Tao Manacmul

ASA 2

Blog #1

30 September 2015

            Glenn Omatsu mentions the “decisive moment” for Asian Americans within his writing; the “decisive moment” is “a time for reclaiming the past and changing the future.” Asian Americans did not agree with the hierarchal system within organizations, and sought to “serv[e] the people.” These opinions contradict the stereotype that Asian Americans are self-serving and always “for profit,” a stereotype which is also mentioned.  These values are absent from all of the stories within the textbooks that I was taught within the public school system. Asian Americans are almost completely absent from the social movements, except for maybe a sentence if we are lucky. We have been present in these but not as visible/verbal as other groups, which might be a cause for the amnesia that the Asian American community seems to have post-movements. We forget to reclaim the past, so we cannot change the future until we do just that.

Question: Isn’t it good that the Asian American community is involved and focused on the movement, but does not ask to be recognized for their work within their communities?