#bmoreasiansresist

[riverofmolecules]

Existence//Resistance is the final public event of Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity’s API Heritage Month of Resistance series. We will be featuring photographs, quotes, audio interviews, and archival items from Baltimore’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities, past and present. Opening night will also feature APIA performers.

I was responsible for curating some of the archival pieces and pulling quotes. As I read through articles from the past century, something that recurred was the desire from Asian folk for re/connection and recognition.

The Existence//Resistance project grew out of the original idea to host a walking tour of Baltimore's historical Chinatown, and last night, I was reading about how Chinese folk in the 1970s wanted to re-develop Park Avenue. They wanted to build a pagoda that would act as a commercial / residential / community space that could center Chinese people in the Baltimore metro area. One of them said, "With this plan, I am trying to identify ourself."

With this plan, we are trying to identify ourselves.

[showspace]

FLYER OF THE WEEK

[riverofmolecules]

I think [solidarity is] showing up. Often. Like one thing I learned as I studied,  academically and personally, activism, just growing up in the Bay Area, went to a lot of gay pride parades, lgbtq events, people of color stuff, and I always noticed that black women...were ALWAYS showing up for everybody. Black women were always there. Even if it wasn't, even if they were being treated like crap, right? But every racial justice movement, every queer movement, I noticed black women were always there. And for me, I think, it's who's showing up for them? Is one of the earliest thoughts I had. And also just in general, how do we show up for each other?

Rajani, “Organizing with Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity”

[riverofmolecules]

[”The whole notion of model minority was a social and political construct to place Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans in complete...conflict with African Americans and the civil rights movement.” — Helen Zia]

Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity presents API Heritage Month of Resistance

Check out the livestream of our first event. Check out our FB page or this tumblr post for the full list of events!

[riverofmolecules]

In celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month in May, BRJA's [Baltimore Racial Justice Action] 13th of the Month series event is presented in partnership with Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity (BARS). Culturally stereotyped in the U.S. as the "model minority," people of Asian backgrounds are expected to be smart, wealthy, hard-working, and docile. The model minority myth is full of contradictions: painting Asians/Asian Americans as "basically white,” encouraging complicity with white supremacy, and excluding Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Americans by perceiving them as perpetual foreigners. API people fighting anti-blackness and white supremacy are often erased from history, while the media pushes narratives about Asian-Black tension, fueling hostility between peoples of color. This event will explore stories of racism and resistance from API folks throughout U.S. history to today.

Model Minority Myth Sat May 13th, 2 - 4pm exittheapple, 2334 Guilford Ave 

We met Tuesday evening to go over the agenda and plan, and I pointed out that we were trying to fit in everything about asianness ever because we were feeling like this was our one event, our one opportunity.

Anyway, come this Saturday to listen to me talk about how I climbed a mountain and cultivated the seed of anger in my heart into a full-blown garden of hatred and anti-whiteness.

[riverofmolecules]

From Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity (private group):

API Heritage Month of Resistance

Organizing with Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity May 2, 12pm - 1pm Panel discussion with BARS members University of Maryland SMC Campus Center, Elm Room B 621 W Lombard St

Perpetual Foreigner May 12 - 15, 9am - 5pm Thesis exhibition by Ashley Wu exploring the history of Asian America Maryland Institute College of Art, Brown Center Fl 3 1301 W Mount Royal Ave

Model Minority Mutiny! May 13, 2pm - 4pm Baltimore Racial Justice Action’s 13th of the Month Series, situating Asianness within white supremacy and anti-blackness Exittheapple 2334 Guilford Ave

Existence//Resistance May 20 - June 2 Gallery Open May 22, 26, 27, 12pm - 6pm Opening Night May 20, 7pm - 11:30pm (Poetry Readings and Music 8pm) Closing Night June 5, 7pm - 10pm (Open Mic 8pm) Telling our stories: Historical and contemporary perspectives of Asian Americans in Baltimore City E.M.P. Collective 307 W Baltimore St

Self-Care As Resistance June 3, 1pm - 3pm Mental health workshop for Asian and Pacific Islander People Location provided later to registered attendees, registration here

If you want to support these events, please consider donating to us here: www.paypal.me/rajanigudlavalleti www.venmo.com/rajanig (Note Heritage of Resistance or BARS in the note.)

Please share!

[riverofmolecules]

[”You cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it.” — Grace Lee Boggs]

Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity presents API Heritage Month of Resistance

Our first event is today, May 2nd! Check out our FB page or this tumblr post for the full list of events!

[riverofmolecules]

[”We condemn imperialism and oppression in South Africa and in any other part of the world...we feel racial kinship with other colored peoples.” — Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay]

Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity presents API Heritage Month of Resistance

Check out our FB page or this tumblr post for the full list of events!