Posted by Communications staff on 5/12/2021
In Maya Angelou’s poem Human Family, there is a line that says, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
That’s the sentiment Ferris High senior Rosie Zhou hopes people take away from the upcoming Black and Asian Solidarity virtual event. The event will take place via Zoom from 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15. Register for the event here.
“We want people to see that we are not each other’s enemy,” said Rosie.
Rosie has been organizing this event with Rogers and Ferris Black Student Union advisor Pastor Shon David; Shon’s niece Tere Graham, who is the Program Manager for Social Justice Programming at Gonzaga University; Innovation High School senior Jada Richardson; and Rosie’s own mother Ping Ping, who is a sociology professor at SFCC.
This group hopes the event fulfills two purposes: to acknowledge the strained, and often fractured, relationship between Black and Asian communities; and to discuss how the two groups can move forward together as a united front against racism.
“Historically, there have been lots of tensions between Black and Asian communities…We want people to recognize that, and we want to talk about it,” said Rosie. “These conversations may be very tough, but they are so important. They’re the first step towards actually uniting.”
Standing up against racial injustices sounds like a lot for a high school senior to take on. Not for Rosie.
“It’s impossible for me not to care about it,” she said. “Growing up as an Asian American, I have felt my race is something I can’t ignore.”
When talking about feeling the need to assimilate with her mostly white counterparts, Rosie added, “At the end of the day, you’re never really going to be assimilated because the color of your skin is always going to be there, and people are always going to look at you in a certain way.”
Rosie and her fellow activists are busy planning other events to help lift and highlight the Asian American Pacific Inlander (AAPI) population in Spokane, including an AAPI Heritage Day on Saturday, June 12 – the day before Rosie graduates from Ferris.
“[Activism] has become a big, big part of my identity. It’s just who I am now,” she said. “I just wake up every day and I feel like there’s so much to be done. I just want to help out in any way possible.”
Register for the Black and Asian Solidarity virtual event on Saturday, May 12, here.
To find other AAPI events happening in Spokane, head to apicspokane.org.
