the entitlement that leads them to take from the black community is dangerous. #ChineseLivesMatter profits off of the work of black folks who started the Black Lives Matter movement in the face of unending police brutality and murder. Comparing Dao’s injury and forcible removal to the assault and murder of innumerable black and brown folks in the United States at the hands of law enforcement officials is reductive and damaging.
Asian marginalization looks different from that of black, latinx, and indigenous folk in the United States and worldwide, thus our activism needs to be different. Individuals in the Asian community needs to find their voice and tap into their own oppression and lived experiences to create visibility for Asian issues, instead of riding on the momentum of other movements. Using unoriginal riffs on an inspired idea does the Asian community a disservice as this continues to cast Asians as an afterthought in oppression while we simultaneously perpetuate harm towards the black community through ignorance, apathy and aggression.
The Asian community, in the United States and worldwide, also has an unfortunate history of profiting and co-opting black movements and culture as well not showing up in solidarity with other black and brown people of color. The deafening silence from so many Asian communities when a black person is brutalized or killed becomes even more apparent through the uproar when the victim is a fellow Asian. After blatantly disregarding the importance of black lives, how can the Asian community co-opt their movement?
Anti-blackness is rampant in Asian communities and the patterns of lateral oppression must stop. They have failed black people on many occasions, including protesting for Peter Liang but ignoring the black life of Akai Gurley and the attack on a black woman at a Missha beauty shop by an Asian shopkeeper. Asians need to educate themselves about and combat anti-blackness in their communities, their families, and in themselves. Letters for Black Lives is an great resource that can help Asian-Americans (and other non-black people of color) start conversations about why Black Lives Matter. We need to live up to the legacy of Yellow Peril supporting Black Power. In the meantime, get your own hashtag.
- Special thanks to Vivian Lu, Onyx Moore, and Alex Wilensky for their time and insight in proofreading.
