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I've been reflecting on my time here at Columbia, thinking about the existence of Asian American ideas and activism on this campus, and the effectiveness of the Columbia University Asian American Alliance as a whole. Do we base effectiveness on awareness, education, community service, activism, how many people show up to our events, getting a large membership? It's always easy to say an organization doesn't do enough, but it's also so easy to say that an organization can only do so much with the resources it has. Many AAA members are doing wonderful things, including picketing at Saigon Grill against sweatshop labor and exploitation, creating Asian American sexuality workshops, and creating teach-ins on Asian American Studies.

But the fact is that people just don't know about Asian American issues.

Part of it is that people are unclear about the term. As we broached in our last general meeting, "What the !%$@ is an Asian American?", the mere identity "Asian American" can span from descendants of peoples as far 'east' as the Middle East and as far 'west' as Hawaii. This is part of why Asian Americans in general have not really mobilized in recent years: there are so many groups defined under the umbrella term. Asian Americans are much more diverse, making the political term less effective than terms like "Black," which has a stronger historical context and shared experience in America.

One could say that Asian Americans have done plenty well here in the United States, that there aren't many negative stereotypes about Asians (good at math? yay!), that Asians have become a very much accepted race in the United States.  There are plenty of health disparities, especially in Hepatitis B cases (who knew those were even a problem with this in the United States?) and cervical cancer rates. Asian American women 15-24 lead in the highest suicide rate among all ethnic groups, and APAs are more likely to commit suicide than the "average American." But who the hell knows about these issues? Yes, there are many students out there who know about the transcontinental railroad, Japanese (and Chinese, and anyone who looked Japanese) internment, but less know about the colonization of Asian lands through U.S. imperialism and the fetishization that has resulted, the enslavement of Asian peoples as coolies all over the world, etc. etc.

These issues seem so far removed from our contemporary reality as Asian Americans. Fact is, when many of us are seen as a 'model minority' it may seem like we don't have issues. That, to say the least, has been extremely frustrating to face, both at Columbia and in general.
I know I, for one, was only brought into Asian American issues because of a hate crime my family was connected to. I want to share with y'all a piece of an email I sent to a (great!) Asian American and Ethnic Studies professor, Gary Okihiro, who's helped a lot as I conceptualize Asian American issues (I was fortunate enough to take his class before I sent him this: take an Asian American Studies class, y'all!):
So when I was six, my mother told me that a relative of mine was really famous somewhere and that he had died. I had no idea who this man was, and casting off my mother as sensationalist, I proceeded to eat my dinner. Later, when I was twelve or thirteen, I was watching a PBS documentary about the Chinese in America, and a moment came on when the doc. started mentioning a pan-Asian movement that begun in the eighties, and I felt empowered. The screen kept plastering a picture of a man who had been killed and where this movement started. My mother came into the room, proceeded to point at the screen, and told me, "Yeah, you're related to him." I found out that man was Vincent Chin. Lily Chin was my maternal grandmother's sister, making Vincent Chin my mother's adopted cousin. [...]  I've been struck by how little my family speaks about him; I think the whole family has just tried to put that past behind us and move on, and I think there's some sadness that the case never really went anywhere. 
I've always been sad but proud to say I'm related to a man who, as a martyr, started a pan-Asian American movement that hasn't been matched since the 1980s. But at the same time, I wish I didn't have to be related to a martyr in order to be interested in these issues. Indeed, the documentary Vincent Who? shows just how little our young generation knows about Vincent Chin-or, really, many general Asian American issues. These things still exist: just look at cases of Asian deliverymen being killed, the 2008 assaults on Columbia students, of whom five were Asian, and all the people who are discriminated against after 9/11 for looking un-American or terrorists. Don't get me started on the perpetual foreigner myth.
As I leave Columbia this year, I can't help but think that many people are stuck in complacency. I feel like so little know what Asian American issues are out there.  People can hold up other causes, of course, but so little is mentioned about Asian American issues.

All of this information and experience I've gathered stirs anger in me. I know I'm not the only one who's had kids pull their eyes back at me or random streetwalkers say "ching chong cheeeee" to me on the streets. It is with this anger that I teach first-grade students how to navigate this biased and racist world. It fuels me. Does it fuel others? I hope so. There's too much in this world to be angry about, and we have to turn that into something. For now, we have to show people that these issues actually matter. I don't want to be preaching to the choir all my life, now.

3 comments:

  1. Web Design Kenya said...

    Only themselves can really understand their issues  

  2. 梁爵 said...

    2020.09.13每個【酒店小姐】【酒店公關】剛踏入這個八大行業不敢來酒店上班-酒店打工的原因都希望可以找到一個合法正派的酒店經紀公司,一個好的酒店經紀不僅僅只是安排店家讓妳上班,酒店小姐去酒店上班都一定要出場接s嗎?會懂得傾聽酒店小姐的心聲,設身處地的為酒店小姐想,能站在酒店小姐的立場為小姐爭取更多的福利安排更好的店家。酒店兼差不是一個複雜的工作環境?其實酒店小姐是最孤單最寂寞的行業,大多數小姐進入這個行業,都帶著許多不為人知的秘密,有的人是公司或開店經營不善、或是積欠卡債、負債、婚姻遇到渣男信用賠光而進入這個環境,更有很多失婚的女性或單親媽媽為了維持家計支撐起一個家,而勇敢踏出這一步的大有人在,這些秘密是無法對他人訴說的,這時妳的酒店經紀就成為妳抒發情緒唯一的窗口。大多數的酒店小姐都不會透露自己的真實身分,我們也會提醒小姐做好自我保護,每位酒店小姐上班都有自己的理由跟目的,別期待別人對妳說真話,更別輕易相信別人口中說出來的話,酒店小姐往往滿腹委屈不知道該向誰傾訴,這時妳必須找到一個值得妳信賴的人,除了傾聽妳心裡的話之外,並且提供妳多元的意見,我不敢說 我是聖人 更不是偉人,但我是能幫助妳的人。我相信,適時適度的抒發情緒對工作上是有很大的助益的,讓梁曉尊帶妳走過人生中最低潮的時刻,陪妳共同創造出屬於妳的美麗世界。用正面的角度向前方看,妳會發現這世界上沒有解決不了的問題,別擔心,再大的問題有我梁曉尊在,我會帶領你搭往成功的下一站。  

  3. 梁爵 said...

    2020.11.26酒店小姐「八大行業真相」酒店妹的上班技巧知名「酒店工作-台北酒店專業經紀人」靠著拍攝惡搞、酒店打工大尺度的影片,吸引破30萬粉絲訂閱,每回分享新片總讓人看了臉紅心跳。他近日再度PO出一支名為《男人只會蝌蚪衝腦?酒店上班酒店小姐的真心話!》影音,親自帶領觀眾探究【酒店小姐】【酒店公關】內心想法,讓不少網友大開眼界。影片可見,小哥哥艾理詢問多位酒店兼差酒店小姐,是否覺得男性都是用下半身思考?大多回應「至少6成」、「百分之八十有」,剩餘的男性自制能力較好,可以用大腦控制肉體的衝動,或是表現得較不明顯。其中一位小姐笑說,自己和男友就是在酒店相識,對方恰好由她接待,因而走在一塊。小哥哥艾理隨後詢問,那妳男友可以接受妳在酒店工作?小姐回答,「他可以,但我有被他嚴重警告過,『妳要做壞事可以,但是不要被我抓到。』」她也透露,可以接受男友偷吃,「只要不要被我抓到,但機率很低,因為我這個人酒醉會打給我男朋友,如果他不接的話,家裡櫃子全部會被我翻倒。」小哥哥艾理最後問,那女性是否也會用下半身思考?小姐回應「多少會,但(機率)不高」,其他工作者也大多回應「不太會」,坦言對床事較無感。其中一位小姐大方地說,除非真的想要才會撲上去,聲稱「沒有一次被拒絕過」,讓小哥哥艾理忍不住驚呼「很有信心哦!」  


 

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