Since the Los Angeles uprising of 1992, the dominant trope characterizing relations between Blacks and Asians in American culture has been one of “interethnic conflict” produced by a “clash of cultures.” Challenging such essentialist interpretations of race, ethnicity, and culture, this presentation will highlight the political and ideological factors that define and shape interethnic encounters in the U.S. It will also reveal how surprising intersections between Black and Asian American historical trajectories can be found when we reexamine historical events like the Civil Rights Movement and Japanese American Internment.