Panelists field discussion about issues facing Asian Americans
By Christina Brown
Nov. 16, 2008 11:42 p.m.
Several hundred undergraduate and graduate students came together on Saturday for a conference organized by the Asian Pacific Coalition with the help of many other groups to discuss the past and future of Asian American studies and activism.
“Beyond Boundaries: Education in Action” marked the 40th anniversary of the Asian American studies program at UCLA. Professors, community members and leaders within Asian cultural groups spoke and led workshops for students to learn about the roots of the development of ethnic studies at UCLA and on how to find outlets for activism today.
“The conference was supposed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ethnic studies but also teach us how we can take what we learn in the classroom and use it in the community,” said Misha Tsukerman, director of Asian Pacific Coalition, a group of 22 Asian and Pacific Islander organizations.
The conference began with a panel about the history of Asian American activism, especially in the context of UCLA’s development of the Asian American Studies Center. Panelists ““ several of whom were UCLA alumni and witnessed firsthand the changes that took place at UCLA over the last several decades ““ included the chair of the California Board of Equalization, professors and a former president of Undergraduate Students Association Council.
The organizer for the event, Christina Lee, said the panel addressed how different activism today is today from when the panelists were young college students. The panelists emphasized that students should not focus on the ’60s and ’70s as the end of activism. They said there are still plenty of options to make a difference.
“They showed the evolution of activism,” Lee said. “There used to be a lot of protests, but now we have community scholars and the Internet and the media and more routes to be an activist.”
Jeff Chang, an author and journalist, and Kristina Wong, an actress and activist, also spoke during the conference about their experience with Asian American activism.
During her speech, which was a mix of humorous skits and frank discussion about her role as an activist, Wong encouraged the students in the room to become the next generation of positive activists.
“Destroying is easy. Creating the change you want to see is hard,” she said. “Be vigilant. We should be doing this work until it is not necessary anymore.”
During lunch, participants were treated to several performances of spoken word and music about activism and the issues facing Asian Americans.
In the afternoon in rooms throughout Ackerman Union and Kerckhoff Hall, students split up into groups of several dozen for discussion workshops about issues in the Asian American community.
The workshops covered topics like undocumented Asian students, getting people involved in Asian American student groups and Asian American queer history. There were also two workshops covering how to secure funding for research and networking with student organizations for the several dozen graduate students who participated in the conference.
Lee said that the more than 200 people that attended the conference will receive an e-mail copy of the minutes from the speakers and all of the different workshops so everyone can absorb what was said at the conference.
“This conference should be a starting point,” she said. “It shouldn’t be the end of what people learn.”
Tsukerman echoed that sentiment when he said he hopes that people can use what they learned at the conference to make a positive impact.
“It is time to remind people that what they are learning is not just for academia’s sake,” he said. “It is really to help the people in the communities you come from. That should be the whole point of education, to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than us.”
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