Asian-American Nationalism in the Age of Black Power, 1966-1975

The Formation of Asian-American Nationalism in the Age of Black Power, 1966-1975

Influence of Black Power Movement

• The Black Power movement significantly impacted the symbolism, rhetoric, and tactics of radical activism beyond the African-American community during the late 1960s.
• While the civil rights movement influenced emerging movements of women, gays, and others, the Black Power movement had a more visible influence on the radical activist struggles of Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans.
• By 1968, young Asian-American activists were impressed and inspired by the militancy, political analysis, organization, and symbolism of Black nationalists and Black Power advocates.
• The Black Panther Party was a major influence on burgeoning militants, experiencing rapid growth in 1968 with over thirty chapters across the country.
• The call for Black Power resonated in barrios and ghettos, leading to the creation of organizations such as the Brown Berets, Young Lords, Red Guard, and American Indian Movement.
• The Third World Liberation Front in the San Francisco Bay Area mobilized and inspired thousands of Asian-American students.
• Berkeley's Asian Student newspaper acknowledged the influence of Black students, noting they were the first to protest and demand societal transformation.

Early Asian Immigration and Discrimination

• The first major group of Asians to arrive in the United States were the Chinese, immigrating to western states in the mid-to-late nineteenth century as free laborers.
• Many worked on the railroad system or mined gold in California but faced anti-Chinese mob violence and rioting due to job competition with white workers.
• In 1852, California passed a "foreigners tax" targeting Chinese gold miners.
• Various anti-Chinese legislation was enacted, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese immigration.
• Japanese and Filipino immigrants faced similar racial discrimination and policies that limited their opportunities, particularly in the West.
• Asian immigration decreased significantly in the 1920s due to nativist laws.
• Forced into small communities with limited power, many Asian Americans avoided militant agitation. Some even petitioned courts for legal status as "whites" to avoid systemic oppression, but were unsuccessful.

Transformation and Activism in the late 1960s

• By the late 1960s, influenced by Black nationalism and Black Power, Asian-American militants transformed their public image, rejecting stereotypes and embracing radicalism.
• In 1968, the Asian-American Political Alliance (AAPA) was formed at UC Berkeley, uniting various Asian ethnic groups.
• Richard Aoki, a Japanese American and Black Panther Party field marshal, joined the AAPA after transferring to UC Berkeley and became its spokesperson.
• The AAPA developed close ties with the Black Panther Party and the Red Guard, an Asian-American organization modeled after the Panthers.
• They cosponsored demonstrations and panels advocating for justice for the Panthers and an end to "pig repression of the Vanguard Party."
• The AAPA organized students around university and community issues, demanding more faculty and students of color, an end to the Vietnam War and police brutality, and addressing the exploitation of Asian farmworkers.
• They scrutinized prospective Asian-American administrators, considering Asian ancestry insufficient for AAPA support.
• Activist Jack Wong criticized the Japanese-American acting president of San Francisco State College, calling him a "tool of the white power establishment" and an "Uncle Charlie."
• The AAPA declared an alliance with Chicano and Black students, affirming the right of self-definition and self-determination and supporting non-white liberation movements.
• Berkeley students worked in Agbayni Village, a rural retirement community for Filipino farmworkers, providing development work and advocating for farmworker rights.
• In 1973, the Asian Student Union formed a community committee to support issues in Chinatown, Manilatown, and Japantown.
• Asian-American student activists were visible in political discourse, especially on the West Coast, sponsoring films and panels on socialism, the Chinese Revolution, class struggle, and antiwar activities.
• Campus and community militancy were intertwined in Asian-American communities, with activists positioning themselves as purveyors of a new ethnic consciousness.

Red Guard and Community Engagement

• The Red Guard, founded in 1969 in the Bay Area, was inspired by Mao Tse-tung's revolutionaries and saw the Panthers as an example of resistance.
• The Guard openly declared itself a communist organization and initiated projects to meet the basic needs of the people in Chinatown.
• They prevented the closure of a tuberculosis testing center and worked with Asian Legal Services, assisting 1,000 people resisting the draft.
• The Guard's Breakfast for Children program fed black children and poor elderly Asian citizens.
• Alex Hing, a cofounder of the Guard, explained that they modeled themselves after the Panthers but adapted to the Chinese-American community's dynamics.
• The Guard had a strong political and cultural affinity to Asia, particularly regarding China's role in global affairs.
• They campaigned for U.S. recognition of Beijing, demonstrating their identification with mainland China, which led to repression by the FBI and CIA.
• The Red Guard's activities were connected to the larger leftist domestic community and anti-imperialism, resonating with "Third World People."

International Context and Influence

• International news coverage of the plight of black people in the United States influenced radicals worldwide.
• Urban rebellions, shoot-outs with police, assassinations, and student upheaval were reported in both friendly and hostile countries, causing issues for the State Department.
• Communist countries viewed social and political unrest as contradictions of a capitalist and imperialist society.
• Mao Tse-tung and Fidel Castro denounced white supremacy in the United States, following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.
• The world noticed Tommie Smith and John Carlos's black power demonstration at the 1968 Olympics.
• The Cuban men's 400-meter relay team supported Smith and Carlos by sending their medals to Stokely Carmichael.
• The militant struggle of black people provided a subtext to the American Cold War dichotomy of "democracy" versus "communism," which was a false dichotomy that prioritized capitalism over democracy.

International Support and Decline

• The intensification of clashes between Black Panthers and police in 1969 led communist countries like North Korea and China to issue favorable statements about the Panthers.
• In 1970, the International Section of the Black Panther Party established an "embassy” in North Korea, with Alex Hing of the Red Guard joining the delegation.
• Police harassment led to a decline in Red Guard membership.
• Red Guard members faced systematic police harassment and raids, leading to the organization becoming moribund by 1971.
• Unlike the Panthers, the Guard avoided defending its office during police raids. One member, Tyrone Won, escaped to Mexico and hijacked a plane for Cuba.
• In 1971, the remaining members disbanded the Red Guard, with most joining I Wor Kuen (IWK), a New York-based organization.

I Wor Kuen (IWK)

• Founded in 1969, I Wor Kuen was named after Chinese rebels who opposed Western influence and the Ch'ing dynasty.
• Led by Yu Han and Yu Man, the IWK was designed as an extension of radical ethnic nationalism, modified to adapt to the racialized climate of the United States while adhering to Maoist and Marxist principles.
• The IWK aimed to form a vanguard in its ethnic community to mobilize people for a class-based revolution against racial and class oppression.
• Synthesizing theories from Frantz Fanon, Mao, Lenin, and Marx, the IWK considered U.S. Chinatowns internal colonies and used neocolonialism to explain the oppression of Chinese Americans.
• The IWK faced hostility from Chinese Americans who rejected communist China.
• In 1975, it merged with the Chicano August 29th Movement to form the League of Revolutionary Struggle.

Yellow Brotherhood (YB) and Asian American Hardcore

• The Yellow Brotherhood (YB), formed in Los Angeles in 1969, attracted former gang members, ex-convicts, and ex-servicemen.
• YB members were second- and third-generation Japanese Americans (nisei and sansei) who were critical of their communities' political reticence.
• They rejected cultural assimilation and vilified seeking white approval.
• Guy Kurose, a Japanese American, joined the Seattle branch of the Black Panther Party and later the Yellow Brotherhood, bringing his radicalism to the Asian Student Coalition.
• The YB challenged the notion of Asian meekness but struggled with self-destructive tendencies and was marginalized by the larger Asian-American community.
• The Asian American Hardcore, like the Yellow Brotherhood, attracted former junkies, gang members, and convicts.
• Mo Nishida explained that the Hardcore grew out of the Black Power movement and the Black Panthers.
• They established programs such as detoxification, political education classes, and Christmas programs for the poor.
• Members wore fatigues and red berets and met with Panther leaders like Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale.
• After the government's repression of the Panthers, members of the Asian-American Hardcore moved into other political arenas.

Pan-Asian Identity and Yellow Power

• The Yellow Brotherhood and Asian American Hardcore were unique for not being middle class or college educated.
• They rejected the term Oriental and embraced the Pan-Asian term Asian-American.
• Inspired by Black Power, they promoted the slogan "Yellow Power" and raised the clenched fist.
• They avoided deadly conflict with law enforcement but supported the Panthers and critiqued the systems undermining them.
• The Black and Asian movements influenced each other through alliances, networks, and dialogues.
• International dynamics, such as the influence of Mao Tse-tung and Che Guevara, also played a role.

Black Power as a Matrix and Transformation

• The Black Power movement challenged white supremacy and captured media attention, particularly the Black Panther Party.
• The Black Panther Party served as a matrix for Asian-American radicals, providing inspiration, motivation, and influence through its symbolism, rhetoric, and tactics.
• Proponents of radical ethnic nationalism embraced a polysemic nationalist framework, drawing from Fanon, Marx, Lenin, and Mao.
• Militants sought to “humanize” whites by rejecting integration and challenging the implications of whiteness.
• Black Power envisioned a black world by and about black people, rejecting the idea that black people would have a better quality of life in closer proximity with whites.
• Radical ethnic nationalists merged interpretations of race and class in their movements, revealing the vulnerability of whiteness.

Unique Phenomenon of Radical Ethnic Nationalism

• Radical ethnic nationalism introduced cultural and psychological effects to the New Left, forging alliances such as those during the Black Power era.
• Asian-American radicals combined ethnic nationalism with class conflict and interracial coalitions.
• The Black Panther Party's slogan “All power to the people” aimed to broaden the call for black power by transcending race.
• Interracial coalitions exemplified the people gaining strength against oppression, adapting to the United States' racialized climate while adhering to leftist principles.
• The Black Panther Party provided the earliest examples of cultural nationalism and political organization around ethnic nationalist causes, serving as a paradigm of radical ethnic nationalism and a vanguard party for the revolutionary nationalist movement.