This paper explores the possibilities and challenges of building cross‐racial solidarity between Southeast Asian American and Black communities through an ethnographic account of a community‐based educational space (CBES) working with low‐income Southeast Asian American and Black youth. CBESs can play a unique role in teaching youth to engage in anti‐racist work and building cross‐racial coalitions. We argue that attention to challenging anti‐Blackness is central to cross‐racial coalitions but should also recognize the distinct nature of anti‐Asian racism.

Whether framed as model minorities or used as evidence that the model minority is a myth, Hmong Americans and other Southeast Asians are constrained by the model minority stereotype. As a disciplinary tool, the model minority stereotype controls Asian American experiences and identities. This paper explores the complex and diverse ways that Hmong Americans in a community in Wisconsin are making sense of and responding to the model minority stereotype and the racial positioning of the Hmong American community. Our paper will illustrate the persistent power of the model minority stereotype to frame Asian American experiences, identities and actions.

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