Upon hearing this prompt, I had a few ideas pop into my head. They all revolved around the idea of "Yellow Peril supports Black Power", Asian Americans supporting Black Lives. With all the events that have been happening all around the nation, I value and look to the Black Lives Matter movement for information, solidarity, and hope. This lead me to think about how important it was for Asian Americans, or any other minority group, to show support for the BLM movement. For Asian Americans, especially, I feel it’s very important for us to show support, because we are often (problematically) seen as the “model minority” which perpetuates a fake standard of good behavior for other minorities. This “model minority” myth offers Asian Americans safety and security in situations where the majority do not suspect Asian Americans criminals.
When the Asian American community was divided over the Peter Liang/Akai Gurley case, it made me realize how important it was for me to show my support for the BLM movement. As a self-identifying Asian American, I need to show my support to show that Asian Americans support black lives no matter what ethnicity the police officer in question is.
During my journey, I have had many doubts in how I can help without taking up too much space in a movement that is not about me. I find myself sharing this similar question with my fellow Asian American peers.
This past summer, an article was posted titles, “You’re Asian Right? Why Are You Even Here?” which talked about an Asian American news reporter who when to cover a story on the BLM and witnessed the protestors run after the news reporter’s white colleague but let the news reporter go. At this demonstration, the news reporter was asked what he was doing there, as an Asian American. This question is such a strong one and it is one that I constantly ask myself.
This piece allows me to explore the feelings I have related to my positionality as an Asian American female identifying person in the BLM movement as well as this current society that we live in. A mixture of feelings of doubt, uselessness, determination, and purpose.
I was reminded of the history of Yellow Power for Black Power and began looking around for imagery that I would want to use. I have seen these images before, but now I was looking for something that I could use as inspiration.
The two images that I have pulled inspiration from are:
- one of a little girl holding a sign that reads “Power to the People, Black Power to Black People, Yellow Power to Yellow People” from 1969
- one of a woman holding a sign that says “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power” at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the recent years.
In my depiction of these subjects, I decided to erase what the signs said. I hope to offer audience a sense of doubt and questioning on what these two people are actually fighting for to go along with the title question of the article.
But I wanted to instill a sense of understanding and purpose into this piece, so I allowed for the older woman to look more confident and strong. I titled the piece “In Case”. This is a reference to a line from the Pokemon 2000 film.
When Ash asks Lugia, during the final battle scene, why all the other pokemon on standing on the ice watching the battle, Lugia responds with “Because they feel they must be here, in case they are needed.” This quotes speaks to me in this situation because that is how I often times find myself feeling. I know that I must support BLM, I’m not sure what I can do, but in case I am needed - I am ready and I am here.
The following are the two main sources of inspiration for this piece:
(Source: http://heavenrants.tumblr.com/post/15646553310/yellow-power-to-yellow-people-in-front-of-court )
During my research I am across a lot of imagery that I found very empowering and emotional to me and these have also served as a source of inspiration:
(Richard Aoki at a Black Panther Party Rally in 1968)
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