diabola @diabola@fandom.ink

#ThisThread on the problem of Asia America “finding voice” in Black American culture. https://twitter.com/arthur_affect/status/1439354650310836228

中秋節 is actually on Tuesday but I know from company emails and my TL that SO MANY PEOPLE are having a four-day weekend and 1) I am jealous and 2) so gonna have mooncakes tonight.

Building our identities, cultures, and confidence is hard. But it's the only way out of this white supremacist anti-Black mess Asia America is in right now.

We have to save ourselves. There is no other way.

But again, Asia America already has so much to offer, to other people and to ourselves. We have to build our cultural foundations, instead of longing for other cultures that we don't belong to or don't accept us.

Asia America constantly has white supremacy tell us that we don't belong AND Asia tell us that we're not authentic enough. It's a really fucked up place to be.

I suspect that Asia America has a problem with accepting our cultures due to the Perpetual Foreigner racist trope and the insecurity from being diaspora.

I get it. I've struggled with those feelings, too.

"I'm showing appreciation!!"

No, you're not. Stop it.

"But what about cultural exchange?"

If you don't have a group of Black friends, it's not.

The response to lack of representation and inclusion isn't to co-opt another culture but to DEMAND space for representation from the RULING CLASS (aka white people).

Asia American activism is more than fighting for representation but it seems like we have to grapple with this issue because there are people struggling with the lack of visibility in a VERY bad way.

Asia America isn't even lacking on culture! Our cultures weren't LITERALLY DESTROYED AND STOLEN from us! We have so much great food, music, fashion, and festivals! We can take our customs and evolve them!

Just apply the reasoning behind why it's inappropriate for white people to appropriate Asian culture to why it's inappropriate for Asian Americans to appropriate Black American culture.

"Hip-hop and Black culture speak to me as a person of color facing oppression by white people!"

Okay, look. I get it. White supremacy sucks. Asia America isn't broadly represented in US media. But the suffering of Black America isn't for Asia America to co-opt.

The former is selling yourself into white supremacy (or survival, depending on context) but the latter is straight up anti-Black cultural appropriation.

It's time we face these facts.

Asia America gets super mad when other people appropriate our cultures but damn we love pretending to be white or Black.

Someone left a pair of underwear on the Orange Line. #MBTA

Sometimes the violence within our own racialized communities is not from capitalism or white supremacy.

Scientists created the world's whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/17/whitest-paint-created-global-warming/8378579002/

It's a Kickstarter for a semi-cooperative game about being revolutionaries overthrowing imperial forces. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zainmemon/shasn-azadi-what-will-freedom-cost

My friend @thirdeyefell@twitter.com is demanding @BU_tweets@twitter.com to pay fair compensation for her performance at the BU Arts Women and Masks Conference. Please sign this petition and spread the word! Artists should be paid!

http://chng.it/2yFHQjRF

#whatsArtEquity #masksOffPayPerformers

.@johnmtowey@twitter.com was like “you’re such a hot chick with all your posing” and I was like “yeah??? so???? you complaining???”