The Yellow Power Movement: Boxers, Panthers, and Hotels (2 of 3)

In the summer of 1900, thousands of poor Chinese farmers formed a secret society to overthrow the western powers that were carving up parts of China for colonial power and profit. They called themselves I Wor Kuen, or Society of the Harmonious Righteous Fist. Westerners in China were scared shitless and called them boxers. Textbooks call the whole thing the boxer rebellion. I call it the greatest act of defiance I've ever heard of. The religious boxers, who performed rites which made them bulletproof, hunted down Christian missionaries and westerners using martial arts. Only an international military force of 20,000 troops including the U.S. was able to suppress the rebellion[ii].

U.S. imperialism in Asia has always had directs consequences for us as Asian Americans. Racism in America is a product of imperialism that began when the European nations devoured the Americas, Africa, and parts of Asia for profit and power. During the 1960s, more and more minority groups in the U.S. began to look at themselves as 3^rd world peoples colonized in the U.S., and believed that only revolution would change these conditions, as opposed to begging the rich white elite for small reforms. With black ghettos, Chinatowns, barrios, and reservations in 3^rd world-like conditions, leaders like Malcolm X pushed for revolutionary change in a time when 3^rd world revolutions were happening at a rapid pace. Malcolm X's legacy would influence many revolutionary organizations in the 60s and 70s such as the Black Panthers.

2^nd generation Japanese American Richard Aoki was born in an American Concentration camp called the WWII Japanese internment camps. He grew up in a different American Concentration camp called the Oakland ghetto. Richard prowled the streets a lot with a guy named Huey P. Newton. Politicized by all the revolutionary currents of the 60s, Richard Aoki, Huey Newton, and another friend, Bobby Seale founded the Black Panthers in 1966[iii]. The Panthers fought for black empowerment and community control instead of being exploited by the rich politicians. To combat the rampant police brutality, the Panthers followed the police around with shotguns and video cameras which lessened police beatings and murders. To battle empty stomachs, the Panthers set up a Breakfast for Children program. To liberate the black community from corrupt, racist, and elitist economic and political systems, the Panthers organized a mass movement militarily and ideologically for revolution. By 1968, the nationwide Panthers were 3,000-5,000 revolutionaries deep and were close to merging with a Chicago gang called Black P. Stone Nation that had 5,000 members of its own[iv]. In the end, however, the FBI and its infamous COINTELPRO terrorist operations prevented the merger, infiltrated the Panthers, assassinated some 38 of them, and promoted internal problems that ultimately led to the Panthers’ demise[v]. Richard was one of six field marshals in the history of the Panthers, spending much of his time at UC Berkeley to try and start parallel Asian organizations. "That I was a field marshal is one of the biggest secrets of the last 50 years," says our Yellow Panther.[vi]

Yellow Power Movement 2 - A Boxer Rebellion in America