South Asian Americans and anti-Black racism: critically reflexive racialization as an anti-racist vernacular discourse.

This article introduces the concept of critically reflexive racialization as a vernacular discourse through which nondominant groups, specifically South Asian Americans, engage in critical self-reflection to renegotiate their racialized identities in relation to other marginalized groups, particularly Black Americans, within the struggle against White supremacy. Based on an analysis of essays from the South Asian American online magazine American Kahani following George Floyd’s murder, the study examines how the community confronts anti-Black racism, racialized casteism, and colorblind ideologies intertwined with aspirational Whiteness and model minority narratives. It identifies strategies such as recognizing racialized privilege, challenging caste-based discrimination, naming anti-Blackness, and recovering historical solidarity with Black Americans as facets of this reflexive process. The study highlights the complexity of South Asian American racial identity formation and calls for ongoing research and intentional anti-racist efforts to build interracial solidarity without reproducing dominant racial binaries or hierarchies.