Connecticut passes bill to include AAPI history for K-12 grades

Ronni Newton

A rally in West Hartford, Connecticut protesting anti-Asian incidents.

Connecticut is about to become the third state to require including Asian American history in it's K-12 public schools curriculum.

The state legislature passed a bill adding the requirement on April 3. The bill awaits the governor's signature. 

“Anti-Asian hate and bias is not new. The surge in anti-Asian violence and bigotry right now has its roots in a long history that has been unaddressed and ignored for too long," said Attorney General William Tong. 

"Law enforcement cannot address this crisis alone if that history remains invisible. That’s why this legislation is so important." 

In battling the recent surge of anti-Asian attacks, education plays a vital role in erasing stereotypes and increasing and acknowledging the presence of the AAPI communities.

Spurred by the rise in attacks against Asians the past two years, Illinois passed a similar measure in 2021 followed by New Jersey earlier this year. Other states looking at adding the history include Florida, Ohio and New York.

"We need to teach the overlooked history of bias and hate—as well as the successes and contributions—of Asian Americans in this country," he continued. "We need to teach the history of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the forced internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans on U.S. soil, the beating death of Vincent Chin in order to place that in context with the malicious pandemic scapegoating of Asian Americans and the violent attacks we see today.

"There is also a long history of Asian American accomplishment here in Connecticut that we should be proud to teach. Students should know about Meriden resident Joseph Pierce who fought in the Civil War as the highest ranked Chinese American in the Union Army. Students should know about Yale-graduate Yung Wing, who in 1854 became the first Chinese student ever to graduate from an American university." said AG Tong.

Connecticut residents who helped lshepherd the bill through the legislation agreed with Tong's perspective.

“What we’re trying to do is expand the conversation on the civic engagement and contributions of Asian Americans, the relationship between Asian Americans and other social groups in the history of the United States and the important roles that Asian Americans play in the history of this country,” said Quan Tran, Senior Lecturer in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale and intern coordinator for Make Us Visible CT. 

“As an Asian American, I did not learn about my family and community’s history growing up,” co-founder of aapiNHV Jennifer Heikkila Diaz told the Hartford Courant. “The students and families with whom I had the privilege of working will tell you that working to make our learning experiences more culturally sustaining specifically for Asian American Pacific Islander-identifying students and families, or all of the above mattered and still matter to them and have shaped who they are and how they see the world in powerful and positive ways.”

Asian Americans make up about 5% of the state's population, according to the 2020 Census. The community is made up largely of first and second generation immigrants who migrated to the state after the 1965 Immigration Reform Act which removed the earlier policies that favored immigrants from Europe.

If signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, the state will hire a coordinator in the Department of Education to oversee development of the lesson plans and implementation. It is hoped that the new curricula will be in Connecticut schools by the 2025-2026 school year.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

NJ schools on the cusp of establishing Asian American and Pacific Islander curriculum

New Jersey is the latest state to consider including Asian American and Pacific Islander history lessons in the classroom.

With strong lobbying by the state's Asian Americans, both houses of the New Jersey legislature have passed a bill mandating that Asian American history be included in school curricula. Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to sign the bill into law very soon.

“I remember growing up, I did not see in my education the history of Indian Americans or a lot of Asian Americans. And we’ve made these improvements as it relates to Black Americans, Latino Americans, LGBTQ. I think it would be appropriate to do for AAPI also,” said state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11), the Senate bill’s primary sponsor. “And I think it helps when kids are growing up, they can see in their textbooks, people that look like them, and it helps them on their own story.”

“What I didn’t learn was about people who look like me, those who were from the AAPI community that have had significant contributions to our great country we live in today,” Gopal said. “I am proud to sponsor legislation that can help kids who look like me know that they can be anything.”

Assemblyman Raj Mukherj, who led push for the bill in in the Assembly, emphasized the importance of the bill following the increase of anti-Asian hate since the start of the pandemic.

“Hate comes from a place of ignorance, and if we can educate our young people about the Asian American immigrant experience, about our history, we will not only be teaching them, but we will be building empathy,” Mukherji said.

New Jersey’s Asian population grew faster than any other large ethnic or racial group, according to figures released by the Census Bureau.

New Jersey's AAPI population exploded by 44% according to the U.S. Census. About 1.05 million New Jersey residents, or about 11% of the state, identified as Asian, either whole or in part. In 2010, only 725,726 identified as Asian in.

Kani Ilangovan, the Indian American founder of AAPI education advocacy group Make Us Visible New Jersey, which lobbied for the education measure, said the bill affirms a sense of belonging in the U.S.

“It’s very sad, but during the pandemic, there’s been a huge rise in anti-Asian violence, and we feel education is the best antidote to hate,” he said.

Illinois mandated the inclusion of Asian American history in K-12 grades earlier this year. California also passed a measure this year for an ethnic studies requirement  for graduation that will go into effect for the class off 2030.

New Jersey's community advocates believe that the education is key to remove the onus of the "perpetual foreigner" from Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

That point was driven home in November when four Asian American teenagers were beaten on a light-rail train. A bystander, an older Asian American teen, who tried to intervene was also beaten and had to be hospitalized.

Murphy has to sign the bill into law before the current legislative session ends Jan. 10, 2022. The Governor's office does not comment on pending legislation, however, in the past, he has shown his support for the AAPI community during the current epidemic of hate directed at them. On Nov. 10, he created the Asian American Pacific Islander Commission to address the needs of the AAPI community and the hate they are encountering, especially since the start of the pandemic.

“As the fastest growing ethnic group, our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is a key part of the great diversity in our State,” said Murphy in a statement. “While we celebrate the important contributions they make to our society and economy, we also recognize the challenges they encounter to access economic resources and opportunities. With today’s bill signing, this newly created commission will represent this diverse population and ensure to advocate on behalf of AAPI throughout New Jersey.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and reviews from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd

Illinois schools mandated to include Asian American history in its public schools

GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

Illinois JB Pritzker signed the bill mandating teaching Asian American history. He is flanked by the bill's co-sponsors Rep. Jennifer Gong-Girshowitz, left, and Senator Ram Villivalam.

Illinois will become the first state in the U.S. to require Asian American history be taught in public school amid growing national concerns about anti-Asian hate and discrimination.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed HB 376, the Teaching Equitable Asian American History Act, into law Monday that could be a model for other states seeking to implement similar mandates.

The historical measure will ensure every high school graduate in Illinois will learn about Asian American history as well as the rich contributions and traditions of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

"Asian American history is American history. Yet we are often invisible. The TEAACH Act will ensure that the next generation of Asian American students won't need to attend law school to learn about their heritage," said State Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, who co-sponsored the bill with State Senator Ram Villivalam of Chicago. 

"Empathy comes from understanding," said Gong-Gershowitz. "We cannot do better unless we know better. A lack of knowledge is the root cause of discrimination and the best weapon against ignorance is education."

"This historic measure makes Illinois the first state in the nation to set a standard for culturally competent Asian American history curriculum," added Villivalam. "This milestone offers students of all backgrounds cross-cultural education, and ensures that the stories and experiences of our communities are accurately reflected in the classroom. As the son of Indian immigrants and representative of one of the most diverse districts in the state, I am proud to have sponsored this legislation."

The legislation builds on the progress the state has made in ensuring the content taught in Illinois classrooms reflects the diversity of the people who call Illinois home. With the recent rise in acts of violence and bigotry against the Asian American community, teaching students about rich culture and important contributions of the Asian American community throughout history will help combat false stereotypes.

"Today, we are reaffirming our commitment to creating more inclusive school environments. We're making Illinois the first state in the nation to require that Asian American history will be taught in public schools, including a unit about the Asian American experience," said Pritzker. "We are setting a new standard for what it means to truly reckon with our history. It's a new standard that helps us understand one another, and, ultimately, to move ourselves closer to the nation of our ideals."

The legislation adds a new section on Asian American history study to the Illinois School Code. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, every public elementary school and high school will be required to include a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American History, including the history of Asian Americans in Illinois and the Midwest.

The bill specifies that the curriculum should include:

• The contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward
• The contributions made by individual Asian Americans in government, arts, humanities, and sciences
• The contributions of Asian American communities to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the United States.

While the legislation specifies topics that should be addressed in the curriculum, the state will not require or designate a specific curriculum for school districts. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is authorized to make instructional materials available to all school boards; however, each school board will determine the minimum amount of instructional time that qualifies as a unit of instruction as stated in the bill.

This measure builds upon the administration's commitment to creating more inclusive school environments and curriculums. In Pritzker's first year in office, he signed a bill requiring Illinois schools to include the positive contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals in history lessons to foster welcoming classrooms for students of all gender identities. 

The administration also created the Affirming and Inclusive Schools Task Force to identify strategies to ensure supportive school environments and disrupt patterns of discrimination. Earlier this year, the administration reaffirmed their commitment to lifelong education by expanding Black history education requirements.

Sunday Read: Dorothea Lange's historic online photographs features immigrant workers

Dorothy Lange chronicling the history of California through her lens.

So you're stuck at home going stir-crazy ... take a trip to the past and see waves of migrants who made California and led the way to the state as it is today: home of the most immigrants, home to the largest communities of Filipino Americans, Korean Americans, Chinese, Hmong, Vietnamese, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian communities outside of Asia and the Pacific.

Dorothea Lange, one of the nation's premiere photographers, was there. She helped chronicle the history and people of America through her lens during the Great Recession and during WWII.

Lange's Photographs of “Okies” and “Arkies” — the dust-caked Depression-era refugees standing forlorn before their ragged tents or trudging along desolate highways — are familiar to many Americans. They inspired John Steinbeck to write novels about them and have lodged themselves deeply in the country’s psyche.

Less known, but just as powerful, are her photographs of Asian Californians.

Her photographs are now available online through the Oakland Museum of California's digital archive. A grant from the Henry Luce Foundation enabled the museum to make the work more widely accessible.

Included in the hundreds of photographs are pictures of AAPI who were present before the 1965 Immigration Reform Act which opened the doors to people not from Europe. They suffered through the Depression like everyone else and unlike everyone else, they were singled out for imprisonment during WWII.

Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
San Francisco students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, days before being incarcarated during WWII

Supported by government programs and new picture magazines like LIFE, Lange and other photographers of the 1930s and '40s created an indelible record of everyday life in difficult times. The Great Depression caused many photographers to consider the camera as an instrument of social change. Foremost among this group was Berkeley photographer Lange, whose intimate pictures of people in distress were driven by a deep personal empathy.

Lange was driven by the belief that seeing the effects of injustice could provoke reform and, just perhaps, change the world. From documenting the plight of Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression to illuminating the grim conditions of incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II, Lange’s photographs demonstrate how empathy and compassion—focused through art—can sway minds and prompt change throughout this nation’s history. 

California’s waves of immigrant workers have always been essential, said Kent Wong, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Labor Center, but rarely have they been hailed as such.

“Immigrant laborers have been a mainstay of the California economy and in the growth of agriculture over the generations,” he told the New York Times. “And yet they have always faced extreme poverty, terrible working conditions, and their lives have always been seen as disposable.”

“When we reflect on what Dorothea Lange was documenting in the 1930s, in many ways, very little has changed,” Wong told the New York Times.

One heartrending photograph shows young girls of Japanese ancestry pledging allegiance at a San Francisco elementary school just before the U.S. government forced thousands of Japanese Americans into remote camps where they were incarcerated for years.

Another image shows a man’s bare back as he plows cauliflower fields in Guadalupe, Calif., in 1937. It’s labeled “Filipino Field Worker.”

Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
A Filipino farmworker planting cauliflower in California.

She continued her intensely personal work after the Depression, creating series on the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, Irish country life, and postwar suburban California, among many other projects.

The Oakland Museum of California houses Lange’s personal archive, a gift from the artist that includes 25,000 negatives, 6,000 vintage prints, field notes, and personal memorabilia. Curators and researchers from around the world visit the Museum to access the Lange collection.

Lange’s work continues to resonate with millions and inspire new generations of artist-activists, illustrating the power of photography as a form of social activism.

Throughout the pandemic, California’s communities of color have been disproportionately asked to shoulder the risks of “essential” work — including Filipino health care workers comforting Covid-stricken patients in hospitals and caring for residents of nursing homes, and the Latino workers shipping off crates of produce in the Inland Empire.

Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
Filiipino farmworkers harvest lettuce in California field.

It’s worth remembering that California has also been the birthplace of movements for worker protections that we may take for granted such as the 1965 Grape Strike led by Filipino farm workers that eventually became the influential United Farm Workers. More change is possible and necessary.

If Lange was photographing the events of today, she would be in the hospital ICU's chronicling the plight of Filipino nurses, the Latino farm workers bent over to pick  produce and in the Amazon centers boxing and transporting tons of packages to the doors of social-distancing Americans.

“The 1930s was a decade of huge change and transformation, including in labor law,” Wong said. “I see significant parallels between that era and today.”

EXPLORE the Dorothea Lange Digital Archive.

PBS plans documentary series on Asian Americans for 2020

A mural, created by seven Filipino artists and donated to the Philippine-Louisiana Historical Society, depicts the lives of Louisiana's Manilamen, the Filipino settlers who founded the first permanent Asian American settlement in the New World probably in the late 1500s.

ASAM NEWS

PBS and WETA announced Monday a new five-part documentary series on Asian Americans, scheduled to broadcast in May 2020 for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

According to press materials, as welcome as the project will be, it apparently will be skipping the opening chapters of Asian American history.

A unique aspect of the limited series is that Asian Americans will be looking at the significant role of Asians Americans in shaping US history and identity from the first wave of Asian immigrants in the 1850s, according to a press release.

“These are American stories: stories of resilience in the face of racism, of overcoming challenges as refugees from war and strife, of making contributions in all sectors of society: business, technology, military service, and the arts," said Stephen Gong, Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media. 

The series is helmed by a team of Asian American filmmakers, including the Academy Award-nominated series producer Renee Tajima-Peña (Who Killed Vincent Chin?). 

“As America’s home for documentaries, PBS is committed to telling stories that illuminate and celebrate the rich diversity of our country,” said Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO. “We are proud to share this important series with our audiences, and to deepen understanding about the extraordinary impact of Asian Americans on our national identity.”

Unfortunately, by apparently focusing on East Asian migration, the series would omit any mention of the first  documented arrival of Asians setting foot in the New World off the California coast in 1587, or the founding of the first permanent settlement in the Louisiana bayous in the late 1500s by Filipino seamen who escaped their forced service on the Spanish galleons.

PBS is making this a Multiplatform initiative that will consider what it means to be a US citizen. Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA, said, “Following our previous series, The Jewish Americans, The Italian Americans and Latino Americans, WETA remains committed to revealing the significant stories of the entire American people.”

“We are proud to support the Center for Asian American Media for the important work they do bringing programs about the Asian American experience to public media and audiences across the country,” said Pat Harrison, CPB president and CEO.

Executive producers are Jeff Bieber and Dalton Delan for WETA; Stephen Gong and Donald Young for CAAM; Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS; and Jean Tsien. 

“We are proud to have WETA as a partner on this milestone series, which weaves the histories of many Asian American communities within the broad sweep of American history,” said Gong.

"These Asian American experiences and voices provide a vital foundation for a future fast approaching, in which no single ethnic or racial group defines America, in which shared principles will define who we are as Americans.”

VIEWS FROM THE EDGE contributed to this report.

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Heart Mountain Internment camp to function as a classroom

In many ways, Heart Mountain functioned as a small town. Childred recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

ASAM NEWS

IN NORTHWEST WYOMING, Heart Mountain silently overlooks the towns Cody and Powell. Between Aug. 1942 and Nov. 1945, the town’s people witnessed the incarceration of over 14,000 Japanese Americans. 

One of the few remaining structures - a guard tower.

Now, according to The Billings Gazette, Montana State University-Billings (MSUB) is “offering a course dedicated to the Heart Mountain site” to educate students about a portion of history that is often overlooked.

MSUB geography professor Susan Gilbertz hopes that the university’s newly offered course will emphasize “questions about how place and time interact with cultural identity,” and questions like “where are [the] geographies of war that are not in the news or not visible to us?”

“Maybe it wasn’t a battle, but it was certainly something that happened because of war,” she said.

In light of the current political climate, Gilbertz also stated”This is a really good thing to do right now — to talk about immigrants to the American society…It’s right here in our backyard,” she said.

This holiday season, more than 14,000 migrant toddlers, children and teens, according to Time , spent Christmas in “U.S. government detention and processing centers across the country.”

Gilbertz states that she hopes to “use this real place to really force us to think about immigration, not in the abstract.”

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Rose Parade includes tribute to Chinese railroad workers

CHINESE AMERICAN HERITAGE SOCIETY

The float is being prepared before it gets covered with flowers for the Rose Parade.

By Ann Thuy Nguyen

ASAM NEWS

THE INCLUSION of a New Year's Day float in the  2019 Tournament of Roses Parade marking the contributions of Chinese American workers made in completing the transcontinental railroad is bringing attention to the near omission of Chinese Americans in that history-making event.

Nearly 150 years ago in Promontory Point, Utah, employees from the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad companies gathered around two locomotives to celebrate the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. The photograph taken on that May 10, 1869 day has become iconic in U.S. history, but fails to represent the overwhelming majority of the railway’s workforce, the thousands of laborers brought from China.

Wilson Lee, the great-great-grandson of a transcontinental railroad worker, is determined to include Chinese laborers in the railroad’s 150th anniversary in 2019. He serves as co-founder of the Boston-based Chinese American Heritage Foundation (CAHF), a nonprofit “dedicated to celebrating the rich history of Chinese Americans’ contributions to the American spirit” according to its website.

Lee proposed a float for the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California to commemorate the Chinese and ethnic immigrant laborers’ achievements and hardships.

“We wanted to celebrate the contributions of not just the Chinese immigrants, but all immigrants responsible for the building of America,” he said in a phone interview with AsAmNews. “Not just the ones from 150 years ago, but also the current immigrants today.”

RELATED: Chinese American railroad workers finally get their 'day'

Even though CAHF had zero funding and sponsors when the Rose committee accepted the organization’s application to showcase a float—projected to cost $300,000—Lee did not hesitate to pay the $5500 deposit for the event.

He asked Esther Zee Lee, board chair and president of CAHF—and his wife—to send in the check. She asked if he was sure, and he responded that he was as determined as the day he had asked her to marry him.

Thanks to community partnerships and a primary sponsorship from Union Pacific, CAHF will have the longest float on the 5.5-mile route New Year’s Day 2019.

The float will also be the first Rose Parade float to be sponsored by a Chinese American nonprofit organization.

The 95-foot-long “Harmony through Union” float will feature a one-to-one scale replica of the two train engines from the iconic photograph and large-scaled hands holding a hammer and the iconic golden spike.

What differentiates the “Harmony through Union” and the historic moment is it includes the faces of Chinese people.

Joining CAHF on the float will be retired Major General William (Bill) S. Chen, a descendant of a Chinese railroad worker and the son of a Chinese American veteran of World War II.

Chen, who is also the first Chinese American to achieve 2-star rank in the U.S. Army, is honored to be a part of a float that commemorates the Chinese American railroad workers.

The contributions that Chinese Americans and immigrants like Chen and his family have made to the United States’ economic and political infrastructure have not been fully told.

“For so long, all of my life and for many generations, Chinese Americans and Asian Americans are seen as foreigners. And that we’re visitors or newcomers, but certainly not truly an American,” said Rep. Karen Kwan, the first Chinese American to be elected to the Utah State House of Representatives.

“The thing is that the Chinese have been involved, but they’ve been overlooked like they’re not a true part of American history.” Kwan adds, “All of a sudden, to me, this [float] reminds me of what it’s like to be a part of America and not pushed aside as an other.”[It’s] an integration that doesn’t say we now belong, but we have been here since the beginning, and we have built America

Kwan, who will ride the float with her youngest daughter, also views this float as something larger than oneself—“an integration of American traditions.”

“[It’s] an integration that doesn’t say we now belong, but we have been here since the beginning, and we have built America, ” says Kwan.

Following the float’s debut in the Rose Parade, CAHF will continue to honor the 150th-anniversary of the transcontinental railroad with the “Rebuild America” educational initiative—raising funding to offer free books to various young students on stories about early Chinese pioneers in the United States.

“We want young people to know their stories and those of their ancestors,” says Lee. At the end of the conversation with Wilson Lee, he wanted to emphasize that this float is not for a single audience.

“This is not just a Chinese American float, this is an Asian American float, and this is an immigrant float. He says, “This is America’s float.”

* * *

The Rose Parade begins at 8 a.m. PST on Tuesday, January 1, 2019, in Pasadena, California. Check local listings for detail.

50th anniversary: Founding of Asian American Political Alliance

Some of the original members of Asian American Political Association and friends recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Asian American Political Alliance in Berkeley, Calif.

By Sara Hossaini
Reprinted by Permission of KQED
IN 1968, six young Americans of Asian heritage gathered at a house on Berkeley's Hearst Avenue to discuss how to create a place for themselves in the activism of the day.
It was one of the most politically tumultuous years the United States had seen. The Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese was eroding public support for the Vietnam War; Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated; and San Jose athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in protest on an Olympic podium.

Vicci Wong of Salinas was a 17-year-old first-year student at UC Berkeley in 1968, and she was searching for a place to contribute to what she saw as "the struggle."

"The peace movement was led by whites," Wong said, "and then I tried to join the Black Panther Party in Oakland, and they told me you can't because you're not black. So they said you should form your own group, and I thought, 'Well, what is my group?' "

Wong found the answer at the meeting held at the home of two PhD students, Emma Gee and Japanese internment survivor, Yuji Ichioka. They'd found her and the others by searching for Asian last names in the rosters of other political groups.

"When I came to the steps here and knocked on that door, my life, and like everyone here else said, their lives all changed," said Wong on Saturday at 2005 Hearst Avenue, celebrating the 50th anniversary of that momentous meeting.

RELATED: 1968 - The Year of Asian America

During that first session, the group coined the concept and the term, Asian-American, and officially founded the Asian American Political Alliance. Wong says they immediately looked around at each other and knew they had created something special and that they were representing more than just themselves.

"I went in Oriental and left Asian-American," Wong said.

AAPA established main chapters at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State, and the group helped lead unprecedented long student strikes at both schools, which resulted in the first Ethnic Studies departments in history.

"We wanted to save not only our communities, but establish control over our communities," Wong said.

That meant pushing back against the notion that they were perpetual foreigners and fighting things like the gentrification of San Francisco's Manilatown.

The plaque marking the birthplace of the Asian American Political Association.

AAPA co-founders in attendance said that their successors in AAPA and the people influenced by its activism have continued to fight for justice for their communities and others.

"We're seeing it circle back against Muslims now," said former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who helped found the Asian American studies program at UC Berkeley along with her husband and AAPA co-founder Floyd Huen. "(Asian-Americans) are still not seen as full Americans."

For all of its influence, AAPA has ebbed and flowed at Berkeley, going inactive twice, including up until this year. But a new group of Berkeley students is coordinating the third incarnation of AAPA at Berkeley, calling it "AAPA 3.0."

"I think what AAPA means to me is learning from leaders who were really persistent and courageous to fight against injustice and to establish our roles as Asians in American history," said Johnny Nguyen, a first-year UC Berkeley student who's helping lead the current effort. "Having taken my first ever Asian-American studies class this semester, it's surreal to hear about my place in history in the textbooks. I'd like to see Asian-American studies expanded and enhance it. That's exactly what we want to do with AAPA 3.0."

Photos by Sara Hossaini/KQED

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50 years ago: First skirmish of the International Hotel saga

Photo by National Register of HIstorical Places

The International Hotel was home for Filipino and Chinese elderly.

ON THIS DATE, 50 years ago, Nov. 27, 1968 - 150 elderly Filipino and Chinese tenants from the Manilatown neighborhood of San Francisco began a nine-year-long, anti-eviction campaign against Financial District encroachment after receiving an eviction notice.

Widespread student and community grass-roots support imprinted this event as a milestone in Asian American and housing advocacy history. 

The campaign culminated in the deployment of over 400 riot police, mounted patrols, anti-sniper units and fire ladder trucks in a 3 a.m. eviction raid on August 4, 1977. A 3,000-person human barricade was brutally cleared away by authorities before tenants were physically removed from the premises. 

The three-storey brick structure was demolished in 1077 leaving an empty hole in what was Manilatown and a gaping wound in the heart and soul of the Asian American community.

RELATED: 

• The day the International Hotel fell
• 1968 -- the year the Asian American community mobilized

The developers eventually sold the empty lot on Kearney Street to the San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese. With the input of housing activists, former tenants and city planners, over 104 affordable senior housing units and community space were built on that site and opened up in 2005. 

I covered this story as a fledgling reporter for the Philippine News. It was my first taste of journalism and ever since then it awakened an awareness in me that impacted my life in so many ways.

The battle for the International Hotel will go down in the annals of Asian American history as a watershed event. It galvanized the fledgling Asian American student movement on the college campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area, united generations of the elderly and the youth seeking a cause and gave birth to a consciousness that Asian Americans matter, that their history matters, and sparked a legacy of activism that was launched with the 1965 Grape Strike that continues to this day. Asian Americans would no longer be the quiet subservient people living forever on the margins of society. 

i made it to manilatown.
the people here can name every fish back home.
they sang songs at night.
waiting so long for the International Hotel.
i dreamt of a place to gather with them. 

Al Robles 

Excerpt from Wandering Manong

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TGIF Feature: The racist history of Chinese restaurants

Soupy Shen Jian bao at China Live.

THIS JULY FOURTH, we celebrated America's birthday in the most American way we could -- we ate at a Chinese restaurant.

We had a delicious luncheon of salt and pepper crab, BBQ ribs, garlicky Chinese asparagus, pork belly bao, Shen Jian baos and more at China Live in San Francisco's Chinatown. Basically, Chinese street food at a sit-down restaurant. Authentic? Debateable. Delicious? Yes!

Go anywhere in the U.S. and chances are you’ll be able to find a Chinese restaurant. There are more Chinese restaurants than there are McDonalds, so you might have a strong argument in saying that Chinese restaurants are more American than that hamburger chain.
But the reason why might surprise you—but did you know they all started because of racist laws meant to ban Chinese immigrants?

Fusion put out this original video below explaining how this came to be. We're not looking to play the blame game here, but it's always good to know the background story. I'm just glad that Chinese restaurants are a gastronomic fixture in this country.

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SF Bay Area's 'Asian American Pioneers' airs Sunday

SAN FRANCISCO'S NBC affiliate's Emmy-award winning documentary series, Revelations, presents "Asian American Pioneers" this Sunday (April 15). The prime time special will profile how the immigrants from Asia shaped the modern Bay Area.

The very first Asian immigrant arrived to the Bay Area before the Gold Rush and settled in San Francisco's Chinatown. The people of Asia have been excluded, imprisoned and vilified. Yet, they fought for their right to stay and work here. And, because of that, Asian Americans have made a big impact in Bay Area politics, arts, philanthropy and, of course, cuisine.

The untold stories of some of those Asian/American pioneers and how they're giving back to their communities make up the hour-long documentary.

Interviews include former Congressman Mike Honda, a survivor of internment camps; Vivek Ranadivé, the first Indian/American to own an NBA team, the Sacramento Kings; Dado Banatao, the Filipino/American entrepreneur who made personal computers possible; and the family who opened up the very first Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco.

"Bay Area Revelations: Asian American Pioneers" premieres Sunday, April 15 at 7 p.m. An encore presentation will air Saturday, April 21 at 9 p.m.

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New Mexico to erect a sculpture comemmorating historic case of Yee Shun

BERNALILLO COUNTY

A scale model of the sculpture 'View From Gold Mountain.'

Commissioners of New Mexico's Bernalillo County have approved the purchase of a public art sculpture that will recognize a landmark Chinese/American civil rights case.

The commissioners voted unanimously, 4-0, March 27 in support of a motion authorizing the county manager to approve the purchase of a monument commemorating the Yee Shun case of 1882, which resulted in Chinese/Americans being granted the right to testify in court and have their testimony accepted.

“The sculpture will inform the public about the contributions that Asian Americans have made to advance civil rights through use of the judicial system,” says Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, sponsor of the measure. “This Asian American Monument will honor of the landmark civil rights ruling from Territory of New Mexico versus Yee Shun (1882) which granted Chinese Americans the right to testify in court and have their testimony accepted.”

Funded with a combination of local and state sources, the project has been in the works for a few years.

Dr. Siu Wong initiated the project and raised $275,000: $100,000 from in legislative appropriations in 2015, $155,000 in 2016 and $20,000 from the City of Albuquerque.From a national call for artists by the Asian American Monument Committee of New Mexico, the design by Leo-Gwin and Wong was chosen.

Leo-Gwin and Wong are the creators of "View from Gold Mountain." The sculpture will be installed near the state district courthouse in downtown Albuquerque.

Through the selection process, artists’ team Cheryll Leo-Gwin and Stewart Wong were selected for their design “View from Gold Mountain” The project uses symbols and metaphors that refer to not only Chinese culture and honor the Territory of New Mexico v Yee Shun case but are also universally understood by cultures around the globe.

"As a visual artist, I use narrative imagery to bring forgotten history to the forefront. The histories I am interested in have to do with issues of social justice and celebration of the human spirit,” says artist Leo-Gwin.

Who was Yee Shun?

Yee Shun was not a civil rights hero fighting for justice but it was his name attached to a precedent-setting case that recognized Asian/Americans as human beings whose testimony was equal to the testimony of white people.

John Wunder of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln wrote an article about the details of the historic case. Shun was accused of killing John Lee, owner of a Chinatown laundry in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Among the witnesses was Jo Chinaman (Sorry, but that was his name in court documents!), who identified Shun as the killer. His testimony led to Shun's conviction despite the testimony of two other Chinese witnesses contradicting Chinaman's testimony.

As Wunder's review of the transcript and other evidence makes clear, the trial was a classic case of poor man's justice and Shun was convicted.

Shun was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence. 

In his appeal, Shun's attorney tried to disqualify Chinaman's testimony because up he said Chinaman was "of the Chinese religion," he could not take an oath acceptable to a U.S. court, and thus could not testify against Shun.

The territorial Supreme Court ruled that Chinaman's testimony was admissible and Shun lost his appeal. In so ruling, the courts set a precedent allowing Asian/Americans' testimony in the judicial system.

Tragically, when informed of the verdict denying his appeal, Shun hung himself in 1884 using bed linens in his jail cell in Leavenworth (Kansas) prison.

In subsequent years, the case, Territory of New Mexico vs. Yee Shun, was used to allow Asian/Americans full participation in the justice system.
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Larry Kwong: first minority in NHL passes away

Larry Kwong

ASAM NEWS

THE FIRST MINORITY to play in the National Hockey League has died at the age of 94 in Calgary, reports the Calgary Herald.
Larry Kwong played for the New York Rangers against the Montreal Canadians in 1948, just a year after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color barrier.

His total time on the ice was just 1 minute, but his impact remains even today.

His popularity inspired two different nicknames, the China Clipper and King Kwong. As the top scorer of his minor league team, the New York Rovers.

Kwong’s close friend, Chad Soon, has vivid memories of Kwong’s New York minute.

“He took a train to Montreal and I think the starting lineup for the Canadiens had five Hall of Fame players,” Soon said to CBC.” “He was doing flips is what I remember him telling me. (His chance) didn’t come until the third period. With just a few minutes left, he finally got the tap and was over the boards.”

Kwong was sent back to the minor leagues and never got a chance to play in the NHL again.

“I think there was a slow burn there, where he was seeing players of lesser ability were getting the opportunity and he wasn’t,” said Soon.

Kwong’s devotion to hockey kept him into the game. He played in senior leagues in both Canada and Europe and became a scoring star.

In 2013, Kwong was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.

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Drive to change San Francisco street named after anti-Asian politician

James Phelan ran for U.S. Senator with an anti-Asian message.

ASAM NEWS

FORMER SAN FRANCISCO Mayor James Phelan left a racist legacy for opposing Asian immigration and speaking about a “yellow peril.”
A street bearing the mayor’s family name runs by City College of San Francisco and into a residential neighborhood.

Supervisor Norman Yee is now pushing for a name change and is seeking input from the neighborhood as well as City College, which had independently also taken up the idea,” reports the San Francisco Examiner.

Yee says once there is consensus, he will bring the proposed new name to the Board of Supervisors.

Does a racist deserve a street named after him?

Phelan Avenue is actually named for the mayor’s father, but many feel the association is enough to strip the family of the honor of a street name.

“At a time when the country is rethinking who deserves to have statues and parks named after them, having a “street that an institution like City College is on named after someone whose family left a legacy of racism, doesn’t reflect [our] values,” City College English professor Alisa Messner told the Examiner.

According to the SF Weekly, names under consideration include Chinese/American historian and activist Him Mark Lai; African/American dancer and writer Thelma Johnson Streat; the Muwekma Ohlone tribe that first settled the region; or just “Freedom.”

Phelan ran the city from 1897 until 1902. He also ran for the Senate using the slogan “keep California White.”

He was also quoted as saying “California is a White man’s country, and the two races cannot live side by side in peace, and inasmuch as we discovered the country first and occupied it, we propose to hold it against either a peaceful or a war-like invasion.”

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Cal State Fullerton establishes an Asian American Studies Department

ASAM NEWS

CAL STATE FULLERTON President Fram Virjee has signed a proposal passed by the Academic Senate to make the University’s Asian American Studies program into a full fledged department.

The program this month joined the ranks of the departments of Chicana and Chicano Studies, American Indian Studies, and Gender and Women’s Studies.

It has been a long road. But the journey has been impressive.

Asian American Studies Coordinator, Eliza Noh, Ph.D., told AsAmNews that the Program has always practically functioned as a department. Focusing on issues of social justice for all, the Asian American Studies Department at CSUF aimed to foster knowledge and teaching while serving the Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

In the mid-1990s, “Ellen Junn (currently serving as President of CSU Stanislaus) wrote an initial proposal for a minor in Asian American Studies in collaboration with Dean Don Castro,” said retired Professor Emeritus Craig Ihara in an interview with AsAmNews.

“Having a full-fledged department is something like becoming a first-class citizen,” he jokes.

Ihara was one of the first faculty to support the program — along with Professor Emeritus of History and Asian American Studies, Art Hansen, and Professor of Communications, Jeffrey Brody, among others — and served as the program’s coordinator for ten years. Thomas Fujita-Rony, Ph.D. was hired as the Program’s first full-time faculty member.

“I was eager to help establish such a program because of my own Japanese American heritage,” said Ihara. “I was sure that preserving the history of Asians in American would be something my mother and grandmother would approve of.

“Attaining departmental status was always our goal.”

Asian/American students at CSUF were right behind that objective. A group of students shared their passions and gathered in the Student Academic Services to study the history of Asian American Studies in 1994-95. Student-activist Traci Kiriyama led the students in advocating for an Asian American Studies program and became the burgeoning program’s first graduate, receiving a minor in ASAM in 1996.

Noh notes that all of the Asian American Studies Department faculty are now tenured. After the university provided a clearer policy statement on steps to establish a department, Gender and Women’s Studies became the latest program to become a department last year. This put into gear the collaborative decision-making coordination that the Asian American Studies faculty practice, says Noh.

“I feel like there is a big symbolic meaning in changing our status to a department,” Noh told AsAmNews. “It shows that the university is committed to Asian American Studies as more than just a program and demonstrates a far greater commitment to diversity.”

But Asians at CSUF, like at other campuses around the United States, also face challenges. from overcoming classic stereotypes and prejudice.

“There are continuing stereotypes of Asians being the so-called ‘model minority’ not in need of any educational need,” said Noh. “But that’s the reason why we exist: to create a more accurate picture of our diversity.”

While there is much to look forward to, the new department faces more challenges.

At the time of this writing, over 5,000 CSUF students and faculty have signed onto a Change.org petition asking CSU Chancellor to rescind the revised Executive Order 1100 which was signed in August 2017. This Executive Order took out the requisite world civilization and cultures course and eliminated many general education requirements, sparking an outcry among university’s faculty for denying CSUF students an opportunity for “education based on cultural competency and respect for diversity.” The California State University, Northridge Faculty Senate even voted not to comply with the order.

The Daily Titan, CSUF’s student newspaper, on the other hand, has praised the changes as beneficial for students wishing to graduate quicker.

Requests for comment from CSUF President Fram Virjee on the Executive Order went unanswered.

Noh is unfazed and more determined. Part of it stems from the overwhelming support the Asian American Studies program has received both from the university body and community partners in its transition from a program to a department.

“Having departmental status is not the end goal,” she says. “We are always in the process of making Asian American Studies a more integrated liberal studies discipline. So even though we are a department now just as a few CSU executive orders are paring down general education requirements and making it even more difficult, there is a continuing effort to expand Asian American Studies.

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) is a public research university home to about 40,000 students. The university’s Institutional Research and Analytical Studies department notes that for the fall 2017 semester, about 20.5% of the student body, or 8,291 students, was Asian. In fact, Asian students were statistically tied with the school’s White population and second only to Hispanics.

Interest in the school’s 22-year-old Asian American Studies Program within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences has been steadily rising within and beyond the school’s Asian American community. The program has gradually evolved as well.

If the program’s long history has taught one lesson, it is that both Asian American Studies faculty and students will be up for the challenges.