United Asian American Organizations

Top 10 Workshops for Teaching About A/PIAs

2009-12-01T06:42:00.004-05:00

By: Raymond Chin

I have been a part of the A/PIA community at the University of Michigan for the past three years and I have been through workshops of various forms. This includes classes in Intergroup Relations (IGR), A/PIA studies classes, their associated books (ie. Teaching about Asian Pacific Americans), and United Asian American Organizations (UAAO). Within UAAO, there are workshops held during the weekly general meetings, A/PIA High School Conference, the peer mentorship program APA101, and at MAASU Spring Conference.

Rationale and Criteria:

Even though the list is ranked, it does not mean that workshop number one should be the first one done. The #1 ranked workshop is easy to facilitate and easy to engage large crowds. It is actively engaging and it does not require a lot about A/PIA issues. In this list, there are a variety of workshops that are meant to challenge participants. There are a few criteria that are required to be looked at. My list for Top 10 Workshops for Teaching About A/PIAs seeks to:

Address a wide variety of A/PIA issues
Have different group sizes
Target different age ranges
Require little to no previous knowledge about A/PIA issues or history

Top 10 Workshops for Teaching About A/PIAs

Privilege Walk
Sim City
Multiple Identities
Peanut Butter River Activity
Web of Oppression
Feast of Resistance
Cups of Unity
Role Playing Domestic Violence
Mapping our history/herstory
A/PIA History Timeline

1. Privilege Walk

Any number of participants can be involved and this activity fits for any age group. Several variations of this activity exist.

The facilitator hands out an index card to each participant with assigned “privileges” and “costs”. A few examples can be “music prodigy”, “scholarships awarded”, “pursuing higher education”, to “working multiple jobs to sustain family”, “lives in poor neighborhood”, and “has an accent”.

After everyone is given an index card, everyone lines up shoulder to shoulder and is looking towards the goal line. A “narrator” at the goal line (at opposite end of room) calls out a certain number of steps forward or backwards according to your “privileges” or “costs”. For example, the narrator would say “take one step forward if you are from a middle class family”. Another example might explore gender. So, “If you are male, take one step forward and if you are female take one step back”.

The person with the most “privileges” will be closest to the narrator. At the end, the narrator will have a bag of candy at hand and say “Now, grab this bag of candy”. The people closest to the candy have the greatest chance of winning.

Representations:

The Bag of Candy: The rewards and opportunities in life. The most privileged people will have the most access to the candy. Everyone near the back can barely hear the narrator after a while and will not bother running up to get the bag of candy. For the people near the starting line, the bag of candy represents an ideal or something that is not even thought of because of all the real life limitations. How can one think of obtaining a job of high status when they have to take care of the family business, take care of siblings, and attend high school?

Possible Questions for Discussion:

Point out who was at the front of the line, what benefits they had. The most privileged person will usually include: is a male, musically gifted, comes from an affluent background, loving parents, parents who graduated from Ivy League schools, and so on.

Then point out the person who is at the back of the line. The least privileged person will usually include: is a female, speaks no English, has divorced parents, is a teenage parent, forced to work at two jobs, and so on.

Ask what people at various positions thought at different times. Was it fair for people in the back to not have a chance at getting the candy? What were they thinking when the person grabbed the candy?

Ask the person who took the bag of candy if sharing was at the top of their list once they got it.

Variations of this exercise:

Instead of assigning each participant with an index card, let participants use their own real life experiences and privileges.

Have the narrator call out many more “negative” privileges so participants keep walking backwards, ending up further and further from the goal line. This shows the dream that once seemed reasonable only got harder and harder to obtain.

2. Sim City

I would attribute this workshop to the program of Intergroup Relations (IGR)

Best performed in small groups and can be done with any age group.

Assign a large portion of the room into a rectangular “city”. Divide that rectangle into four uneven sections.

The facilitator is the Mayor and it is the job of the citizens (participants) to build the most magnificent structures out of paper and other resources. It is suggested that another facilitator acts as the Secretary of the Mayor and enforces the laws of the land.

Rules:

Each group assigned to a plot of land must stay on their plot of land.
If they step out of the boundaries, they are sent to “jail” (a separate corner of the room), or removed from the game.
No group may interfere with another group’s plot of land.
The Mayor and Secretary have omnipotent powers and can sabotage or aid any Group at any time.

Distribution of Resources among Groups:

Group 1:

Most time to build city
Most space to build
Most resources
Can speak to Mayor directly – Can get unlimited amount of resources
Secretary is very lenient about group members stepping outside of boundaries.

Group 2:

5 minutes less to build than previous group
Good amount of space to build city
Fewer resources than Group 1
Often gets permission from Secretary to speak with Mayor

Group 3:

5 minutes less to build than previous group
Decent amount of space to build city
No pens/markers – no ability to label necessary buildings
If any group member steps outside of city boundaries, group member is forced to go to “jail”
Requests are often ignored by Secretary

Group 4:

5 minutes less to build than previous group
Barely enough space to fit several group members standing
No resources – no pens/markers, paper to build a city
Completely ignored by Secretary and Mayor
Harsh penalties if anyone in this group steps outside of city boundaries

Objective:

Build the greatest city out of given supplies and win the Mayor’s favor.

Set-up

Let Group 1 start the activity. Instruct them to build the greatest city they can. Tell them to use as many resources at their disposal. They are excited to build lavish hotels, airports, monuments, parks, residential districts, police stations, fire stations, schools, universities, hospitals, and other essentials of a city. The combination of paper and a writing utensil is the basis of constructing their buildings.

After 5 minutes, call in Group 2 and assign second largest section of land. They will work similarly to Group 1

Another 5 minutes, call in Group 3 and assign third largest section of land. With no pen to label their buildings, they need to request supplies from the Secretary. Often ignored, the Mayor will finally give in. Just to spite Group 3, the Mayor can give more materials to either of the other groups.

After another 5 minutes, call in Group 4. They will barely have enough space to stand and their major concern is not falling out of the city’s boundaries. They will have no chance of winning the Mayor’s favor. The Mayor has abilities to destroy Group 3’s building with floods and other “natural disasters” (representation will be explained later).

End the activity when the major aspects of each group are easily highlighted. Due to the subjectivity of the Mayor, the Mayor will say Group 1 won the activity because they have the nicest buildings.

Representation:

The time difference for each group represents different waves of immigration. Obviously Group 1 had the most time to construct nice buildings so they win by default.

Group 2 is still fairly privileged whereas most of the unfortunate events happen to Group 3. Group 3 gets ignored when they need to speak to the Mayor. This represents how often times people of color get their voices ignored. As for a “natural disaster” occurring to Group 3, they inhabited a poor plot of land and hence constructed a poor neighborhood.

Group 4 has nothing. They are the bottom of the rung as far as class. Their concern is not building a pretty city, but rather trying to stay in the game by not stepping outside their tight boundaries.

Possible Questions for Discussion:

What does this activity represent? What does each Group represent?
How did each Group feel watching the others succeed/fail?
Did the very privileged Group 1 think about sharing their resources?

3. Multiple Identities

Any number of people can participate in this activity. The more participants, the better.

Set-Up:

Have a large poster or piece of paper with separate identities. This includes race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical ability, education, citizenship, and any other categories that you feel are relevant.

All participants should have 3 of each colored sticker. How many different colored stickers depends on how many questions you ask.

Before the activity starts, the facilitator should explain all the boxes of categories.

Ask the following questions one at a time allowing each participant to place stickers on the top three categories.

For example, the facilitator will say “Place a blue sticker on the top three categories that you are most proud of”

All participants finish placing their stickers in their favored categories.

Second Statement, the facilitator can say “Place a green sticker on the top three categories that you feel are most prominent on your life”

Third Statement, “Place a red sticker on the three categories that you are embarrassed of”

Fourth Statement “Place a yellow sticker on the three categories that you think other people judge you on”

Other possible statements: categories that you feel negatively impact you, impact you in general, shaped who you are today, are most visible, wish to improve upon, have most control over, and any other statements that you may want to include.

Questions for Discussion (can be discussed in smaller groups):

Ask for common trends. Where do people see a lot of the same colored dots? An example might be, with statement 4, why is it that you feel others judge us on categories that are mostly physical?

If we were to take this activity outside of this environment, will we get the same results? If we went to a different group of color, do you think their concerns will be the same? If we went to a different age group, will their concerns be the same?

Summary:

As facilitator, explain that as a participant, there are people with similar concerns as you. It is also important to stress that each person is an individual and everyone has unique experiences and categories that shape who they are.

4. Peanut Butter River Activity

I would like to attribute this activity to the Yuri Kochiyama Mentorship Program

The origins of the name of this activity are a bit unknown but it is a workshop designed to demonstrate the struggles of immigration.

Activity best done in smaller groups and any age group can get involved.

First, the facilitators need to research instances of legislation that discriminated against or benefited certain Asian ethnic groups.

A few examples:

The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 limited distribution of passports to Japanese
The Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934 negatively impacted Filipino immigration.
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act negatively impacted mainly the Chinese
The repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 positively impacted Chinese immigration
The 1965 Nationality and Immigration Act helped all ethnicities.

Set-Up:

Each group is assigned a certain ethnic group/country. So usually Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, and Indian are the common ones. Korean, Vietnamese, and other ethnic groups can be added if there are a large number of participants.

Each team is given approximately 1 paper plate per team member.

Objective:

The team to get from one side of the room and back is the winner!

Rules:

No body part is allowed to touch the floor. They must utilize the paper plates as “stepping stones”.
No sliding paper plates across the ground.
When the facilitators call “Stop!” everyone must freeze in place. This is the time when a piece of legislation is being enacted. If a facilitator mentions a piece of legislation that negatively impacts a group, they take away a plate (or two!) from the ethnic group it affects. Likewise, if an Act benefits an ethnic group, facilitators give plates to that team.
Optional Rule: Facilitators have the option to take away plates that are not protected/not being stepped on the floor.

Questions for Discussion:

Get general reaction. It is a difficult activity that requires lots of teamwork to move from one side of the room to another while only stepping on paper plates.

Did they notice a trend? It was very hard to immigrate to the U.S. in the late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s. With the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act and 1965 Nationality Act, immigrating got a lot easier (more paper plates awarded).

Ask if people know of difficult immigration stories. They may know of family members that are still trying to enter the U.S. but have to wait several years before being able to.

5. Web of Oppression

I would like to thank the program of Intergroup Relations (IGR) for this workshop.

This activity is best done in small to medium sized groups and perhaps with college level or above audiences.

Have participants stand in a circle. The facilitator will pass a ball of yarn to one participant and that person then passes the ball of yarn across to another participant. Now when there is enough string to go to each participant in the circle at least twice (each hand holding a piece of the string), have the facilitator attach pieces of information.

The pieces of information are examples of oppression. It can be a definition of for example, the model minority myth and when it was strongly perpetuated. It can be discriminatory legislation, examples of hate crimes, racist incidents in history, stereotypes, and such.

Have participants closest to that fact read it out loud and comment about it. It can be their reaction to it or if they have a story relevant to the fact, it only adds to the discussion.

After all the facts are read, the facilitator will ask participants to drop the Web of Oppression (the web created by all the yarn).

Discussion:

Get general reactions from participants after hearing all the negativity coming from the facts. Were people angered? Are participants feeling empowered to fight against more incidents from happening?

What does dropping the Web of Oppression represent? Is it a relief? What about its presence on the floor? It is still there even though we may not notice it as much after dropping it. However, things like stereotypes still affect us.

6. Feast of Resistance

Can be done with any number of people, preferably medium sized groups.

Have a bag of items that have a historical significance to Asian Americans. Some items include: the Bing cherry, donuts, shrimp flavored chips, a pineapple, sugar cane. Note: items do not have to be limited to food items.

Have participants either guess what is in the bag that Asian Americans have contributed to or have each participant pick an item randomly. When an item is taken out of the bag, the facilitator asks what the item’s significance to Asian American history is. If no one knows, the facilitator should explain the significance.

Discussion:

Often times, participants do not know the historical significance of the items in the bag. Perhaps people do not necessarily attach the contribution to an Asian American. Perhaps it is a sense of history that is lost.

Mention that simple things like pineapples have a huge role in Asian American history.

7. Cups of Unity (not official name)

I would like to thank UAAO for coming up with this workshop this year.

This activity can be done with any number of people, preferably with large groups and any age group.

Divide participants into about 4 even groups and separate them into different parts of the room.

Round 1:

The fastest team to stack 21 cups into a pyramid-like tower wins. However, the facilitators have foam balls that can be thrown to wreck teams from forming the tower. Prizes can be given out as an incentive.

Round 2:

The goal is to have as many towers from the four teams standing when time is called. Mention that the more towers that are left standing, the greater the reward. Strategies include coming together in unity and having all the towers in the center. Then have an outer ring of people to protect the towers from any foam balls hitting the towers.

Round 3 (optional):

If not all towers were standing by the end of round 2, challenge the participants once again and see if they can get all towers to stand by the end of this round.

Discussion:

What does this activity try to make a point of? Standing in solidarity proves strength. Coalition building is important and common together for a common cause is necessary.

Can give examples in A/PIA history where coalition building meant change. An example is the strike for ethnic studies in the 1970’s by the Third World Liberation Front.

Discuss the difference between Round 1 and the later rounds. In round 1, group members might try to sabotage other groups from winning. Participants might have taken the foam balls thrown at their team and purposely throw it in the direction of another team in hopes of knocking down their tower. Then in Round 2, enemies became friends since the reward was greater.

8. Choose Your Adventure Domestic Violence

This is not the official name of this workshop. It was inspired by the “choose your adventure” books where you would choose a path and flip to that page.

Divide participants into different groups. Activity best done with small to medium sized groups. Age group is preferred to be of college level or above.

Have different places set up at different parts of the room. For example, “Home”, “Friend’s House”, “Church”, “Court”, and so on.

At each of these places, have colored index cards that each group would pick up according to what “path” they chose previously.

Group 1 might start at “Home” and the story goes that they are a wife that comes home to a drunk and violent husband. What do you do? Go to the “police” and call for help, go to your “Friend’s House” for comfort, or go to “Church” and talk about your problem.

Group 2 would have a different starting path and slightly different story, perhaps a more or less severe case of domestic violence. Different paths work for different groups.

The same would happen to however many stories/groups the facilitator decides to create.

Discussion:

Different groups will get different results. Groups may end up going back home and get beaten to death by the husband. Groups may end up getting legal actions taken.

Facilitator should mention statistics of domestic violence which is fairly prevalent in South Asian households. Mention how domestic violence is a problem and people think that by going to a friend’s house or by going to church, it will solve the problem. Getting comfort temporarily does help but through the activity, the cycle keeps going unless legal advice is taken. Even when some groups seek legal advice, there are language barriers that limit one from getting help. Also, the legal system may take a while before the person can get help, so they return home only to get beaten further.

9. Mapping Our History/Herstory

Activity can be done with any group size, preferably a medium sized one.

Get a set of pins, string, and a gigantic world map.

Ask participants to tell their family’s immigration story, how and why their family came to America. Ask when they started to immigrate; how their family got started in the U.S., did they move around a lot, where they were born, how their parents met, and any other relevant question.

Place string along each participant’s immigration path and put a pin at each stop during their journey.

Discussion:

Were there common reasons for coming to the United States? Was it to escape war, persecution, pursue education, etc.
Are there common places where participant’s families resided? Are the East and West coasts heavily populated?

10. A/PIA History Timeline

Different variations of this activity exist.

Any number of people can be involved in this activity. Facilitator can divide larger crowds into smaller groups.

In each group, have prominent events in A/PIA history and a detailed description.

Some examples are:

The Third World Liberation Front is formed in 1968
Executive Order 9066
Strike at the International Hotel in 1968
The death of Vincent Chin

Have nice pictures demonstrating each event if possible

The facilitator has the option to exclude the dates and try to have groups identify the right order of events. Groups can use clues given in the detailed description about the event or clues in the pictures.

Discussion:

Explain the importance of each event, the results of each if they are not already put in the descriptions. It is important to contextualize the events and demonstrate how these series of events make up A/PIA history. Without hotel strikes and the civil rights movement happening at the time, things like ethnic studies would cease to exist.
Without learning about A/PIA history, it is very difficult to know the exact dates and it might be difficult to get the order correct. Mention that in high school, we have probably never read about these events. The absence of A/PIA history in textbooks says something, that perhaps A/PIA history is devalued or not worth teaching.

On Solidarity and Multiracial Collaboration

2009-04-09T23:47:00.001-04:00

I don't believe it's true that people are inherently greedy or that people are inherently anything. To say that is such a slippery slope into believing that SOME people are inherently this, A/PIAs are inherently good at math, are inherently better qualified for white collar jobs. Which is to imply that those who don't succeed in math or don't work white collar jobs are...lazy? stupid? failures?

No. Of course not. We talk about the model minority stereotype and how we as A/PIAs have a bimodal distribution in terms of wealth/education/profession etc. But we never talk about what that MEANS or WHY that is a damaging stereotype. It's damaging NOT just because of how it trivializes the struggles of our lower half, but also because if WE are inherently predisposed to success, to pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, then what is wrong with those other minority groups that are struggling? Especially after allll this time, since the Civil Rights Movement saw so much success etc...why are all these other minority groups (aka blacks and Latin@s) having all these problems and are complaining so much??

The Model Minority stereotype holds up A/PIAs as this poster child of hard work and the "American Dream" at the expense of and to the detriment of everybody else. Some people ask why such positive stereotypes are so bad, well they're bad because they come at the expense of the Black Power and Chicano Movements that speak to the rampant institutional racism and discrimination of which our beloved country has such a long history.

We as A/PIAs didn't make strides in terms of breaking racial barriers, overcoming hardships to leadership positions in the political and professional world solely because of our MERIT. That we were able to come this far is inextricably tied to the struggles of other minority groups in this country that had been fighting long before many of us got here. It doesn't mean we're any less entitled to what we've achieved, but it certainly doesn't make us MORE entitled.

Maybe this isn't how everyone feels, but it's pretty apparent to me that the history and mission of UAAO is connected to and stands in solidarity with other students of color and groups of color on our campus and in the community at large. We cannot entirely over come the racism and discrimination that we face as a group as long as there are other groups who face the same, and face it without our support.

It seems cliche, but it doesn't make it any less true when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr says that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

~laura (is ranting...)

MAASU!!

2009-04-06T22:43:00.001-04:00

Thanks everyone for coming out to MAASU and all the rest of the programming we've had this year!

We hope you enjoyed the conference and hopefully were able to get something out of it (...like a Nice Guy t-shirt or Magnetic North CD!)

As a graduating senior, it was sad to know that this would be my last conference as a Michigan undergrad...and I know for so many more of you it's even more meaningful because you all have been to so many more of these conferences than myself.

The year has gone by so quickly, and I feel like UAAO as an organization has made some good progress this year, and done a lot to reevaluate and think about areas for improvement for next year. I really encourage everyone and anyone who has an opinion on how UAAO ran this year or how the board functioned to please please give us some feedback! (uaao.board@umich.edu) We appreciate and take to heart all of your comments and definitely take them into account when it comes to planning next year's meetings and programming.

(Even negative feedback, because it forces us to look beyond personal feelings and try to figure out what's best for our organization and the community.)

soooo if anyone reads this, please let us know how we've been doing and what you'd like to see more of next year!!

Thanks for a great year,

~Laura

Studio 4 Update

2009-01-28T08:45:00.002-05:00

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2009-01-23/uaao-seek-mediation-studio-4

UAAO to seek mediation with Studio 4

By Matt Aaronson
Daily Staff Reporter On January 22nd, 2009

The United Asian American Organizations have gone to the University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution to open a mediation process with management from the Studio 4 nightclub. The club is located on 4th Avenue in Ann Arbor.

Leaders of the Chinese Student Association and the Filipino American Student Association — two groups included in UAAO — claim that the club’s managers broke a revenue-sharing contract and used racial profiling to determine the amount of money they would receive from a fundraiser the groups were holding at the club on Nov. 8 of last year.

Ravi Bodepudi, co-chair of the UAAO, said nobody from the organization has been in contact with anyone from Studio 4 since just after the incident. He said there are plans to meet with the OSCR this week to discuss a course of action.

OSCR, part of the Division of Student Affairs, offers conflict resolution services to anyone with a University affiliation. All parties must consent to the process.

Laura Misumi, UAAO’s other co-chair, said that for her, their activism after this incident was about "creating awareness of student empowerment."

Bodepudi had doubts about the effectiveness of mediation.

“We’re not really sure if an apology would be enough,” he said.

OSCR representatives said that they could not disclose information about any specific mediation process. According to CSA President Steve Lai, OSCR has been in touch with Studio 4 management, although it is not known whether they have agreed to take part in the mediation process.

Misumi said UAAO was also working with the University’s Office of Student Activities and Leadership to develop a set of guidelines for student organizations dealing with Ann Arbor businesses to create accountability for both parties.

Ashley Manzano, FASA President, said that before the event in November, there had been a written agreement that the two student groups would publicize the event. In exchange the groups would receive half of the cover charge from everyone who came through the door that night.

At the end of the night, according to Manzano and Lai, the club’s manager, Jeff Mangray, told them that they would only be paid for 50 out of the 111 people who came to the club that night.

Mangray told them this was because they “only brought in 50 Asians,” according to Lai.

Lai said he was threatened by Mangray’s son, who also spat on Manzano and used racial and sexist slurs in an ensuing confrontation outside of the club.

UAAO passed a resolution boycotting the club and condemning the alleged actions of the managers at their last meeting before winter break. Shortly after, the Michigan Student Assembly passed a similar resolution. MSA’s version cut off funding to student organizations for events at Studio 4 temporarily while the Peace and Justice Commission conducted an investigation. The commission was supposed to report its findings at last Tuesday’s meeting, but the presentation was postponed.

Stand Against Studio Meeting today 6pm YK Lounge South Quad (in place of regularly scheduled UAAO meeting)

Top 10 National Non-Profit Organizations for A/PIAs

2008-12-04T08:15:00.004-05:00

The Top 10 National Non-Profit Organizations for A/PIAs

By: Veronica Garcia, Arthur Wang, and Claire Vergara

Non-profit organizations have provided social services and political and legal advocacy for A/PIAs, although they are by no means the only sources for these services. We chose to focus on national non-profit organizations because they have emerged as some of the most recognizable and effective resources for A/PIAs, and because national organizations may serve and represent A/PIAs nationally better than an organization with a more local focus.

Rationale and Criteria

To survey our options, we combined personal knowledge and online searches, using a broad list of different foci to identify what we should search for. From this list, we used these initial criteria to select the organizations on the list:

* The organization must explicitly serve A/PIAs
We focused on pan-ethnic organizations; for example, the Organization of Chinese Americans or the Japanese American Citizens League were not included
* The organization must be national
* The organization must be non-profit, typically 501(c)(3)

Once we had our list, we applied various criteria to narrow it down to a top ten:

* Recognition – is the organization well-known? Has the organization won awards or been acknowledged for its work?
* Pioneering – are there other similar national, non-profit organizations for A/PIAs, or were there others when this organization was founded? Does or has the organization focused on a specific issue that has been overlooked or underacknowledged?
* Impact – has the organization made significant progress on its issue? Are there any notable events, campaigns, cases, etc. for which the organization is know or responsible?

Using these criteria, we decided between us which organizations would be included on the top ten. We gave special consideration to the “pioneering” criteria; that is, we tried to diversify the field of issues represented in our selection process. There is no specific order to the list.

APIA Top 10 National Non-Profit Organizations

1. National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
2. Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO
3. A/PIAVote
4. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
5. The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
6. Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA)
7. National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)
8. National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO)
9. National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (NCAPACD)
10. Asian and Pacific Islander Health Forum (APIAHF)

---------

1. National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
http://napawf.org

NAPAWF is the only national, multi-issue APA women’s organization in the country. The mission of NAPAWF is to build a movement to advance social justice and human rights for APA women and girls.

Recognition

Although NAPAWF has not received any awards, the organization has several accomplishments at national, legislative, and local levels. In 2005, for examples three of NAPAWF’s California chapters voted to organize around 4 bills related to addressing human trafficking, banning phlalates in cosmetic products, and supporting a single-payer health care system in California. In 2004, NAPAWF members organized an International Marriage Broker Regulation Act Lobby Day, to discuss the bill that would protect the rights of mail order brides.

Pioneering

NAPAWF is the only national, multi-issue APA women’s organization in the country. Once an all-volunteer organization, NAPAWF is now one of the few staged national women of color organizations in the U.S. Their reproductive justice and anti-trafficking programs have drawn national attention to the issues not commonly magnified in the APIA community. The California Young Women’s Collaborative is one of the only youth-led research and activism projects that focuses on the reproductive health concerns of API women across California campuses.

Impact

NAPAWF has developed a series of fact sheets, issues briefs, and other materials that explore important reproductive issues relating to health care, immigration, contraception, environmental justice, Medicaid, abortion, and sex selection. NAPAWF is also at the forefront of building coalitions and cross-movement strategies with other social justice movements. For example, NAPAWF helps coordinate local, regional, and national initiatives to improve nail salon worker health and safety.

2. Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO
http://www.apalanet.org/

APALA, AFL-CIO is the first and only national organization of APA union members. Founded in 1992, APALA has 11 chapters and pre-chapters and a national office in Washington D.C. APALA has over 600,000 APA workers that have joined unions.

Recognition

APALA has been credited with shifting the AFL-CIO toward more actively organizing API workers.

Pioneering

APALA remains the first and only national organization for APA union members. It promotes political education and voter registration programs among APAs, as well as training, empowerment, and leadership of APAs within the labor movement and APA community. Furthermore, APALA actively seeks to develop ties within international labor organizations, especially in Asia and the Pacific.

Impact

APALA works with the AFL-CIO organizing institute to train API workers in organizing techniques. APALSA also works to build awareness of the labor movement among APA workers. They also build awareness and address exploitative conditions in industries with large numbers of APA workers. Furthermore, APALA is active in federal and state legislative efforts on immigration reform and the access of immigrants both legal and illegal to social services.

3. A/PIAVOTE
http://www.apiavote.org

A/PIAVote is a national non-profit nonpartisan organization that promotes the civic participation of Asian Pacific Islander Americans on the grassroots, democratic, and policy levels.

Recognition

To date, A/PIAVote does not have any longstanding awards; however, A/PIAVote has worked closely with all AAPI politicians particularly congresspersons and senators making the organization recognizable on both a state and national level.

Pioneering

A/PIAVote is a unique organization that was started in the early 1990’s as the Asian American identity began to arise in all arenas. For the first time, Asian American populations were being recognized in the media, workforce, and in politics. This was an opportune chance for leaders in the APIA community to come together to create an organization that would empower Asian Americans through not only voter education and registration, but also field building, leadership development, media relations and youth outreach. A/PIAVote provides unique statistics and information about APIA populations regarding voting.

Impact

A/PIAVote is unique in that it is a nonpartisan organization, which sets it apart from other organizations that promote APIA voter registration. This year alone, A/PIAVote was monumental in creating events to celebrate APIA achievement in politics at both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention, which was never done before. Furthermore, A/PIAVote tries to be representative on a state level by starting chapters in key states as well as those with high APIA populations. A/PIAVote also builds bridges in the APIA community by working closely with organizations with similar aims like AALDEF and APALA. Lastly, A/PIAVote worked hard to register a record number of APIA voters especially youth through campaigns like Project 5% (registering APIA youth voters through collegiate conferences, student organizations, and the Greek system).

4. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
http://www.aaldef.org

AALDEF is a national, New York-based civil rights organization founded in 1974. They educate and protect civil rights by multiple methods: litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing. They are a founding member of the Public Interest Law Center, which includes the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as well as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Recognition

AALDEF continues to receive financial support solely from individuals, corporations, and foundations – the organization does not receive government funding.

Pioneering

AALDEF focuses on multiple issues that affect Asian Americans: immigrants’ rights; voters’ rights and language access; workers’ rights and economic justice; police misconduct; and human trafficking, among others. AALDEF is unique in its combination of methods – they organize at the grassroots level while pursuing legal action and political advocacy. In addition, they have a long-term community-based focus: they provide free legal advice; provide legal resources to community organizations; educate Asian Americans about their rights; and train future lawyers to serve their communities.

Impact

AALDEF has shown visible success in litigation and voting rights. Recently, they won a case in which Chinese immigrant restaurant delivery workers were awarded $4.6 million for violations of federal and state laws by two Saigon Grill restaurants in Manhattan. In addition, they have conducted an exit polling effort across up to 11 states in the past few elections, polling thousands of Asian and Arab American voters in order to protect their rights as voters and better document voting trends. They have won cases as a result of observations made by election observers associated with their election protection, leading to the provision of multilingual ballot materials, for example.

5. The Asian American Writers’ Workshop
http://aaww.org

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop established in 1991 and operates out of a 6,000 square-foot loft in New York, NY. It is one of the most active community arts organizations in the United States. AAWW is devoted to the creating, publishing, developing and disseminating of creative writing by Asian Americans.

Recognition

Since 1998, the AAWA have honored Asian American writers for excellence in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, memoir stage plays and screenplays through their Annual Asian American Literary Awards.

Pioneering

The AAWA has a list of award-winning books and have become an educational resource for Asian American literature and awareness.

Impact

Writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies, Unaccustomed Earth), David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), and spoken word poet Beau Sia have led workshops at AAWW. The AAWW loft has a reading room of Asian American literature through the decades.

6. Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA)
http://www.aaja.org

AAJA was founded in 1981 and operates with the mission of encouraging A/PIAs to enter the journalism industry; working for fair and accurate coverage of A/PIAs; and increasing the number of A/PIA journalists and news managers. It is a national non-profit membership organization with chapters in 20 states, as well as members working in Asia. AAJA is an alliance partner in UNITY Journalists of Color, which includes the Native American Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and National Association of Black Journalists.

Recognition

In 1995, the University of Missouri awarded the Medal AAJA for Distinguished Service in the Industry.

Pioneering

In 1981, a small group of A/PIA journalists founded AAJA, seeing the need for such an organization. In addition to their stated mission, AAJA also provides greater recognition to A/PIA journalists through its own awards. Besides recognizing achievement in journalism, they also present awards for excellence in coverage of civil rights and issues of social justice for A/PIAs, as well as corporations or individuals that have demonstrated commitment to promoting diversity in the news and industry.

Impact

The AAJA now has over 2000 members. They host an annual convention, drawing hundreds of journalists. They provide services to their members in the form of job listings and resume postings. In addition, they run professional programs – training in multimedia and leadership; mentor programs; and fellowships – and programs aimed at students – scholarships for A/PIA journalism undergraduates; internships; and the opportunity to work on projects with other journalists of color.

7. National Asian Pacific Bar Association (NAPABA)

NAPABA is a national association and network of A/PIA attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA advocates for the legal needs and interests of the APA community.

Recognition

NAPABA currently does not have any outstanding awards or accolades recognized by outside organizations; however, several of the lawyers, judges, and politicians belonging to the organization have been bestowed with the Trailblazer Award, which praises the candidate for any impactful work they may have done. Furthermore, NAPABA represents the interests of over 40,000 attorneys and approximately 57 local APA bar associations, with practice settings ranging from solo practices to large firms, corporations, legal services organizations, non-profit organizations, law schools, and governmental agencies.

Pioneering

NAPABA is the only national APA bar association in the United States; however, NAPABA was not the first. Created in 1988, NAPABA has been at the forefront of national and local activities in the areas of civil rights, anti-immigrant sentiment, while increasing the diversity of the judiciaries and firms. NAPABA was the first organized and unified representation of APIA legal workers.

Impact

NAPABA does not currently have any specific campaigns, but the organization and its members monitor legislative and judicial developments to promote A/PIA political leadership. NAPABA also advocates for equal opportunity in education and the workplace, eliminate discrimination against A/PIAs, and builds coalitions amongst legal professionals and the community. NAPABA is a resource for APIA government agencies, politicians, and public service organizations. NAPABA serves as the voice of the A/PIA community in the legal realm.

8. National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO)
http://www.naatco.org

NAATCO was formed in 1989. It’s mission is to assert the presence and significance of Asian American theatre in the United States by demonstrating its vital contributions to the fabric of American culture. NAATCO takes European and American classics as written with all Asian American casts. They also present adaptations of these plays by Asian American playwrights and new plays written by non-Asian Americans, nor for or about Asian Americans, but realized by an all Asian American cast.

Recognition

NAATCO was the recipient of the 2006 Rosetta LeNoire Award from Actors' Equity Association in recogntion of its contribution toward increasing diversity and non-traditional casting in American theatre.

Pioneering

NAATCO prides itself on its ability to reach across ethnic boundaries to illuminate universal characteristics of human nature. To quote the NAATCO website, “The superimposition of our Asian faces on a non-Asian repertory, interpreted by artists using diverse and truly universal references to serve the text very faithfully, reflects and emphasizes the kinship among disparate cultures.”

Impact

By binding themselves to the American experience but consciously making an effort to transcend ethnic boundaries in order to relay universal truths, NAATCO enriches several cultures, and not just American culture as a whole. NAATCO helps to accurately represent onstage the multi- and intercultural dynamics of our society.

9. National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (NCAPACD)
http://www.nationalcapacd.org/

NCAPACD strives to be a powerful voice for the unique community development needs of A/PIA communities and to strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations to create neighborhoods of opportunity.

Recognition

NCAPACD currently has no long-standing awards, yet, this organization is pinnacle in doing work that never been performed prior to its inception. NCAPACD has created many local chapters that work to enhance the lives of the lower class socioeconomic A/PIA family as well as working with local community development centers to maintain Chinatowns, Little Manila’s, Little Saigon’s, and similar communities.

Pioneering

National CAPACD is the first national advocacy organization dedicated to addressing the community development needs of diverse and rapidly growing A/PIA communities. NCAPACD is a network of over 100 organizations and individuals in 17 states that serve Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians, refugees and immigrants nationwide. The network utilizes affordable housing, community development, and organizing to improve the livelihood of low-income A/PIA communities.

Impact

NCAPACD works on key issues of access to housing, data policy, economic justice, and community preservation. With these key aims, NCAPACD promotes home ownership, dispel the Model Minority Myth by trying to show government agencies that A/PIA families suffer from poverty too, assisting those A/PIAs that are limited language proficient, and restoring historical Asian enclaves around the US.

10. Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum (A/PIAHF)
http://www.apiahf.org

A/PIAHF is a national advocacy organization dedicated to promoting policy, program, and research efforts to improve the health and well-being of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

Recognition

A/PIAHF has no long standing awards but has been renowned for their wide array of advocacy programming. Currently, they have created a health information network for A/PIA communities, organized census data pertaining to A/PIA communities, capacity-building for those affected by HIV as well as promoting awareness, doing research and working against domestic violence, and implementing tobacco education/cancer survivorship programs.

Pioneering

A/PIAHF was founded in 1986 to develop to build coalitions and capacity within local A/PIA communities. A/PIAHF advocates for health issues of significance to A/PIA communities, conduct community-based assistance and training, provide health and U.S. Census data analysis and information dissemination, and convene regional and national conferences on A/PIA health.

Impact

A/PIAHF enables Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to attain the highest possible level of health and well-being. It envisions a multicultural society where Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are included and represented in health, political, social and economic areas.

The Studio4 Story From FASA President

2008-11-25T01:55:00.002-05:00

As some of you may have heard, an incident involving CSA, FASA, and Studio 4 nightclub occurred two Saturdays ago. On behalf of the two organizations involved that night, we would like to share with you information about some of the injustices committed against us that night. We feel it is necessary for you as individuals and members of our community to know, as something like this could have happened to any organization, and very well may happen again. What follows is a condensed version of the night's events. The full story and important details of the night are attached and at the bottom of this email. It is a much more vivid account of what happened; please take a look if you can. We really encourage that you read the attached testimony to gain a better understanding of the whole situation.

On November 8th, CSA and FASA held a collaborative club night to celebrate their respective events, Celebrasia and Philippine Culture Night, resulting in the party "Illuminous". Turnout was a success; many members and friends of the organizations attended. However, poor business practices and discrimination surfaced at the end of the night, causing an altercation between the owners of Studio 4 and the two organizations.

CSA and FASA had been contracted to promote the party that night; the terms that were signed off on were that the two organizations would receive "50% of all cover charge revenue for the night." However, the owner had also cross-promoted with another entity, "Social Studies", and though the owner reassured that the cross-promotions would not alter the terms of the existing contract, he subsequently failed to adhere to his word and the contract. As the organizations came to collect their dues at the end of the night, he claimed that due to advertisement on behalf of multiple parties, CSA and FASA would only be entitled to payment for those they brought in. In the owners' opinions, CSA and FASA only brought in "50 Asians" as evidenced by tally marks on a clipboard from the club entrance. Their "official" count of total persons paying cover fees amounted to 111 people. The situation escalated to the point where the disagreement became physical, personal, and extremely unprofessional in the form of pushing, name-calling, and spitting.

It should be said that at the very least, there was a breach of contract and ethnic and gender discrimination in effect. It is unjust to assume that organizations centered on ethnicities can only have friends of the same ethnicity, and it is even more reprehensible to count people according to ethnicity at the door of any establishment. These are just a few of our concerns, and we are currently taking steps to address this issue on several levels.

As fellow A/PIA organizations and leaders on this campus, we feel it is pertinent to disclose this issue with you so that you may make informed decisions as an individual and/or as part of an organization. Neither FASA nor CSA will attend Studio 4, nor will we engage in future business dealings with them. This is not only about injustice, but about being taken advantage of and disrespected as individuals, business partners, and members of the A/PIA community.

Please pass the word along. Knowledge is the first step to awareness, and the consequences of failing to act against an injustice like this is a violation of everyone's rights, regardless of race or identity. If you have had similar experiences with Studio 4 management in the past, please get in touch with either UAAO, CSA board, FASA board, Steve or me. We would like to hear your stories and take a stand against injustice that unfortunately still exists today.
~Ashley

The Studio4 Story From CSA President

2008-11-22T13:02:00.002-05:00

On the afternoon leading up to the club event, I heard that there was another event being hosted at Studio 4 on the same night that we had scheduled our event. I decided to call Reese in order to figure out what exactly was going on. He told me that he was starting a marketing group called “Social Studies” and that he knew that we had booked the club that night already. He then assured me that Social Studies would not affect the terms of our contract in any way and that it may even boost the turn out and we could potentially earn more money. He even asked me to help promote the Social Studies marketing group and let people know at CelebrAsia that people over the age of 21 would have their first drink on the house. That was basically my conversation with Reese and I, in turn, passed the message along to both CSA and FASA boards and told them that we did not have to worry about the event being promoted by Social Studies as well.

After the end of the event, we approached Jeff (Studio 4 owner) to collect our share of the night’s cover. According to the terms of the contract, Studio 4 would split the night’s cover with CSA and FASA; 50% going to the club and the other 50% to be split between CSA and FASA.

During our conversation, he continued to refuse to honor our contract and said he would only pay us for the fifty Asians that he thought were there that night (he had tallied the Asians on his clipboard as they came in). His reason was that we felt that Social Studies did all the work to promote the event. We reasoned with him some time about the fact that it doesn’t matter how many Asians came in and that even some of the board members brought in friends that were not Asian. We also reminded him of the terms of the contract and that it did not state that we would receive 50% of the gains from the cover of the Asians, but just 50% of the gains from the paid attendees. The conversation escalated into an argument because Jeff continually refused honor the contract and even began to call the FASA board members names. He then kicked all of us out of the club.

Outside of the club, Reese approached me and began to argue with me. Continually referring to the FASA board members as “skank ass bitches” and even spat at one of them at one point. He then threatened to shut down our organizations and even report us to the university to get us removed from school because of his pull on campus. During this, he began to back me against a wall and seemed as if he was about to hit me. My friend tried to pull me away and told me to “just leave because he was being jerk”. Reese then started walking towards my friend and threatening him for calling him a jerk. I wanted to prevent any trouble so I pulled Reese back and he then threatened to hit me because I touched him. I was trying to reason with him and tell him that I was worried that he’d hit my friend and I even told him that I prevented him from getting in trouble for getting into a fight at his own club. Reese backed me up against the wall again and at one point his security and my friends pulled each of us away and that is when I left the area.

After leaving, Reese called me around 3am and again threatened to shut down our organization because he felt that we disrespected his father because of our argument, but I told him that we did not mean to disrespect him and that we were trying to reason with him but he kept on calling us names and it escalated from there. He continued to threaten me and even said that he would find me and wanted to meet up with me to “settle this tonight”. He then said that if we were thinking about suing him that we would fail because of his pull on campus. At that point, I knew that the conversation would not go anywhere so I told him that I would call him when things calmed down. He called me about three more times that night, but I didn’t pick up the phone.

Sunday morning, I received a call from Jeff and we spoke more calmly about the incident and initially still only wanted to pay us for the “50 Asians” that were there that night. I kept telling him that he had to honor his contract and he eventually agreed to pay us our fair share. At this point though, we had already been threatened and offended beyond wanting to accept the money. Therefore, I told him that I would discuss his offer with the two orgs and get back to him.
~Steve

Housing Administration's decision on the YK Lounge

2008-11-22T12:25:00.002-05:00

I wanted to let you know of a recent meeting I had with some members of the executive board of UAAO. In our conversation we realized the unique connection the group has to the YK Lounge in South Quad. Specifically, this group was instrumental in the creation of this space as a multicultural lounge and the safe space it creates for Asian American students on campus. As a result, we agreed that UAAO may hold its regular and mentorship meetings in the space. That means they may go beyond the current guidelines (4 per semester) detailed in the current lounge reservation policy. While they are being given a preference to use the space, UAAO also realizes that YK is there for the residents of South Quad and will work collaboratively and cooperatively should any scheduling requests arise in the future that are in the best interests of residence hall students.

Please make an ongoing reservation for Wednesdays 5:30pm-7:30pm and Thursdays 6:30-8:30pm in the YK lounge for the remainder of the academic year. If there are existing reservations that conflict with these times, please let the e-board know as soon as possible so that UAAO may make alternate arrangements.
~Trelawny Boynton
Associate Director of Residence Education

The election and coalitions

2008-11-09T03:08:00.005-05:00

I'll be taking over for Claire this time.

As you all know, this past Tuesday was the general election. And as you all know, Barack Obama was elected.

Now there's been lots of talk about what this means, for us to have elected the first African American president. It's a big question, and I'm going to leave that discussion for more participatory channels. But it does open up a window for discussion of issues of race in the United States - specifically, how issues of race can bubble to the surface during such a contentious time as the election.

This year, as in several previous elections, UAAO worked with the Asian Pacific Law Students Association (APALSA) and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on an election protection project. To give you a little background, AALDEF did this in 11 states this election, focusing on jurisdictions in which there's a substantial number of Asian Americans, especially those in which there's a high rate of limited english proficiency (LEP). In Michigan, these communities are Ann Arbor, Canton, Detroit, Novi, and Troy. In addition, AALDEF worked with the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) to bring this project to Dearborn and Hamtramck, communities with significant Arab American populations.

The election protection project consists primarily of exit polling - surveying Asian and Arab American voters as the leave the polls. This is necessary because we tend to be underrepresented in polls, and often excluded entirely when poll results are divided by racial groups - they tend to focus chiefly on white and black, sometimes including Latinos.

The protection part becomes necessary due to a combination of LEP and discrimination. Because many Asian American voters are less proficient at reading English, ballots can often prove difficult to use. Under the Voting Rights Act, voters are allowed to bring someone in to help them with the ballot; however, poll workers, sometimes unaware of this, try to prevent this. There's also the issue of racism and discrimination - for example, an elderly Chinese American voter may be rushed by the poll workers more than a white voter, or poll workers may make racist comments and intimidate Asian American voters. This is where AALDEF comes in.

So what we did was look out for these things, using our eyes and ears as well as our interactions with voters. If a voter reported a problem or if we noticed it, we got as much detail as possible and called it in to AALDEF - ultimately, they work to fix as many problems, case by case, as possible, as well as to fix systemic problems using our observations. And something we noticed was that simply by being visible observers, we helped influence poll workers' behavior for the better. To be sure, it would be ideal to end discrimination at the polls without having to be present physically, but in the United States, if you lose your vote, there's no getting it back. And this goes back to the central issue of how race becomes a factor in elections. Disenfranchisement occurs among Asian American communities due to relativekt higher incidents of problems with language access and racism.

I've been talking mostly about Asian Americans here, but there's lots to say about how this relates to Arab Americans. This is tied to my own experience with election protection this year - I worked at a pollsite in Dearborn, MI, the city with the highest proportion of Arab Americans in its population compared to any other city in the United States. How does this relate to Asian Americans?

Arab Americans' place in relation to Asian Americans has shifted; at times, they've been included under the label "Asian American", but conventionally, they're considered separate. And this isn't necessarily a bad thing or unjust - Arab Americans have different voting trends, face different issues, and have their own diversity and heterogeneity within the sweeping label "Arab American", as one of the voters I surveyed wryly pointed out to me. Despite these differences, however, there's at least one simple reason that led the Arab American community in Michigan to be a part of this effort - and this reason can be identified simply by looking at the organizations involved. Whatever the differences between Arab Americans and Asian Americans, AALDEF and ACCESS did partner up, because it was recognized by both organizations that their respective communities faced common problems on election day. This is, to put it simply, coalition-building.

Coalitions are a big thing with in A/PIA history as well as UAAO. The pan-ethnic Asian American identity has, at its heart, coalition politics - taking on this identity is at least in part a deliberate choice, a political act. And this election reminded me of that. It reminded me that although Asian Americans and Arab Americans may have vast differences - just as the different ethnicities under the Asian American label may have with each other - they banded together in an effort to combat injustice. It reminded me that coalitions are not a phenomenon of the 60s and 70s, but rather a way to empower ourselves and those around us - a tool for use in the struggles our communities faced decades ago and continue to face today, however those struggles may appear to us at this moment. And it doesn't have to be a fundamental identity shift, but can be as simple as working together.

- arthur

Viewpoint in the Michigan Daily

2008-11-08T11:43:00.003-05:00

Here is UAAO's stance on Housing Administration's enforcement of their space use policy. This viewpoint will soon be published in the Michigan Daily, so read it here before it comes out.

One day after Michigan voters approved Prop 2 in 2006, Mary Sue Coleman addressed the University community, proclaiming, “diversity matters at Michigan.”

“If November 7th was the day that Proposal 2 passed, then November 8th is the day we pledge to remain unified in our fight for diversity. Together, we must continue to make this world-class university one that reflects the richness of the world.”

Yet in spite of such proclamations, the University of Michigan has proven to be an unwelcoming place for students of color. Space, specifically a central location in which members of minority populations can gather, is necessary for not only the empowerment of individuals, but also empowerment of such communities as a whole. The preservation of a safe space in which students of color are encouraged to meet and foster their individual identities and values is crucial to creating a campus climate where diversity is a lived state of being and not simply an abstract concept or cliché dictum.

The University housing administration has recently decided to enforce its policy of limiting the number of times per academic term and year for which an individual or organization can conduct an activity. While this policy applies to all residence hall lounges, it has the greatest impact on minority-cultural and multicultural lounges and the student organizations that have historic ties to those rooms.

United Asian American Organizations (UAAO) has had unrestricted use of the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge in South Quad for nearly a decade. Named after Japanese American civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, the space is the only space on campus dedicated to the Asian/Pacific Islander American (A/PIA) community and A/PIA activism.

While it is within university policy to regulate use of residence hall space, it is also stated university policy to "create and sustain diverse learning-centered residence communities.” (See “Living at Michigan Credo”) It is crucial that UAAO and other organizations like UAAO have unrestricted access (i.e. being able to hold standing meetings) to show that our mission is to unite and empower the A/PIA community. Furthermore, we want to embody and carry on the historical current left by Yuri Kochiyama's legacy of engaging in activism and promoting diversity.

In a post-Prop 2 world, the relationships between minority students, faculty, staff and overall campus community have been tenuous ones. To deny A/PIA students unrestricted space use perpetuates the university's refusal to acknowledge the needs of students of color and directly contradicts President Coleman’s claim that "diversity matters." While there do exist other facilities dedicated to Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, none are as centrally located as the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge. The importance of a centrally located space cannot be understated, as it shows a true commitment to putting diversity at the fore.

Limiting access to the YK lounge would not only be detrimental to the success of UAAO as a student organization, but would also be detrimental to the diversity and the value we place on diversity at the U of M. Just as the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge is not the only one where this policy is being enforced, UAAO and the A/PIA community are not the only ones being affected. As members of the A/PIA community, and hence a part of the minority community at large on campus, we also stand in solidarity with other groups whose space use is also being restricted. Just as Yuri Kochiyama organized across community lines, we will not consider this issue closed until all groups with long standing history with certain lounges have their unrestricted access restored

"Asian American" to me

2008-10-21T13:41:00.001-04:00

I was born on September 14th, 1988 in Royal Oak, Michigan. Lived all my life in two affluent suburbs of Metro-Detroit. Growing up I didn’t know what being an “Asian American” was. All I knew was the color of my skin set me apart. From the time I started school until I was 12 I led the typical “Asian (Chinese)” lifestyle. I went to Chinese school once a week, played the piano against my own will, read books, and dressed in a way that society deemed nerdy. Especially when I grew to an intelligible age, my view of Asian American became those things. The going to piano recitals where all the other nicely dressed Asian kids were, the moving up into a higher math class because I was deemed too smart, and of course the never getting picked for sports. All around me I saw similar Asian kids going through the same experience. But is that truly what it meant to me to be an “Asian American”.

I quickly came to loathe the experiences. Everything that made me “Asian” I despised. After the age of 12 I became a completely different kid. I started to wear contact lenses and I fashioned my hair to become like all the other white kids. I listened to popular music (N’sync was always better). And most importantly, I surrounded myself with non-Asian friends that were athletic and played sports. It was that which I felt distinguished me most from being an “Asian American”. The fact that I could play sports and was sociable proved to me this.

Yet for all my “whiteness” I of course could never escape what I truly am. This became apparent to me in numerous ways, but one in particular stands out. I went to a basketball tournament once with a friend, and was clearly one of the best players there. Near the end of the tournament, a few players on the other team started to call me Yao Ming and make other Asian related jokes (Jackie Chan and you get the picture). At the time I took it as a complement, but looking back it always makes me wonder why even on a neutral ground such as a basketball court, I couldn’t be just like one of the guys. Therefore, I still felt to be an Asian American was something to be ashamed of.

Finally, when coming to the University of Michigan, a place where close to 15% of the student body is “Asian”, the definition of Asian American becomes that much more important. Some people feel that being Asian American refers to going to Asian events or cultural shows. Others feel one must participate in Asian organizations, take Asian American classes, or fight for Asian American rights. I’ve even heard being Asian American requires one to major in certain areas, such as Engineering or Business.

In the end, I think everyone will and should have different definitions. The most important thing is to be true to oneself. Donating money to an Asian charitable foundation or participating in a rally for Asian American rights does not make one Asian American. Nor does playing piano or getting good grades. Ultimately, I feel as if one has to be at peace with themselves. It's not what you do or how much you do of it, but how you FEEL when you do it. It’s hard to explain, but I feel I am Asian American because I am happy with myself, with how I look, feel and carry myself. I am proud to be an Asian American, I am proud that I take part in an Asian organization, I was proud when China represented itself for the Olympics. Who knows, maybe I will donate money in the future, and maybe I will become an Asian human rights activist. But I will do those things because I feel proud to be an Asian American, and because I want to. The things I do now and in the future don’t determine my label as an Asian American. They are an effect of my pride and heritage, not a cause. And it is to what extend we do the things we do and how we carry ourselves when doing them that truly represents who we are.

This may be confusing to people reading it, but it makes sense to me, and I guess my point is that is all that really matters.

I Will Never Love You Much Less Love You Long Time

2008-09-30T14:14:00.001-04:00

I know that the United States has come a long way since working towards civil rights and women’s rights. But obviously hundreds of years of oppression run deep.

I was with some of my friends out one night and we decided to go to Denny’s afterward for some gossiping and breakfast eating. There as a bunch of us so we went in several different calls. My car arrived first and got a table. I went outside to take a phone call and in roll the second car. We were at a party before so we had been dressed up, we looked nice. The second car parked by a white van where a bunch of men were hanging around packing themselves into the van to leave. I was on the phone and having paying attention to my friends. I was in full attention when one loud and obnoxious line shot out at me.

“Do you want to love me long time?” said the drunkard dressed in trucker-hat-beer-belly-tight-t-shirt-flannel wearing man directed towards my friends who were exiting their car.

Something in my mind clicked and I promptly hung up on my phone conversation and started towards those guys. ARE THEY SERIOUS? What kind of world do you EVER think a line like that would ever work, and WHAT kind of women would appreciate that kind of attention. We yelled at them and decided to call the police to report sexual harassment. They told us to go ahead and call.

My friend called the police and said that we were being sexually harassed and our location and who harassed us. That call stopped short when a police car that was in the area patrolling, patrolled through the Denny’s parking lot. We told the police that those guys that were in the white van (who was now leaving) made sexual advances towards us.

The cop said, “Did they touch you?”
We told him what those guys said to us again.
The cop said with emphasis, “Did they TOUCH you?”
“No,” we replied.
“Then their fine.”

From the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission):
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:
• The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
• The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
• The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
• Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
• The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.
Under the law, we WERE sexually harassed. We had been a victim of unwanted sexual advances. The police officer did nothing and let those guys go. Did he want something to happen to one of us before he would go ahead with action? It would have been fine of he had violent crime he had to go to, but he was patrolling around and we saw him a few more times passing the same parking lot.

Turning back and reflecting on the line, “Do you want to love me long time?” Not only is this statement sexist, it is also racist. This line is from the movie Full Metal Jacket, where a Vietnamese prostitute offers her services by saying “Me love you long time.” That portion of the film is already very offensive but this is a film. Translating these lines to reality is even more obscene.

It is a really sad world when people are so ignorant about sexist and racist issues. I hope that more and more people realize that it is never okay to objectify women or men. I hope it is also not okay to generalize and stereotype people into a group. I really hope that the cop we met at the parking lot was a rarity and that law enforcement actually care about the protection of women.

-Barbara

Who is an Asian American?

2008-09-14T12:32:00.003-04:00

This question has confused me a great deal in the past and to some extent it still does, especially as a South Asian.

Growing up in Detroit, I did not have much interaction with Asian Americans outside of those in the Indian community. It did not take much for me to realize that I was Asian American. India is in Asia and I am a resident of America so I concluded that I must be Asian American.

It wasn't until I was a little bit older that I realized that to others the concept was not so simple. This became apparent to me in three different situations.

The first account occured in high school while one of my friends was proofreading my English paper. He was confused about a line in which I discribed myself as an Asian American. He said "but you are an Indian. There is no way you are Asian!" Now does that make any sense?

The second account occured while I was taking a standardized test. I came to the race/ethinicity section and I had to fill in a bubble. The options present were Caucasian, African American, Asian, From the Indian Subcontinent, Hispanic, etc. It perplexed me that there was a different bubble for South Asians and the rest of the Asians. At first thought I figured it might be that South Asians have such a large population so it might make sense to divide it into different categories. However, I did not see a sign for those from China. It was starting to become more and more clear that people saw South Asians as being different from Asians.

This last account is one that disturbed me the most. I telling some of my Indian friends how I had this amazing oppurtunity to be a part of a cultural show called GenAPA. She responded "Why would you want to do that? You're not Asian, you are Indian." To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I found this sentiment to be common among most South Asians. They do not consider themselves to be Asian. At the same time a lot of other Asians don't consider South Asians to be Asian.

Overtime the word Asian has increasingly been used to describe those of East Asian origin. Thus the connotation of the word has been used to describe mostly those of East Asian origin. This disturbs me because where there should be solidarity there is a lack of unity. Personally I do not understand why there is a divide between South Asians and the rest of the Asian community. The only possible explanation is that they look different. Surely this cannot be a plausible explanation though. Most Asian Americans, South Asians included, face the same problems. Most people from Asia share the same fundamental family/cultural values. In America there are many South Asians who are very well off and there are many other Asians who are also well established. At the same time there are South Asians who are discriminated against and struggle to make a living. There are also other Asians who go through the same problems. We all go through the same basic struggles and triumphs. We all also hail, at one point or another, from Asia.

So why is there a divide, especially in America, when we should all be standing in solidarity?

Ravi

generational clashes

2008-08-31T04:11:00.013-04:00

{Let me just preface this blog by saying that I am a first generation Chinese-American, my parents and immediate family immigrated to the United States in the 1980's, and finally, I am no expert in Chinese history and current events}

The 29th Summer Olympics in Beijing has the international spotlight on the People's Republic of China. From their response to the Sichuan earthquake victims to their diplomacy, or the lack thereof, toward the Tibetans; China has been under the world's scrutiny. Moreover, China has been criticized for their human rights abuse when things like the imprisonment of U.S. citizens, without trial, happen because they were protesting for Tibet. For much of it all, the PRC has been able to evade the eye of the media by withholding information and suppressing protests, which lets them avoid peaceable resolutions for their current political issues. Despite all this, the media also highlights China's performance in the international economy and in the Olympics, showing that they are in amidst of securing their role as future world power.

My parents, my aunts and uncles and probably most of the Chinese people I know have never been more proud or more nationalistic of their native country. My parents rave over how the Opening Ceremony is the best there ever was and how China will emerge from the Olympics as the world power; they even entertain the idea of growing old there. On the other hand, learning of how fettered Tibetans and the people in China's other four autonomous regions are has made me even more appreciative of having and freely exercising the rights I have as a U.S. citizen--though, let's be honest, the U.S. isn't perfect either.

To my belief, much of our differences in sentiment toward China root from the news source we rely on. My parents and relatives almost always read from a Chinese news source, which are, more likely than not, to be biased toward China. To elaborate, I recall a conversation that I had about Tibet and it's autonomy with my aunt, she described the situation as China acting like a mother, struggling to maintain unity. Tibet is like her child that needs to be disciplined to understand the importance of staying unified. When I asked her about the human rights abuse and the ongoing damage being done to Tibetan culture, my aunt even acknowledged that we are being informed from different sources and still stuck by her mother-child analogy as she tried to defend China's actions.

I've always had trouble understanding the views and sentiments of my parents and relatives toward China because I can't overlook the humans rights abuses while most of my family can't overlook China's continuous growth and prosperity.

In a conversation I had with my parents, we discussed their experience during Chairman Mao's regime. It started when I spoke of Communism in a positive light and said that if started off with the right leader and maybe on a smaller scale, the beautiful ideals of Communism could actually be realized. My parents were utterly appalled at what I said and it might have been one of the few times I've seen my dad truly angry. During the Cultural Revolution, my dad's side of the family was considered by the government lower middle class, one tier above the lower class. According to my dad, each family was given a certain number of points based on their class and received a document, which allowed them to run basic everyday errands, the extent to which was based on their class or pointage. My dad's family was basically shafted as was any other family not in the lower class.

These people, like my dad's family, were ostracized, ridiculed and some were even beaten by people who learned to hate people of higher social rank. They couldn't do everyday things without being reminded of how they weren't part of the lower class and being made to feel that it was their turn to suffer the way the poor had. This behavior was not at all discouraged by government authority, according to my dad. To that end, my great grandfather was beaten and ridiculed in public, and had been detained a couple times for unjust reason.

My great grandfather's hard-earned land and the land of others like him were stripped from them and redistributed by the government. As a result--not fully enforced--, everybody had to equally work on equal plots of land with equal effort for the community. My dad has no faith in this system because, to him, mankind will want more than what they're given. And if everybody doesn't work equally as hard, there is no motivation to keep it up when everyone is limited to fulfilling the same potential as everyone else.

At the time, people didn't see Mao as the bad guy. Every morning, in class, students would chant in reverance to China and Chairman Mao. My mom says that they were lulled into believing that China was a relatively prosperous nation when actually, millions of people died during this rule. When Mao died, my mom remembers crying in grief with her classmates. Upon learning that other developed countries had better opportunity and more successful lifestyles, much of China's people, including my parents, took disappointment in their country and grew hatred for Mao. My mom looks back in disbelief today that she actually cried for him.

China today is definitely a different country than it was then. And I suppose that much of the pride that my parents have for their country stems from the progress that China has made from the China they knew. I agree that China has come a long way, however, the oppressive characteristics of the government are still evident. For example, China goes through many unjust means to minimize the chance of revolt from the people: protesters are automatically detained whether they've been violent or not, if internet users search the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 there is no literature on it (in fact, there is a whole laundry list of words they can't search), there is extensive censorship in the media and in personal things like written mail or e-mail—just to name a few. These examples are blatant violations of basic rights we enjoy here.

With all this, it’s hard for me to understand my parents' and relatives' unwavering loyalty and sentiment toward China. When I was planning to go see the Dalai Lama, my parents didn't condone me supporting him. I do realize that we understand Tibet's situation differently but, there was no willing to understand my point of view on their part.

Perhaps this difference is a result of miscommunication or a result of this instilled nationalistic attitude they learned from growing up there. Either way, their loyalty has been something I've had trouble identifying with. It's not like I'm not proud to be Chinese because I do love and appreciate everything about Chinese culture, history, food, etc.; but, I find myself loving general humanity more. And to clarify, I'm not saying my relatives or parents are bad people; but, there is that firm loyalty to China, the miscommunication between me and them, that difference in past experiences, or [insert here whatever you think it may be] that prevents us from seeing eye-to-eye on things like Tibet's situation. Despite these differences, I still appreciate their perspectives and try my best to understand we're they're coming from.

I guess these experiences may be common amongst families with a generational crossover from an immigrant to a child of an immigrant. These attitudes of our relatives and others like them are what help us learn more about the culture we don't get to directly experience. And I suppose it is these unique experiences, these cultural fusions that give us perspective and a greater ability to understand and appreciate different people with different backgrounds.

-wendy

Asian Americans and Workers' Rights

2008-08-07T01:49:00.006-04:00

One issue that we as an organization have not yet really covered is that of workers' rights and how the struggle for those rights affects Asian Americans.

We all have seen and experienced the effects of the outsourcing of jobs from the United States. We've all been on the phone with a customer service representative based in India or the Philippines, and I would probably bet a lot that not one article of clothing you're wearing right now was made in the United States. (With few exceptions, like military uniforms...) Not only this, but skilled trades such as manufacturing and other industrial trades that have traditionally made up the largest membership in labor unions have also been outsourced. Since we've found that it's cheaper and more profitable these days to import manufactured goods (and food) from other countries than it is to produce them domestically.

While many skilled-labor industries have been outsourced, there are some jobs it just makes no sense to export. Namely, unskilled service-sector jobs such as servers, cooks, and dishwashers in restaurants, housekeepers, bellmen, in-room dining servers and banquet hall servers in hotels and hundreds of other job classifications that fall in the service sector.

How is this relevant to the goals and mission of UAAO? Well it is interesting that as skilled, organized labor industries are slowly dying out, or being rapidly dismantled and exported abroad (for example, industrial textiles and needlework trades) service sector employers are also feeling the crunch of economic recession. How do they keep up profits? By employing those who are the most economically vulnerable, and those that as of right now are unorganized. Namely, the rising immigrant population in this country is feeding big business' need to keep costs low in the areas that they can't outsource.

80% of United States jobs are in the service sector, historically a sector that has been incredibly difficult to organize.* Reasons behind this difficulty include the fact that often service sector jobs are seasonal (especially those in the hotel industry) and are affected by economic cycles of boom and bust.

Asian Americans have historically gravitated towards the service sector often towards the beginning of an immigration wave. We have all heard about Chinese laundries and of course restaurants, but the Japanese also took up jobs in restaurants and domestic service after the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 (like my great-grandmother in Berkeley, CA). This may in part be credited to the lack of English fluency upon arrival in the United States, or perhaps a lack of transferable skills.

However, the A/PIA demographic in this country can be mapped on a bimodal curve, in that we have high percentages working in highly skilled professions; for example, according to the 2000 Census 25.8% of Asian Indians working between the ages of 25-64 worked in the category "Computer, Scientific, & Engineering."** But on the other hand, significant percentages, above 12% for working Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Chinese, Korean, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese between the ages of 25-64 worked in the "manual services, farming or military."** Altogether not an insiginifcant portion of our population.

This summer I worked with UNITE HERE, a labor union that represents most of the service sector industries, hotels and restaurants, casinos, food service, industrial laundries, airport services etc. While I know that many people have negative views towards labor unions and their practices, their end goal of increased wages and benefits for their members is still something worth fighting for in the proper ways. I was really impressed by UNITE HERE's organizing strategy and their methods of empowering the workers themselves to fight their own battles, instead of using the union as an agency to service their needs.

But what was even more impressive to me was how much pride UNITE HERE's members, and those they are trying to organize, take in their work and what they accomplish on a day to day basis. I had the privilege of being able to shadow a housekeeper for half a day as she cleaned rooms for a five star hotel in San Francisco (which has a strong union presence and a union standard of living wages lower room counts than in non-union cities) and she showed me how to make all the beds, (using three flat sheets, a comforter, pillow cases that are waay too long and have to be folded over and tucked in, with a stupid ugly useless duvet cover folded neatly over the end of the bed, with stupid cards lined up just so next to the pillows...)

...How to arrange all the amenities, (no less than four real sugar packets, two blue fake sugars, two splendas, four creamers stacked on top of each other, two stirrers, two decafs, two regulars all arranged on this stupid tray that you then can leave no fingerprints on)

...and how to clean the bathroom and vacuum and dust in less than 45 minutes per room. She does in total around 12 rooms a day, depending on how many guests are actually checking out of a room and those that are staying another night. The list goes on and on, she has to replace all the linens and the towels if a guest checks out, but doesn't necessarily have to for a guest that stays another night, but because she takes such pride in her job, as do all of her coworkers, if she sees a spot or a sheet looks dirty she replaces it anyway.

Perhaps it doesn't seem like a big deal, but try doing it over and over every single day for 20+ years as a career. Not to mention all those incredible hotel beds that hotel companies have been pushing lately, you know, like the "dream beds" that are thick and downy and super comfortable. They're sweet for you, but if you have to make that bed it sucks, the sheets have to be bigger, fitted sheets aren't long enough to cover the depth of the bed (perhaps why they now just use a flat sheet which takes even more time and effort to cover the bed with) and the bed itself is heavier.

If you don't take my word for it about workplace safety issues and workload issues that are affecting housekeepers these days, please take a look at the Hotel Workers Rising Campaign website (http://www.hotelworkersrising.com/Campaign/) or the article listed at the bottom about hotel houskeepers and workplace injuries report.***

Anyway. The point is, besides with being impressed with UNITE HERE's organizing tactics, I was even more impressed that the strength these workers, and especially the women in housekeeping were able to keep fighting and organizing, attending meetings and leafleting during their breaktimes and after work on top of a full workload. Their perseverance and strength is a reality check in the best of ways because it inspires me to keep going and to realize that all my problems, they're petty in comparison. So much so that I believe that we should take up the cause of those who suffer not only due to the nature of their work but because of the oppressive conditions under which they work, the lack of health care benefits, job security, compensation. Oftentimes those who work in the service sector do thankless jobs, and while we mostly could care less as long as the room looks clean, the tables are bussed quickly, it's a job that the workers take great pride in. I think it is time long overdue that we show our appreciation for this work and these workers by addressing the issues they face.

...And by tipping better wherever we can.

~Laura

* http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-26-2007/0004615783&EDATE=
**http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/asian/careers_workplace_employment/cnle_asianamerican_employment_0106.asp
***http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3122

Welcome to the 19th century

2008-08-04T00:18:00.009-04:00

Representative Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) posted an entry on his blog for July 30, 2008, titled, "Protecting Our Families From Asian Invaders". It was about a bill recently passed in the House regarding oversight of product safety, especially of those coming from China. The title was later changed to "Protecting Our Families From Harmful Products".

Side note: My initial reaction was to make a post right away, but I held off because Stephanie Chang (APIAVote-Michigan) was preparing a press release. It was just sent out.

I'm glad Knollenberg had the sense to change the title, but it never should've been posted with its original title. It's simply incorrect. Sure, the bill protects our families - there's nothing wrong with increased oversight, regardless of where products come from. But the title changes the issue from product safety to us-versus-them and promotes xenophobic attitudes in America, especially directed against Asians. Last I checked, allowing harmful products to enter the US - as shameful as it is - doesn't constitute an invasion. Yellow peril, anyone?

Even if your radar didn't go off, if you didn't gut a gut sense of unease as I did, it's not a stretch to see how this should concern Asian Americans, specifically. Beneath the explicit xenophobia lurks the idea that Chinese people and the Chinese government are one and the same - an idea that Knollenberg applies to all people of Asian descent, and one that, sadly, reaches Asian Americans as well (see perpetual foreigner, Vincent Chin).

We - all Americans - deserve better from our elected officials. In a country with a history of exclusion brought about by xenophobia, it's important that we don't make the same mistakes.

You can contact Rep. Knollenberg's offices at http://www.knollenberg.house.gov/Contact/

Google cache of Rep. Knollenberg's original blog post

- arthur

“What does being Asian American mean to you?”

2008-07-26T01:36:00.004-04:00

I’ve attended as many UAAO and APA101 meetings as possible this past year and it was only recently when I started to reflect upon those experiences. The constant drilling of Asian American issues ranging from identity to coalition building; including several demonstrations of the UAAO fan-favorite “privilege walk” or “Four Corners”. For the most part during the discussion, I sat quietly during those meetings. Rarely questioning what I heard, I always listened and gave the occasional nod (Not because I was dozing off). That was good and all, but did I really understand what was going on? I was satisfied with whatever was presented at each meeting as long as I got to see the usual faces around the Yuri Kochiyama Lounge. It was not until much later did I start to understand, even if just a little about the Asian American issues.

Before writing this blog entry, one reflection that still sticks out prominently is when running for UAAO board. The former co-chair, Ms. CC Song, threw me a curve ball question and asked “What does being Asian American mean to you?” I was like “Woah” but if I recall I must have said something cheesy along the lines of “ummmm tough question…..I would say it’s about having the best of both worlds; having the Asian culture and traditions and yet the opportunities of being of an American”. Slightly disappointed by this answer, I still wonder what the answer to this question should be. Obviously it’s however you may define “Asian American” but how do I define it? Where do I start? Who do I ask?

A few months back, I decided to visit my uncle in North Carolina with my grandma and aunt, they started to reminisce about the times before they came to America. This naturally sparked my interest because it was my immigration story, my heritage. Whenever I was asked about my immigration story, it was what I called a “basic story” about how my grandparents came from China, moved to Trinidad, then a few years later, they came to New York around the 1970’s. The end. I was very ignorant because I didn’t know about all the struggles and sacrifices in between the journey, but now I do.

I realize how privileged I am! We are all privileged to go to an institution of higher education (and a very good, yet expensive one at that!) but it’s engulfed in a bubble. Only when off the campus and participating in programs like Alternative Spring Break did it allow me to apply some of the stuff from UAAO, APA101, and IGR. That was only the surface though. Coming back to New York for the summer allowed me to question a lot of other things. When I ride the bus, most people are people of color. When on a train, people are trying to scour for whatever change they can get with their talents or by trying to sell you an overpriced piece of candy. You can’t help but sympathize for the people who degrade themselves just so that they can make ends meet and feed their family.

I still don’t have a perfect answer to CC’s question of “What does Asian American mean to you?” The answer probably spans across hundreds of years of Asian American history and it’d probably take pages upon pages to come up with a decent answer. But the answer that I gave back then about having the best of both worlds was only because I am privileged to reap the rewards given to me by my ancestors, my grandparents, and all the others who came before me.
~Ray

How can you be a "model minority" if you don't speak English?

2008-07-06T03:19:00.003-04:00

“You look like you’re from China!”

The little girl looks at me with her bright brown eyes, naturally inquisitive, almost pleased to have made such an observation. I can tell that she is waiting for a response, some affirmation that her speculation is correct. I had mentally prepared myself for my first day as a volunteer at a Head Start program in Detroit. Hitting, crying, screaming—these were my worst-case scenarios. I did not expect the most salient aspect of my identity to be questioned with such confidence and gusto by a girl barely over the age of five.

Cultural insensitivity is not uncommon in the U.S, or the world for that matter (see Laura’s post). And how can I find fault in genuine innocence? What bothered, and continues to bother me, about the little girl’s comment is how indicative it is of a larger societal issue. I was probably the first, or one of a small number of Asian people this little girl has ever encountered. She will probably never know the beauty of diversity because policy makers and America’s educational system will keep her in a classroom with those who share her skin color and class background. Not surprisingly, segregation in the classroom affects the quality of education a racial minority receives in comparison to his or her white counterparts.

In a country where racial discourse is too often framed from a black and white or black and Latino dichotomy, where do Asian Americans find voice in discussions on educational inequality? More specifically, in a country where Asian Americans have supposedly set and exceeded standards for educational success, should we even care?

Last month, the New York Times released an article entitled “Report Takes Aim at ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype of Asian American Students.” According to the report, the model minority perception “diverts attention from systemic failings of K-to-12 schools, shifting responsibility for education success to individual students.” While psychological distress and esteem issues are unsurprising outcomes of the dangers of the model minority myth, as the report suggests, the failings of the educational system are unfortunately overlooked.

Left in the Margins: Asian American Students and the No Child Left Behind Act, a report by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), states that the myth of the model minority often negates the fact that many Asian Americans, particularly those who do not speak English as their first language, have difficulties succeeding in school. Contrary to stereotypes that describe Asian Americans as model students of academic achievement, many Asian American students are struggling, failing, and dropping out of schools that ignore their needs.

Programs meant to close the achievement gap between minority and white students and improve the achievement of all students, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) lack the provisions necessary to ensure that such laudable goals are actually met.

NCLB requires that students are regularly assessed in reading and math, often in the form of standardized testing, and that their performance on these assessments be used as a measure of the school’s educational quality. If student scores do not meet these achievement targets, the school may face a number of sanctions, including the dismissal of staff and a complete overhaul of the school’s management. The law fails to acknowledge that schools must first be equipped with the proper resources in order to achieve academic success.

I began this post with the anecdote of the little girl in Detroit because, as hackneyed as this sounds, she made me examine my own shortcomings and privileges. I didn’t know how to respond to her question because I knew why she asked it, and that knowledge made me uncomfortable. I was probably one of the first, or the first Asian person she had ever encountered because Asian Americans who actualize the “American dream” and consequently fulfill the model minority stereotype don’t send their children to public school in Detroit.

But what about the Asian Americans who, due to the failings of the education system, find it difficult to fulfill the stereotype? According to the AALDEF report, most school districts do not provide sufficient services for English Language Learners (ELL), especially those who speak a language other than Spanish. In California, home to one of the largest concentrations of A/PIAs in the country, there were over 34,000 Vietnamese speaking ELLs. Yet despite Vietnamese being the second most common native language of California ELLs, there are no two-way bilingual programs in the entire state of California for any Southeast Asian languages.

I may be presumptuous in saying this, but in Garden Grove, home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam, the median household income is approximately $50,000, compared to neighboring cities whose residents claim average household incomes in the $100,000 range. The demographics in these cities are also significantly different. As of the most recent census, 30.9% of Garden Grove’s population claimed to be of Asian descent compared to the neighboring city of Orange (my hometown), with only 9.3%. In short, money matters.

NCLB expired in 2007 and is up for reauthorization. According to AALDEF, as Congress considers the reauthorization of NCLB and other education reforms, legislators, policy makers and policy advocates must take into account the needs of Asian American students, a group that is often neglected, due in part to the model minority myth.

It’s easy to discuss the myth and to ironically sit in out ivory towers and attempt to debunk it. Segregation, economic disparities, language barriers and the resulting challenges they cause—to me, these things matter more than how good the Asian kid next door is at calculus and whether his ability to understand the derivative of a graph affects his psychological well being. We know the model minority myth is false. It’s time to focus on fixing the causes of those falsehoods.

NY Times Article
College Board & NYU Report on the Model Minority Stereotype
AALDEF Report
California Census Data

-Veronica

"What's up with the Asians"

2008-06-30T10:43:00.006-04:00

It was Thursday morning, June 26. I was driving to meet a couple people for breakfast in Madison Heights. Naturally, I was scanning the stations. 89X (88.7FM here in the metro-Detroit area) was my choice. They were doing their morning talk show. I didn't mind the lack of music - I'd listened to them for two years' worth of morning drives to high school, and I figured anything was better than silence.

As the hosts - "Dave and Chuck the Freak" - ended one segment, they started with "...and now for 'What's up with the Asians'." Cue "Asian style" background music. I could feel the all-too-familiar dread rising in my throat, and if I hadn't been driving, I would've slapped my hand to my forehead. Repeatedly.

The first section started off mildly enough, giving me a measure of hope that it wouldn't be as bad as I thought. The DJs discussed workplace regulations in Japan restricting employee waist size to cut down on obesity. Okay. Let's see what they have to say about - oh, look at that. Not even one minute in and one of the hosts has already made the unoriginal, sweeping generalization that all Asian people are short. Another one cuts in and starts doing an impression of a Japanese executive, complete with fake - dare I say it, racist - accent.

Next, they talk about Harry Lee, an recently-deceased Asian American sheriff from New Orleans. Who was a cowboy, in their words. They don't miss a beat in doing impressions of the late sheriff with the same fake accent, guffawing over the apparently self-contradicting image of a foreign Asian - as opposed to an Asian American, as Harry Lee was - donning the garbs of a cowboy. No respect for the dead. And beneath the juvenile humor lies a more harmful idea - Asians can't take on "traditional" American roles. An Asian American cowboy? That's ridiculous! What kind of accent would he have?

As one character says in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, "You're an American citizen, but you're not really an American."

At this point, I resigned myself to my growing disgust and flipped to another station. Was this what the station had come to? Of all the things going on in the world - in our country - they decided to devote a chunk of air time to mocking Asians and Asian Americans? And they did it using the same tired, old stereotypes - Asians are short. Asians can't speak English without an accent. That's what I call cheap laughs - no effort, no thought, and no heart - and it saddens me to see anyone stoop to such levels, but it's especially disappointing to see them do it.

I've listened to this station for years. Hell, I've enjoyed it, even if it's never been the brainiest comedy. 89X was a regular part of my day - something familiar but always fresh. That's why it was my first choice on that morning drive. And that's why I couldn't just roll my eyes and laugh at the ignorance on display. I felt actual disgust, as if a friend had turned around and made squinty eyes at me - you know, as kids did in the fourth grade. 89X, I thought you were better than that.

You can find the podcast of The Morning X on this page, under 8 a.m. Thursday, June 26. A direct link is here.

arthur

Hey! China, mi reina, psssst chinita!

2008-05-31T00:59:00.006-04:00

So this past fall semester, especially towards the end, I was reminded how much winter sucks. I mean, it's pretty for a minute and then you get cold and your socks get soaking wet and then freeze etc., etc. Hence I ran away to Ecuador for study abroad. I figured, "Ecuador" being on the "equator" it would be warmer and sunny all the time and that I would be able to avoid getting SAD (ya know, seasonal affective disorder where you get all depressed cuz there's no sun). Also, I didn't know much of anything about Ecuador except that it is part of the Andean Community and like other members of that community has a strong indigenous presence. Ecuador, unlike say Chile or Argentina, boasts of its pluriethnic, multicultural society that to me was much more appealing than Spain and the other programs available in South America. After becoming much more active in the A/PIA community during the fall semester, I thought that studying abroad in a country that seemed so different but with such a supposed pluriethnic society would be a great opportunity.

And believe me, Ecuador is a beautiful country. Its Andes are perhaps a bit smaller and less jagged, the weather conditions less extreme and landscapes less stark than its neighbors to the south (Peru, and Bolivia) but they are no less dramatic. Not to sound like a tourist guide book, but it's true when they say that Ecuador has a little bit of everything, with so much of the natural beauty of the world in such a small country. Yet along with the beautiful views of terraced mountainsides comes with the realities of the economic conditions that come with a country developing at many different levels.

The construction of race in Ecuador historically and today has been mostly that of white (Spanish and other European immigrants) mestizo (of mixed white and indigenous heritage) and the indígenas or indigenous groups. The strong indigenous presence in Ecuador is a credit to their 500 year long struggle in the face of rampant racism both personal and institutional. The economic implications of this discrimination are obvious, but they affect non-indigenous racial minority groups even more. For example, Afro-ecuatorianos are very obviously discriminated against both in terms of the negative stereotypes that exist, but also how those stereotypes have shaped the kinds of economic opportunities available. (As in, there really aren't many, mostly domestic service. And unlike in the United States there isn't any kind of middle or upper class Afro-ecuadorian population to be in a position to denounce the stereotypes that exist.) Not only this, but their population is so small in comparison to other countries that had a far greater slave-economy that even to see an Afro-ecuadorian walking around is a rarity.

Needless to say, sighting a Japanese-American college-aged girl was even less common, and sparked reactions inversely proportional to how often this event occurred. And by that I mean, I got cat-called every freakin time I stepped out the door.

To be fair, I knew that there isn't a significant Asian population in Ecuador. And especially in comparison to Peru, Brazil and other countries in Latin America, the influence that that miniscule population has had both historically and today is limited at best. So perhaps I should have been better prepared and had a strategy with how I would deal with it. But I didn't, and every time I heard a comment, or my host sister’s attempt at an explanation, “oh no, you see, it’s okay because they call all Asians ‘china’ [Chinese person] here” doesn't really cut it and it was hard for me to accept with no further argument. Ignorance is never an excuse, and can never justify offensively racial or racist remarks. (Especially when the person affected says something about it.)

My host mother would play a game whenever she had guests over in the afternoon when I came home from the university. She would call me over to the kitchen table and sit me down and present me to her friend and say, “Qué crees que ella es? Nunca podrás decirme.” [“What do you think she is? You’ll never be able to guess!”] and inevitably the guest will guess Chinese and Mayu (my host mother) would kind of smile in a self-satisfied way as if my racial ambiguity was some clever trick she devised. Whenever my host mom would make comments like that, or, “Tú pareces una ‘geisha’ casi exactamente!” [“you look exactly like a geisha…] I couldn’t help but say something and express my discomfort. At the point where we stop voicing our opinions, where we stop questioning the rationale behind certain things is the point where such things become incorporated into our societies.

My program was primarily white, but had a few other exceptions besides me. Yet of these, I was the only East Asian American and in demographic situations like these, when some guy behind you is shouting, "Hey!! Chinita!" you know exactly who he's referring to. It was hard to address this issue, not just with my own personal misgivings with how to approach the incredibly different cultural traditions in Ecuador (namely, the widespread belief in racial stereotypes and the invisibility of non-indigenous racial minorities)but also because of pressures I felt from my friends. Several times over the course of the semester, some of the other students in my program would say something if I corrected a guy who just called me 'little Chinese girl.' They'd be like, "wow you get so annoyed!"

As if I didn't have a right to be annoyed?

I don’t really think there is a fine line with a grey area between right and wrong in situations like this. Am I being oversensitive? If someone hears a comment that is directed towards them or not and is offended then the comment is offensive. How a comment is judged is subjective to the listener and they ultimately have the opinion that matters most. Intention is important given certain contexts, if the comment refers to something the listener has control over intention plays a bigger role. But in the case of race, if the person at whom it is directed deems a comment racist, intention matters little.

So, unfortunately I was unable to talk to everyone in Ecuador and I'm sure that the few people I did talk to will probably still call every Asian traveler in Ecuador a Chinese person. Be that as it may, I have no regrets with how I tried to handle those situations in Ecuador. As I mentioned before and that I cannot stress enough, ignorance is never an excuse for racial discrimination and racist remarks. Ignorance isn't an indicator of a primitive culture, nor is it inextricably tied to cultural practices that can never be eliminated. It is instead a marker of how much work and organizing is left to be done.

These, among many other experiences I had in Ecuador, have reminded me why it's so important to be involved in community organizing and outreach. Why it's so important to remember the history of various racial struggles in the United States and all over and try to bring that knowledge to others. The lessons I learned have renewed in me my want to see racism ended, and upon reflection of my semester, it was refreshing to have experienced it all. I know that for the upcoming year, in whatever capacity I can, I'll be striving towards making real changes on campus and hopefully in the community and on a greater scale. And I hope anyone who reads this (or really just everyone in general) will do the same. I know it seems so improbable that the actions of one can really make a difference, and I know it seems trite to say but all we need is to just keep going one person at a time and at some point we'll reach that critical mass necessary to make lasting change.

~Laura

Dreams and Identity

2008-05-25T09:16:00.014-04:00

Let me preface this entry by paraphrasing Frank Wu: we're all social scientists - it's just that most of us are really bad at it. And that's the problem.

The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a proposed federal bill that would give the children of undocumented immigrants the chance to gain legal status if they graduated from high school and sought to attend college or serve in the military. There are several technical details, such as what qualifies as attending college or the number of years of military service - this page lays out those details.

How does this affect APIAs? According to the Department of Homeland Security, an estimated 9% of unauthorized immigrants in 2006 were born in Asia - Vietnam, China, Korea, India, and the Philippines. In absolute numbers, this comes out to about 1.1 million people. A study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that most illegal immigrant families have children born in the US. I will note that this is a generalization, and a distributional figure - what percentage of families in different immigrant populations has US-born children - should qualify the PHC's findings.

It often seems that discussion about APIA issues revolves around broad societal and cultural trends - model minority, perpetual foreigner, representation in the media. That's why I decided to turn around and look at specific legislation affecting APIAs. Although the DREAM Act affects APIAs less than other groups by proportion, 1.1 million people are far too many to neglect.

In reading arguments against the DREAM Act's passing, I've found a streak of nativism. "Unfair", "cutting in line" and "our parents were legally here first" crop up in discussion like hundreds of angry weeds. Make no mistake, the bill's opponents most likely do feel that it is genuinely unfair. To quote Frank Wu again, it does no one any good to claim that others have no principles. But there's more to the opposition than just vitriol and a different definition of fairness. There's something deeper in the bitterness permeating this bill's existence, and that's the question of what it means to be not an American with citizenship, but rather an American.

It's easy to conflate the two. I would argue that someone born in the US, someone raised in the US, someone who has learned and socialized and achieved in the US is an American. I would argue that citizenship is artificial, except that it provides very real social benefits. Should someone who has spent their youth in the US have opportunity wrenched away simply because their parents came here illegally? Are they no longer Americans simply because their parents don't have legal citizen status? It's a matter of identity and claims to identity, among other things.

These questions are entangled in other issues, as well. Reform of immigration law has become an issue in the upcoming election. An inefficient and slow immigration process contributes to the rates of illegal immigration. But it would take far more time and text space than one blog entry to cover all the facets of immigration and the DREAM Act, because this is a complex issue with no small amount of passion and no small number of stakeholders on either side.

Currently, the DREAM Act is in legislative limbo. The official page in the Library of Congress can be found here.

arthur

Higher Higher Education

2008-01-09T20:23:00.000-05:00

During the general meeting today, we talked about several important issues the Democratic and Republican candidates address. One of them is about higher education. Now, as a non-citizen permanent resident, I don't have the right to vote, and this may be why I care about the issues much more than the candidates. One of the issues brought up today was about education, and very interestingly, a community member suggested the idea of not ranking higher education institutions.

His idea is that, with the ranking system in place, people attach prestige to institutions, giving the institutions the incentives to raise tuition. Many top institutions, public or private, charges astronomically high tuitions, making it affordable mostly to people from privileged backgrounds. Getting rid of the system, he said, would probably help bringing the cost down, and the prestige, and people can afford to go to wherever they want to go.

Not surprisingly, other people argued against his idea. What's the point of that? We go to Michigan because of its prestige, because it leads us to great jobs and huge, multi-national corporations. We are used to think that we are top of the top, better than everyone else. Harvard is the Michigan of the East. If we don't have this ranking system in place, how do we separate the better from the worse? "Then we might as well be a communist country," someone said. I smirked.

It's interesting that we want to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, yet at the same time we want to keep each other separate to distinguish the best, better, worse, and worst. We fight for social justice, try to erase glass ceiling, but from the discussion today, it seems that we're only willing to do it to a certain degree-- until our very own status quo is challenged. I'm not going to argue whether communist is good or not. I'm sure some people think it's great, some think it's awful, and some think it's great in theory, awful in practice. And we know what happens when we attach -isms to things-- there are too many things associated with them and that defeats the whole point of tackling the issue straight. So what are we fighting for? So that the A/PIA community can be empowered and rise upward, while keeping other oppressed people on the bottom, so we can separate the better from the worse?

I'm not an expert of open admissions, and Wikipedia does a better job than I do. And if you know more about open admissions, feel free to comment on this entry. To be honest, I have my own hesitations about it, since "I worked so hard to get into the second best public institution in the country." But I'm definitely more open-minded about open admissions now than four years ago, when I first entered college. It took a lot for me to recognize my own privileges, to be honest with myself that I have resources others don't have, and this meritocracy talk is bunch of bull.

cc

Reproductive Justice and NAPAWF* Potluck

2007-12-20T14:08:00.000-05:00

I went to the first U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia over the summer. It was both an exhilarating and frustrating experience, and looking back, I definitely appreciate having been dragged out there by peer pressure. There was once piece of the Forum I couldn't quite comprehend until very recently. During an informal Asian American caucus meeting, I met this woman from the Bay Area, who was working for Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, and she was telling me about this nail salon workers' rights campaign she was advocating. My initial reaction was, "Oh, cool! Yeah, I know nail salon workers always work overtime, and they need better benefits." It wasn't until half a year later that I linked reproductive justice with nail salon workers' rights at the first National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum Michigan chapter's potluck.

What does reproductive justice mean? When I was in high school, I just thought it mean giving women the rights to abortion, because that's how my 97% liberal high school framed it. It wasn't totally a religious issue, and my feminists friends back then told me that women should be able to make choices for their bodies. It was a challenge to the traditional, patriarchal society. It was about self-determination. What they didn't tell me, and perhaps they didn't know, was that reproductive justice has more than just choosing to make babies or not. Think about it this way: what if you can't reproduce because of external conditions that have affected you biologically? And sure, if abortion wasn't a controversial issue, would every woman have equal access to it, and other necessary post-operative services?

So back to the nail salon issue. I only got half a point during my initial appreciation for the woman's job, that nail salon workers are often overworked. Because of the amount of time they spend at nail salons, they are constantly exposed to chemicals that are hazardous to many women, and it can affect these women's ability to reproduce in the future. Although this wasn't discussed extensively at the first NAPAWF meeting, I was glad to finally have the connection explained to me. I am by no means very knowledgeable in reproductive justice issue, but I was excited to find out that reproductive justice matters beyond the pro-life and pro-choice debate.

cc

p.s. Happy New Year!

*The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum Michigan Chapter is an emerging chapter that welcomes interested A/PIA women and girls' participation, and it's not restricted to University of Michigan students. If you'd like to be involved, please email napawf07@umich.edu.

Expressions of A/PIA: Jenny Lares's Chapbook Release Party

2007-12-06T08:52:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, I attended the chapbook release party of Jenny Lares (yay!), and listened to a few of her spoken word poetry pieces. Blame the fact that I am an emotional person (my ups are really up there and my lows are really sad) or hormones if you will, but I found myself in tears at a point...during a poem called "Patawad," which apologized to her grandmother about not learning about her experience in the Philippines, her culture, her tradition, her struggles in this country and her native one. There was something that sent chills up and down my spine...something about understanding what the poem was saying so exactly, so deeply, so empowered by the fact that there was someone else in this world who felt exactly as I felt. That feeling of remorse from not learning more about my own Filipino grandmother, my lola, who I called "Inang," which is a word that means "mother." How much of my identity have I lost as a result of passing up that opportunity to know about her experiences...they were her struggles, her life, and I valued it that little to let it slip away?

Yet it's not too late, at least to learn about the struggles of Filipino Americans in this country. Hearing about I-Hotel, how that community - those people who were forced to leave their home, all they had, as little as it was, and how hard they fought to keep it...that effort is something that I recognize, that I value, that I'm proud of.

My Inang - I'd loved her! She remains a part of me. Her history was my history and a part of my identity. It's no wonder I felt that dissonance - that regret, remorse, disappointment, that damned shame for not preserving it. It's no wonder I'd cried...

...And that must be the power of shared experience.

This post is to be continued, by the way, for the next time I post. :) I really wanted to talk about avenues for expression and using our voice in unique ways for A/PIA activism!

Why Asian American II

2007-12-01T02:13:00.001-05:00

II.

Why do we come together as Asian Americans?

[The following two sections are of a three-part entry on Asian American identity, the last of which deals with the question “What is Asian American identity?” Throughout this discussion I cite implicitly and heavily from a number of authors, all of whom are respected and renowned experts in their respective fields: Ronald Takaki, Sucheng Chan, Yen Espiritu, Bill Ong Hing, Mae Ngai, Henry Yu, Mia Tuan, Amartya Sen.]

The formation of ethnic identity can only occur in a system of existing and conflicting group identities. That is, we define who we are only in opposition to another group. Although initial Asian immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries preserved their local, regional affiliations, in the American cauldron their identities became generalized to a larger, pan-national designation. For instance, the bulk of Indian immigration in the early twentieth century was in fact Sikhs from the Punjab, just as Chinese immigration decades before that was primarily of Southern Chinese from Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. Yet neither the receiving population nor the state institution recognized these particular differences, so they were marked along commonly recognized and national identities such as “Indian” and “Chinese.”

The same generalizing pattern occurred for the Japanese, Koreans, and Filipinos, but to designate these immigrants along ethnicities or nationalities is only half the picture. Their experience of America was (and is) shaped by factors not uniquely related to their respective ethnicities or homelands. Rather, these newly arrived immigrants to America were slotted into a pre-existing system of racial divisions and subordination: thus they came to also have a racial – and thereby Asian – experience.

So what does this matter? Well, in tracing the early major history of Asian migrants and settlers in the United States, there exist -overwhelmingly- consistent themes of colonialism, international geopolitics, economic pressures, racial antagonism, social discrimination, violence, disproportionate gender ratios, and finally legal exclusion. It was like clockwork on how one group would arrive, out-compete white ethnics, face discrimination, fight back, and then suffer institutionalized exclusion from this nation. In 1917, legislators responded to the influx of Indian immigration and created an Asiatic Barred Zone extending from Afghanistan to the Pacific, a region in which all immigration was prohibited. In 1924 even Japan – who by then was an imperial powerhouse with hegemony in East and Southeast Asia – had its citizens excluded from immigrating to the United States. The Philippines posed an interesting case throughout this history, as since 1898 it was a colony of the United States. Filipinos, as American nationals, thereby could freely move between the two nations, and large numbers migrated to both Hawai’i and the mainland. By 1934, however, America stripped the Philippines of its dependent status and simultaneously imposed an immigration quota of 50 per year – the lowest of any nation in the world.

So I believe the first answer to the question of “Why do we come together as Asian Americans?” is an appeal to the commonality of experiences and histories that we all share. It is not by coincidence, for instance, that Filipinos faced the same processes of alienation, violence, and exclusion just as Indians and Koreans. Nor is it a coincidence that in the modern day, everyone from Pakistani to Vietnamese to Laotian to Japanese can still be seen as having just come to the nation, even if they have been here for generations and their families speak only English.

But a commonality of experience/history is also taking too much for granted. That is, we have an infinite number of commonalities shared with other individuals – why do we pick -these- exact histories to identify by? For instance, I am from Tucson, Arizona, and I would automatically associate with anyone I meet in Ann Arbor with that same personal history. Or consider that I am a classical guitarist, or a liberal, or even a male. These identities each has a rich, complex, and conflicted historical experience – but I do not wear armbands and hold long meetings every week just based on my Tucsonan identity, classical guitar identity, or male identity. Far from it! The first two border on the absurd, and the third is excessive because male privilege entails that I have the luxury of -not- discussing gender if I choose so. The reason why I would then find that commonality of experience with Asian Americans – a commonality that is deeper and more meaningful than with other identities – is exactly because Asian American identity is a pervasive, profound determinant of my life. Being Asian American has shaped much of my existence, from the people I interact with, clothes I wear, language I speak, where I live, work, play, go to school, etc. Even if I actively rejected and distanced myself from my Asian American identity, it would still have that same impact. And we cannot forget that choosing –not- to identify is just another form of racial identification in itself.

The fact is, Asian Americans come together not only because of some arbitrary commonality they find among one another. Instead, it is because they have a commonality of -racial- experience and history. The reason why racial identity is elevated above other identities is because it is among the most preeminent, salient, and visible parts of our selves. In philosophical terms, it is an objective identity because it is imposed on us, rather than a subjective identity which we would self-define. Now, because our race is a primary, ineluctable determinant of our social existence – no matter how we may embrace or reject it – the histories that pertain to this racial identity are equally elevated and more significant than the history of any run-of-the-mill identity. Or in other words, because race is a rigid, objective identity, everything related to that identity is just as objective and durable. Thus, just as I cannot change my race, I cannot avoid its tumultuous history, stereotypes, and numbers of social and political issues. A large reason why Asian Americans come together -as- Asian Americans with a common canon of history and experience is because American society has been deeply structured by these racial divisions. Thus we contend always as part of that larger group.

But merely having a common racial identity and experience is insufficient for a group to come together in building a social coalition or even develop a collective consciousness. While commonality does present us a path toward unity, it does not compel us to walk that path. The spark to motivate us to undertake this arduous long walk is thus when having this racial identity is more empowering, more hopeful than not. Yen Espiritu and Sucheng Chan each trace resonating histories of protest, rebellion, and social action among Asian Americans -as- Asian Americans to claim rights our community deserves. Without the landmark legal petitions Asian Americans brought to the bar of the Supreme Court; the many powerful strikes on farms and industries to assert for racial and labor rights; the militant uprising against the Vietnam War and fighting for Ethnic Studies with the Third World movement – Asian Americans would not have much of the privileges present today. There would be no fair wages, right to jobs on the free market, or access to a college education. Hell, we wouldn’t even have the name.

We have bought too deeply into today’s prevailing rhetoric of individual will and material success. Fact is, we do not operate in a vacuum – and we cannot ever underestimate how societal institutions privileges or burden us at life’s every turn. Everyone remember that popular and notorious t-shirt Abercrombie & Fitch made with two Chinamen dancing around a laundry sign? The reason why the stereotype of Chinese launderers “made sense” and resonated with the public consciousness is because it (obviously) drew upon the historical pattern of laundries to be owned by Chinese. But this in -no way- justifies the derogatory stereotype on Abercrombie’s t-shirt as somehow presenting a historical and statistical fact. Not only is the depiction essentializing and reducing the dignity of an entire American ethnicity, it also overlooks a powerful force of economic discrimination that afflicted the Chinese American community. Through social and institutionalized legal exclusion, urban Chinese in the late nineteenth century were actually barred from sectors such as mining, carpentry, etc. For instance, almost as soon as the Chinese arrived in California in large numbers during the gold rush, the state legislature added a foreign miners’ tax specifically targeting them – and this is ignoring for the meanwhile the racial violence which physically kept out the Chinese. With few economic sectors remaining, Chinese Americans in large numbers were forced to take up laundries – and they proliferated. (The situation is also strikingly similar with Korean Americans and small shops, or Vietnamese and nail and hair salons, etc.) Yet state laws soon turned to exclude the Chinese from laundries, though one Chinese man named Yick Wo combated this racially-specific discrimination in the Supreme Court and won a monumental victory for early modern civil rights.

For another example of how rigid and unbending racial identities – and their corresponding histories and modern day significance – affect lives, take the case of Japanese Americans in the past century. Unlike most other Asian nations, Japan in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century was an economic and political might in Asia and the Pacific. In 1905, coming on the heels of victory in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan presented a formidable imperial Asian counterpart to that of the Western European powers. Indian economist Amartya Sen reminds us that Japan also had some of the highest literacy rates in the world at the time, with strong rates of educational access for both men and women – both of which competed if not exceeded with those of even the most developed European nations. In the 1880s, the flourishing Japanese government finally repealed a long-standing law forbidding emigration. Turning its scope to America, Japan sought to learn a lesson from the well-known and humiliating experience of the Chinese, who was the first Asian group to emigrate in large numbers to the U.S. – and also the first to be excluded (1882). The Japanese ensured education, health, and material wealth for all its emigrants – unlike the previous Chinese, who were mostly refugees of natural disaster, mass social rebellions, and state persecution. Once in America, the Japanese community also defined itself by distancing from the Chinese, and sharpened the appreciable class differences between these two ethnicities.

Yet the Japanese, despite the educational background, wealth, contributions to the national economy – they still got hit with the racial experience which likewise oppressed the Chinese. Anti-Japanese organizations came into existence very suddenly, leveraging the momentum and successes of anti-Chinese legislation. In 1907, the state of California sought to segregate Japanese students in schools, grouping them with blacks, Native Americans, mulattoes, and Chinese rather than whites – I need not say which had the better, more well-funded schools. The Japanese government was furious at such treatment, and threatened to levy embargoes and cut off diplomatic relations with the United States if this statute were to be upheld. In fears of alienating the Japanese, President Theodore Roosevelt personally strongarmed a compromise, and even raised the threat of using federal troops to ensure Japanese children were not segregated – a foreshadowing of Little Rock perhaps. (It should be noted Roosevelt later formulated a plan of excluding Japanese anyway, so his intentions are not entirely all altruistic.) From this tension arose what is called the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907 (and a Lady’s Agreement soon thereafter) which was a mutually recognized pact to limit Japanese emigration to America. But here’s the clincher: in 1924 the passage of the landmark Johnson-Reed Immigration Act established two concepts of 1) national origins, and 2) quotas based on those origins. It effectively banned all Japanese immigration against the threat of Japanese reprisal – and at what cost to America itself? The Japanese government instituted a 100% tariff on American goods and effectively bankrupted all American trading companies in Japan. Japanese Americans two decades later also suffered what was arguably the gravest injustice of being interned en masse in concentration camps during World War II, an act which glided by German and Italian Americans – who were logically speaking “equally” suspicious of treason and espionage.

Again, what do these historical examples highlight? That coming together as Asian Americans has offered a unified front to respond to prevailing forms of discrimination and oppression. Or in a positive direction, we unite in order to best demand an equal redistribution of resources and rights in a pluralistic democratic system. Although the concept of “Asian” was not entirely self-defined and instead invented by both immigration laws, government, and social prejudice – this has not hindered the fact that the individuals within this construct immediately resisted and asserted their own agency in the matter. The proliferation of social, political, and business organizations in dealing with Asian Americans attest to this strong consciousness, which recognize the relevance of having a united, diverse, and empowered community to continue to advocate for social change and progress.

Does it suck that Asian Americans have to contend with an identity imposed upon them? Yes and no. Yes, because it seems disempowering and we feel helpless when others have the power to define you. But this mentality is at most a matter of pride – and taken to its extreme, to believe it is ultimately disempowering is to engage in victimization. The fact is, it -does- suck that others have defined us as a community, especially in instances when people cannot tell apart Chinese from Filipinos from Bengali. But I ask that perennial question of, So what? While we should advocate and raise awareness of the vibrant diversity that exists within the Asian American community – a movement reflected in the new census subcategories for “Asian” – there still is the basic fact that we are objectively seen as Asian regardless of how we may understand ourselves subjectively. This is in the nature of racial identity as ascribed and ineluctable, and is the burden of people of color everywhere who must contend with the essentializing, disempowering aspects of race.

But this one-sided focus on our own Asian American identity is to overlook how the formation of Asian American identity has interacted with other social groups. Takao Ozawa v. U.S. (1922) and U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) are two landmark Supreme Court cases both of which successively declared that 1) Asians are not Caucasian; and 2) even though South Asians can claim to be Caucasian racially speaking, they are not “white” in the common understanding. So Asian in its entirety became non-white. Rather than a positive reading of what -Asian- became, however, sometimes we forget that in these cases white identity was also buttressed and reinforced. That is, white identity was here legally affirmed in opposition to Asian identity, sustaining the definition of white as absence of color and racial taint. Exploring Asian American identity is thus a way into the larger racial and social construct.

Moreover, let’s borrow Derrida’s notion of bricolage: it means to mold what is around you to your own design and will. The fact of modern existence is that race will privilege or burden you – no matter how you may or may not “think racially.” But what are we to do in response? Some commentators advocate for a rejection of racial thinking and adopting a color-blind society, yet this reactionary attitude is too spontaneous and sudden to actually remove an integral feature of society centuries-long in the making. Instead, color-blind or a-racial approaches would simply perpetuate standing forms of racial subordination anyway. It is just as the idealist who claims not to see race – excellent work, but his or her life is still profoundly determined by race. That said, we as racial agents must then exert our force in re-molding the oppressive confines of race. Answering the second question of “What is Asian American identity?” may shed light on not only what we are now, but how we may progress for the future.

[The third section is forthcoming.]

:exl

Why Asian America

2007-11-29T02:49:00.000-05:00

I.

College is a torrent of sensation. And it is never static. One moment may be of euphoria – another, of frustration and doubt. Most often, however, we find ourselves somewhere in between these extremes: elated and exhausted, cheerful but grave.

College is also a time and place of self-discovery and growth. Through the trials and rigors of balancing an overwhelmed schedule of studies, extracurriculars, work, friendships, life-planning – we come to new insights about both ourselves and the world around us. As a senior soon to embark into post-college existence, I have spent much time reflecting on my past four years and charting my self-development throughout. I remember the gray April chill of my first visit to Ann Arbor and how I hated its dreariness compared to my hometown of Tucson, Arizona. I remember the awkward, vain attempts to redefine myself in this new place, one where the burdens of my past were unknown and unimportant. I remember the haunting hollowness I felt during my initial months, at how strangely detached I was when everyone else seemed to just “get it.” As a matter of personal taste, I am not interested in professional sports or big, raucous parties with drunken bodies milling about – and even if I pretended to care about them I always walked away by the end of the night both empty and dissatisfied. In a way I was a shell of a being, and I still remember the loneliness of coming back to my quiet Mosher Jordan dorm, blinded by the sterile, searing fluorescent lighting, and feeling as if my childish, overblown expectations at a new college self – strong, social, outspoken – were just that. Childish and overblown.

I also remember the early days of sophomore year, when I finally decided to do something about it.

Initially I returned to campus very zealous and ambitious. I felt that my first year was complacent and meek, and I pushed myself very little – at most a halfhearted nudge – to seek new things and experiences. So I went out to a number of organizations, each with different focuses (though they were mostly political and always left). Yet throughout my hunt I never discovered anything which spurred the unique combination of interests I had. With every organization there seemed to exist a gaping hole where my passions would have laid. And when I did muster up the courage to finally attend an Asian American organization – tepidly embracing an identity of mine that for so long had been disparaged and insulted – I faced the greatest disappointment yet. I recall walking out of a United Asian American Organizations mass meeting, talking to my friend who came along and swearing at how angry I was that a group claiming to represent the community was simply social and basically selling out. And this futile search continued until the mass meetings ended, flyers trickled to nothing, and I ended up at the beginning.

This changed one October afternoon. I sat at the computers on the second floor of Hatcher, coming out from a long reading session in the Reference Room. What my eyes stumbled upon this time, however, was an email which described a Daily article that day concerning a hate crime committed against Asian Americans on campus. I immediately felt a surge of both disgust and affirmation – feelings which stemmed from the years of a collective build-up of suspicion and unconscious reflection on an identity that had always been imposed on me. Growing up during my pivotal years of middle and high school in Tucson did not provide a place to foster ethnic identity, especially in the wealthier (and thereby isolated) northern foothills of the city. My Asian-ness – the American name had yet to appear – was always a salient marker of difference that I carried around with me in every situation. Now, we are all different from one another, inside and out, ranging from the clothes we wear to the size of blood cells flowing in our veins. Yet the difference represented by the term Asian was more fundamental and profound than our preferred brands of clothing or the music we enjoy. My experience was and has been prominently defined by this racial difference, whether I like it or not, and as I ran (literally) to the first place I knew would have a copy of the Daily that day, I was taking the first step to embrace this identity of mine.

I came upon a stack of newspapers in the lobby of Hatcher and began reading nervously. My mind traced the incident, its often vague details, the diluted response by the police and University. Through my anger and trembling fingers, however, I felt various threads of my life slowly tying together. I began feeling justified for the awkward and sometimes painful experiences that had burdened my racial identity. The hate crime symbolized to me the nexus of my – and my people’s – inexpressible inabilities at times to fit in, feelings of estrangement from situations local and in the broader American community. Simply put, things began making sense. And as I found myself back in the Yuri Kochiyama lounge, discussing these issues of Asian America which my subconscious obsessed over – but I never had the courage to admit to care about – I finally discovered that splendid, wonderful something I had long been searching for: Community, strong and vibrant.

Yet as Asian Americans and people of color, discovering a community requires intrepid work and courage. It is a burden we face, for our community is not handed to us, especially not by society – in fact, prevailing social discourse actually stigmatizes Asian American and people of color activism and frames it as unnecessary, trouble-making, illegitimate, or silly. But there would be no America had its peoples not agitated and struggled – had women simply stood by as their gender was objectified and exploited, had blacks acquiesced to their dehumanizing state of chattel slavery and institutionalized segregation, had Native Americans or Chicanos let their lands be overrun and accept it as a fact of nature. Only we, as the bearers of our unique identity, have the responsibility to embrace and empower ourselves along these lines. Otherwise no one will.

Identity, however, is complicated, and we sometimes possess ones that overlap, conflict, or flat out contradict one another. One individual may be a Democrat, soccer fan, professor of anthropology, mother of three, Vietnamese American, lesbian, and an avid swimmer. But we cannot mire ourselves in every complexity of the individual self – not only is that task much too daunting, it is also to overlook one important fact of human existence: we after all are not islands. We are social beings operating in a system of prevailing norms, values, and histories. These social spaces then prioritize or highlight various identities over others – and these social identities serve as rigid, definitive categories of our individual selves: race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, nationality, etc. Although basically speaking they are indeed socially constructed to a degree, this does not make them any less real. Money and marriage, for example, are also social constructions, yet they also function as provocative determinants of society and our existence.

So this discussion forces us to invariably ask two fundamental questions: 1) Why do we come together as Asian Americans? 2) What is Asian American identity in the first place? I see these questions as necessary if we are to survive and progress as a community, since they often go unevaluated in much of Asian American activism despite their significance for the existence of such a movement in the first place. In our investigation, however, we are constrained by the nature of racial identity itself – that is, we can never essentialize or proclaim to define what one identity is. This desire to cleanly locate one social group in exclusion of others is wrong on two counts: it not only plays into the discriminatory history of racial discourse, it also seeks to erect barriers where there can be none. Identities are fluid, two-way transactions, and they interact in many interesting ways with one another. For instance, individuals of “mixed” background claim unique racial identities which do not fit the standard American ethno-racial pentagon of black, brown, white, red, and yellow. Some individuals can also “belong” to one race, but pass for another. And race is extremely contingent what about peoples who by definition do not fit cleanly? Filipinos presented unique racial cases for American law, as they did not fit with the standard “Mongolian” designation given to all previous Asian immigrants.

What we can do is to be contingent and critical in our evaluation. To discuss an identity and recognize its ever-changing, amorphous nature are compatible principles, and it requires any rigorous reflection to keep both in mind at all times. Also, to dispel fears of speculation in a project like this, racial identities and their social meaning are in fact quite tangible and definitive, even though they are also muddled and confused. Racial identity is, after all, founded on the solid bedrock of public discourse – and the reason why it “makes sense” when television shows broadcast stereotypes of this or that racial group is because the concept of racial difference is built into American culture itself. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle presents an accessible symbol of the prevailing nature of racial identities and stereotypes, since we would not understand the film’s motif of toying with racial identity were we not in tune with the social meanings of “Indian,” “Korean,” and “Asian” alike.

This reflection will be continued in the following post.

:exl

Who Are Those Ants? And Who Am I?

2007-11-26T19:35:00.001-05:00

When I was having lunch on the top of Mt. Chocorua in New Hampshire this summer, two greedy ants, like two vicious blood-sucking leeches climbing up and down my unfinished sandwich. They are too ignorant to know that buns, turkey, honey-mustard, cheese and jelly are not free commodities; they are not free public school system; they are not social welfares in black neighborhoods; they belong to me, my sandwich, carrots, apple and water. All of them belong to me. So I deport those two illegal intruders from my territory and mercilessly kill them with my unquestionable power and authority.

“Who are those ants? And who am I”

I don’t know the answer to such a complex question. I try to ask God, but it does not want to answer me, because I am an atheist and my cousin and I play Chinese chess the last time we went to church ten years ago.

So I ask the mountain right across from my blurring sight. The mountain seems to be old and firm, and somehow wise. I may have offended his intelligence and age.

I hate ants. They are all over me now, on the top of my red Coca Cola can, on the surface of my transparent lunch zipper bag, between my bare toes, even on my crumbled journal pages. They are unlawful intruders. They are fucking everywhere, in nail salons, in doughnut shops, in hospitals, in engineering companies, in restaurant dishwashing room, taking over UCLA, taking over American colleges, taking over all of our jobs… It is a fucking invasion.

God suddenly speaks to me from the opaque sky. “You selfish son of a bitch. Could you leave just a bit of cheese for the ants to provide them a decent family dinner? To get them through another cold, cold Christmas night.”

George Dong

UAAO Supporting Columbia University Hunger Strikers

2007-11-15T00:31:00.001-05:00

The United Asian American Organizations (UAAO) at the University of Michigan stands in full solidarity with the hunger strikers at Columbia University. UAAO is a political coalition of 37 Asian American student groups, established to work in unity to provide education on issues facing Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, to promote awareness of Asian/Pacific Islander American cultures, and to serve as a communication core for Asian/Pacific Islander American organizations and individuals.

Since the founding of the first Ethnic Studies programs in late 1960s and on, faculty and students have continuously faced institutional challenges. We struggle to uphold the principles Ethnic Studies was founded on, the right to education, to redirect resources at higher education institution to our communities, and to connect with the grassroots movements. We have received backlashes at traditional, elite institutions. Our Studies has become inaccessible and academic because of the traditional framework of higher education. Our services to our communities are not valued, quantified or qualified for the “standards,” made by people who intend to shake our beliefs, who want us to abandon the movements that have preceded us and will come after us.

As students of color in Michigan, we share the same struggles as students at Columbia University. Our faculty of color, not only in Ethnic Studies but across in various departments and disciplines, are being let go one by one. The same reasons are told to us each time we request an explanation: the faculty member’s research is not qualified, given the context of the prestigious research institution; their work focuses on the community, not on research that allows the university to continuously be perceived prestigiously; their research only concerns a small minority group, not the society at large. These reasons only raise more questions: Who are the people who set the standards? Who decide what is prestigious and what is not? And furthermore, why should one be punished, not rewarded, for spending tremendous amount of time and effort in the community, outside of one’s research facility?

The colonialism existing in the traditional academia framework greatly hurts students. If Columbia University claims to embrace diversity and freedom, then the diversity cannot be validated solely by having students of color on campus. The administration needs to recognize that diversity goes beyond numbers and community input is crucial in improving campus climate. The curriculum needs to be diversified, allowing knowledge in different fields, including Ethnic Studies, which promotes knowledge that has been traditionally suppressed because of colonialism. Students have the right to learn about the history and importance of people of color in building this country, founded on colonial principles. Students have the right to demand the university’s support for acquiring such knowledge, if the university truly embraces diversity.

United Asian American Organizations Board
Eric Li, Co-Chair
C.C. Song, Co-Chair
Anisha Mangalick, Advocacy
George Dong, Community Historian
Katherine Takai, External Relations
Ashley Manzano, Internal Relations
Jeff Meng, Finance
Vivian Tao, Programming
Ravi Bodepudi, Service

Welcome to UAAO's official blog!

2007-11-13T10:40:00.000-05:00

One of the few things that annoy me about UAAO's website is our "past activism" section, which ended in 2003, with the establishment of the Asian/Pacific Islander American minor. So... is that it? What happened when I got to college in 2004? For someone who wasn't involved at all until the second year of college, I've always wanted to find out what happened between 2004 and 2005. But what about for people who came after me? The history I know in 2005, 2006, and 2007, will be lost without some sort of documentation.

Aside from documenting major actions in the community, the blog will also serve as a forum for issue and current event-based discussions. We could've simply send out a "UAAO Current Event" email to our listserv, and you could choose to either read through the whole thing or delete it upon the email's arrival, but we feel the content of those emails deserves more than just a glance. Think about it this way, if someone asks me what is my vision for UAAO, for the Asian American community in Michigan, or for the whole Asian America, would I be able to answer those questions in one glance? Certainly not.

UAAO board members will be posting regularly, but we definitely welcome any submissions and suggestions for the blog. Someone mentions that posting our weekly meeting's topic would be helpful, and we'll try our best to do that. Please email us at uaao.board@umich.edu if you'd like to submit a post or have questions about us.

A new post will be up soon!

C.C.
UAAO Co-chair 2007-2008