#BlackPowerYellowPeril Have you seen these words together? What comes to mind? Do you know what it means? The first instance is a photograph in front of the Alameda Courthouse in Oakland, California with Asian-American activists holding a sign that said: Yellow Peril Supports Black Power, at a rally for Huey Newton, a founder of The Black Panther Party in 1966.

The origins of “Yellow Peril” began in 1882 with The Chinese Exclusion Act. Politicians called Asian-Americans this term to make them seem like a danger to white Americans. Asian-Americans reclaimed the term as a moniker to fight for their rights. Yellow Peril continued as an organization and its leader, Richard Aoki, became a rightful member of The Black Panther in the sixties. Black Power Yellow Peril has also been used to describe the friendship of Malcolm X and activist Yuri Kochiyama.

There have been rumblings of anti-Blackness in Asian-Americana, with the “model-minority” label being used to bring Asians “white-adjacent” and therefore put down Blackness. Black leaders have called out some Asian-Americans for also co-opting Blackness to propel themselves in entertainment - like the debate surrounding Awkwafina’s “Blaccent”. We’ve had people like Tila Tequila become an outright Nazi by flashing white power signs in photos with racists and donning a SS themed outfit with swaztikas and a gun.

On the flip side, today we have people who clearly carry on the proud tradition of two communities joining together with Black Power Yellow Peril.

We have the BUFU collective which consists of two Black women and two Asian women- Tsige Tafesse, Jazmin Jones, Katherine Tom and Sonia Choi. Their group is born out of #Asians4BlackLives.

There’s Roy Choi in South East Los Angeles working together with Black urban farmers, food access advocates and chefs like Aqeela Sherrills and Olympia Auset to better the food desert situation. The work can be seen in the PBS series Breaking Bread.