His mother, Grace Ho, was of European descent and because he wasn’t fully Chinese, Lee endured bullying as a child. “We have to kind of self-educate ourselves, too, if we want to be good allies, to not put the burden on the African American community who have gone through so much already.”īut Lee’s understanding of race was also colored by his own experiences, growing up as a multiracial kid in Hong Kong. “Bruce was taught a lot by Kareem, but Bruce would just go out and get books on his own after a while,” the director added. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bruce Lee on the set of Game of Death. But Nguyen stresses that Lee wouldn’t lean on his famous friend to do the work of breaking down every issue from the black community’s point of view. Abdul-Jabbar, who boycotted the 1968 Summer Olympics in protest of injustices toward black Americans among other forms of activism, would discuss social issues with Lee. “That really informed Bruce about race relations in America and kind of the fragility of it, especially for people who are not white.”Īmong Lee’s most publicized friendships was with the Hall-of-Fame NBA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who also used his voice to become a civil rights advocate. “One of the reasons that Jesse started learning martial arts was self defense as a way to defend himself against future incidents of police brutality,” Nguyen explained. Glover, a black man, had been a victim of police brutality. One of his first students was Jesse Glover, who would go one to be Lee’s first assistant instructor in the United States. “As Asian Americans, we need to be allies.”Īs the director explained, Lee’s understanding of the systemic oppression that African Americans were facing at the time was largely influenced by students and friends who had confronted those very challenges in the civil rights era. “His interactions with so many different people and his willingness to learn helped him become a good ally,” Nguyen said of Lee.
From Lee's eagerness to listen to his black peers, to hitting back at oppression both on screen and off, he persists as a symbol of allyship with the black community nearly a half century after his death at 32, in 1973.
Bao Nguyen, the director of a documentary on Lee, “Be Water,” that premiered Sunday on ESPN, told NBC Asian America that the martial artist’s legacy as a hero for those of diverse backgrounds remains important today, particularly in light of the nationwide demand for justice after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
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