The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies stands with the Movement for Black Lives.

  • by wsosa

The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies stands with the Movement for Black Lives.

We demand Justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and all individuals who have suffered under police brutality.

 

 The Bulosan Center for Filipinos Studies stands with the Movement for Black Lives to demand justice for the horrible and inexcusable deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and all those who have suffered under police brutality. On May 25th, 2020, Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin pinned, suffocated, and murdered George Floyd. Chauvin was in the presence of multiple police officers, including an Asian American identified cop, who did nothing but watch as Floyd unfortunately lost his life. They all are complicit in the murder of George Floyd and must be held accountable.
 

The loss of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd is attributed to the horrid history and continuity of police brutality against Black bodies and the Black community. Their deaths are direct consequences of the continued system of militarized police violence that racializes and criminalizes Black and Brown bodies disproportionately. We condemn police state violence that has continued to terrorize Black Lives. The Bulosan Center stands firmly with the Black community in saying “Black Lives Matter.”

 

Carlos Bulosan once wrote “I feel like a criminal running away from a crime I did not commit. And the crime is that I am a Filipino in America.” As a community we are not unfamiliar with white supremacist violence whether it is in the form of vigilantism or various forms of state violence such as police or military. We have experienced it in the United States as migrants and even in the Philippines, starting with the violent colonization of the Philippines by the U.S. and continuing under conditions of neocolonialism as evidenced in the murder of Filipina trans woman Jennifer Laude by a U.S. soldier. We therefore stand in force and firm solidarity with the Black community at this time. Black and Filipino solidarity has an over century-long history; we are co-workers, neighbors, family, and co-conspirators. 

 

We call on the greater Filipino and Asian American community at large to stand in solidarity with our brothers, sisters, and siblings in the Black community. We call on you to honor the legacies of solidarity between the Black and Asian American communities. From Black soldiers opposing the Philippine-American War by joining the Filipino resistance,  to “Yellow Peril for Black Power” during the Civil Rights Movement, to San Francisco State University’s Black Student Union role in establishing the Third World Liberation Front and standing in solidarity against the Vietnam War, to our current movement for #Asians4BlackLives; these historic moments of solidarity speak to our continuing efforts to stand with and work with our Black brothers/sisters/siblings. We stand not simply as allies, but as co-conspirators actively dismantling the current capitalist system rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and anti-black racism.

 

We call on everyone to join us in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives by doing the following:

 

  •  Text "FLOYD" to 55156 to stay up to date and support the Color of Change’s demand to charge the officers who murdered George Floyd with murder
     
  • Sign Change.Org’s “Justice for George Floyd” petition

 

  • If you have capacity and are able, stand in solidarity with Black led spaces and organizers calling for community presence and support at your local community action. We do urge everyone to stay safe, practice social distancing, and to protect those who may be at risk at their homes. Please remember to be safe, to wear masks and gloves, bring hand sanitizer, and to be mindful of your surroundings and businesses (especially local small family owned businesses and people of color owned businesses. If you do choose to take part in any community actions, please do self-quarantine for 2-3 weeks after attending.

 

  • Donate to any of the following Black led spaces and memorial fund for George Floyd:

 

  • Initiate brave and necessary conversations with your families, community members, and loved ones about the need to stand with the Movement for Black Lives. Hold important conversations recognizing and dismantling any Anti-Black racism that may be present within our communities, recognizing that these sentiments are the lasting effects of policies and oppressive events meant to divide our communities in the name of white supremacy, xenophobia, and anti-blackness.

     
  • Check in on one another, especially folks within the Black community, by offering support and your capacity to carry emotional labor for them if requested.

     

 

  Standing in Solidarity & Love with the Black Community,

  The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies