Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting Analysis

Analysis of Vijay Prashad: Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity

Historian Vijay Prashad takes an in depth look at the historical commonalities of discrimination between the Africans and Asians in his book, Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting. Prashad begins by explaining, “traditions of xenophobia in the Indian Ocean world were transformed into the hidebound theories of race that emerge from Europe’s experiments with the enslavement of human beings for profit, most notably in the Atlantic slave trade” (Prashad, 6). Linking the Afro-Asian through centuries of oppression and deriving the modern days notion of racism. Although, the early centuries racism was based not on skin color but cultural differences

At a time when African workers had gained their freedom and were able to gain position in the structural class, yet in an era still dominated by white supremacy. The Indian and Chinese entered as the newest indentured workers, and were referred to as a ‘Coolie’, an all too similar name as ‘Nigger’, to the African (Prashad, 72-75). An example of how polyculturalism can be exhibited was through the celebration of Hosay, the death of Hussain, grandson of Muhammad (Prashad, 79). The carnival celebration brought together the Chinese and Africans indentures of the Caribbean. Moreover, it is a celebration led to a natural blending of two cultures through the enjoyment of the others tradition. Nonetheless, the working class polyculturalism was discouraged through both segregation and determent of shared commonalities Another example was the Trinidad Workingmen’s Association (TWA) which tried forging polyculturalism through their political fight for fair wages. Whereas, their goal was “not to organize the workers,” but to gain their own political leverage to protest the lowering of their wages (Prashad, 84). Which later led to “multiethnic politics” between the TWA and the Universal Negro Improvement