The Gong: (part 2 of 3)

The day of the book launching. I could not wait for my turn to speak during the workshop, after Glen outlines three themes in this book -- first, it was a movement for social change, second, it was a movement with a vision for a better future and third it was a self-transformative movement. Oh dear, I told myself - I must talk about where hate comes from first….." Our mainstream history books contain no historical contributions of ethnic minorities, as if they did not contribute to building infrastructures in America. When we make these communities invisible, we contribute to erasing their identities and they are now perceived as without any historical value to the economic life of the United States. When that occurs, mental habits appear, such as a predisposition to hostility and hate, stereotypical images of cartooning in the American media and an imprinting on the American psyche and its dominant culture that people of color are not up to full measure of individuals deserving and worthy of inclusion, dignity and respect. When that happens, it becomes easy to inflict terror, as during the Marcos regime, where muriatic acid is routinely poured on the faces of the political prisoners the military killed, or in hate crimes like Joseph Santos Ileto faced who got shot not once, not twice but nine times, for mailing a letter from a self described supremacist. In my agency, they recently made 10 promotions out of 11 and designated them to white males and females , and you would think this is now 2001, yet we still seem frozen in the headlines of the 1950's. So, folks, it is about knowing the other person, their humanity, what makes them tick, that you and I are the same, we breathe, we like to eat and we all like to make love".

I wanted to say more, but decided my five minutes was up. And Susan spoke. She spoke from her heart. She said she starts her office hours with a tissue box, invariably her students from a city college where she teaches Asian American studies are so touched by the stories of the manongs, the picture war brides, the farmworkers, the veteran elderly without pension, the internment of the Japanese and many more stories of inhumanity and the oppression of Asian Americans, but also their struggles and their triumphs.

Eric spoke -- teaching is about building relationships with your students, he said. Without taking the time to know them, and a quarter is not enough, it is difficult to reach them. I used to ignore their grammatical mistakes on paper and told myself to simply concentrate on content. Then, I realized that unless these students graduate from this university, my teaching them Asian American studies meant nothing. So last quarter was my best class when I took the time to know them, addressing their weaknesses and assisting them as a whole person and then I could effectively teach them Asian American Studies.

Theresa continues -- I am in a working class university, I set strict rules -- no late papers, but one day, one of my students told me he was stopped, detained for 12 hours in jail and now must appear in court to clear this arrest record. What can I do -- press for my deadline or relate to him as a person so I can then be heard next time?

What can I do, a young Vietnamese named Phuong asked - we now have an Asian American Studies Class in Anaheim and as tentative and shy as she was, she haltingly asked this question -- I find myself with a monster inside me, shaking at night when I come home from this class, lost and not knowing what to do. I want to cry. I like to write, and create images, but I still don't know what needs to be done. Susie responds and says, start with watching those around you, 5 years older than you are and see how they live life, how they make sense of the world and in that you will find your answers. I interjected and could not wait to assure her -- Phuong, you have the answers, when you feel that monster inside you -- that means you are in conflict, you are realizing all these real stories from Asian American Studies, realizing the inhumanity of their histories from being oppressed and then, you look at the bigger world around you, and you see this world is materialistic and the culture has no spirit, you are itching to see change, you feel moved to change. Where do you start - you already did by asking the questions here, you already have the answers, you want to write -- start that , use your images you want to create to start a social change movement yourself.

What do we do about the 6,000 people that perished? Merilynne comments --That was a criminal act and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. But, as American people we do not have that much hate, and we cannot commit another criminal act to bomb other innocent civilians to even the score. Our movement taught us that our rhetoric and dogmatism only carried us so far. To insist that we say certain terms to signify "serve the people" became our early demise. If we had compassion, humility and responsibility, we would have advanced the movement further.

Values, Lessons, Vision