Let me just say that, for the past 19 years of my existence, there was nothing extraordinary I could say about myself. Yes, I took pride in being able to write. I took pride in enjoying to write. But I never once considered myself articulate and still don't.
Today, I can't even begin to articulate my depth of emotions for the Black community, but I will try anyway because I cannot remain silent. Each Black life lost is like another stab inside, and I'm fighting hard — like with any other tragedy — to not eventually become desensitized to it. I'm fighting hard to look past the numbers and instead think about every Black human being that had their life snatched away in cold blood by law enforcement that swear upon an oath to never betray their integrity, character and public trust.
I'm fighting hard to maintain my own integrity,and hold myself accountable of any anti-blackness I have internalized, as well as perpetuated. I'm fighting hard to address my own respective communities, my fellow South Asians and my fellow Muslims as a whole, on any anti-blackness they have internalized and/or perpetuated over the years.
As a South Asian, I can't even number the amount of times I've heard fellow aunties express their distrust and fear of dangerous looking kalos in the streets and subways, whose pants sagged and had eyes streaked with red. As a South Asian, I remember my fairly light skin being praised by my extended family and other aunties, while having those aunties complain to their children that they weren't as fosha as me.
Growing up South Asian in a predominantly South Asian community, I've heard the N-word being casually exchanged among others as a term of endearment. Growing up South Asian, I've used the word myself among my friends.
I've listened to music by Black artists. I've tried soul food. I've dabbed with friends just for the fun of it. How can I take and use bits and pieces of Black culture whenever I please and not even speak up once for them, not even stand with them however I can in solidarity for their ongoing oppression?
It took me a while to understand the model minority myth, and how it continues to perpetuate anti-blackness within our communities, the Asian American community in particular. It divides us as people of color that are supposed to stand in solidarity with one another due to shared resistance and similar struggle, but instead puts us on a false pedestal that makes us seemingly "better" than the Black community, who are constructed as the "problematic" minority. Not only that, it lumps us Asians into one big mush without any intersectionality whatsoever.
Not only do we revel in our assumed higher status from the Black community, we continue to perpetuate the anti-blackness by stigmatizing the Black community through our blatant disdain for darker skin, as well as how we're quick to defend the police in their actions against the victims (police that, in a slight but relevant tangent, is an extension of slavery and white supremacy in itself) and find a reason for their murder: "Maybe they shouldn't have done/said/acted _______." I myself have heard it many times in my own household.
This type of anti-blackness that we — willingly and unwillingly — internalize is a huge problem, and says a lot about communities like mine that will fiercely speak up for Dhaka, Istanbul, Baghdad, Yemen and Medina but not for Philando Castile. Or Freddie Gray. Or Tamir Rice. Or Sandra Bland. Or Eric Garner. All lives undoubtedly, unquestionably, matter - but to this day and age, black lives have not mattered in the face of our government, our laws created by and for upper class white men, law enforcement all across the nation, and our society in its entirety. As a working-class young Muslim Bangladeshi-American, I say and wholeheartedly believe that all lives will not matter unless black lives matter.
Now, I don't intend to sound like I'm straight out hating on law enforcement without any legitimate reason — especially in the wake of the five officers being killed at Dallas. I genuinely grieve for them, and the loss of life as a whole, but I am not talking about them specifically. I'm not talking about the individuals in the whole force (some of which, admirably, genuinely believe in integrity and call out injustice when they see it) nor the "bad apples" (who, by the way, have killed at least 136 black people in this year alone), but the entire systematic institution of the police force that is deeply rooted in racist and oppressive ideologies. I support police reform wholeheartedly, but not simply just a reform of mandates and policies but a reform of the whole institution itself that has continuously marginalized and harmed — much less disappointed — black people, queer and trans people, Muslims, women, immigrants, people with mental illnesses, and people of color.
Furthermore, if we were to ask ourselves, how do we actually combat anti-blackness in our communities, how would you be able to answer? Would you be able to say that you've done your part in addressing it in your homes, among your family, among your peers and religious institutions?
No. You wouldn't. But I wouldn't, either. You, and I (first and foremost), have a lot of work left to do. But I refuse to let go of hope. I dream and pray of a better world, in this life and in the next, but I promise to put action with my words and prayers as well. I promise to do as much as possible for the #blacklivesmatter movement. All I ask is that you, reader, will open your heart and mind and do the very same.
RESOURCES (not my own)
Links and Actionable Items for #blacklivesmatter Advocates
Reading List for non-Black Asians on Anti-Blackness
7 Books That Helped Me Understand Why Black Lives Matter
8 Songs That Express Why Black Lives Absolutely Matter
Check yourself and ask yourself these questions
Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves On Race and Racism
How to Be an Ally According to a Black Activist
#blacklivesmatter Toolkit For Muslims
Teach Muslim youth about #blacklivesmatter
It Starts at Home: Confronting Anti-Blackness in South Asian Communities
The Revolution Starts with My Thathi: Strategies for South Asians to Bring #BlackLivesMatter Home
On Confronting and Resisting Anti-Blackness in Ourselves & in Our Communities
Corinne Werder on the History of the Police
What To Do Instead of Calling the Police
