'Let's Admit It: Anti-Blackness Racism Is Instilled In Asian-Based Families & Communities'

By Waiching

In 2018, CCTV now under the synonym CGTN for China Global Television Network, a TV channel that is the mouthpiece for the Chinese communist government aired a variety show, the Spring Festival Gala which airs yearly in China that featured a Chinese actress in Blackface and a Black actor playing a monkey. 

It's the painful truth, but that is the truth sadly - and one many elder generations of Asians, especially our parents will deny, and when they say stuff like how Black people are this and that, that is when I end the conversation because there is no point in me educating them and telling them to stop thinking along the lines of this, as they will never change and dismantle their prejudice and narrow-minded attitudes and beliefs that have been ingrained in many immigrant minds, as much as a leopard never changes its spots. They are clearly racist and being discriminatory. They are ignorant, they choose to be ignorant, but that is their decision and their fault that they choose to be this way. I had to let it go: I can't change them -, but then they don't want to change, and so, why bother making them change their ways? 

Because they sure as hell won't listen. But I don't care, because that is not me, and nor do I let it affect the way I treat others outside of my race/ethnicity, and most of all, unlike them, I don't judge or base my opinions on people, based on who or what they look like on the outside. Why should it matter if they are Black or any other ethnicity, or if they are gay, lesbian, disabled? 

I swear, every time my parents would come up with excuses or say things that were on the verge of troublesome based on stereotypes, I would roll my eyes and pretend I didn't hear the bull**** that came out of their mouths. Like many immigrant parents, mines arrived in the UK from China and Hong Kong seeking a better life and understood, somewhat, of the hardships and struggles to succeed as a minority, as Chinese people. From 'fears' of being in a biracial relationship with a Black or White person, or indeed anyone outside of Asian origin, fears of being mugged and robbed on the street at night and millions of other reasons, some that are unfounded, therein lies deep-seated biases within our community and a hugely problematic issue of division between Chinese people born in China or Hong Kong, and Chinese people born in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and other places, as well as other East and South Asians through the use of our cultures and the so-called model minority status to rationalise racism against people of Black origin. 

And alas, we come to the model minority myth: a myth, a concept, with which has no real foundation or basis, because it was and is built to demean, ridicule Blacks and other minority groups and in saying 'we are better than all of you White, Black, Latino etc folks, because we work hard, are law-abiding and have strong family values'. This same rhetoric has been used over and over by both racist Whites and Asians and blaming the Black community for its oppression, its struggles and woes and in not overcoming them. It is saying that if Black people and other minorities haven't worked hard to get to where they are and where they want to be, that is nobody else's fault but their own. If Blacks obeyed the law, they wouldn't be arrested and in jail. If we, as in Asians, want to succeed, we must side with the dominant & prosperous culture; i.e. the Whites and to reject the subordinate one; i.e. the Blacks. Although we can't compare our experiences in terms of institutional racism and years of slavery with Blacks, many of us have experienced racism at least once in our lives.

I think we can say and agree that as Asians and in reference to the younger generations, our parents' racism is vigorously entrenched in their own sense of pride and respect of being hardworking immigrants who didn't rely on the state or government or anyone for help - the, in their own words, 'we didn't rely on handouts and freebies or charity to be successful and to get through life...so why should we help others if they (the Blacks, the poor) don't make an effort to help themselves?' rationale. That is the Asian mentality and one that bothers me a great deal. Asian cultures are built on respect for elders, their mothers, fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers and the insistence of hard work, prosperity, respect for leaders and those in authoritative positions and family allegiance. It can also be difficult if one can't speak and communicate in their parent's language fluently.

20. Asian American parents are obsessed with education in part because they see it as a protective shield in a racist society.

— Jeff Guo (@_jeffguo) April 15, 2017

But then I realised that my Asian community, my Asian identity which is supplemented by my British identity, as much as it partly makes me who I am, it also emphasises aspects of Chinese culture that I don't agree with and nor do I buy into, and again a lot of that had to do with the model minority & Asian tiger parents - tropes. As Jeff Guo rightly points out, many Asian parents are so preoccupied with education, because for them it acts as a defence mechanism against racist people when Asian kids are confronted by or experience racism - and yet this same tool is used and as an 'excuse' by Asian parents and many Asians to vindicate and validate racism towards other people who aren't the same race as them. 

Asians are heavily stereotyped as being highly intelligent and being well-educated in their academic studies in school, college and university, - and yet many ( and not all) of them choose not to educate themselves to be open-minded, tolerant and understanding when it comes to race, culture, ethnicity and people of other nationalities. 

What struck a nerve, as well as a sense of fury amongst the Asian people was seeing that an Asian cop, Tou Thao, an Asian man was an accomplice to the perpetrator of the beating of George Floyd: just seeing him, and a person who looks similar to other East Asians, appearance-wise, with his back turned and not intervening to stop the abuse, was sickening to me. It was also something that was overlooked by many media sources and reporters, although it was picked up by some people who were aware of who was involved in the attack. 

(left: mural of Houston-Born George Floyd in Stevenson Square in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK - image by Joe McGrath)

Just a couple of months ago, this year, the East Asian community, particularly the British Chinese, the Asian American, Chinese Canadian and Chinese Australian communities bore the brunt of racist acts and racist backlash, in the wake of COVID-19 aka the Coronavirus, which has been nothing but been on nearly everyone's mind, ever since the outbreak that was reported in Wuhan, China. & now what with the senseless killing and murder of George Floyd, it's not just the issue of institutionalised racism and the role of the police within it; some Asians are aggrieved that one of their groups are discriminated against, and they have brought it to their own attention to sense and feel it is necessary to blame and chastise the Black and African American communities... all because the guy who died was a Black man and all they perceived him as a criminal, a bad person... like all or most Black people they view in a xenophobic light, whilst overlooking that one of the murderers involved was Asian. 

For many years, institutionalised racism has been the main talking point when it comes to policing and other public and private sectors, industries and institutions, - yet at the same time, the model minority concept has been given a 'get out of jail card' and thus forth, is overlooked by general society in an attempt to downplay attempts and experiences of racism by and towards Asians. 

Many Asians rarely stand up for themselves, are passive and go about everything else as if it will all subside. No wonder Asians are deemed as subservient and submissive that speaking out is seen as not acceptable. No wonder that anti-blackness and White privilege go hand in hand and becomes rampant. & it's no wonder that anti-blackness is so embedded in Asian communities throughout (take for instance in China, a homogenous country and one where there have been reports of Black Africans and African Americans being forcefully evicted from their homes and denied service in restaurants, bars), as there is so much resentment due to affirmative action for Blacks & the touting of the model minority concept held in high regard when all it does is suppresses other minorities and pigeonholes Asians. 

And don't get me started on the hypocrisy.... how my parents complain about Black people being racist to Chinese people, and after that, 5 mins later they ramble and whine all types of hateful and racist bile about Blacks that comes out. 

In the wake of George Floyd's death and countless other unlawful and tragic deaths of Black people at the hands of police brutality & murderers & the ensuing global Black Lives Matter protests, taking place in the US to the UK and beyond, as Asians, we must seek to challenge, defy and defeat the tropes, to become more open-minded and to engage the way we think, treat and view minority groups in society and our consciousness to be wary of and recognising that racist attitudes, especially anti-blackness racism in traditional Asian communities exist, but at the same time, that we do not and must not take these on board ourselves and accept them as our owns and not to pass them onto the next generation of Asian Americans, Brits etc. 

During these eventful & challenging times such as COVID-19 and the ''Black Lives Matter'' movement right now, we need to be in solidarity with Blacks, emphasising and resonating with what they are going through and everybody else who has been affected in these circumstances, rather than to oppose them one way or another and to come out of these situations and the lessons we learn from these horrific & negative experiences, as well as social injustices that leave no stone unturned.