Crossing the Racial Line with Intersectionality: Black and Asian American Feminist Solidarity Movement

Social movements and race scholars have suggested that coalitions are less likely to form between groups with different racial identities. The relationship between Black and Asian Americans is particularly subject to such pessimism. However, there is a long history of solidarity between the two communities. Now the cross-racial solidarity building is led by two feminist advocacy organizations, Black Women Radicals and Asian American Feminist Collective, with the support of Asian American Writer's Workshop. This paper takes an ethnographic approach to their "Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities" project and interviews with the involved activists. Intersectional feminist politics and sisterhood have initiated and continued this collaboration. Therefore the pessimistic "master narrative" surrounding interracial relationships can be debunked, and cross-racial solidarities can happen when intersectional feminist movement values step in.