Today, many signs reading “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power” can be seen throughout the protests on the streets and on various social media platforms. However, not many people know about the origin of this phrase, and how its meaning has changed over time.

As Asians began immigrating to the United States in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the term “yellow peril” was developed to label them as a threat and danger to the Western world. More specifically, it started when Chinese immigrants were brought to the U.S. to provide cheap manual labor. “Yellow peril” became a xenophobic racial slur, used by White workers who felt that the Chinese workers were a menace to their livelihood, to dehumanize Asian immigrants. This ultimately led to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, restricting access into the country on the basis of race.

However, in the 1960s, Asian Americans made the attempt to reclaim the phrase and change the implications surrounding it into those of empowerment. Many college students of color at San Francisco State University created the Third World Liberation Front, a coalition with the Black Student Union. They advocated for a shift in admissions processes and curriculum, as well as protested the Vietnam War.

The phrase “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power” is widely known from a photograph taken in 1969 of Japanese American Richard Aoki holding a sign with the phrase at a rally. Aoki was known as a prominent civil rights activist and early member and Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party.

Recently, this phrase has started circulating again on social media platforms and on picket signs and posters at protests. Many Asians are using it to show that they stand in solidarity with the Black community. While this phrase was a way for Asian Americans to voice their support for the Black community and fight against the oppressive system, many feel that it is not the same now, compared to back then.

This is because there are many Asians who do not identify as “yellow”, meaning it is not an inclusive term. Many people also felt that this phrase did not emphasize what has historically been made possible for Asian Americans through Black struggles.

supportive of the Black Lives Matter Movement, the impact has proven differently. For Asian Americans who are seeking ways to ally with black communities, Wun, of AAPI Women Lead, “challenges individuals to think about whether their actions work to combat police brutality against black people, or if they’re centered around their own feelings.”

Nichole Kim / Cleveland HS 12th Grade

<Nichole Kim / Cleveland HS 12th Grade>