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Toward Barefoot Journalism (cont'd)
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Also, during the month of May, the Asian American Student Alliance (later called the Asian Strike Committee) at UCLA led a general student strike to protest the bombing of Cambodia and the chain of events that followed: The shooting of four students at Kent State, the killing of two students at Jackson State, and the "police riot" on the UCLA campus.
On Tuesday, May 5, 1970, many Asian students were on campus and witnessed first hand, some for the first time, the indiscriminate sweep of the campus, the arrests and the brutalities committed by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Jeanne Nishimura will never forget that day. "1 was sitting on the cement watching people getting pushed into Dickson's lawn by the pigs. They were forced to go in that direction by the pigs. Then some people started running toward us. The pigs were rushing them, pushing people who didn't move out of their way. We had to run too, and hop a cement wall about six feet high. A fellow behind me was pushed head first by the pigs. His head started bleeding on the side and he couldn't get up. Pigs were rushing at people, chasing them like animals. It seemed to me that they had no reason to charge at people. Another incident. I saw a young guy who didn't do a thing to the pigs but a cop clubbed him on the neck."
Amy Murakami added, "I thought the police was supposed to serve and protect people, but they were picking out people and attacking them, and intimidating those who had already been handcuffed by beating them with sticks. After what I've seen today, I don't have any compunction about calling them pigs."
And Russell Kubota observed, "The thing that really bothers me, besides the beating I saw, is that I can't imagine what American soldiers in Vietnam are doing to the Vietnamese when I see policemen beat the shit out of us. At least we can run home, but the Vietnamese can't go anywhere."
On that day, Steve Tatsukawa, a junior at UCLA, was trapped and beaten by three officers, then handcuffed and dragged away at a run to a police van. And when Colin went to see about Steve's condition, he was grabbed and clubbed by four policemen who arrested him.
With the Gidra office serving as the community outpost, the Asian Strike Committee carried on community educationals and leafletting to inform our community about the events that took place at UCLA, Kent State and Jackson State and the issues related to the war in Indochina.
By late May, the Gidra staff was drained of energy after a hectic month. As a result, the June issue never came out, the only time in the five years that we failed to publish an issue. The following month, we came out with an issue and called it the June/July issue.
Soon after that, though, prospects for Gidra brightened considerably as many of the leaders from the Asian Strike Committee joined the staff, among them Duane Kubo, Russell Kubota, Steve Tatsukawa, Linda Fujikawa, Bruce Iwasaki, Jeff Furumura and Candi Ota.
But it was also a time when some people moved on to do other things. Colin, who had played a key role in almost every aspect of Gidra, dropped out and moved to Berkeley where he later became the director of Asian American studies.
Carol Hatanaka and Seigo Hayashi, who had provided stability and warmth in a conflict-laden environment, also moved on. Carol is now an active participant of the Joint Counseling Center and JACS-AI. She also teaches at the Juvenile Hall and the Creative Workshop. Seigo serves on the board of Asian Rehabilitation Services.
Carol recalls her experience with Gidra, "For me, Gidra was one method of trying to create anew world where poverty, hunger and racism are no longer permitted to exist, and where children, untouched by the ugliness of this world, can run free and beautiful. By writing about all that is happening, and by presenting a variety of opinions, some type of awareness has to emerge. I felt that, once confronted with what's really going on, people no longer would be able to ignore the conditions surrounding and engulfing us. I know I'm idealistic and I guess I always will be...I have to be."