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Yellow PowerConflict, Complicity, & Coalition

1970s-80s Backlash Economic cycle of boom & bust blamed on radical

movements of 1960s; lower profits blamed on: Increased protections & wages for workers Too much democracy for Americans versus decrease in

corporate power “The ensuing corporate campaign was a ‘one-sided

class war’: plant closures in U.S. industries and transfer of production overseas, massive layoffs in remaining industries, shifts of capital investment from one region of the country to other regions and other parts of the globe, and demands by corporations for concessions in wages and benefits from workers in nearly every sector of the economy” (Omatsu 66)

“One-Sided Class War” Deregulation of industries & increased

outsourcing deindustrialization & loss of blue collar, middle class jobs

Austerity measures & “Trickle down theory of wealth” – cuts to taxes of higher incomes and cuts to social welfare programs that had helped poorest in society

“By 1990, nearly half of all African American children grew up in poverty” (Omatsu 67)

Poverty & social unrest blamed solely on “cultural” failings & lack of “strong” families Ex: Moynihan report

1980s & the Model Minority

Waning of radical, working-class nature of AA movement: Grassroots organizations

survive “one-sided class war” – cushion AA community while African American counterparts are targeted (Omatsu 70)

Influx of professionals (1965 Immigration Act) – increased class mobility in Asian America

The Racial Middleman

Many new AA immigrants dominate small businesses: “White flight” and black impoverishment Occupational downgrading and language barriers Informal economic support – clan, village, & community

financing Labor of family members and newly immigrated

AA occupies contradictory position in US racial projects as both model minority & racial threat “The Asian immigrant becomes a symbol of wealth – and

also greed; a symbol of hard work – and also materialism; a symbol of intelligence – and also arrogance; a symbol of self-reliance – and also selfishness and lack of community concern” (Omatsu 84).

The LA Riots 3/16/1991- Soon Ja Du

shoots Latasha Harlins 4/29/1992 – acquittal of 4

LAPD officers in beating of Rodney King

LA Riots last 6 days: 54 lives lost; 2,383 injured;

12,111 arrested 7,001 fires; 1,400 structures

destroyed; 3,100 businesses looted

Estimated damage of $1 billion – half in Koreatown

Interethnic Conflict & White Supremacy Interethnic conflicts can affirm racial projects that

are grounded in white supremacy White supremacy – systematic ideology that governs

recognition of rights, distribution of resources, and even possibilities for life and death (Bedi 184)

“’When a Vietnamese family is driven out of its home in a project by African American youth, that is white supremacy. When a Korean storeowner shoots an African American youth, that is white supremacy. When 33 percent of Latinos agreed with the statement, “Even given a chance, African Americans aren’t capable of getting ahead,” that too is white supremacy’” (Bedi 183, FN 10)

Conflict, Complicity, Coalition

Bedi suggests necessity of cross-ethnic coalition to combat interethnic conflict & white supremacy

Political coalition versus survival strategy of silence “Should Asian Americans downplay race

to stay in the ‘safe’ shadows of the white establishment? Or should they step out of the shadows and cast their lot with the more vulnerable position of minorities seeking civil rights? Was there a third, Asian American way that would take sides with neither?” (Zia 70)

Hard Questions

But will silence protect?

And, ultimately, isn’t silence complicity?

If we reject silence, then how does one build lasting coalition?

Questions

Why does Bedi argue that “law constructs race, and race shapes the criminal justice system”?

What are postracial politics? How are they potentially complicit in white supremacy?

Did coalitional politics fail in the Occupy Oakland movement? Why or why not?