Here are brief summaries and reflections on last night, written per request by the vigil's primary organizer Saffiyah Madraswala and attendee Lizzie Shen.
Sixty-six years ago today,
Last night, Liga Filipina and AAA PC hosted a vigil to commemorate the Bataan Death March. While a solemn occasion, it was also a night to revitalize ourselves as a community. With less than 20,000 of these Filipino veterans alive today, well into their 80s and 90s, dying at the rate of 7-8 a day, students must take up the struggle for full equity now.
In 1941, 200,000-250,000 Filipino soldiers were inducted into the US Armed Forces by military order of President Roosevelt. They fought courageously throughout WWII alongside American soldiers.
On
As Riya Ortiz, member of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (a Filipino/Filipino American youth organization based in NYC – http://ugnayan.blogspot.com/), stated at the vigil last night, the Filipino/Filipino American youth can only explain this injustice by calling it what it is: systemic racism. When the Philippines was attained by the United States (for $20 million dollars along with Cuba and Puerto Rico) at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States set out to “civilize” the natives of the Philippines and did not grant the Philippines its independence until nearly 50 years later in 1946. During this time of direct imperial rule, the
It is with this imperialist legacy that the
At the vigil last night, students and community organizers linked arms and observed a moment of silence in remembrance of the horrific loss of life of the Bataan Death March. Today, we continue the struggle to restore due respect to those brave Filipino soldiers by advocating for the equity they deserve. Ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop.
--------------------------------------------------Wednesday night marked the sixty sixth anniversary of the surrender of Bataan by Filipino and American soldiers. As I learned that night, the Bataan Death March has not been recorded in American textbooks.
To send people to war is to bring them one step closer to death. Over 70,000 Filipino and American soldiers marched for 3 days, covering over 60 miles in their trek to prison camps. Along the way, over 10,000 soldiers died. Filipino soldiers fought for the US and their valor, strength and honor should be, and need to be recognized as such. And yet the US government chooses not to do so: the Filipino Veterans Equity Act has not been passed. Out of a total of 66 countries that fought on behalf of the US in World War II, only the Philippines has not been acknowledged. All of these things are evidence of systemic racism, and to deprive people of their rights is something we are so quick to condemn, but as Bataan shows, is still in existence today.
The men who fought did not die in vain. It is crucial as a community we step up, and unite by our concern. Hopefully, more events will be held on this campus to promote positive action. While many veterans have died, some 20,000 live on, and the onus is on us to try and help them. Perhaps the US government will wait until all the veterans are dead, and then ignore the violation of rights completely. This should not be something that only interests a particular group of people, or concerns those directly related. As Saffiyah said, these veterans are our grandfathers; they fought so we could live in a better world.
While the vigil was to commemorate, it was also to educate. The more people learn about the atrocities humans inflict upon each other, perhaps the greater consideration we will take for one another. After all, at the end of the day, we are human, and the harm we inflict upon each other is what will some day be read in our children's textbooks. Although like in the case of Bataan, perhaps not.
(Fans self repeatedly)
We repeat: This image was not photoshopped. It is a real picture of a (semi) nude man on the sun dial. There are also pictures of him in various other public areas.
Find out more about why he's naked here.
Read reactions to the campaign here.
Remember Bataan - A Vigil and Commemoration
Regino Barreda, a Filipino World War II veteran living in Virginia Beach, in Washington for a hearing with the Senate's Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
In 1941, 200,000 Filipino soldiers were inducted into the US Armed Forces during WWII.
On April 9th, 1942, Bataan was surrendered, and over 10,000 Filipino and American soldiers died during the Bataan Death March.
In 1946, the Rescission Act stripped Filipino soldiers of their veterans' status (deeming their service "inactive").
Today, less than 20,000 of these soldiers remain.
We are calling for their recognition and full equity. Please join us.
Tuesday, April 8th at 9:30pm @ the Sundial
(Yeah, we know, it passed. Members from Liga Filipina and AAA PC were present to take part in and listen to: speeches by various Fil-Am group members, a circle of arm-linking, moments of silence, and lots of spilled candle wax)
Stay tuned for more detailed posts by organizer/PC member Saffiyah Madraswala and attendee / AAA OCM Lizzie Shen. (Update 4-9-08: read their posts here)
The Blaaag has yet to write anything about the tragic death of 24-year old international graduate student Minghui Yu, but we feel there's not much to say. As our condolences go out to the family and friends of this guy, we see other international students about campus supporting one another in the recognition that community is the one thing they need to confront such a reality.
We see a heightened alertness in students all across campus, in our classes and commuting between buildings. But most of all, we hear the quiet murmurs about possible intentions of the attack. According to the NYT, a lawyer for the city vaguely called it "predatory in nature" but did not elaborate. The Daily News and Gothamist quoted the boy arrested to have said, "Look what I do to this one," before chasing him. Yu was found with his backpack and wallet, an indication that this altercation was not a robbery.
And so, AAA and its Political Committee struggles to ponder this incident and connect it to the other incidences of anti-Asian violence we have seen. The recent memories of a student attacked at Brooklyn's David Boody Intermediate School ring loudly now. In this month of awareness and community building, we seek to build discussion around this topic, perhaps collaboratively with other student organizations. Please stay tuned for such events.
More from Angry Asian Man, The Spectator...
Remember Bataan - A Vigil and Commemoration
In 1941, 200,000 Filipino soldiers were inducted into the US Armed Forces during WWII.
On April 9th, 1942, Bataan was surrendered, and over 10,000 Filipino and American soldiers died during the Bataan Death March.
In 1946, the Rescission Act stripped Filipino soldiers of their veterans' status (deeming their service "inactive").
Today, less than 20,000 of these soldiers remain.
We are calling for their recognition and full equity. Please join us.
Tuesday, April 8th at 9:30pm @ the Sundial.
Facebook Event
Or, rather, A, A, A.
Late last night, I made my way to Lerner Hall to see my fellow Asian American Alliancers at their best, filming a Rihanna inspired video for CultureSHOCK.
Come to the event on April 18th, to see the completed piece!
Some teaser photos for now:
You had my heart...
So FierceCome one, come all... On April 18th, we're featuring this one-of-a-kind performer at our showcase of Asian American talent and fashion! This singer played the club circuit during the 80s as a drummer, and has since been a (sort of) pioneer of the arts and the internets. Just watch the video below of his hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up". So come to cultureSHOCK and be sure to get your dance on, you won't want to miss this.
This can be considered a live blog - Gary Okihiro just gave us this link to a petition decrying the proposed budgets cuts of Asian American Studies at University of Pennsylvania. These budget cuts are university-wide, but disproportionally affects smaller departments and programs - thus, threatening to effectively shut down the Asian American Studies program. So take a look, read the petition, and sign it!
The petition at www.petitiononline.com/saveasam
To: The University of PennsylvaniaWe, the students, faculty, staff and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as other interested members, believe the 25% budget decrease by the School of Arts and Sciences to Asian American Studies is outrageous. Asian American Studies, and more broadly Ethnic Studies, are integral components to a college curriculum and should not be viewed as simply supplementary knowledge. We DISAPPROVE of the School of Arts and Sciencefs decision to cut funding for Asian American Studies. We URGE the administration to reverse the decision and fully recognize Asian American Studies as an essential component of campus diversity.
Sincerely,
The petition at www.petitionspot.com/petitions/saveoureducation
Recently, the University announced that the Asian American Studies program will receive a 25% decrease in their budget. Because the program is already so poorly funded, these additional cuts would ultimately terminate Asian American Studies at Penn.
If this University is indeed committed to diversity, it must display that passion through sufficient funding and support of Asian American Studies.
In an effort to address this issue to administration, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition and the ASAM Undergraduate Advisory Board have started a petition to document the student and faculty interest in Asian American Studies.
Petitions will be available in PAACH (3601 Locust Walk) as well as at the Asian American Studies Office (166 McNeil Building).
PLEASE STOP BY AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT BY SIGNING OUR PETITION!
HELP US SAVE ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES AT PENN!
by guest contributor Calvin Sun, who's just earning his blogging chops, so please excuse the stylistic foibles. But speaking of 21, have you guys seen the My Sassy Girl trailer???
It's funny, with all that's going on with 21, I'm feeling coy irony. I first heard about Bringing Down the House (the book 21 is based on) a few years ago, when my brother (who also attended MIT for grad school) told me about how it was written about a bunch of MIT Asian American students who went to Vegas and skillfully used mathematics to literally "bring down the house."
The story became a novel, which then got turned into the movie that's now getting so much grease. As far as the information I've been given, it was the novel that initially changed the ethnicities of the characters (I didn't hear too much comparable controversy there). Kevin Spacey pretty much went ahead with the treatment and produced a film. Granted, even if the novel kept the ethnicities as Asian Americans, Kevin Spacey most likely would have still preferred the Caucasian remix. We've seen it done with The Departed and we almost seen it done with the Hollywood remake of Oldboy. What would stop Hollywood with 21?
Now the reason why I feel coy irony is because I saw this coming years ago...and I was only in high school! Why did we, as a collective APIA community, all wait until post-production to start a movement? The film's made, the damage has been done, and the best we can do now is to boycott last weekend's #1 movie in the box office? All this negative energy-- we could have started years ago when the book was published and prevented the Hollywood slap in the face. We could have compelled the execs to get more Asian Americans on the ticket during preproduction. Sure, we've been given amazing consolation prizes of the venerable Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira (Hollywood likes to give consolation prizes in preparation for any controversy; did you know that Justin Lin was set to direct the remake of Oldboy?), but perhaps we could have gotten something more worthy of the phrase "based on a true story." From that we could have created something positive out of this instead of waiting so late and being negative and angry.
Yes, I agree with AngryAsianMan's Phil Yu that anything that draws attention to create dialogue and begin scrutiny into the Hollywood casting is a good thing. But as Hollywood dictates, any publicity is good publicity... all I know is that any sort of controversy we create will now get the film more attention, ticket sales will go up, the chances of it succeeding will increase, the Hollywood execs will be happy, and then the formula will be repeated. Next? The Caucasian remix of The Motel.
I think the best thing we can learn is to pay more attention to current events and rally together sooner. We should have seen this coming. We should have started talking when the book came out and began our steps in encouraging Hollywood to get more Asian Americans on the big screen for the film. Instead we're playing our respective role as a cog in the Hollywood machine; an uproar during a film's publicity campaign could not have been sweeter for the Hollywood execs. In their language, for every person that boycotts there's two people that becomes interested in the film. That's Hollywood mathematics for you; they've managed to bring down the house for APAs and run away with the dinero. We may have sowed the seeds for the next Hollywood remake of Better Luck Tomorrow, starring Hayden Christensen.
Let's refrain from idling with the popcorn next time.