Over the past couple of months, Aida has been a part of the NCAAT team as a youth intern. She’s done so much during her time here, with one of her most notable accomplishments being the personal project she worked on throughout the internship. Her personal project, “Asian x Black Solidarity and the South: Past…
I remember applying for a leadership position alongside a white male friend. When the results came out that I was chosen and he was not, there was no congratulations. Instead, he told me, a Chinese American woman, “They probably didn’t choose me because I’m a white male and they’re looking for more diverse applicants.” As…
During the long 60’s, the term “Asian American” meant something different than it does today. It wasn’t just a demographic category, it denoted a sense of pan-Asian identity that united Asians in both the homelands and America in the struggle against racism, colonialism, and imperialism. But it also united us with other oppressed communities within the United States.
As an East and Southeast Asian woman, I have been subjected to fetishization from men because of my race. Fetishization for East and Southeast Asian women can be also known as “yellow fever.” While this nickname is more recent, the fetishization of women like me has been around for a far longer time.
I’ve always thought of myself as a creative person, but you wouldn’t know that if you’ve encountered me during my undergraduate years. My time spent at UNC-Chapel Hill has been consumed by a deep dive into service, student organizing, and becoming involved with various political and civic engagement-related initiatives. Over the past three years, any impulse to write a story or poem was pushed down for the sake of “productivity” — with studying, work, or meetings always taking precedent. As I head into my final year as an undergraduate, I’m realizing what a misstep ignoring my creative impulses was. Storytelling provides so much opportunity for both expression and advocacy.
North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT) asks our Asian American community members to join us in permanent solidarity with Black communities. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmad Arbery. Akai Gurley. Trayvon Martin. Sandra Bland. Alton Sterling. Philandro Castille. Tamir Rice. Aiyana Jones. Akiel Jenkins. Tony McDade. These are but a few of the endless list…