Food & Microaggressions

Hi. I’ve been pretty MIA for weeks because I’m simply exhausted. There has been so much pain in the Asian American community, and a severe lack of understanding / context / vocabulary in mainstream media & discourse to address it adequately. To be asked repeatedly by white folx to “analyze” what’s happening for their white audiences is not only gut-wrenching, it also turns our trauma & pain into a spectacle (see my “Commodification of Trauma” highlight; yes I know I reference Clarence & no I do not condone his behavior). To witness the in-fighting within the AA community is also terrifying, with so many AA women being targeted with internet hate & even real-life doxxing when speaking about collective liberation & not engaging in anti-Blackness.

The systemic problems that have sparked this kind of violence against the AA community is more than I can (or should, as I am NOT an anti-racist educator) cover here. On this account, I speak on the relationship between food & larger social issues, so in light of the times let's discuss MICROAGGRESSIONS — a form of violence that AA’s have long been taught to ignore to achieve white adjacency. For decades we’ve learned to put the comfort of whiteness before our own safety & freedoms, and that needs to end. Microaggressions are simply PRACTICE for larger & more harmful acts, like what we are seeing now play out via physical violence.

Often, microaggressions are enacted through food, so it’s necessary for all of us to see how the continued prevalence & nonchalant attitude towards microaggressions implicitly signals to marginalized identities that there is no social safety net for them, and to dominant identities there are no consequences for their actions. These below examples are mine; for so long I was afraid speaking out would paint me ungrateful, whiny, or self-centered — such is the power of white supremacy — so I hope this encourages others to share, because I know there are so many stories that have been hidden in a web of shame & self-doubt.

Sending love to my Asian Americans & allies. Stay safe and strong.