Citation

Abdiwahab E, Guan A, Hong C, Gomez SL. Front. Public Health 2022; 10: e958436.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Frontiers Editorial Office)

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2022.958436

PMID

36148358

PMCID

PMC9485596

Abstract

Sharif et al.'s recent publication in "Frontiers in Public Health" highlights the need for collective efforts to address structural racism and violence (1). We extend this work by emphasizing the need for solidarity between Black and Asian Americans in strategies to combat anti-Asian racism1. During the Civil Rights movements, immigration policies in the United States shifted to favor immigrants with "exceptional" abilities and high levels of education (2), leading to mass media narrative constructions of the "model minority" myth, largely spearheaded by white Americans. This myth simultaneously hyperbolized Asian American exceptionalism while advancing anti-Blackness (3, 4). Despite historic tensions between these communities, there is also a history of solidarity building. For instance, joint efforts between Black and Japanese Americans in the 1960s led to the repeal of the Emergency Detention Act, which allowed the federal government to preventively incarcerate individuals suspected of espionage (5). This example illustrates how historical solidarity efforts between these communities has led to changes in politics, which evidence suggests can impact tangible indicators of population health (6). We use Camara Jones' theoretic framework (7) to describe how internalized, personally mediated, and institutionalized racism and anti-Blackness can hinder contemporary solidarity efforts...

Language: en

Keywords

public health; racism; health equity; public health critical race praxis; social justice policy