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ECASU 2002
East Coast Asian Student Union
by Tae Hyun Kim

ECASU (East Coast Asian Student Union) 2002 was held at Duke University in North Carolina for the second time. About 800 Asian and non-Asian students from 160 different universities gathered to listen to guest speakers, share ideas, learn about activism, participate in workshops and learn the misleading common stereotypes of Asian Americans and most of all learn about us and our roles in the US and in our school campuses. The goal of ECASU was to bring student activists to network with each other, promote Asian awareness, and bring advancements in a progressive direction towards empowerment in a Democratic system.

The author of “Iron Cages: Race and Culture in the 19^th Century America,” and “Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans” by Professor Ronald Takaki was at ECASU to share about his youths and a history lesson at the banquet. He is the grandson of Japanese immigrant plantation laborers, he holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been a professor of Ethnic Studies for three decades.  He shared some of his revelations he had as an Asian American in USA growing up and later on being the instrument in setting up the Ethnic Studies in Berkeley.

ECASU’s theme this year was “STRANGERS IN AMERICA”,  “THE REFUSAL of people in the United States to see Asians as AMERICANS, and instead as immigrants or mere citizens, is a REFUSAL to acknowledge our authenticity as a PEOPLE, a people with their own DREAMS of America – dreams which extend beyond MELTING POTS and black-and-white panoramas.” ECASU’s guest speaker Helen Zia who is an award winning journalist, in 1999 and 2000 she was named one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A. Magazine.

Her speech on Saturday morning was a clear message about how Asian Americans are “INVISIBLE” in the media and highly misrepresented with stereotypes. Statistics showed that Asian Americans and Asian Pacific Americans make up about 25% of the American Health care workforce, however the TV shows such as “ER”, “Chicago Hope,” that features “imaginary hospitals” portraying the sense of realism lack the social reality of the presence of Asian Americans. She also pointed out the recent hate crimes on college campuses and the story of Mr. Wen Ho Lee who was accused of being a spy who later proven innocent.

This is why many Asian Americans believe in Asian Awareness besides the dragon dances, fan dances, Chinese take outs, and let’s not forget the portrayal of how East Asian women are being represented by MOST of the media, for example, the movie Full Metal Jacket (one of my favorites of all time KUBRICK RULES!!!) where you see the prostitute engages Joker and his pal in Vietnam “Me so horny, me love you long time….” Which was said in Brandeis University in the university Radio, and the saddest part was that students who said these things pre-recorded and aired them on Campus a few days later, yes it was entertainment and yes some people might find it funny, but at the same time many Asians in Brandeis Univ. were angry and sad that racial issues were not noticed by the university administration.

Zia told the audience “Other Americans still see [Asians] as the INVISIBLE, SILENT, MODEL MINORITY, THAT HAS NO VOICE AND NEEDS NO VOICE IN AMERICA,” “What is believed about Asian Americans and Asian-Pacific-Americans is ALL TOO OFTEN, ALL TOO WRONG.”

On a personal note I went to ECASU 2002 because I was to lead a workshop panel in which I had a lot of fun facilitating it with several other workshop panel leaders. I enjoyed the show and the poets that came out that day like Yellow Rage, Ishle Park and others that gave powerful and touching literature that described the struggles of Asian man and especially women when coming to America and how we are viewed, interpreted, stereotyped and what we feel going through that process.

In the next SBU AA E-Zine - Stony Brook University students $20 million dollar voice that should be!