As various racial justice movements emerged under the “Black Lives Matter” slogan after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, artist Monyee Chau posted a piece with the slogan #YellowPerilSupportsBlackPower on her Instagram page. The artwork, which depicted a yellow tiger, symbolizing Asians, and a black panther, symbolizing Black Americans, ignited Asian activism in support of Black Americans. In this study, I conceptualize #YellowPerilSupportsBlackPower movement as digital activism and analyze how Asian Americans project their “Asianness” to advocate for the Black community. In particular, I focus on Asian participants’ mediated memory work via Instagram to support the Black community. By identifying three types of affective memory work, I conclude that this affective memory work plays a key role in the legitimizing process through which Asian Americans produce affective ties with the Black community to build a multiracial identity that reaches beyond color lines.
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