Rethinking the Asian American Movement

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Rethinking the Asian American Movement RETHINKING THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT Although it is one of the least-known social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the Asian American movement drew upon some of the most powerful currents of the era, and had a wide-ranging impact on the political landscape of Asian America, and more generally, the United States. Using the racial discourse of the Black Power and other movements, as well as anti-war activist and the global decolonization movements, the Asian American movement succeeded in creating a multiethnic alliance of Asians in the United States and gave them a voice in their own destinies. Rethinking the Asian American Movement provides a short, accessible overview of this important social and political movement, highlighting key events and key figures, the movement’s strengths and weaknesses, how it intersected with other social and political movements of the time, and its lasting effect on the country. It is perfect for anyone wanting to obtain an introduction to the Asian American movement of the twentieth century. Daryl Joji Maeda is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA. American Social and Political Movements of the Twentieth Century Series Editor: Heather Ann Thompson Rethinking the American Anti-War Movement By Simon Hall Rethinking the Asian American Movement By Daryl Joji Maeda RETHINKING THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT Daryl Joji Maeda First published 2012 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2012 Taylor & Francis The right of Daryl Joji Maeda to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Maeda, Daryl J. Rethinking the Asian American movement / by Daryl Joji Maeda. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Asian Americans--Politics and government--20th century. 2. Asian Americans--Social conditions--20th century. 3. United States--Race relations--History--20th century. 4. United States--Social conditions--20th century. I. Title. E184.A75M343 2011 305.8950073--dc23 2011040233 ISBN: 978-0-415-80081-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-80082-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-35748-4 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Taylor & Francis Books Printed and bound in the Walsworth Publishing Company, Marceline, Mo. CONTENTS Series Editor’s Introduction vi Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations ix Introduction: Reframing the Movement 1 1 Key Organizations 9 2 Campus Activism 27 3 Community Activism in Cities and the Countryside 52 4 Arts and Culture 85 5 Interracialism, Internationalism, and Intersections of Gender and Race 107 6 Consolidations and Transformation 136 7 Conclusion: The Asian American Movement Remix 147 Notes 150 Bibliography 170 Index 179 SERIES EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION Welcome to the American Social and Political Movements of the 20th Century series at Routledge. This collection of works by top historians from around the nation and world introduces students to the myriad movements that came together in the United States during the twentieth century to expand democracy, to reshape the political economy, and to increase social justice. Each book in this series explores a particular movement’s origins, its central goals, its leading as well as grassroots figures, its actions as well as its ideas, and its most important accomplishments as well as serious missteps. With this series of concise yet synthetic overviews and reassessments, students not only will gain a richer understanding of the many human rights and civil liberties that they take for granted today, but they will also newly appreciate how recent, how deeply contested, and thus how inherently fragile, are these same elements of American citizenship. Heather Ann Thompson Temple University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book, which attempts to reinterpret a multifarious social movement, has been shaped by conversations, discussions, debates, and arguments with many people. Throughout the process of conceptualizing and writing it, I have been privileged to share ideas about Asian American activism, interracialism, and internationalism in personal exchanges, at conferences and symposia, and/or by exchanging papers with many who have helped to shape my thinking: among others, Sylvia Chan-Malik, John Cheng, Sylvia Chong, May Fu, Estella Habal, Moon-Ho Jung, Ben Kobashigawa, Lon Kurashige, Scott Kurashige, Karen Leong, Laura Pulido, Greg Robinson, Seema Sohi, Wesley Ueunten, Linda Vo, William Wei, Judy Wu, Caroline Yang, and Lisa Yun. Diane Fujino has been especially influential and helpful: her meticulous biographies of Yuri Kochiyama and Richard Aoki (forthcoming) are inspiring works that show how to bind together discrepant histories of Asian American and black activism, her historiography of the Asian American movement laid out the field in which this book is planted, and her generously offered, stringent, yet constructive criticism on major parts of this manuscript enriched it greatly. Nancy Araki and Allyson Nakamoto of the Japanese American National Museum were supportive, especially as I was finishing my first book and embarking on the formative stages of this project. I am especially indebted to Richard Katsuda, Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka, Mark Masaoka, Jim Matsuoka, Mike Murase, Erich Nakano, Alan Nishio, Dean Toji, Bill Watanabe, and Evelyn Yoshimura for allowing me to interview them about the housing struggle in Little Tokyo. Their reminiscences and analyses of nationalism and internationalism helped me to conceptualize larger parts of the manuscript as well. Though this book is a communal production, I accept all errors as my personal property. My editor at Routledge, Kimberly Guinta, has been enthusiastic and patient in appropriate measures, and always helpful and utterly professional, and series editor viii Acknowledgements Heather Thompson has provided an inspiring intellectual vision of how to frame the movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Many thanks to my friends and colleagues at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who have provided intellectual commu- nity, political camaraderie, and sustenance of the soul. Being in a Department of Ethnic Studies reminds me constantly of the fruits of the struggles described in this book and of the necessity to continue those struggles. My students at CU Boulder— especially in seminars on social movements of the 1970s and Asian American radicalism—have challenged my thinking in innumerable ways and for that they have my gratitude. Two special shout outs: the first goes to my friends and mentors at the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, which is both a subject of this book and, as my alma mater, an inspiration. A second goes to the Blue Scholars, whose “The Long March” EP provided the soundtrack for the writing of this book: “International District, rock rock on,” indeed. It’s my hope that this book, in some small way, will contribute to understanding the Asian American movement as an interracial and international district of its own. Finally, I am enormously grateful to the best family on earth for their encour- agement, patience, and inspiration. Thanks to my mother, Amelia Maeda, for all her support, and to my in-laws, Ken and Fran Dutro, and my little sister Katie for always being there when needed. Alex and Kenji made me smile and reminded me why cooking, movies, videogames and snowboarding are sometimes more important than writing. As always, Elizabeth Dutro has been my rock through thick and thin. ABBREVIATIONS AAA Asian Americans for Action AAFEE Asian Americans for Equal Employment AAPA Asian American Political Alliance AASU Afro-American Student Union ACC Asian Community Center AETF Anti-Eviction Task Force ASG Asian Study Group BAACAW Bay Area Asian Coalition Against the War BSU Black Student Union CANE Committee Against Nihonmachi Eviction CCBA Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association COINTELPRO Counter Intelligence Program CPP Communist Party of the Philippines CRA Community Redevelopment Agency FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation FFP Friends of the Filipino People FUCKU Free University of Chinatown Kids, Unincorporated ICSA Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action IHTA International Hotel Tenants Association IWK I Wor Kuen JACCC Japanese American Cultural and Community Center JACS-AI Japanese American Community Services, Asian Involvement Office KKC Kokua Kalama Committee KMT Kuomintang LACRR Los Angeles Committee for Redress and Reparations x Abbreviations LASO Latin American Student Organization LOP Laotian Organizing Project LTRA Little Tokyo Redevelopment Association NPAC National Peace Action Coalition LRS League of Revolutionary Struggle LTCDAC Little Tokyo Community Development Advisory Committee LTPRO Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization LTSC Little Tokyo Service Center MASC Mexican American Student Confederation NASO Native American
Recommended publications
  • From Nationalism to Migrancy: the Politics of Asian American Transnationalism 1 Kent A
    Communication Law Review From Nationalism to Migrancy: The Politics of Asian American Transnationalism 1 Kent A. Ono, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Following the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, more than a decade of anti-Chinese sentiment helped to create a post-Cold War hot-button environment. The loss of the Soviet bloc as a clear and coherent international opponent/competitor was followed by the construction of China as the United States' new most significant communist adversary. Hong Kong's return to China; Taiwan's promised return; China's one child policy; news reports of human rights abuses; and China's growing economic strength were all precursors to an environment of anti- Chineseness, the likes of which, as Ling-Chi Wang has suggested, had not existed since that surrounding the late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Chinese Exclusion era. 2 These geopolitical concerns over China's threat to U.S. world dominance affected Asian Americans and Asian immigrants in the United States. Asian Americans such as John Huang and Wen Ho Lee, targeted for having engaged in allegedly traitorous activities, were, in effect, feeling the heat resulting from increasingly tense U.S./China relations. The frenzied concern over China and the potential danger Chinese Americans posed to the nation state, however, ended suddenly with 9/11. Where China figured prominently on nightly news, in headlines, and in federal intelligence, 9/11 instantaneously shifted the government, military, and media's focus of concern. First came Afghanistan, then Iraq. Since then, Indonesia, North Korea, Iran, and Libya all have been cited as possible adversaries in relation to 9/11.
    [Show full text]
  • The Invention of Asian Americans
    The Invention of Asian Americans Robert S. Chang* Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 947 I. Race Is What Race Does ............................................................................................ 950 II. The Invention of the Asian Race ............................................................................ 952 III. The Invention of Asian Americans ....................................................................... 956 IV. Racial Triangulation, Affirmative Action, and the Political Project of Constructing Asian American Communities ............................................ 959 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 964 INTRODUCTION In Fisher v. University of Texas,1 the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit the legal status of affirmative action in higher education. Of the many amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs filed, four might be described as “Asian American” briefs.2 * Copyright © 2013 Robert S. Chang, Professor of Law and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Seattle University School of Law. I draw my title from THEODORE W. ALLEN, THE INVENTION OF THE WHITE RACE, VOL. 1: RACIAL OPPRESSION AND SOCIAL CONTROL (1994), and THEODORE W. ALLEN, THE INVENTION OF THE WHITE RACE, VOL. 2: THE ORIGIN OF RACIAL OPPRESSION IN ANGLO AMERICA (1997). I also note the similarity of my title to Neil Gotanda’s
    [Show full text]
  • Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@USU Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric LuMing Mao Morris Young Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Mao, LuMing and Young, Morris, "Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric" (2008). All USU Press Publications. 164. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/164 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REPRESENTATIONS REPRESENTATIONS Doing Asian American Rhetoric edited by LUMING MAO AND MORRIS YOUNG UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Logan, Utah 2008 Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 © 2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Cover design by Barbara Yale-Read Cover art, “All American Girl I” by Susan Sponsler. Used by permission. ISBN: 978-0-87421-724-7 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-725-4 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Representations : doing Asian American rhetoric / edited by LuMing Mao and Morris Young. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-87421-724-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-725-4 (e-book) 1. English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers. 2. Asian Americans--Education--Language arts. 3. Asian Americans--Cultural assimilation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Richard Aoki Case: Was the Man Who Armed the Black Panther Party an FBI Informant?
    THE RICHARD AOKI CASE: WAS THE MAN WHO ARMED THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AN FBI INFORMANT? by Natalie Harrison A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Wilkes Honors College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a Concentration in History Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University Jupiter, Florida April 2013 THE RICHARD AOKI CASE: WAS THE MAN WHO ARMED THE BLACK PANTHERS AN FBI INFORMANT? by Natalie Harrison This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor, Dr. Christopher Strain, and has been approved by the members of her supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of The Honors College and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences. SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: ____________________________ Dr. Christopher Strain ___________________________ Dr. Mark Tunick ____________________________ Dr. Daniel White ____________________________ Dean Jeffrey Buller, Wilkes Honors College ____________ Date ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank, first and foremost, Dr. Strain for being such a supportive, encouraging and enthusiastic thesis advisor – I could not have done any of this had he not introduced me to Richard Aoki. I would also like to thank Dr. Tunick and Dr. White for agreeing to be my second readers and for believing in me and this project, as well as Dr. Hess for being my temporary advisor when I needed it. And finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for all their support and for never stopping me as I rattled on and on about Richard Aoki and how much my thesis felt like a spy movie.
    [Show full text]
  • The Asian American Movement
    Origins uf the Movement I looked in the mirror, And 1 saw me. And I didn't want to be Any other w'ay. Then I looked around, And I SLW you. And it was the first time 1 knew Who wc really are. -"Something about Me Todiy" A Gmin of Sum'music album During the late 196os, Asian American political activism began sponta- neously in different places. at diHerent time:, and with different perspectives On the West Coast, it began whcn comrnurity acti,,isli Socussd rttention OP Ihe wretched conditions of San Francisco's Chinatuwr and campus acliwsts protestrd tte absence of their historical experiences in college and univcrsity curricula. From these demonstrations came a plethora of community-based organizatiois providing much needed social services to the Asian ethnic com- munities ard campus vrganirations offering vehicles fo: Asian American stu~ dent actmiss thmughout the western seaboarj to participarr in pro1:st pnlitics On the East Coast. political activism begar quietly in New Yorl. whcn two nisei women lamented the abseme of a Japanere American community and the steady :rosion of a Iapancse American identity among rheir children. I: NaS based mainly in New York City and its !eaden dedoped an early enthu~ siasm for ridicai ideologies. In !he Midwert, political activism began when ,4sian American college students came together for mltual support and col- 11 12 : Chapier 1 t lective aclior Many of them even uall) left college to p to an Aiian ethnic !- cnmmumty, usually on one of the cmm, in search of theu roots The West Caast: “Beyond the Chinatown Youth Problema’’ As with other social movements offhe 1960s,the Asian American Movement owes a deb1 of gratitude to the civil rights mo!’ement for exposing the gap be- tween the corntry’s imige of itseli and reality: Instead of a land of equality where a permn could schieve suc:ess through individurl effort, the United States was ciiticized as a land of inequality lvhere rxiil discrimination de- graded African Americans, relegating them to second-class status.
    [Show full text]
  • Issue Brief #160: Asian American Protest Politics “The Politics of Identity”
    Issue Brief #160: Asian American Protest Politics “The Politics of Identity” Key Words Political visibility, Yellow Power Movement, pan-Asian American identity, model minority, perpetual foreigners, reverse discrimination Description This brief seeks to review the history of Asian American protest movements in the twentieth century and the political ramifications of historic Asian American stereotypes, such as the “model minority” and “perpetual foreigner” prejudices. It also assesses the consequences of these myths that may unfold if Asian Americans continue to feel excluded from political culture and society. Key Points Asians currently constitute five percent of the American population, and this small percentage may contribute to their seemingly low political visibility. Furthermore, immigration to the United States by Asians is a relatively recent phenomenon, with small numbers arriving in the 1830s followed by decades of restricted access and exclusion from citizenship. It wasn’t until the 1950s and 60s when legal changes facilitated Asian immigration to the United States. Spikes of high arrival have occurred throughout the past decades. Today, Asians represent the fastest growing immigrant group in the United States, which has enormous political implications. (See U.S. Census reference) Like most other immigrant groups, Asian Americans seek racial equality, social justice, and political empowerment. Their mobilization has often been based on an inter-Asian coalition based on a pan-Asian identity. However, in light of this sweeping categorization, the most recent Asian American ethnic consciousness movements have highlighted the diversity of peoples included within this broad pan-ethnic category. (See Lien, Nguyen) Asian Americans seek to imbue their pan-ethnic identity with new definition and depth by protesting the stereotypes and caricatures that diminish them as individuals.
    [Show full text]
  • Document Resume
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 261 959 SO 016 847 AUTHOR Endo, Russell TITLE The Current Status of Japanese Americans. PUB DATE Jun 85 NOTE 20p.; Paper presented at the Southwest Forum on Minority Group Research (Denver, CO, June 1985). PUB TYPE Viewpoints (120) -- Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Acculturation; Economic Factors; Economic Status; *Japanese American Culture; *Japanese Americans; Social History; Social Problems; Social Science Research; *Social Status; Stereotypes ABSTRACT A study of the current status of Japanese Americans is divided into three sections. Following a brief introduction, a background section provides an overview of Japanese American history, population size and socioeconomic measures, and selected social characteristics. A second section looks in greater depth at socioeconomic status as reported in findings of the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the United States Bureau of the Census. Among the findings are the greater tendency of Japanese Americans than White Americans to have two-income families, lower median incomes, high median education and overrepresentation in fields such as science and engineering. Also considered are characteristic social problems and the question of. assimilation. Common conceptions of Japanese Americans as having few social problems and assimilating easily are refuted. In the conclusion, the author states that the positive image of Japanese Americans has certain negative consequences in that it validates the American idea of equal opportunity and obscures important social problems facing Japanese Americans. (LP) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** MS.P4ASTMENTOPSOUCATICW NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI yfiThis document has been reproducedas received from the person or organization originating it.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Asian
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Asian American and African American Masculinities: Race, Citizenship, and Culture in Post -Civil Rights A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Phil osophy in Literature by Chong Chon-Smith Committee in charge: Professor Lisa Lowe, Chair Professor Takashi Fujitani Professor Judith Halberstam Professor Nayan Shah Professor Shelley Streeby Professor Lisa Yoneyama This dissertation of Chong Chon-Smith is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2006 iii DEDICATION I have had the extraordinary privilege and opportunity to learn from brilliant and committed scholars at UCSD. This dissertation would not have been successful if not for their intellectual rigor, wisdom, and generosity. This dissertation was just a dim thought until Judith Halberstam powered it with her unique and indelible iridescence. Nayan Shah and Shelley Streeby have shown me the best kind of work American Studies has to offer. Their formidable ideas have helped shape these pages. Tak Fujitani and Lisa Yoneyama have always offered me their time and office hospitality whenever I needed critical feedback.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking Barriers in the Asian-American Movement
    Not Your Model Minority: Breaking Barriers in the Asian American Movement Felicia Xiao Senior Division Historical Paper Paper Length: 2,333 words 1 The latter half of the American twentieth century was marked by a number of well known social movements, such as those for civil rights, Black Power, and withdrawal from the Vietnam War. However, there exists another struggle that has been often left out of the books: the Asian American movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This movement had neither a crusading Martin Luther King Jr. nor an impassioned Malcolm X, yet this did not take away from its importance. Throughout the movement’s lifetime, activism focused on local issues and grassroots organization. Although its activists did not rally around a single shining figure, they still set out to accomplish many things in the name of social justice, including organizing workers, fighting for housing, working alongside other minority groups, and providing social services to Asian communities.1 Most importantly, the people sought to redefine and self-determine the identity of Asian Americans, from confronting racist tropes of the past to challenging the ‘model minority’ mold of the present.2 And despite omission from the history books, these activists left a significant legacy of ideas and accomplishments that are still relevant today. The Asian American movement sought to break the barriers created by divisive stereotypes, collaborating across racial and ethnic lines in the struggle for greater equality and belonging. By the 1960s, people of Asian descent had been in the United States for over a century. During the majority of that time, their image was that of a ‘Yellow Peril’3: foreign invaders that were dangerous to the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • 'At Least You're Not Black': Asian Americans in U.S. Race Relations
    Social Justice Fall 1998 v25 i3 p3(1) Page 1 ’At least you’re not black’: Asian Americans in U.S. race relations. by Elaine H. Kim The position occupied by Asian Americans in US race relations is in-between the white Americans and Latinos and African Americans. Asian Americans seem to have been designated to the in-between position because they have higher educational attainment and incomes and have different attitudes toward the American way of life than the two other races. Because of this position, Asian Americans have the potential of shaping the American social, political and cultural environment. © COPYRIGHT 1998 Social Justice U.S. national culture, which defines its citizenry - or who can be American - as well as which histories and It is often said that by the year 2015, people of color will experience are to be remembered and which ones constitute a majority of Californians. Those fearful of this forgotten. future have been vociferously supporting a variety of measures and policies aimed at dismantling affirmative I am old enough to have experienced various kinds of action programs and restricting services for racial pre-Civil Rights Movement racial bigotry. Growing up in minorities and immigrants of color, based on the idea that Maryland in the 1950s, I was continually taunted and paying any attention to race is racist and perpetuates subjected to racial gestures and epithets. Sometimes racism. Asian Americans are frequently positioned as the people tried to spit on me. Classmates’ mothers racial minority that proves that we have attained a sometimes scolded them for befriending me.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transnational Politics of Asian Americans Controversies, Questions, Convergence
    1 The Transnational Politics of Asian Americans Controversies, Questions, Convergence CHRISTIAN COLLET AND PEI-TE LIEN n Olympic Street in Los Angeles, four hundred Filipinas are leading a march through the historic downtown district. Their hope, osten- Osibly, is to end American involvement in Iraq, but the action, they say, is part of a broader indictment of the “victimization of women in war- stricken countries.” Among their targets is one of the few female heads of state in the world: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines, the protesters contend, has been weak in prosecuting “military rapists, sex abus- ers and traffi ckers,” taking too many cues and bowing down to the Bush administration and the U.S. military. Viewed from a local lens, it might seem a modest event, fi nding coverage only in the local Filipino press. But it is not merely that. There are sister protests going on in New York and San Francisco. The epicenter of the movement is across the Pacifi c. For weeks, tens of thou- sands of Filipinos have been gathering around universities throughout met- ropolitan Manila in record-breaking antigovernment demonstrations. “As Filipino Americans,” says Annalisa Enrile, one of the Los Angeles organizers, “we are taking our rightful place in the political discourse of the United States, on issues that impact our lives on a daily basis.” As the marches con- tinue, Migrante International, an organization headquartered in Quezon City, takes a different strategy for undermining the Arroyo regime. Through- out cyberspace, it calls for “zero remittance days,” urging Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and throughout the world to withhold the money they send “back” to the Philippines, estimated to be $30 million per day (Makilan 2008; Pascua 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Grassroots Leadership and Afro-Asian Solidarities: Yuri Kochiyama’S Humanizing Radicalism Chapter Author(S): Diane C
    NYU Press Chapter Title: Grassroots Leadership and Afro-Asian Solidarities: Yuri Kochiyama’s Humanizing Radicalism Chapter Author(s): Diane C. Fujino Book Title: Want to Start a Revolution? Book Subtitle: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle Book Editor(s): Dayo F. Gore, Jeanne Theoharis, Komozi Woodard Published by: NYU Press. (2009) Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qgjjp.17 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms NYU Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Want to Start a Revolution? This content downloaded from 140.103.49.228 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 21:22:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 13 Grassroots Leadership and Afro-Asian Solidarities Yuri Kochiyama’s Humanizing Radicalism Diane C. Fujino Life magazine’s coverage of the assassination of Malcolm X bore a striking photograph of the slain Black leader lying prone, his head resting gently on the lap of a middle-aged Asian woman.1 The visibility of Malcolm’s gigantic impact juxtaposed with the invisibility of this woman is symbolic of the erasure of Asian American activism. That the woman in the photo is Yuri Kochiyama, one of the most prominent Asian American activists, though obscure to all but certain activist and Asian American circles, speaks to the continuing invisibility of Asian American struggles.
    [Show full text]