An Asian American Diary

paach:

A message from George Takei

I grew up in an internment camp, and no one American ever again should have to.

Nearly 70 years ago, Executive Order 9066 authorized the U.S. military to remove any person from designated “military zones” without charge, trial or any kind of due process.  This Order led to the forced evacuation and internment over over 120,000 Japanese Americans, two thirds of whom, including myself, my siblings, and my mother, were U.S. citizens.  I spent over four years in two of America’s internment camps, in Rohwer, Arkansas and Tule Lake, California, simply because I and my family happen to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor.

Now a bill proposed in the U.S. Senate, S. 1253 (McCain/Levin) would authorize a similar sweeping authority, granted to the President, to order the detention–without charge or trial–of any person even suspected of being associated with a “terrorist organization.”  I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw that we hadn’t learned from the terrible lessons of the past.

We are a nation of laws, and we have a Constitution that guarantees certain inalienable rights, including the right to liberty, the right to a jury trial, and the right against unlawful search and seizure.  And yet, in times of trouble, how quickly these cornerstones of our freedom are abandoned.  We must be constantly vigilant against tyranny and injustice of all forms, especially when it isn’t politically expedient.

Please share this article  and write to your senator, telling her or him to vote against S.1253, and to say loudly and clearly:  “Never Again.”

–GHT

Watch his video here.

anthonynoceda:

This is truly how to do it “LIKE A BOSS”

+ONE.

(Source: slaytanica)

(Source: paach, via fascinasians)

Today, I had the pleasure of attending my first Asian American issues conference: Listen to the Silence, presented by Stanford’s Asian American Students’ Association. Included in the program was a captivating keynote speaker, three workshops, and two hours of performances by Asian American dancers and musicians.

This is not going to be a full-blown analysis of my entire day, and the workshops that were conducted; I just wanted to get some of my impressions and thoughts down after the long day.

I came into the social justice and minority empowerment scene late in the game: neither of my parents are college-educated, I never really gave much thought to the ‘Asian-American’ aspect of my identity beyond living and growing up here as anAmerican, and the college I attended and graduated from (Dec. 2011!) does not have an Asian-American Studies program, though I hear that several entities on campus are now trying to make that happen. Only last June, when I applied to be an RA for a 4-day high school summer enrichment program, was I really exposed to the concepts of social justice, identity, and diversity, among others. 

Today’s conference helped me to realize how little I really know about my Asian American heritage. Oh, sure, I can rattle off some events that have happened in American history relating to Asian immigration and Asian American policy - Japanese American internment during World War II, the murder of Vincent Chin, Chinese Exclusion Acts, and some scattered recent events (Private Danny Chen’s suicide and Pete Hoekstra’s xenophobic campaign ad during the Superbowl, to name two) - but I don’t really know the story of my people’s struggle.

And it is “my people.” Yes, many of us have vastly different experiences depending on where our families immigrated from, what generation we are, how much education our parents have and how much of our native non-English language we are forced to speak on a daily basis… but it is important for Asian Americans, especially young Asian Americans, to educate themselves about the history that merits less than a footnote in history books.

Have you read about Vincent Chin in your APUSH textbook? Executive Order 9066 didn’t get more than a paragraph or two in mine; many of the events that we tried to place on a timeline today in the API Movement Building and Asian American History workshop I attended were events that I had never even heard of. “Asian American history” is, in the Eurocentric history taught in American textbooks, a history that makes the giant and ambiguous leap from “foreigner” in the 1700s and 1800s, to “model minority” in the late 1900s. We have no presence in American history; perhaps as a result of that lack of history and weak cohesiveness as a community of Asian Americans (rather than ethnic-Americans: Chinese-American, Japanese-American, Korean-American, etc.), Asian Americans have had little visibility in popular media and politics. Even when we have a presence, it is often joked about or defined by stereotypes. 

The conference was a very enlightening and empowering experience for me. Perhaps at this moment, I don’t have the knowledge or understanding of Asian American history, social justice, and academic understanding of identity politics to really be capable of the activism that I wish to pursue in the community. But knowledge is a powerful thing - all things are worth knowing, especially when they are a story that lead up to you and me.

I have a lot of things to sort out and think about in my head. All in all, it was a day well-spent, ending powerfully with a rousing and inspiring performance by Jason “Grand Master” Chu, a Beijing-based Asian-American rapper and writer.

8asians:

Minh is “an emerging Asian-American artist that’s getting a bit of exposure right now. […] He recently opened up for Erykah Badu in San Francisco at The Warfield Theatre. And he’ll be opening for the legendary group, The Isley Brothers, in Las Vegas at The LVH (formerly Las Vegas Hilton) on March 2 & 3. He’s released 4 independent albums to date and is now buzzing within the industry.”

Heard his voice and fell in love.

That’s pure beauty in sound waves.

It’s so rare that an Asian American artist makes it into the mainstream, even if they’re just as talented as their non-Asian counterparts, that whenever I hear of someone really breaking through - whether it’s an actress, artist, or musician - I really try to support and spread the word and increase the exposure.

Music is one of the most universal languages that people all across the world can share. Even if you don’t understand the language that’s being spoken, you can feel the emotion and hear the pain, you can close your eyes and imagine the broken heart and the happiness and the love. Being able to listen to the stories of fellow 1st gens and 2nd gens (and even 1.5 gens) is so rare, but whenever I do hear those stories, it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing because I can relate and feel it in my heart.

I’m looking forward to exploring more of MINH’s work and seeing him make more waves in the industry.

generasian:

A couple weeks ago I posted a brief response to Private Danny Chen’s apparent suicide. Last month, Army officials released a three-hour briefing that revealed more of the harsh and cruel treatment Pvt. Chen received from his fellow soldiers.

…Private Chen had been mistreated virtually every day of his six-week stint in Afghanistan. They said he had been called a “gook,” a “chink” and “dragon lady.” He was also forced to wear a green helmet and shout orders in Chinese, to a battalion that had no other Chinese-American soldiers, they said. (NY Times)

Earlier last year, Lance Corporal Harry Lew, a Santa Clara native, also committed suicide after being hazed by other Marines. Accused of falling asleep during guard duty, other soldiers stomped on Lew’s back and legs, poured contents of a broken sandbag on his face and punched the back of his head “so hard his attacker cut his knuckles,” an NBC article reports.

Marine Jacob Jacoby, responsible for Lew’s hazing, was sentenced to 30 days in the brig and demoted to private, a sentence that seemed far too lenient to many. Rep. Judy Chu of California, Lew’s relative, called the sentence a “slap in the face”.

According to a recent NY Times article, the involuntary manslaughter charges, the harshest of 13 charges facing infantry Specialist Ryan Offutt, may be dropped on the recommendation of an unnamed military investigator. Specialist Offutt, who “was sentenced to jail in 2002 for attacking a woman in his house”, stands to face more than 23 years in jail if convicted of all charges.

This is appalling to read about. I’ve been following news reports and articles about Danny Chen, and it’s sickening to read about how he was treated by his fellow soldiers - people that he should have been able to trust with his life.

(via generasian)

fascinasians:

During the Superbowl on February 5, 2012, a campaign ad for Pete Hoekstra, a Republican candidate for the Senate, ran. This ad featured a young woman of Asian descent riding a bicycle, surrounded by rice paddies with ethnically ambiguous music playing in the background. She gives a monologue in broken English on how the Democratic incumbent, Debbie Stabenow, is bringing jobs to her undisclosed country. The video leaves off with a link to Hoekstra’s website, www.debbiespenditnow.com, which has been decorated with tea pots, dragons, lanterns, and Chinese symbols. The website also shows off the stereotypical “Asian” font displaying different statistics about China’s economy in comparison to that of the United States. Hoekstra not only groups all of Asia together in this geographically vague ad, but also selects and appropriates different cultural and historical symbols to be used mindlessly in his ignorant and close-minded website.

Asian and Pacific Islander representation in mainstream media has always been that of a subordinate, comedic, or simply blatantly racist role. In the past decade that has slowly but surely began to change. However, aggressively offensive videos like this ad reinforces negative and harming stereotypes that have already raged for far too long. This video encourages racism and xenophobia, with McCarthy-like tactics of drilling fear of another culture and people into the American people.

Hoekstra defended his ad, saying that “Democrats trying to make this an issue of race demonstrates their total ignorance of job creation policies.” Hoekstra’s campaign team has also disabled commenting and rating on the Youtube video itself and purged most negative feedback on his Facebook page. Even GOP campaign consultants such as Nick De Leeuw and Mike Murphy have condemned the ad, calling it “very, very dumb” and “racist and xenophobic”.

This is a disgusting attempt at turning American people against anyone of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. The Asian American community is one of the fastest growing in Michigan and as deeply impacted by job losses and the unstable economy as any other community. The ad must be pulled and a public apology given as soon as possible. We must not let racism continue to live on through the broadcasting of this ad and through Hoekstra’s vile campaign.

(Source: fascinasians)