The Role Of Asian American Movement In The 1960s And 1970s

Memo#2 A new history of Asian American

Although multi-racial coalition between different immigrants groups is the most important force for civil right on the West Coast, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that diverse communities with different histories began to self-consciously unite as “Asian Americans.”

“Function as human beings, to control our own lives.” (Lee, 2013, p.291) This is the goal and principle of Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor, a student organization in 1968. The Asian American movements in the 1960s and 1970s were driven largely by student activists, radicalized by anti-Vietnam war and black power movements, influenced large numbers of Asian Americans to question the nature of American democracy. Though we

now all learned race as a social, cultural, political construction, not a biological reality, yet at that period of time, not so long after Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 announced, Asian Americans is struggling identify themselves. They try challenging stereotypes about “Asian passivity”, and “have a desire to overcome the historical reionization of Asians in America.” (Lee, 2013, p.292)
And we can certainly feel the struggle from Yoshiko Uchida’s book, Nisei as one asserted identity by the society giving her a constant sense of not being as good as the white people (Uchida, n.d., p.27). As a group, Asian Americans had been victims of institutionalized racism and had been excluded from mainstream society. And from early 17th to present years, Asian American and immigrants seek for citizenships and equality, claims to American belongings.
Lee states in the book, “the Vietnam War and domestic racial and class issues all emanated from the forces of white supremacy and imperialism”(2013, p.298), which I put no doubts on it. Like the government sent black people to Vietnam War and treat Japanese American like horses by removing them to the concentration camp, though technically most of them are defined as Americans, they were treated differently. To deal with this position as being different, Asian American activists turned to cultural production to develop and articulate empowered identities, which means to accept the “Asian traditions” and be proud of their histories and identity.
As self-identify determine the whole perspective of the world they live, the question still remains for the new Asian immigrants (first generation) and their offspring, How would you help your kids identify themselves?