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I was watching a video by an Asian pastor here in the Bay offering support for those in pain re: the recent attacks, & she said “it’s hard to be generous when you’re in grief”. Generous not as in excusing the violence. But as in not pulling for white supremacist solutions to it. https://twitter.com/whitney_hu/status/1358623319084453889
The very purpose of police is to protect white supremacy, meaning policing is fundamentally anti-Black. As Pastor Erna said: we participate in each other’s oppression (something white supremacy enjoys), but we don’t want to reach for the tools of white supremacy to combat it.
“So what do we do? Because violence is happening right now.” This is the part that Pastor Edna admits she doesn’t know the answers to yet, but that: “we have to give ourselves a chance to find a new solution. We have to give ourselves a chance to find different ways.”
I can see how that may be jarring to people in pain in our community right now. To hear that folks want alternatives to policing when all that is traditionally understood about justice (esp in the U.S.) is historically wrapped up in police being expected to give it to us.
When those of us who are saying “police don’t keep us safe” say that, it doesn’t mean “let the perpetrators experience zero consequences.” It’s saying “how can we hold ppl accountable w/o resorting to tools of white supremacy that historically: have never kept us safe?”
I live in Oakland (I’m from the city). When I was in Chinatown yesterday talking w/ @conniewunphd a/b everything, you know what she said was one of the things folks from Chinatown need right now? For ppl to come help clean it up. For ppl to be around to combat the neglect.
Instead, there are Asian celebs & influencers who are talking a/b flying into town to...I’m not actually sure, but grand gestures like that from ppl outside of the community don’t sustain & can be unproductive. You’re better off listening & following the lead of folks from here.
Also when I was there, it wasn’t just Asian ppl there: Black & Latinx & Pacific Islander (me hehe) folks were there. Cuz that’s the Bay. We pull up, strategize, & recognize that these incidents highlight a loooong history of tension between our people...rooted in white supremacy.
The sooner we can make that connection, the sooner we can be on the same page about what justice could mean. Does our justice focus only on catching the perpetrators, expecting it to end the violence? Or does it focus on preventing the violence from happening in the first place?
The latter is the harder one to commit to. Cuz it means reckoning w/ a painful history/truth of this violence in which some parts we’ve been complicit to, some parts we’ve been victims of, yet all of it stems from white supremacy’s investment in us attacking each other than them.
There are those who give zero fucks about any of this & just want the ppl locked up. As if prison has ever been a rehabilitation center for those who cause harm. Band aid “solutions” to decades long wounds. But it doesn’t matter cuz your conscience is clear, knowing they’re gone
But the violence isn’t gone. You let ppl give a cash reward for whoever has info on the perpetrator this time, but what a/b next time? Cuz you didn’t pay off the violence/the reasons it happens: you paid policing. You paid prisons. They have $. The most, actually. And yet.
I’ll pause here cuz Monday is Mondaying smh. I love y’all. I’m witnessing everything w/ y’all & its fucked up & painful, & you’re right, not enough folks know what’s going on here in our Bay Area Asian community. But I’ll leave you with something else Pastor Erna said:
It’s a myth of white supremacy to believe that there’s a scarcity in attention, care, and love for our Asian community. Like if this group is getting attention for their issues over there, there’s somehow not enough attention for our issues over here. It’s bullshit.
“There’s not enough liberation to go around if we believe it comes in the form of whatever white people are willing to dole out to us. I don’t believe our liberation is coming from whiteness. Our liberation comes from us and us working together.” -Pastor Erna
“If we believe it comes from white people, of course it’s not enough. Because they don’t want our liberation because they’re committed and aligned to white supremacy.” -Pastor Erna
Sometimes I see folks operate from “we were there for y’all, now we need you to be there for us.” That’s the scarcity myth that white supremacy wants us to believe is real. That we have to clock out of our solidarity to one another cuz we just can’t hold it at the same time
We should want to keep being there for other communities AND we want them to be there for us. I hope we never stop hearing about & showing up for Black folks and all the ways justice STILL has not been served to them by this country.
And in my life/community here in the Bay: Black (& other non-AAPI folks) are showing up. I’m in community w/ them every day. The question is: are you? From wherever you are? Build that in genuine ways. Grieve w/ those you trust. Pace yourself for the long run towards justice.
Here’s the IG link to Pastor Erna’s video. It’s really worth the listen so try to carve out 20 minutes today to take it in (shes @/ernakimhackett on IG): https://www.instagram.com/tv/CK97fMvF6oO/?igshid=ud5tggqf91i0
