Asian Americans are People of Color, Too. . .Aren’t They? Cross-Racial Alliances and the Question of Asian American Political Identity

Abstract

Asian Americans are involved in cross-racial community and advocacy coalitions. The article explores the barriers and problems that people in these groups encounter, which impede their progress in sustaining impactful and influential agenda and decisions. The central problem behind this is Asian American’s ambiguous political stance, thereby making coalition partners apprehensive. Asian American’s lack of definitive political identity and how they relate to other racial background pose as a problem to coalition building. A brief look to one of the earliest Asian American immigrants to the US shows that even from the very beginning Asian Americans have occupied a highly ambiguous position in American society. Discussed is the central question of what Asian Americans are fighting for in terms of social justice. Asian Americans need to discuss their political identification and agenda as a way to sustain cross-alliances and to have a secure future in American society. Asian Americans as an internally diverse group explain the difficulty of having a unified voice representing our political stance. Two Asian American grassroots organizations with clear political identities are explored.