African-American community not responsible for Asian hate crimes: The lie gives White Supremacy a pass

By Richard Sudan

There’s a dangerous myth which continues to circulate in the media over the last few weeks and certainly on social media. It’s a myth because it’s false, and amounts to dangerously misleading propaganda which could significantly and negatively impact Black people, already dealing with serious and ongoing systemic injustice.

That myth, is the pernicious idea, that Black people are somehow the main culprits and new face of racism in the United States, responsible for the widely reported anti-Asian hate crimes.

This popular assertion seems to be based on a few videos shared on social media, which appear to show Black individuals randomly attacking Asian-Americans.

But there is a problem with how these videos have been widely interpreted. The videos themselves purport to show individuals who are not proven to have been attached to an ideology.  Many have also argued, that they are homeless or possibly mentally ill.  

Although they might be Black, they are not representative of Black people. The presumption that their actions are somehow reflective of the African-American community as a whole, is in itself racist.  

But for many, the narrative being pushed which seeks to apportion blame for the attacks on the Asian community, on the Black community, is not an accident.

They argue that ultimately, what is playing out, is a misleading distraction from very real white supremacy surfacing in the US, visible on Jan 6th, and potentially also, in the recent killings of six Asian-American women, allegedly by Robert Aaron Long.

Filmmaker and social commentator Tariq Nasheed, speaking exclusively to Press TV, offered a damning critique of the last few weeks:

“The white supremacist lawmakers here in the States are orchestrating a backlash against Black Americans as a form of revenge for the Anti-Black racism protests that captivated the global community last year after the lynching of George Floyd. Now they are orchestrating a false narrative of a "Blacks against Asians" crime wave, to use as a deflection from the anti-Black racism that we suffer from the system of white supremacy.”

Strong words, no doubt, but a look at the data in the US is also compelling. A fairly recent study which looked at the attacks on the Asian-American community between 1992 and 2014, suggested that almost 75% of attacks against the community, were carried out by white perpetrators. To those familiar with the history of the United States, this should come as no surprise.

A few recent videos visible on social media, representing individual attacks, would have been unlikely to dent that trend.

In addition, Stewart Loo, the head of the NYPD’s anti-Asian Hate Crimes task force recently, had this to say.

“Leaders of the Black community were the first and most vocal in publicly condemning the surge in hate crimes against Asians.”

This statement seems clear enough, but is not something being widely reported on.

And furthermore, the tradition of the Black community condemning racist attacks, is not new and stretches back many years.

Indeed, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass once expressed his support for Chinese immigrants, in the context of the prejudice they faced, before he himself and his community, were even afforded the rights they should have had.

Commentators and media suggesting the new face of racism in the US belongs to Black people in the context of anti-Asian hate crimes, is malicious. 

Focusing on non-white arrests, in areas like New York, as some have, could be countered by the fact that these locations are actually places with greater non-white populations to begin with. 

But commentators twisting things, to suit an anti-Black narrative are simply being deliberately disingenuous.

The fact is, the whole world has been questioning more and more, the depth and extent of white supremacy in the United States, especially over the last year.

If anything can account for the reprehensible anti-Asian attacks, it is the already existing issue of longstanding racism in the US, which has long plagued the country.

And what might have further contributed to an upsurge in anti-Asian attacks are the words expressed by former president Donald Trump who repeatedly described the Corona Virus as the ‘China Virus’.

White Supremacy as an ideology is at the foundation of the country. It’s hundreds of years old and knows how to preserve itself. People should bear this in mind when watching the news and perhaps keep in mind the wisdom of the great African-American Muslim leader Malcolm X.

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” 

Black communities have been, and remain, the victim of racism in the United States.  The false narrative of trying to paint them, as the perpetrators of it, is simply absurd, and dangerous.

Richard Sudan is a journalist, writer and TV reporter working for Press TV.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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