Confronting Anti-Black Racism

June 1, 2020: Duke's Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program Stands in Solidarity with Black Lives to Confront Anti-Black Racism in Ourselves

Duke University’s Asian American & Disapora Studies Program (AADS) stands in solidarity with our Black students and communities in the fight against deep-seated violence of racism—structural and psychic— in this country, in ourselves, and around the world.

#BlackLivesMatter.

#NoJusticeNoPeace.

Full stop.

We urge each of us to take a stand. As Ibram X. Kendi powerfully reminds us in The American Nightmare, “there are only two choices: racist and anti-racist.” The choice to be an anti-racist means taking an active stance and speaking out even out of our own comfort zones. Let us do our part by learning, teaching, protesting, voting, donating, sharing, listening and/or supporting. We will update our website with further resources, including some powerful statements from our allied orgs and programs, and welcome other suggestions.

In solidarity,

AADS

June 1, 2020: ICS Statement in Solidarity with Protests

In solidarity with Black students, staff, and faculty who have called on Duke University to recognize and address the culture of anti-Blackness on campus and around the world, the Program in International Comparative Studies issues the following statement: 

We, the faculty of ICS, stand with protestors in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as those around the United States and the world, who have risen up in response to the brutal police murder of George Floyd, calling for an end to anti-Black violence; the systematic brutality of the police, particularly towards Black men and women; the deeply embedded structures of white supremacy present in this country; and the valuation of property and profit over lives. In this crucial moment, where people have taken to the streets en masse to protest police violence despite the potential threat to their personal safety and health, we are witnessing the desperation of a people fighting for their right to live. Those protesting in cities across this country and around the globe are members of our families and communities; they are OUR students. Thus, this crisis demands our immediate attention and engagement as participants in the collective struggle for freedom, equality, and justice. 

We recognize that Duke University was built on land stolen from the Indigenous Shakori and Catawba peoples. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students are deeply underrepresented at Duke, amongst students and faculty. We also recognize that though Duke has a proud tradition of Black activism, it also has a history of Black exclusion that continues into the present day, on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods throughout Durham. The ICS Program at Duke University stands in solidarity with its Black students, staff, and faculty, and commits itself to bearing witness, recording, documenting, and continually speaking out against these atrocities whenever and wherever they may arise.

*Below are some sources for further reading and viewing chosen by @IcsDuke faculty. They can also be viewed at https://twitter.com/IcsDuke/status/1267479576512520192
 


Resources 

UNC Department of Asian Studies Anti-Racist Toolkit

Toolkit Highlights:


“Enough is Enough: A 150 Year Performance Review of the Minneapolis Police Department”

A historical investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department that takes “the idea of police-free communities out of the realm of fantasy and place[s] it firmly in the public agenda as a practical necessity.”

26 Ways to be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets

Documentaries and Lectures

Of Black America: The Heritage of Slavery (documentary film - 1968)

“The Urgency of Intersectionality” Ted Talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw (2016)

Jason Osder, dir., Let the Fire Burn (made purely from archival footage, about the bombings of the MOVE complex in Philadelphia in the 1980s, a pivotal but now often forgotten episode of racist police violence in the 1980s)

Short Readings

James Baldwin, “A Report from Occupied Territory” (1966)

Robin D.G. Kelly, “Why We Won’t Wait,” Counterpunch (2014)

Elizabeth Hinton, “The Minneapolis Uprising in Context,” Boston Review (2020)

Claudia Rankine, “The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning” from the NYT Magazine in 2015.

Books, Book Chapters & Multi-Media

Jordan Camp and Christina Heatherton (eds), Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis led to Black Lives Matter (2016)

Angela Davis  et al. “We Have to Talk About Systemic Change.” In Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement  (2106)

Stuart Hall, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order (1978)

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation (2016)

Of Black America: The Heritage of Slavery (documentary film - 1968): https://youtu.be/A1EAY0RDDJQ

“Why We Won’t Wait” by Robin D. G. Kelley (2014): https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/25/why-we-wont-wait/

“The Urgency of Intersectionality” Ted Talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw (2016): https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality/up-next?language=en

Davis, Angela et al. 2016. “We Have to Talk About Systemic Change.” In Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, 31-50. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books

26 Ways to be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets: https://issuu.com/nlc.sf.2014/docs/beyondthestreets_final

Stuart Hall, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order

Jordan Camp and Christina Heatherton (eds), Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis led to Black Lives Matter

Claudia Rankine, “The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning” from the NYT Magazine in 2015.
 
Jason Osder, dir., “Let the Fire Burn” (documentary made purely from archival footage, about the bombings of the MOVE complex in Philadelphia in the 1980s, a pivotal but now often forgotten episode of racist police violence in the 1980s).

Documentary, Happy Birthday, Marsha: https://vimeo.com/145921994

Microsyllabus on Histories of Queer Radicalism: https://www.radicalhistoryreview.org/abusablepast/microsyllabus-histories-of-queer-radicalism/

“Against Co-optation: The Life of Marsha P. Johnson” by Maddox Wilson
https://www.leftvoice.org/against-co-optation-the-life-of-marsha-p-johnson

Stonewall Riots Readings: https://www.independent.com/2019/06/25/stonewall-riots-reading/

June 1, 2020: NCAAT Statement "we have a responsibility to be in solidarity with Black lives and confront anti-Black racism in ourselves"

We are writing today to call on you and the rest of our Asian American community to join us in solidarity with Black communities now and into the future. 

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmad Arbery. Akai Gurley. Trayvon Martin. Sandra Bland. Alton Sterling. Philandro Castille. Tamir Rice. Aiyana Jones. Akiel Jenkins. These are but few of the endless list of names whose lives have been and will continue to be taken by white supremacy and our own complicity in anti-Blackness. We support all efforts to address this systemic racism, knowing that there is never an ideal time to face this difficult reality. 

As an organization committed to supporting equity and justice for all, NCAAT recognizes the importance of working within a cross-racial, cross-ethnic framework focused on grassroots power and solidarity. Black activists — Black women and Black queer folks in particular — are, and have been, the trailblazers of the very values of democracy, representation, equity, and justice to which NCAAT has dedicated our work. Understanding this history is an important part of starting the conversations about anti-Blackness that need to take place in our own Asian American communities, with our families and friends. We invite you to reach out if you need support on how to have those conversations. 

We ask that you financially or otherwise support the efforts of Black organizers and activists, Black-led groups, and those who center Black communities and the liberation of Black people in their work, some of which are listed here:

In solidarity,

— The NCAAT team

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us via email at contact@ncaatogether.org.