Are We Allies? Black Americans vs Asian Americans | Middle Ground

you see my skin as dirty and you also see my culture is dirty and when people come over here and you start pressing me in my country that i helped build my family helped build i think a misconception that asian americans have about black americans is that we are violent rude lazy that we don't like or respect them george huang woke this morning to find his mini mall burned to the ground they just don't seem to have any respect for the black community if anything i'm not sure if there's enough knowledge about the asian-american culture to have a misconception if that makes sense one of the biggest things i wanted to address is how much anti-blackness is rooted in our culture sometimes it's very subtle but is very deeply rooted natasha harland's a black teenager is shot and killed by a korean store owner i think they have a lot of the quote-unquote good stereotypes and i feel like a lot of black people deal with a lot of bad quote-unquote stereotypes their oppression you know is horrible but asian oppression is also horrible you know asian people just want to hang out with asian people only trying to talk with them or whatever sometimes they would just look at me and just like ignore me [Music] my name is lynn i'm 30 years old i'm an actor and i'm also unemployed my name is faith i'm 21 and i'm currently an apprentice for a hair salon hi i'm tony i'm 35 a digital marketer and a podcaster hi my name's regina i'm 29 i currently work as a data engineer hi my name is taylor i'm 25 and i currently work as a program assistant for a non-profit what's up y'all my name is joseph i am 27 and i'm an actor musician activist and looking for work if you agree with the statement i want you to step forward in jfc i care about being accepted by white america being accepted in white culture um means i guess i'm not like discriminated in a heavy way and i think there is a level of comfort that i take in that um not that that doesn't mean i'm like going against like any other culture but it there is a comfort level and i think it's a privilege that i have that i'm able to be looked that way even though i'm a minority yeah i think it's a sad reality that i have to sit here literally only because i think currently white america runs our society and our system right and in order for me to benefit myself my family i need to align with that sometimes it actually gives me great anxiety when i step into a situation and i know i'm the only poc because then suddenly i am in my head as to how should i act to have a normal conversation a lot of the times when i'm in a group setting when everybody's asian especially asian people who only have asian friends 100 i know exactly i get this weird feeling that now you're going to label me as the white one and i hate that because i'm not white it's just a really weird identity crisis it's the first time in my life i've heard someone say exactly what i've been feeling for my entire life but yeah that's exactly how i feel about that i hope that you can release yourself from the shackles of that because you're never going to be and it i understand but you're never going to be accepted that's how they've set this country up and like as a black woman i gave up on that a long time ago because i know i'll never be accepted i grew up in a conservative white uh area it was such a big difference where i was like you know what i'm going to be the blackest person ever so for me it was one of those things of anti i had to learn how to be more respectful to their culture because i felt like they were traveling on mine so much i went the opposite almost militant black i have stereotyped the other side i'll be honest yeah so um i think asian people are cool personally right like i'll try to like hang with them or because i love learning culture so i'll try to like go and have conversations or whatever and sometimes it's just been like this more like standoffish like this is our group and you know we have our own like little thing going on and so i feel like for me i was like what like what's up with that right and so yeah i mean i've definitely had that pop into my head because it's something that you hear and then when you see it's like your brain automatically just pulls up that stereotype you know um i grew up in a predominantly east asian neighborhood arcadia in san gabriel valley but there's still this group of like old white families there they would say things and i would back in middle school like i would kind of repeat it not really understanding like oh asians are bad drivers i'd be like yeah asians are bad drivers and then i'm like no that's really racist would i feel comfortable about somebody saying something like that about black people like no i wouldn't so i kind of had to like correct myself my parents didn't hang out with anybody else than themselves because it's that immigrant mentality you kind of stick with each other to bring each other up because you feel as if you're other you want to succeed in america so if you've got a friend who is a mechanic you need your car fixed you're going to go to that guy because you speak the same language and so you're around the same kind of people i think that that definition of other is really scary because when you don't know what that other is you start to make up what you think that might be and that could be completely wrong a lesson i got when i was a kid from my dad was that your job is not to understand the culture but respect the culture and when i was young i didn't really realize what that meant but it had a profound impact on me and i never saw that i was different i wasn't treated i was different and i think this is a minority i don't think this is the case for everybody but for me because of that lesson before that i've had all throughout my life and when i got there i understood that as a culture and i respected it and i think there was a vibe that came from that too right i was able to receive and i was also able to give and i think because of that i was able to not have that as i grew older actually growing up i thought my brother was black um because he had a lot of black friends all i saw was his black friends all he hung out with so i would go to school and say hey i have a black brother you know trying to make bread like i was so adamant and then like that's an interesting way to make friends i'm just like okay i was like like eight or something i was like yeah my brother is black so i was like cool like i never had any bad ideas about black people it wasn't until i started like really watching the news that i learned oh my gosh like you know they're getting stereotyped for things that i've never even seen a black person do i feel like they think that we kind of have a superiority almost like white privilege but in reality we don't because we do struggle with the same issues i think some of my assumptions about asian americans are that they aren't necessarily fond of black people or if they're not they don't have any feeling one way or the other they just prefer to be with their own not that i felt them because that's how a lot of different races are 19 has hit my community harder in different ways okay because because kovit has hit the african-american community hard in regards to us as patients we are getting it the most we are dying from it the most i think it's hit us in that way but it's hit asian americans in the way that you all are experiencing a lot of overt racism that i think a lot of you may not have experienced before so i've been personally attacked verbally attacked by people for being asian you know did the protocol sit six feet apart but they asked me to move further away because they treated me like i was just a full-on virus i've seen my grandma get yelled at that i feel is our like is the asians experiencing what black people have experienced although it's not the same thing it's oh you're you're asian so you're a virus you know it's it's hard because i actually help a lot of small businesses and a lot of when i open their books and see what they can do i literally have to give them objectively you can't make it you have to pivot and they don't know how to do anything else right and i don't want to compare but these are immigrants who literally don't know how to do anything else so what are their opportunities next so from that perspective yeah i think our community has been hit harder i think i'm going to personally feel just because of what i've seen happen this whole year surrounding what's happened i'm going to feel like there's been more disadvantage um but i know people that have been equally disadvantaged in terms of you know you're not you're you know you're asian but you're not american you know and and putting covet on people are calling it the kung flu or the chinese virus you know these are these are things that that affect both of our communities when i first moved here i took advantage of the beach and i decided i'd wake up in the morning and go for a run someone walked by me and started saying something to me and i didn't hear him necessarily it was an older black man and he called me some racial slurs and had alluded to me being asian me being dirty and eating bats and i'm the cause of covet happening okay just me um i think it's true for me but it's it's i think i'm a special case given the fact of the industry i work in i work in the tech industry i face a lot of just rude comments ignorant comments and just unnecessary things that are said to me by asian people i've had a few asian co-workers that told me that the way that i talk is inappropriate that my tone and my voice is inappropriate for the workplace and i need to change that i need to become more americanized and he said don't worry nobody else is going to tell you that but i'm going to tell you that and i get that more from my asian co-workers and asian managers than i do my white co-workers so the only reason why i didn't come up and agree is because i have experienced a lot of racism from asians just because i lived in an asian neighborhood but i really think that's it i've lived in a white neighborhood predominantly white neighborhood i've lived in a predominantly east asian neighborhood and personally prefer living in a predominantly east asia neighborhood because in my experience they leave us alone like they're we're they're not necessarily like super neighborly but i'm not really looking for that like the racism i've experienced from white people is so much more like in your face it's uh hard for me to hear these things because as somebody who's also working you know i've worked at a tech company before and i'm always a manager in position and to have somebody talk to someone like that i i don't think our community as a whole this is not the representation i don't think they would give the same respect that you guys are giving and it's not right it's it's not right the fact that you can do that and give up the benefit of doubt is so kind it's um i don't think we deserve it and um yeah i overall think that asian communities are very racist not only racist against just there are a lot of inner racism there's a lot of southeast uh the south and east a racism that's prevalent there's clear black white there's racism a lot but the fact that we are getting the benefit of the death that i know that you guys have never been able to get from this culture and you guys are still having the compassion to do it really i think i think it's a very important discussion to have um especially i think as an asian american i've seen a lot of hypocrisy come from our side and i think i wanted to have an opportunity to talk in a safe form about it asian americans are more advantaged than black americans well we all agree yeah i mean um i kind of think um asian american privilege is white privilege i think a lot of my success and opportunities that i got was purely because of how people judge my skin color and ethnicity they thought i was smart they thought i spoke eloquently they thought i fit a minority profile into their culture whatever it may be but i've never had a negative stereotype which means i have an inherent advantage which is the whole principle of my privilege right so i think i'd be very disingenuous in saying that i didn't get a lot of my successes or opportunities just because i'm asian yeah i feel like there was that whole thing of good and bad stereotypes is really important i would love some of those like good stereotypes like when everybody thinks you're a thug or everyone thinks you're ghetto or everyone thinks that you're somebody's baby mama especially the age i'm at now like that are all negative stereotypes and does affect me it does affect me in the workplace i would love to work like walk into the workplace and everyone assume oh she's the smartest in the room or she went to a uc or whatever good stereotype that is associated with asian people i would love to have that and that's an advantage in some way because it allows you to have more opportunities where someone's making a quick judgment and they say okay who i'm going to work with if they don't know you they may pick that asian person because there's already those assumptions that's already there so i do feel like east asians actually have it better than southeast asians in terms of because we're darker you know it's all at the end of the day it's all in the skin tone yeah i would echo that i definitely think it's based off of skin tone if you're east asian chinese taiwanese korean you have in my opinion more advantages than someone who's filipino like my friend who was filipino told me oh we're the black people of asians so it's but i do think that asian americans have more advantages than black americans because simply you all didn't have to go through the system systemic oppression that african-americans have had to go through due to slavery absolutely i think the asian-americans that wouldn't be here right now and that would disagree are the people who bought into the model minority myth because that was basically brought on to us as a way to somehow align us with whiteness in the sense that yeah we're accepted for because we're smart and we're hard working and whatnot and although that's not that's all true it's also saying you're a good minority therefore there must be a bad minority right and so that's wedging when they want us we're on their side and then when they don't want us then they push us aside i wonder often as an asian leadership in a big company myself sometimes how people perceive of me because i i know that i'm articulate and i fit a lot of that stereotypes but i also have a feeling that there's a very negative side to it oh he's only this or he can only be this or he's perfect for this right exactly so that's a whole separate struggle but i would rather have much of that as a negative stereotype for me than a lot of the stereotypes i think black americans get on a daily day basis where that's not even an opportunity i think because there's such anti-blackness in the asian community even coming from asia there's already a bias when you have these first second generation there's already that bias there but then when they come here they're taught that black is bad white is good don't be like these people so you're already kind of forming this enemy type of trying to fit in yeah you're forming an enemy based on what you're hearing well i've heard asian people say on cool things to me because they're like oh you're black so you're going to steal they'll follow me or this look at me and i'm like am i going to steal 25 cents gum like i'm not going to risk it all for that right so i think it's just like that frustration of you seeing my skin as dirty and you also see my culture is dirty and then people come over here and you start pressing me in my country that i helped build my family helped build like it's that anger that's kind of there and i feel like that adds to the tension i don't believe asian americans are dumped on as much as african-americans are in america because they are a smaller minority they're not the first thing that comes to mind this one's hard because i think the pieces do the fact of not talking yeah i don't i don't think it's uh due to anything really but that is the fact that that's them over there and we're over here yeah i think we co-exist peacefully but that doesn't mean we're progressing together because we both are just minding our own business yeah but we really shouldn't be because we're both living in the same society that is oppressing both of us in different ways why can't we open that door have this conversation and try and help each other as far as like helping each other's businesses you know working together we never really see that and i'm hoping for more of that honestly okay so um i think we can co-exist peacefully i just don't think i've seen enough of it i think that the culture that we're living in right now everybody's trying to act like we've progressed so far beyond because we're seeing all this stuff on social media or there's certain things that are not socially acceptable but there's a problem with that because if we don't start talking about things that are potentially harmful that we have within us towards our neighbor right i can't love my neighbor effectively if i don't if i'm not honest with them i think we need to start having more of these controversial conversations and being able to say okay you know what i might have an offensive perspective but at the end of the day i need to get over that hump so i need to be honest with you about some things that i might have had in my life and in my past so that not only can i progress but i can grow this has been such like an eye-opener just to me because y'all some dope people for real like like y'all cool i'm blown away um by the compassion that y'all continue to have and i wish all asian americans and asians in general can learn from that and i truly believe that from the bottom of my heart [Music] you

Channel: Jubilee

Views: 852,482

Rating: 4.7679582 out of 5

Keywords: jubilee, jubilee media, jubilee project, middle ground, spectrum, odd man out, versus 1, embrace empathy, live deeper, love language, blind devotion

Id: pXo2ub_nZFc

Length: 20min 8sec (1208 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/foshouken]

Wow... those Asians have no idea who they are

[u/kad24601]

I think POC solidarity is important in combating white supremacy, but mutual understanding and respect for each other’s issues is key to allyship. The issues dividing the communities are incredibly intersectional and can’t be summed up in a 20 minute conversation, especially if one side goes into it without an open mind.

It was clear from the start that at least one person in the room did not enter the conversation to hear the other side out, but to unload their grievances and prejudice onto the other side.

I also question the takes of anyone who can claim there are some “good stereotypes” with a straight face.

[u/sugatwist]

Please, they should've taken almost anyone from this sub to represent Asian-Americans instead of the three they picked.

Edit: Holy fuck the Tony guy has particularly dangerous takes, claiming that "Asian privilege" (which doesn't exist) is analogous to white privilege, that "Asian communities are very racist," etc.

[u/sorrynoreply]

I don't know if those Asians really believe the crap they said or if they were just try to make the black people happy, but fuck that and fuck them.

[u/hongsi11]

that fat motherfucker is making my blood boil, cant believe i share an ethnicity with this cunt

[u/Junior-Code]

Let's downvote the vid.

[u/honeynutcheerio1]

These people definitely weren’t the best reps for Asian Americans but I agreed with most of what they were saying.

I think Asians and Blacks do and can coexist peacefully in the sense of “I’m over here, you’re over there.” And that’s perfectly fine honestly.

One thing however that Asian and Black people need to do whatever their differences is to unite against the white supremacy in the country. Now I know most of the people on this sub feel some type of ways with the Black on Asian crimes and I do too but I also understand it takes both sides to work together to break down white supremacy.

[u/Upper_Shallot_4768]

I think that these people chose the three most unwoke Asians they could find to make the three blacks in the room comfortable. Regina gives off a snobby vibe when she interacts with the three Asians. The fact that the three black people admitted that they believed in anti-Asian stereotypes and were laughing about it as they sat down tells me that they are racists. The black guy Joseph said that Asians gave him dirty looks when he tried to hang out with them but they only "hung out with other Asians," well blacks give Asian people dirty looks all the time and only hang out with other blacks, so what's his problem. I wish Linh spoke about the incident she had with the racist black man on the beach to the three black people she came face to face with. All in all, this just seems like emotional blackmail to me and just painful to watch.

[u/Paramoth]

Would have been great of they added South asians and Southeast asians.