Non-Black POC & Anti-Black Racism

by Kavya U. ‘21

On August 24, 2019, police officers and paramedics brutally assaulted Elijah McClain, a Black American, on his way home from a convenience store. On August 24, 2019, I, an Indian-American, celebrated my sixteenth birthday. As I chatted away with friends and family, officers held McClain in a carotid hold — a choke hold that is illegal in many counties due to its aggressive nature. As I blew out my birthday candles, paramedics injected McClain with 500 milligrams of ketamine — the amount appropriate for a man eighty pounds heavier than him. As I went to sleep that night, McClain went into cardiac arrest — one of two that he suffered before dying six days later.

We often speak of White privilege, but many non-Black people of color, including Indian-Americans such as myself, also hold societal advantages compared to our Black peers. Though we experience racial discrimination ourselves, we cannot begin to understand the horrific realities that Black people face in this country. Law enforcement did not assault Elijah McClain because he went to get a bottle of iced-tea for his brother; they assaulted him because he was a Black man who went to get a bottle of iced-tea for his brother. The difference, though subtle in writing, doesn’t seem to be so subtle when policing. According to a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences article, Black Americans are 2.8 times more likely to die at the hands of police officers than White Americans, and this figure drops to 0.5 for Asian Americans. While such statistics reveal the racial disparities within law enforcement specifically, they are also indicative of the anti-Black racism that is present throughout our society.

Many believe that anti-Blackness is, quite literally, a Black and White issue, but they fail to acknowledge the vast amount of racism within many communities of color. Every summer, as I tan from days spent outside, relatives and family friends will comment, “You’ve gotten so dark! Look at this black skin! Maybe try some Fair and Lovely,” thus insinuating that “black skin” in any form is inferior, unsightly, and something to avoid. Perhaps such remarks are the results of internalized colorism and racism, stemming from times of colonialism when whiteness indicated authority and wealth. In any case, we must challenge these prejudices and educate those who hold them, including the countless numbers of non-Black people who appropriate Black culture, fetishize Black people, and question Black students’ credentials in higher education. These people include our very classmates at Bryn Mawr who try to distance themselves from Black students, as demonstrated in one @blackatthetrischool Instagram post that reads, “my friend made a comment that if she and I switched seats, it’d be all Black students on one side of the table and White students on the other. What confused me the most is that she was Asian and grouped herself with the White side.” Bryn Mawr prides itself on its strides toward racial diversity and inclusion, as indicated by its active CAFE Instagram account and Facebook posts of Black Lives Matter signs on campus, but it evidently fails to adequately address the racism present throughout the school. We should, consequently, take it upon ourselves as individual students to help drive much-needed change in the thoughts, actions, and banter within our student body.

Non-Black POC must also take on this active, anti-racist stance within our racial and ethnic communities that perpetuate an anti-Black mindset. We owe much of our livelihood to the legislative and social advancements that Black people have championed, from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to anti-miscegenation laws; my sheer existence as an American is a result of the Civil Rights Movement, which led to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. We are indebted to Black Americans, so it is our duty as non-Black POC to identify and eradicate the anti-Blackness that surrounds us. This means recognizing and confronting our own implicit biases, reading about racist incidents happening in our country right now, signing petitions, and initiating meaningful conversations with our friends and family — however uncomfortable they may be. Only then will we make progress in forming a truly equitable society.