Living the Anti-Racist Praxis

I ended today's post ("Getting rid of race"--12/14) with the thought that an anti-racist praxis should be about cross-racial coalitions--about people advocating on behalf of one another despite of, or because of, our differences.

And then I found this item on the Angry Asian Man blog about Hassan Askari, a Bangladeshi college student who aided a group of Jewish people being attacked on the Q Train because they responded to another group's "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Hannukah":

"Hassan Askari, a Bangladeshi college student who stepped up and came to the aid of the two attacked couples, receiving two black eyes in the process: JEWS' SUBWAY HERO A MUSLIM. Unfortunately, Hassan didn't get a chance to bust out his martial arts skillz: Q train hero has brown belt in karate. Still, he gets big points for being a good samaritan. Props, Hassan."

For more on this story click here for The Daily News piece and here for The New York Post article.

I think we all need to remember that it IS possible to live an anti-racist praxis--that people like Hassan Askari exist and that what he did was both remarkable and simple: he helped someone who needed help.

Happy Hanukkah everyone!