Systemic imperialism shapes biracial Asian-white identity tensions: structural violence analysis
Original framing: “Duke professor says violence of ‘imperialism’ causes tensions in biracial individuals” — bing news
U.S. imperialism’s biracial legacy traces to the Philippine-American War (1899–1902), where American soldiers fathered children with Filipino women, creating a 'mestizo' class later stigmatized by both colonizers and colonized. The Korean War’s 'GI babies' faced abandonment and racial violence, mirroring modern tensions in biracial Asian-white communities. The 1924 Immigration Act’s exclusion of Asian women further entrenched racialized family structures, shaping intergenerational trauma.
The Duke professor’s analysis, while highlighting systemic violence, is co-opted by conservative media to pathologize biracial individuals rather than indict U.S. imperialism’s material and psychological legacies.
Historical precedents like the Philippine-American War and the Korean War reveal how imperialism engineered racial hierarchies that persist in biracial identity tensions today. Indigenous epistemologies offer a counter-narrative, framing mixed identities as sites of creative resistance rather than dysfunction. A decolonial future requires reparative justice, curriculum reform, and transnational solidarity—moving beyond individual pathology to address the structural roots of imperial violence. The trickster’s wisdom reminds us that the absurdity of racial purity myths is the first step toward dismantling them, but systemic change demands material reparations and institutional transformation.