Actual steps for asians who want to talk to their immigrant parents about anti-black racism & Black Lives Matter. (From someone who’s been pretty successful) (+ a mini glossary of translated EnglishKorean terms on the last page)
June 2020 YIL
Summer 2017, I made a zine titled “apolitical asians and how to get them to give a fuck”. In the zine I talked about how to talk to your parents and peers about anti-blackness. It’s been 3 years since I made that zine, and in those 3 years my relationship & understanding with my parents and other family members have improved further and I have matured as a person and organizer. I have had asian friends reach out to me that the zine helped them start conversations with their parents, so I want to update you all on specific tactics I’ve used since then. I have been seeing many decorative and performative posts telling people to talk to their families, but not many real guides or actions items on how to do so. This is my experience, maybe it can help you or others. P.S. I’m Korean This is being copy and pasted from my instagram story. I originally shared this on my close friends story, and I intend on only sharing it with private groups. I do not want this shared publicly right now, because I do not want to take up space. Please only DM it to others, or share in PRIVATE, ASIAN spaces. I urge you to do this work with your family silently. Please stop announcing how racist your parents are each time you fail at a conversation with them -- who are you sharing that for? Please stop further traumatizing the black folks who read your posts about the horrible things your family says, especially if you end it as “idk what to do”. Keep it to yourself.
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(I learned this after 2017.)
(old screenshot)
(i’m not rich. i rarely buy myself books. But i prioritize this for my parents and am more than happy to pay for this.)
If you have Korean parents who speak limited English, here are the translations of common political words that use can use in conversation. I learned these when I organized with CAAAV. Please learn and use these words to meet them where they’re at, even if you use it with Konglish. Also remember that some words can have negative connotationsto them, rather in the Korean or English version, in those cases you must clarify for them. Activist Anti-Black Asexual Bisexual Capitalism Colonialism Democracy Demo (Calm) Demo (Powerful) Deportation Disability Domestic Violence Donate Feminism Homophobia Immigrant Imperialism Labor Rights LGBTQ Liberation Low Income Oppress (verb) Oppression Oppressor Organizer Patriarchy People of Color Power Racism Resistance Revolution Sexual Assault
사회운동자 반흑인(정서) 무성애(자) 양성애자 자본주의 시민주의 민주주의 시위 데모 강제추방 장애 가정폭력 후원하기/기부하기 여성주의/페미니즘 호모포비아 이민자 제국주의 노동권 성소수자 해방 저소득층 억압하다 억압 압재자 사회활동자/활동가 부컨제 유색인종 사람들 권력 인종차별 저항 혁명 성폭행
Sexual Orientation 성적지향 Social Justice 사회정의 Solidarity 연대 Strike 파업 Struggle 투쟁 Undocumented 서류미비자 Union* 조합 Unpaid Wages 체불임금 Wage Theft 임금절도 White Supremacy 백인우월주의 Worker 노동자 Gender Binary 성별이분법 Volunteer 봉사원 Neoliberalism 신자유주의 Privatization 민영화 Racist (adj.) 인종차별적 Racist (N.) 인종차별주의(자) *The korean word for union can have negative connotations, it’s associated with communism and North Korea