User talk:Xchang20/talk

Asian American Movement

Xchang20/talk
Date	1960s - 1970s
Location	United States
Goals	1. representation in college curriculum 2. anti-war in Vietnam and other Asian countries 3. public housing, healthcare services, and the perseveration of Asian enclaves
Resulted in	1. creation of ethnic and Asian American studies across US colleges and universities 2. emergence of Asian American racial identity

The Black Power Movement and its demand for black liberation, in addition to Third World leaders and anti-imperialist revolutions helped to develop a racial and political consciousness within the Asian American community. Centered around self-definition, the Asian American Movement opposed the paradigm of assimilation as a means of inclusion in mainstream culture and spoke out against the workings of structural power as a means of liberation. Liberation from structural power grounded the movement on anti-imperialism, radicalism, internationalism, and Third World solidarity.

Unity among the various Asian ethnicities and cultures was possible through a new identity as Asian Americans. Under this new identity, Asian American college students and communities collectively fought for historical representation within college curriculum, better access to healthcare, social services, and higher education, respectively. The movement created different grassroot organizations and school of thoughts that cultivated a generation of Asian American activists conscious of their racial and ethnic identity within a white-dominated system.

Origins and Goals

The Asian American Movement emerged out of the Black Power Movement's fight for black liberation as well as anti-Vietnam War protests that encompassed the 1960s and early 1970s. Regarded as the land of equality, justice, and freedom, the United States of America was where the American Dream, achieved through individual hard work and determination, was possible. The African American Civil Rights Movement disproved that notion and argued that racial discrimination degraded African Americans as second-class. Many black activists dissected and questioned issues of racial segregation, anti-miscegenation laws, voter disenfranchisement, hate crimes, and employment discrimination. In the wake of all this, Asian Americans realized their shared struggles with African Americans: systematic prejudice and discrimination as well as exclusion from mainstream white culture. Individuals like Malcolm X, Frantz Fanon, Che Guevara, Kim Il-Sung, Amilcar Cabral, Kim San, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Paulo Freire, as well as organizations like the Black Panther Party, Young Lords, and the women's liberation movement, provided the groundwork, language and momentum for the Asian American Movement.

The movement worked toward racial equality, social justice, and political empowerment. It opposed acts of silence and assimiliaton. In the west coast, the movement gained momentum when college student protested for the representation of their historical narratives within the college curriculum. At the same time, Asian American community members drew attention to the conditions in San Francisco's Chinatown. In the east coast, the movement started when two nisei women perceived the lack of Japanese identity within their children and the lack of a Japanese American community to preserve it. This movement was concentrated in New York. Similarly, in the Midwest, students also came together for collective action. However, some eventually left to explore their cultural heritage on the east or west coasts.

Key Movements

Emergence of Asian American identity

Prior to the late 1960s, Asian Americans were referred to as Orientals. Public perception, informed by the model minority myth captured Orientals as assimilationists into white society and ignored their experiences of struggle. The Immigration Act of 1965 also disregarded the diverse nationalities and ethnic backgrounds that made up the Oriental community. The mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War 2 also affected the assimilationist mindset. Empowered by the fight for civil rights and black power, there became an increased awareness and pride in being Oriental, both physically and culturally. The dismantling of this label was motivated by the rejection of Oriental silence and assimilation into white culture. It was then, in 1968, that the term, "Asian American" was coined by Yuji Ichioka, a University of California Berkeley graduate student. According to Gordon Lee, this label was a radical political identity and was understood to be a choosing of solidarity on the side of the oppressed.

This new identity also attempted to unite the various Asian nationalities. Early Asian immigrants practiced ethnic disidentification as a preventative measure against other targeted Asian groups. However, exclusion acts and immigration quotas considered all Asian ethnicities to be Asian based on common characteristics and physical traits. Prior politics, such as class-based struggles, homeland struggles, and assimilationist, did not build a sense of community among the multiethnic Asian community. Just as black power emerged out of the Black Civil Rights Movement, yellow power came to represent, according to Amy Uyematsu:

"Disillusionment and alienation from white America and independence, race pride and self-respect."

In addition, the Yellow Power Movement also stood in solidarity with the Black Power Movement and the Third World struggles for liberation. However, yellow power excluded Filipino activists who regarded themselves as brown. Oriental and yellow were discarded for Asian American as a form of inclusion. The grouping of various Asian ethnicities into one group that was first done by non-Asians became a source of empowerment, pride, and mass mobilization by Asian Americans in naming and redefining the Asian American identity.

Third World Liberation Front and Ethnic Studies

West Coast

In the late 1960s, Asian American organizations begun to formed on college campuses. Yuji Ichioka co-funded the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) whose members included Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino Americans at the University of California Berkeley. At San Francisco State (University), similar groups also emerged; these included AAPA, Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action, and Filipino American Collegiate Endeavor. All three of these student organizations sought to connect college resources to community members. In the spring semester of 1968, these groups joined the Black Student Union, Latin American Student Organization, and Mexican American Student Confederation to form the Third World Liberation Front.

From November 6th, 1968 until March 21, 1969, the Third World Liberation Front went on strike to demand for self-determination in college curriculum and institutional control as well as granting third world applicants greater access to admission and financial aid. A combined strategy of mass mobilizations and militant, direct action, were ulitized. During these strikes, students picketed campus, held rallies and marches, and battled with the police. During this time, class attendance dropped by fifty percent. A year later, a settlement was signed on March 21, 1969, to create the first ever School of Ethnic Studies in the United States. Within ethnic studies, the departments of American Indian studies, Asian American studies, Black studies, and La Raza studies, were created.

The same initiative also occurred at the University of California Berkeley. The Afro-American Student Union, Asian American Political Alliance, Mexican American Student Confederation, and Native American Student Union formed Berkeley's version of the Third World Liberation Front. Dissatisfaction with the slow pace of institutional changes to create a more accessible, relevant, and responsive university to the community, lead to a strike on January 22, 1969. The following spring, the chancellor announced the formation of Black, Mexican, Asian, and Native American studies on March 19th.

The University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) also proposed for an ethnic studies department. In 1969, the administration at the University of Hawai'i agreed to have a temporary program. It was not until 1995 that the Board of Regents made ethnic studies permanent as well as a degree-bearing program. SCCC staged a sit-in to demand for the hiring of Asian Americans administrators and educational self-determination. Led by Alan Sugiyama and a former Black Panther Mike Tagawa, a sit-in was staged on February 9th, 1971. Eventually, the school promised to hire an Asian administrator for the 1971-72 academic year. Frank Fuji was made a department head and Peter Kosi as a Minority Affairs Director.

East Coast and the Midwest

Through initiatives of West Coast students, Asian American organizations also begun to emerged on the East Coast, such as Asian Americans for Action (AAA) in 1969. Prominent student groups included Columbia University's Asian American Political Alliance and Yale University's student-led course on "Asians in America." In the Midwest, civil rights, anti-war, and the United Farm Workers Movement drew Asian Americans together. This resulted in the formation of Asian unions in Madison, Illinois, and Minneapolis.

List of Asian American Periodicals, late 1960s - early 1970s

Critical to the Asian American Movement were literary publications that allowed a space for young activists and students to promote ethnic ideology and record ethnic symbols, values, leaders, and historical achievements. They empowered Asian Americans, brought up both ethnic and pan-ethnic concerns, and helped forged a pan-Asian consciousness. However, due to inadequate funds and lack of staff, many of the publications dissolved.

Publication	Place of Publication
AACTION	Philadelphia, Pa
AASA	California State University at Northridge
AASA	Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Aion	San Francisco
Amerasia Journal	Yale University, New Haven, Conn. (now UCLA)
Ameri-Asia News	Forest City, Fla.
Asian American for Equal Employment Newspaper	New York City
Asian Expression	California State University at Dominguez Hills
Asian Family Affair	Seattle, Washington
Asian Spotlight	College of San Mateo, Califronia
Asian Student, The	Berkeley, Califronia
Asian Studnt	City College of New York
Asian Student Voice	San Francisco State
Bridge: An Asian American Perspective	New York City
Crosscurrents	Los Angeles
East Wind	Los Angeles
Eastern Wind	Washington D.C
Getting Together	New York City Chinatown
Gidra	Los Angeles
Jade: The Asian American Magazine	Los Angeles
Pacific Ties	Los Angeles
Rice Paper	Madison, Wis.
Rodan	San Francisco

Anti-war Movement, Vietnam and Formation of Panethnicity

Much of the activists that made up the Asian American Movement were recruited through the anti-war protests. For Asian American activists, the U.S war in Vietnam was not about bringing American G.I.s home. Rather, they critiqued U.S imperialism and militarism in Cambodia, Hiroshima, Okinawa, the Philippines, Hawaii, and elsewhere. The development of pan-Asian identity came to be when students recognized the citizens of Vietnam as their own and argued that the Vietnam War represented the continued practice of imperialism by the American government akin to the oppression experienced by the minorities in America. One common slogan echoed during this time was, "One Struggle, Many Fronts." The Vietnam War and Anti-War movement, then, became a catalyst for conversations on how racism operated to constrain minority achievement.

"An increasing number of Asian American college and high school students realized with a shock that the 'enemy' whom American soldiers were maiming and killing had faces like their own."

The New Left Movement

The Asian American Movement was influenced by three major thoughts and influences: black radicals such the likes of Malcolm X as well as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. Marxist thoughts became prominent in the movement as Asian Americans fought for labor rights and a lens into looking at the workings of capitalism against both race and class. Asian American Marxist organizations stemmed out of the Free Speech Movement, Students for a Democratic Society, Weatherman, and Progressive Labor Party. However, instead of the Soviet Union, these Asian American marxist groups looked toward the Vietnamese National Liberation Front and People's Republic of China as new models of socialism.

There were discrepancies among the groups' purposes: nation building and/or party building. Groups like I Wor Kuen and East Wind wanted the right to self-determinate and create a socialist enclave. In 1972, East Wind adopted the "Asian Nation" line and argued that Asian Americans were entitled to form their own nation, which echoed many of the separatists in the black community. Other groups like the New York-based Asian Study Group advocated for party building but criticized other Asian American groups that focused on social service programs. However, due to unresolved differences, most of the organizations dissolved.

Gender and Women's Liberation

Even though the Asian American Movement admired Mao and his inclusion of women in liberation efforts, Asian American women within the movement were subjected to subordinate tasks. Those in leadership positions were called "bossy" or labeled as "unfeminine." I Wor Kuen preached sexual liberation but practiced male supremacy and the oppression of women. Similarly, the Red Guard Party initially claimed a woman's worth was in the domestic sphere and children production.

Because the mainstream feminist movement was dominated by middle-class, white women, many Asian Americans refused to advocate for a non-Asian alliance. They argued that white feminists did not address the "triple oppression" of race, class, and gender that Asian American as well as non-white women faced. Not only were Asian American women subjected to the system of capitalism which exploited them as wageworkers and unpaid domestic laboreres but they were also at the mercy of their father and husband. Asian American women activists then worked with the larger Asian American Movement or with the Marxist-Leninist groups.

Many Asian American women worked in "Serve the People" programs that addressed the needs of women and families. The Asian Sisters, founded in Los Angeles in 1971, addressed the issue of drug abuse within Asian American women. They also linked it to racism because Asian women were pressured to perform the standards of white women. Another initiative in Los Angeles was the Asian Women Center, which offered childcare center, education, and counseling.

Activism within the Community

Asian American communities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose, Seattle, New York, and Honolulu, created "Serve the People" organizations that relied on mass networks organizing. Though college students helped to initiate these organizations, a large portion were spearheaded by high school youth and members of the community. The "mass" movement of community members are often understudied in the face of the college student movements. These largely "anonymous" participants fought for improve living and working conditions of poor Asian American communities, specifically housing and anti-eviction campaigns, union organizing drives, jobs and social services.

In 1974, the War on Poverty sought to improve the impoverished conditions of American ghettos and created social, health, and legal services. The Act of 3 October 1965 also abolished discriminatory Asian immigration quotas and with it, a rise of Asian immigration into the US. While many Asian Americans utilized this opportunity to move out of the slums, new ones moved in. For the newer migrants, the war on poverty offered support, while for educated Asian Americans, it offered opportunities for professional development and employment. This was a chance to not only enter the Asian American middle class but to acquire political power within antipoverty programs. In addition to community based organizations, local grassroots activists also increased to serve the people. All across the nation, from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, to New York City, and Philadelphia, Asian Americans fought for housing rights.

In Hawai'i, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino locals supported Native Hawaiians when their residency fell toward toward gentrification in 1970. The Bishop Estate wanted to evict families in order to build hotels, high-rise buildings, and a golf course. The Kokua Kalama Committee formed by the University of Hawai'i and anti-war activists helped support the residents.

Efforts to garner attention towards San Francisco's Chinatown were headed by activists at the Commodore Stockton Auditorium and Portsmouth Square. In these meetings, issues on poor housing and health, unemployment, and education, were brought into light. The Red Guard Party, inspired by the Black Panther Party and Mao Ze-Dong's youth cadre, worked to transform the ghetto of San Francisco's Chinatown. Initiatives started by the Red Guard Party included Free Breakfast for kids, which became Free Sunday Brunch for elders. In 1970, some AAPA members formed the Asian Community Center which offered a drop-in center for elders, and operated Everybody's Bookstore, provided food and healthcare, and screened films. Members also attempted to save the International Hotel and managed to forestall evictions until 1977.

In Seattle, protests centered around the gentrification of its historically Asian American neighborhood, International District, with a nearby stadium in November 1972. Many Asian American youth worried that attendants would overwhelm the neighborhood with parking and commercial needs. Activists marched from the Asian drop-in center to Kingdome stadium. They shouted down speakers and threw mud balls at the dignitaries on stage. In less than two weeks, hundreds marched to the Seattle Office of US Department of Housing and Urban Development to demand funds to preserve the neighborhood. The rest of the 1970s focused on the expansion of affordable housing and culturally appropriate services to residents in the International District.

Shift in Political Activism

After the end of the Vietnam war, many radical Asian American groups dissolved as there was no more unifying cause to rally around. This momentum was in conjunction with the temporary decline of mass political activism in the 1960s and early 1970s. There have been numerous debates on why these movements disintegrated following the 1970s. These included:

• the strategy of repression through assassinations of major leaders of the movement
• programs of cooptation to assimilate mass discontent into traditional political areas
• rise of the New Right through Reagan presidency
• division among political forces within the movement
• inability of the movement to base itself within the community

• "one-sided class war" waged by corporations against poor communities of color; created an increase in poverty rates and eroded hard-won civil rights

Many of the mentioned reasons impacted the Asian American community differently. While corporate offensive destroyed grassroot organizations in African American communities, most Asian American groups were not targeted. Furthermore, in contrast to the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement, the Asian American Movement gained less attention due to its smaller size and influence.

Activism continued well into the 1980s, though not under a pan-Asian movement. Filipinos stood in solidarity with the "People's Power" movement to overthrow the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Meanwhile Chinese Americans and Korean Americans advocated for pro-democracy in China and the massacre in Kwangju under the South Korean dictatorship respectively. Samoan Americans also fought against police abuse in Los Angeles. Pacific Islanders demanded the removal of nuclear weapons and waste from their homelands. Native Hawaiians fought for the right of self-determination and the recovery of native land.

The 1960s and 70s focused on the empowerment of the people. In the 1980s, this shifted to the empowerment of young professionals, which made it possible for continued activism but also gave rise to a new group of thinking.

Rise of Asian Neo Conservatives

Neoconservative Asians were born from the Reagan-Bush administration era of supply-side economics, class and racial polarization, and the on individual advancement. These were young, middle-class Asian American professionals who grew up in white suburbs. At the same time, they grew up during the civil rights struggles. However, despite being proud to be Asian American, neoconservative Asians denounced the Asian American Movement. While they acknowledged discrimination, they denied the existence of institutional racism and structural inequality. They believed in individual advancement, not mass empowerment. They were also against affirmative action and believed because other communities of colors did not emphasize education, family cohesion, and traditional values in their culture, they are not as successful as the Asian American. For these neoconservatives, change was only possible through decision makers rather than through grassroot organizing.

Legacy of Movement Activism

Today, ethnic studies, particularly Asian American studies, are widely taught across various colleges and universities. The purpose of Asian American Studies, according to William Wei, was to:

1. rise the ethnic consciousness and self-awareness of Asian American students
2. disseminate new educational materials on Asian Americans
3. develop radical social and political perspectives and research on Asian Americans
4. provide culturally sensitive services to Asian American students and communities

San Francisco State University offers more than 175 courses in its College of Ethnic Studies. The strike that occurred at this college remains the longest student activism. Professor Ronald Takaki helped develop the nation's first Ph.D program in Comparative Ethnic Studies at UC-Berkeley. In addition, education was redirected towards community engagement rather than for self-interests. Asian American Studies program was also accompanied by the creation of the Association for Asian American Studies, national conferences, research centers, and publications. These initiatives provided a forum for the discussion of shared problems and experiences among Asian Americans. The first formal nationwide conference on Asian American Studies was held in September of 1969 and represented sixteen colleges and universities in California and New York. However, ethnic studies failed to connect the international links that the Asian American Movement stood for. The creation of individual departments for each ethnic and/or racial group and isolation from its global context distort the history of capital and labor migration, and fail to deconstruct the power that oppressed these groups.

Self-definition allowed for redefinition of the Asian American ethnic and racial identity. This new identity united various Asian ethnicities because it recognized the similar struggles each faced. It also promoted cultural traditions and helped to create a new generation of writers, poets, and artists. In addition, this identity would be instituionalized by professionals and community groups as well as government agencies.

The Asian American Movement also created a generation of activists conscious of their ethnicity, critical of the system, and willing to act on the benefit of the Asian American community. They not only acquired organizational skills but stood in opposition of the common stereotypes of Asian Americans. Their actions dismantled the perception of Asians as servile, a stereotype that reinforces them in a subordinate place. During this era, extensive grassroot organizations and student organizations emerged. These organizations redefined hierarchical power structures. One of Mao Ze-dong's quotes, "The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history," became a slogan for the movement. In this lens, Asian American activists saw themselves as active participants in the making of history and defined their political strategy of grassroots organizing.

Post-Movement Activism (1970s - Present)

Proclamation 4417 of 1976 and Civil Liberties Act of 1988

After World War 2, many Japanese American activists fought for reparations from the federal government for its actions during WWII in Japanese Internment Camps. In 1976, President Ford signed Proclamation 4417, which declared the internment of Japanese Americans a "national mistake." A decade later, President Reagan passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which offered $20,000 in reparations for internees as well as an official apology from the federal government.

Vincent Chin

In the summer of 1982, a 27-year-old Asian American Vincent Chin was beaten to death by two white workers, Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz. In the end, both men were sentenced to three years of probation and fined less than $3,000. The shock brought together the Asian American community to file a lawsuit that argued the violation of Chin's civil rights. However, Ebens did not pay the $1.5 million ruled by the civil suit.

"For people who didn't see themselves as Asian Americans, this was a moment when they stood up and spoke out." (Frank H. Wu, former Dean of Wayne State Law School)

Black Lives Matter

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that has spurred across the nation and globally, Asian Americans advocates are also standing in solidarity with BLM against police brutality. While some Asian Americans are active participants in protests, others have utilized social media to create open letters to families. Started by Christina Xu, these resources help youth to facilitate conversations on why black lives should matter to their families and older relatives. This has been especially critical when the officer that shot Philando Castile in Falcon Heights in the summer of 2016 might have been Asian American.

External Links

Association for Asian American Studies

President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417: acknowledged federal actions against mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans and formally terminated the 1942 Executive Order 9066.

Letters for Black Lives: community contributions and resources to facilitate discussion on anti-blackness with parents and older relatives.