[3E] SAPSA: Asian Americans in Social & Political Activism

Sabrina Chou
Melanie Manuel
Anuj Patel
Jennifer Zhang
ASA 2
Sec A03

            Our SAPSA focuses on raising awareness for the misconception of the lack of Asian American involvement in politics. We noticed that, although Asian Americans are socially and politically active on and off campus, they are viewed as politically indifferent, and sometimes even siding with the oppressors of White America. Thus, through our SAPSA, we wanted to delve into the reasons why this perception exists, (i.e. the model minority myth, media coverage, etc.), and offer ways to combat them (i.e. looking on alternative media, starting the dialogue, etc.). Our intended audience was the general public and Asian Americans themselves. By bringing light to the misconceptions of how Asian Americans are not politically active, we hoped to influence everyone that might have had these impressions, and inspire them to become more educated in the issue of Asian American activism, which would in turn help to fight these misconceptions of the Asian American community.

            Overall, we believe that we accomplished what we planned to do. Our video gives insight into how and why the popular misconception of Asian American activism exists, and presents possible steps to oppose it. However, we did face a few challenges on the way to finishing our SAPSA. One of these challenges was finding evidence that this misconception existed on our campus. We wanted to interview some students for our video and see how they felt about Asian American activism. Some interviewees could not give us an answer because they were not informed on the topic, and a surprising number of people that we interviewed thought that Asian Americans were just as politically active as other minority groups. In the end, we only had about two people whose beliefs matched the one we tried to contradict in our video. This pattern could be attributed to the diversity on our campus, as well as the bias that comes with the interviewers (us) being Asian American. 

    Looking back on our project, we think that we would have focused more on Asian American student activism. In our brainstorming for the project, we actually began with a focus on the student angle. However, through our research and the interview with Leslie Do, our video was pushed into a more broad direction to include all Asian American activism. Not to say that our expansive focus is less influential, but a look at the general issue of the misconception of the lack of Asian American activism with special attention to the student aspect of it would have probably fit the context of our course more.  

    The SAPSA video that we made could be distributed to the general public and shown on many social media outlets. We believe that it is influential and inspirational. It illustrates that having certain assumptions about the Asian American community can undermine the progress that the group has made in America, and can hinder the work that the younger generation can do later on. Because young Asian Americans themselves maintain the model minority myth that Asians are supposed to be quiet and submissive, they might be less inclined to speak out against injustices. However, we want to send the message, with our SAPSA, that Asian Americans are not obedient and passive. With a greater understanding of our histories, we can influence and educate the generations to come about Asian American activism. Our video is a great way to raise awareness for the need to look beyond what our school history books and mainstream media tell us.