Not enough or double the prejudice: On being Black and Asian American in 2020

Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, race relations within and between the Asian American and Black communities have quickly shifted into focus?

As the Black Lives Matter movement gained traction this summer, communities challenged the model minority myth, colonialism and colorism to explain how the histories of both Black and Asian communities have shaped how they interact today.

NBC BLK and NBC Asian America talked to 12 people who identify as both Black and Asian American Pacific Islander about their identities, their communities and what 2020 has meant for them.

Reed, who is Black and Indo-Guyanaese and grew up immersed in Caribbean culture, filled in the bubbles for both “Black” and “Asian.”.

Reed grew up with an Indo-Guyanese mother and her family, “so I was much more familiar with Indian Caribbean culture than I was with Black culture.”.

“I began to realize that not only did people see me as Black or African American, but I’m 6’1, people see me as a large Black man,” Reed said.

I think a lot of mixed people kind of go through that same thing with feeling like they have to identify with one race instead of all of the races that make up who they are.”.

When the Black Lives Matter movement grew this summer, Hayes said her family encouraged her to engage with both Black and Filipino history.

It was sort of always like, ‘Oh, but like, Asian kids are smart,’” she said.

“But whenever I was actively challenging something, or making a case, or advocating on behalf of other students and communities, that was when I was treated like a Black person.”.

As a college senior, Rooks now has more access to both Black and Asian communities, but said that operating in Asian spaces has also made her more aware of anti-Blackness.

“With my Indian side, I sometimes feel like I'm not Indian enough,” she said.

She said she grew up seeing skin bleaching agents on TV, "and it would actually make me want to do that because I felt like I was too dark or that my color wasn't good enough.”.

Most people look at me and think that I am just Filipino or Pacific Islander,” Fuji said, noting that her sister is more often perceived as Black.

Fuji said it’s necessary to push against the idea that “if Asian Americans side with whiteness we’re going to be safe.” It’s also important for non-Black communities to organize in support of Black lives and one another, she said.

“It would be really amazing if people had an understanding of how our liberations really are tied,” she said.

Nathan said relating to people in her Asian circles often presents challenges.

In school, more overt racism came from Asian friends, who Nathan said would stereotype and mock her for her darker complexion, Black features and multiracial parents.

As 2020 hit Asian communities with pandemic-fueled discrimination and Black Lives Matter spearheaded anti-racism protests across the country, Nathan said it’s an exhausting place to be in as a multiracial person.

“To see people on these two sides of my identity face violent and cruel discrimination for who they are even more than I already have, or even experienced myself, has been draining,” she said.

When it comes to multiracial people in America “we tend to think about people who are Black-white or white-Asian,” said Myra Washington.

Washington, who is Black and Korean, has long been interested in understanding how multiracial people, particularly Black Asians, are perceived by society.

“I was trying to figure out how celebrities like [Tiger Woods] were embracing or rejecting descriptions of their identities publicly,” said Washington, a professor and assistant vice president for faculty equity and diversity at the University of Utah.

What's important, she said, is that multiracial people shouldn’t be pressured to embrace just one part of their identity?

“In my own life, I make sure to highlight that I study Asian American Studies so that people can be reminded that Black folks can also be Asian,” Washington said.

As a psychologist whose practice includes working with multiracial kids and their parents, Jenn Noble has a lot to say about how America misunderstands — and in some ways mythologizes — the experiences of multiracial people.

Noble, who is Sri Lankan Tamil and Black, said that this pressure can be particularly difficult for multiracial teens who aren’t given space to explore their identity — something she said she was encouraged by her own family to do.

Noble said that increased exposure and visibility of multiracial people can help raise awareness.

Even though she often visited her Black relatives, she felt like she was missing a grounding in Black culture, which led her to attend Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta.

“Before I might have gone along with people who said I was only Black or only Asian, but I was really pushed to think about who I was and how my experiences contribute to who I am,” she said

Sonia Smith-Kang, the vice president of Multicultural Americans of Southern California, said the work of raising kids who are Black and Asian should come rife with education and conversation

“When I go outside now, a cashier will ask my mother, ‘Is that your daughter?’ and I’m like this conversation isn’t necessary,” she said

Still, she said that she feels a responsibility to continue to help build connections among Black, Asian, and multiracial communities

“I guess as cliché as it sounds, the beauty of my identity is that I can be in all three of those communities, and connect with people on a deeper level,” she said

“When people see me, they often think that I am Black,” she said, adding that she didn’t want people to label her growing up, but that “you can’t really change being perceived in certain ways."