Remarks by Ling-chi Wang
Sep 05
Prof. Ling-chi Wang delivered the following remarks on Sept. 1 at the APA | FIVE Award Dinner. His concise speech was a “State of Asian America” for me…
I am honored to be one of the recipients of the Enduring Legacy Award. I am also flattered, inspired, and indeed, encouraged by the award because it had come from the younger segments of the Asian American population, often characterized by some in my own generation, the activists of the 1960s, as being well-educated, upwardly mobile, but selfish, uprooted, and unconcerned about the issues and problems affecting the Asian American communities. To be quite honest with you, every once in a while, especially in moments of setback and disillusionment, I too harbor such a view. But, from the program of this conference and some of the conference participants I have encountered, I have reasons to be encouraged and optimistic about the future leadership in the Asian American community.
The challenges facing Asian Americans communities across the U.S. today are: (1) How to maintain a strong sense of Asian American identity and community, (2) How to remain vigilant and engaged in the struggle against anti-Asian racism, which cuts across class and generation lines, and (3) How to remember the poor and the less fortunate, most of whom are immigrants and refugees, not much different from our fore-parents who came to the U.S. before World War II. We need only to look at the data from the census and school performance to see a very significant segment of the Asian American population, as much as one-third, remains poor and disadvantaged and popular notions, such as, assimilation and model minority, are a disservice and insult to Asian Americans.
Asian American communities today, to be sure, are fragmented along language, culture, class, geographic space, and national origin. The fragmentation is inevitable and divisive. It makes Asian Americans vulnerable to exploitation by hostile forces and effectively prevents Asian Americans from achieving political solidarity in the fight against racial inequality and social injustice and in the pursuit of political empowerment.
My generation was able to help forge the new Asian American identity and set the political and social agenda for the emerging Asian American communities with the help of African American civil rights movement. Compared with what your generation faces today, we had it easy. Since the 1960s, technology and telecommunication have hastened the pace and volatility of life. Immigration and globalization have numerically strengthened and culturally enriched us. But fragmentation and division have polarized Asian American communities in many different ways, making it difficult to achieve solidarity even in straightforward struggles for justice in high-profile cases, such as, Vincent Chin in 1980s, Dr. Wen Ho Lee in 1990s, and Captain/Chaplain James Yee in our century, not to mention the protracted struggles to rebuild the International Hotel and build a city college branch campus in Chinatown, San Francisco, for the rights of garment workers in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and for fair and equal treatment in admissions into the top universities and colleges across the country.
Yes, our communities have many problems and are very fragmented and at times, hopelessly divided. But, with organizations and young people such as APA Five and with new visionary and courageous young leaders, I am hopeful the future of our communities will be in good hands.
Thank you very much for the award and for the opportunity to speak before you.
