For many Asian Americans, Ferguson unrest set them on a path of resistance and reflection

Like a lot of people, Ellen Lo Hoffman was shocked and disturbed by the shooting death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, at the hands of a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer a decade ago this month.

Hoffman — an assistant regional director for the national campus ministry InterVarsity Christian Fellowship — held a gathering at her Seattle-area home a month later, inviting all employees of color to talk. It sparked a pivotal moment for the Chinese American progressive when a Black staff member questioned: “Are Asian Americans our allies?”

“At that moment I felt caught. I felt called out in an appropriate way,” Hoffman recalled. “He was really asking, are you on our side or are you going to align yourselves with us? Or will you just be bystanders?”

Asian American staffers responded with regret, renewed their alignment with their Black colleagues and vowed to “lead out.”

“It was both affirmation to the Black staff, to say we are with you, and it is a choice now that we make to let go of our fear and insecurity and whatever cultural ways that might hinder us from really standing with you,” Hoffman said.

Brown’s death and the treatment of Black Lives Matter protesters in the days following led many Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to an internal reckoning. Organizations and individuals of all ages were galvanized to get off the sidelines and show solidarity, whether it be through statements, demonstrations or educational talks.

The events roused a younger generation of Asian Americans who had never been part of any high-stakes movement. The ripples from those experiences were felt again in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and pandemic-driven anti-Asian hate. Today, many Asian American and Pacific