In the AAFC zine “Building An Asian American Feminist Movement,” page five states the following about the roots of Asian American exclusion globally but especially in the Americas:
Our racialization as Asian Americans is constituted
internationally through conditions of empire. Such frames
help us better address the needs of transnational adoptees
and multiracial and multiethnic Asian Americans. Transnational
frameworks also allow us to pursue an intergenerational politics
and intimate forms of activism that build with our families, our
parents, and our elders. Drawing from Indigenous feminist
scholarship, what are the practices that better enable us to
ethically relate to our families and communities, by thinking
about ‘place’ as a network of complex, multidimensional, and
intimate relationships?
This paragraph helpfully situates Asian/Americanness within a global context of transnationalism. Although Kuo and the other folks of the Asian American Feminist Collective are writing from an informational standpoint, this paragraph is still laden with feeling. The word choice the author chooses to explain the Asian American condition is particularly interesting, writing that racialization is “constituted internationally through conditions of empire.” For the writer, the racialization is neither simply international nor simply a condition borne of empire. Rather, the framework for 21st century racism was created through the legacies of (primarily Western) imperialism which perpetuated stereotypes and power dynamics that are not easily solved in the current context.
Importantly, to add to this thought of international empire, the writer connects to individual readers through the focus on kinship and familial ties to change the mood of the paragraph. The reader feels connected to these “intergenerational politics” that are critical to the Asian American experience and draw upon the previously discussed “transnational adoptees” and the experiences of “multiracial and multiethnic Asian Americans.”
Finally, the author brings this linked idea of intimate activism back to empire by posing a question to the reader. The importance of place is critical not only to empire but also to rethinking Asian American relationships. Therefore, posing the question is again important to changing the mood of the paragraph: The reader is asked to be inquisitive and imagine the new possibilities for an Asian American future.