Anti-Asian Violence w/ Dr. Jennifer Ho, Marla Teyolia & Kim Trinh

From Woke to Work: The Anti-Racist Journey

A black square on Instagram doesn’t make you an anti-racist, but there is a path to follow. Welcome to From Woke to Work, the Anti-Racist Journey, a podcast created and hosted by Kamala Ávila-Salmon, with the mission to make an impactful dent in people’s understand of how to actually combat racism. Whether you’re an ally ready to take action or a black person with a bunch of ally-related questions, this podcast will draw a clear path for you to follow towards true anti-racism.

Kamala is back at the mic, sooner than anticipated, to do her part in helping us have the conversations we need in order to advance racial justice. “Enough is enough!” and #StopAsianHate. To be clear- what is happening to Asians and Asian-American people in our country right now is not okay. While this podcast centered stories around Black experiences and anti-Blackness specifically, the goal is anti-racism and effective allyship and that applies to ALL of us. This is a goal that is truly universal because White supremacy attacks all people of color for the purpose of advancing and elevating Whiteness, period.

To share the mic and have a discussion, she invited some really extraordinary guests. First up is Marla Teyolia, a first generation Mexican woman who is the CEO and Founder of Culture Shift Agency. Next is Kim Trin, her friend and former colleague, who is the embodiment of a co-conspirator and a practitioner of cross-racial solidarity and advocacy. Finally, we are beyond privileged to have Dr. Jennifer Ho, the daughter of a refugee father from China and an immigrant mother from Jamaica; she is the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she also holds an appointment as Professor of Ethnic Studies.

Enjoy this powerful, necessary discussion.

Jump straight into:

(00:45) - The spike in violence and discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans - “White supremacy attacks all people of color for the simple purpose of advancing and elevating whiteness.”

(04:11) - Cross-racial nuances: 3 important facts you NEED to understand - “We have a common enemy and it is not each other. That is yet another one of the lies of white supremacy.”

(07:09) - Asian-hate is old news: Why is it getting media attention now? - “It's always going to be a matter of keeping us obedient and ensuring that if we knew that we were important enough to have an opinion that should be heard, we would become too loud for white supremacy to be able to drown us out.”

(13:31) - Why is it so hard to stand with Asian-Americans? - “White society has such a limited attention span and so if they're not talking about black people anymore then we're forgotten, and now they're talking about this other group.”

(20:23) - The Model Minority Myth is not a compliment, it’s a disservice - “The model minority myth is trying to drive a racial wedge between Asian-American and Pacific Islanders and black indigenous and Latin X people.”

(24:51) - The reasons we don´t know about the historical cooperation and coalition between black and Asian communities - “We have bought into this idea that Asians and Asian-Americans are good, they are accepted, they are where we're trying to get to and they're blocking us.”

(33:33) - White people need to do the work about racism at the workplace - “What you're actually afraid of is not the rejection of people of color, you're afraid of the rejection of white people.”

(42:22) - What’s it like living in this moment being an Asian American woman - “I'm just worried. My mother goes out to get her morning cup of coffee, will she return? Will she be harassed?.”

(47:38) - Flex your antiracist muscle: The interconnectedness of the Black Lives Matter movement and the Stop Asian Hate movement - “If you're going to really show up and roll up your sleeves and do this work, it is painful, uncomfortable work, and mistakes will get made.”

(52:45) - How to un-drown ourselves from the effects of patriarchy and white supremacy - “White supremacy has us dreading water and it’s exhausting. Everything feels so heavy on our mind, on our body and our spirit.”

Resources

Follow Kim on Instagram

Follow Dr. Jen on Twitter

Follow Marla on Instagram and check our Culture Shift’s website

The Model Minority Myth

“Anti-Asian racism, black lives matter, and COVID-19” by Dr. Ho