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Asian America--We Were Thereby Tony Osumi reprinted with the permission of the author |
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| Asian
America we were there we were there jumping off Spanish galleons in the 1500s we were there saying "I do." with an African American sister--State of California's first interracial marriage we were there burning up Hawaiian sugar cane profits we were there uniting in Oxnard with Mexican American sugar beet workers. we were there dying for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain we were there doing political time at Leavenworth for taking a stand against the draft we were there giving birth to Local 770 we were there fighting for the "Rights of the Foreign Born" we were there down South for Freedom Summer we were there as Malcolm X took his last breath we were there sitting down in the orchards of Delano we were there shutting down Berkeley and S.F. State we were there "Blowing-out" of Eastside schools we were there marching the Chicano Moratorium August 29, 1970 we were there T.B. testing with the Young Lords we were there singing center stage at Panther rallies we were there leafleting grape-selling Safeways we were there counseling G.I.s and resisting the Vietnam draft we were there clutching Red Books in China with long lost cousins we were there running support at Wounded Knee we were there defending the I Hotel 9 years strong we were there winning Redress and Reparations we were there tearing down Apartheid in South Africa we were there strategizing to keep G.M. Van Nuys open we were there we were there we were there we were there... |
And we are here raising up against Prop 187 we are here forcing Jessica McClintock to the bargaining table we are here fighting to end police brutality we are here phone banking for Affirmative Action we are here door knocking for livable wages we are here demanding child care and health care we are here supporting 5 years of the Crips and Bloods gang truce we are here mobilizing for Ethnic and Gender study classes we are here working to unionize the New Otani Hotel and more we are here resisting roadside mugshot books in Orange County we are here in solidarity with "Comfort Women" around the world we are here taking our educations back to our communities we are here holding hands with our queer brothers and sisters we are here standing by the Rafu Shimpo workers we are here walking the picket at Baek Hwa Jung we are here freeing the land in Okinawa we are here continuing the redress fight for Japanese Latin Americans we are here lending a hand so no one is ever left behind we are here Asian America we are here we are here we are here |
Originally published in The Rafu Shimpo, September 2, 1997 Updated: 8/17/02 |
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