Toward Thick Solidarity

My brother and I call each other that day to commiserate about an email from our mom asking us to "Pls support Peter Liang" -the Chinese American police of cer indicted for killing Akai Gurley, an unarmed Black man."What did you do with it?"I ask him."I deleted it," he replies, sounding resigned."What did you do?" he asks me."I was gonna write back . . .but I didn't know what to say."A week later, we are walking through the plaza near the Brooklyn courthouse.My mom points to a grassy patch and proudly tells us that was where she, along with ten thousand others, protested in support of Peter Liang.They were joined by thousands of Asian Americans across the country, marking the greatest show of political engagement from the Asian American community in decades.My mom, like many others who were there that day, was angry that Liang was a scapegoat for the legions of white of cers who have escaped indictment for their murders of Black and Latinx people.They also expressed what some refer to as empathy.In an article interviewing supporters of Peter Liang, one woman said in Cantonese that she was "heartbroken that an innocent man has died and a young cop's career has been cut short.'I feel very sad.It's bad for both sides.' " 1 The crux of this sentiment was advertised on protest signs at the Brooklyn courthouse that read: "One tragedy, two victims."The slogan asserts both Gurley and Liang were victims of an unjust system.It is emblematic of broader attempts to forge toward Black-Asian solidarity that rely problematically on an erasure of the speci cities of anti-Blackness and anti-Asianness.Though supporters of Liang argued that there