TY - JOUR
T1 - Between Suffering and Liberation
T2 - Complexities of Blackness Among East African Immigrants in Minnesota in the George Floyd Moment
AU - Abdi, Nimo M.
AU - Yousuf, Eskender A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Educational Studies Association.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In this paper, we explore moments of racial awakening among East African communities in Minnesota. We examine how the events around the George Floyd protests have opened up racial conversations (and gave permission) for many East African Americans in Minnesota, to voice their own pain of being racialized. We call these private and public stories of racial resistance. We highlight stories that take place in private spaces of the community, where experiences of racial violence are silenced, avoided, or outright denied because they cause shame, which mirrors other types of supremacist ideologies within East African societies. We find that these narratives add complexity to notions of Blackness and Black suffering. By looking closer, they are motivated by a desire to struggle against white supremacy. We draw on three of our own stories from two distinct contexts: community conversations and George Floyd protest site in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We do this to examine the different discourses surrounding notions of Blackness and Black sufferings. Through lived experiences of racialization, we interrogate the issue of Black voice, and particularly Black immigrant voice as a site of complex and competing interest that seeks to reconcile different ideologies around Blackness. We put phenomenology of race in conversation with Coloniality and anti-colonial literature to tease out tensions surrounding Blackness and Black suffering in US context. We end with suggestions on alliance building that recognizes and builds on the collective humanity of Black diasporic people.
AB - In this paper, we explore moments of racial awakening among East African communities in Minnesota. We examine how the events around the George Floyd protests have opened up racial conversations (and gave permission) for many East African Americans in Minnesota, to voice their own pain of being racialized. We call these private and public stories of racial resistance. We highlight stories that take place in private spaces of the community, where experiences of racial violence are silenced, avoided, or outright denied because they cause shame, which mirrors other types of supremacist ideologies within East African societies. We find that these narratives add complexity to notions of Blackness and Black suffering. By looking closer, they are motivated by a desire to struggle against white supremacy. We draw on three of our own stories from two distinct contexts: community conversations and George Floyd protest site in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We do this to examine the different discourses surrounding notions of Blackness and Black sufferings. Through lived experiences of racialization, we interrogate the issue of Black voice, and particularly Black immigrant voice as a site of complex and competing interest that seeks to reconcile different ideologies around Blackness. We put phenomenology of race in conversation with Coloniality and anti-colonial literature to tease out tensions surrounding Blackness and Black suffering in US context. We end with suggestions on alliance building that recognizes and builds on the collective humanity of Black diasporic people.
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U2 - 10.1080/00131946.2022.2033748
DO - 10.1080/00131946.2022.2033748
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85126354738
SN - 0013-1946
VL - 58
SP - 319
EP - 336
JO - Educational Studies - AESA
JF - Educational Studies - AESA
IS - 3
ER -