Asian Pacific American Social Movements and Pan-Ethnicity

Reading Reflection #1

Melissa Elizalde

Section A01

April 4th, 2014

    A Response to "Asian Pacific Americans' Social Movements and Interest Groups"

by: Kim Geron, Enrique de la Cruz, Leland T. Saito, Jaideep Singh

When I first read the title of this article, I was a bit confused. I had no previous knowledge of Asian Pacific American social movements and interest groups that identify and work for the Asian Pacific American community. Throughout reading the article, however, I was surprised to find that there is an impressive history of activism among the Asian Pacific American community; ranging from the protests of the Marcus regime among the Filipino community to the protesting of Japanese internment post WW11. These movements sparked my interest in Asian American activism, but what I found most interesting was the idea of pan-ethnicity among the larger Asian community. I really enjoyed learning about how different ethnic groups came together despite their racial, religious, and linguistic differences to fight the power and call to action a political movement that focused on the systemic injustices faced by all Asian Americans. I believe that this idea of a pan-ethnic social and political movement should be further discussed and explored as a way to address and tackle prominent present-day issues. 

Question 1: In what other prominent social movements were Asian Americans involved?

Question 2: In what ways can we use past pan-ethnic social movements to address present social movements?