SNAP!SNAP! Published quarterly by the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center, UC Santa Cruz Winter 2009Vol. 10 No. 2

Alumni Spotlight: Clifford Yee

S h a r p N e w A l t e r n a t i v e P e r s p e c t i v e

Clifford was born and raised in San Francisco, and came to UCSC to pursue his education in Psychol-ogy. Clifford was never really active in high school. After attending a reception hosted by Chinese Student Association (CSA) in his first quarter as a freshman, things turned around.

He actively partcipated in the AA/PI community through various student run organizations. Clifford then became co-chair of CSA, co-co-ordinator of CSA’s Hip Hop Troupe, a member of Community Unified Student Network (CUSN), and started the Asian Pacific Islander (A/PI) Coalition. As a snowball effect, Clif-ford went from an inactive student, who just focused on his studies, to a student who wanted to push for changes into the AA/PI Community.

After graduating in 2002, he be-came the Program Coordinator for the Asian American / Pacific Islander Re-source Center (AA/PIRC). Yee found this to be a wonderful opportunity be-cause he wanted to keep in touch with his UCSC community. Being able to land this position, he began his duties outreaching and getting more people involved with the AA/PI community.

Meanwhile as he worked, Clif-ford wanted to continue to further his education. With the help of his mentor and director of AA/PIRC,

Nancy Kim, the Ethnic Resource Center’s staff (ERC), the Edu-cational Oppor-tunity Programs (EOP), and oth-er campus re-sources, he was able to attend graduate school at the Univer-sity of Michi-gan. There he focused his studies on working with youth and community organizing.

At Michigan, he worked in field placements with InterGroup Relations (IGR) where 25-30 youths from differ-ent backgrounds of two rivaling high schools came together to talk about privilege and oppression, to discuss how to find a common ground, and to find issues within their community that they would like to see changed. This rewarding experience not only exposed him to a different type of community, but also helped cultivate his interest in working with the youth.

After completing his graduate degree, he found a position as a Youth Program Coordinator at the Asian Health Services in Chinatown Oakland where there are weekly teen clinics on Wednesday evenings. He believed this to be a great position because he was

A firm believer in an active communityBy Khanh Trinh

concerned about health education in a youth program, specifically focusing on reproductive health.

As a youth program coordi-nator, he has noticed a decrease in funding, especially now because of significant budget cuts to the state. Clifford worries about the extent of the existence of these services. How-ever, Asian Health Services are still going on strong and are applying for grants so they could continue to provide support for the youth.Clif-ford currently is working with other programs to discuss ways to open a youth center in Oakland Chinatown.

Clifford was very active in the AA/PI community as an undergrad-uate and continues to be extremely active now. He fights for his issues, struggles with the current local administration, and stands in for his organization’s essential needs.

In this Issue...> AA/PI Political Representation pg. 2> Filipino Veteran’s Fight pg. 3

> Film Outtake pg. 4> Event Shoutout and Review pg. 6

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SNAP!Winter 2009 2

The Multicultural Career Conference (MCC) brings together current students and alumni of color for a full day of dialogue and meaningful personal connections, to move a new genera-tion of students into diverse professions. This year’s conference aims to explore perspectives that lend themselves to both local and global opportunities for change. Bridging alumni with current students -- the past with the future -- will support students to envision a location of meaning and provide vital mentoring, with the next steps in advancing a new career.

MULTICULTURAL CAREER CONFERENCE (MCC)Shaping Change: Engaging Global Leadership

Saturday, March 7th, 200910:00 AM - 3:30 PMStevenson Event Center

Asian Americans and Pacific Is-landers have long gone unnoticed in U.S. politics. In 2008, President Obama’s election represented an unprecedented level of involvement on many levels.

Barack Obama was born in Ha-waii with Indonesian relatives from his stepfather’s side. Even his admin-istration has appointed several Asian Americans to key positions: the head of his transition team Chris Lu, Secre-tary of Veterans’ Affairs Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Transportation Ray La-hood, Surgeon General Sanjay Gupta,

and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

His choice of Chu is especially notable because it establishes a firm commitment towards environmental reform and development of new re-newable energy technologies crucial to this nation’s prosperity and security.

Chu’s academic work and back-ground make him uniquely qualified for the position. He is the first scientist ever chosen to head the Department of Energy, and the second Chinese Amer-ican to join the Cabinet after Elaine Chao, the former Secretary of Labor.

Chu was born in St. Louis, Mis-souri in 1948 to a Chinese immigrant family with a long tradition of aca-demic excellence. When compared to his Ivy League siblings, Chu was not as distinguished because he attended the University of Rochester for his bachelor of arts, and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.

Afterwards, he worked at Bell Labs from 1978 to 1987 doing his research. By using lasers to cool at-

oms, he earned a Nobel Peace Prize in physics in 1997. He also taught physics at Stanford and was the chair of their physics department. In 2004, he became the director of Law-rence Berkeley National Laboratory.

For some Asian Americans,

Chu’s appointment offers a special vindication especially after the 1999 Wen Ho Lee case. As Taiwanese American scientist, Wen Ho Lee, was falsely accused of espionage and selling U.S nuclear arsenal secrets to the People’s Republic of China. Similarly, the choice of Eric Shinseki can be seen as a justification for his ignored prediction that post Iraq war would require several hundred thousand troops to keep the peace.

Hopefully, President Obama will continue to actively engage the interests and needs of the AA/PI com-munity. With more and more AA/PI politicians gaining in prominence, our visibility and influence can con-tinue to grow over the next few years.

Man Behind our Energyby Linden Chan

To Register: www2.ucsc.edu/careers/mcc/index.html MEET ALUMNI! FREE ADMISSION! COMPLIMENTARY LUNCH!!!

Photo courtesy of MSNBC

Obama’s Cabinet for Change

SNAP!Winter 2009 3

By Rodelyn and Rosie Marquez

Filipino American Veterans’ MovementThe voice of the youth

The fight for Filipino American Veterans’ rights has been an ongo-ing struggle for many decades. The Filipino people fought courageously along side the United States soldiers with the intent of receiving benefits and U.S. citizenship rights promised by President Roosevelt. In the end, the Filipino people risked their lives only to have the rights they justly deserved and earned stripped away. Generations later, youth continue the struggle to raise awareness and fight for Filipino Veterans’ rights.

In World War II (1939-1945), “250,000 Filipino people joined the U.S. forces. Recent-ly, only [about] 40,000 are still alive, and 10,000 live in the U.S. (uprisingradio.org).” With Franklin D. Roosevelt serving as U.S. President, he promised the Filipino soldiers who aided U.S. forces the same benefits and rights as the U.S. soldiers. However, after the war, the Filipino soldiers met a different fate.

After the demise of President Roosevelt in April of 1945, Harry Truman took over the White House and signed the Rescission Act of

1946. This legislation disregarded the Filipino soldiers as ever served

or been a part of the forces of the United States. As a

result, Filipino soldiers would not receive any benefits unless they were injured or died in

war. This meant the vi-olence they endured, the

sacrifices they made, and the images of the gruesome war would

always be instilled within them without the rewards they eagerly anticipated.

The lobbying of Filipino Ameri-can Veterans’ to obtain their benefits dates back to after the signing of the Rescission Act, and therefore, traveled its way to this day and age. Justice for Fili-pino American Veterans

(JFAV), for example, was formed in 1998 and is composed of thirty-two youth and student organizations as well as twenty-five communi-ty and five veteran organizations.

Filipino student organiza-tions in college campuses like UCLA and UCI are also tak-ing a part in this movement. UCLA’s Samahang Pilipino is supporting the “Filipino Veterans Equity Campaign by participat-

ing in the Veterans Day march and national days of action in solidarity until justice is obtained” (samahang.org), while “UCI’s Kababayan who joins the JFAV rallies” (clubs.uci.edu).

Although many youth and student organizations are involved, it is still ap-parent that there is a lack of awareness about this issue. Krizia Sales, a UCSC student and a Filipino Student As-sociation (FSA) core member, voices out her opinion regarding this issue stating, “It’s upsetting to know that many students within the FSA commu-nity don’t know about the Veterans.”

Students’ lack of knowledge about the JFAV are part of the result of the limited resources available. Ar-lan Mendiola, a UCSC student and a FSA core member, also mentions, “In order to keep myself updated with any events or workshops to help the cause I would get it from Manilatown district of San Francisco and the Bayanihan Community Center.” However, not all students are willing to take the time to

do further research, especial-ly if the resources that

are needed are not easily available.

Ethnic re-sources, Asian American stud-

ies, and Pacific Islander studies are

necessary to educate students about the history

and issues concerning their com-munities. According to Krizia, “the promotion of classes like the Pilipino Historical Dialogue (PHD) is needed, and the establishment of more classes that teaches history that is not taught in traditional and most history-based classes are vital.” PHD is a student di-

“It is

up to the youth

to carry out their

legacy.”

“It is hard

to captivate interest

from the community for

a certain cause.”

...continued on page 6

Photo courtesy of LA Times

Photo courtesy of JFAV

SNAP!Winter 2009

Film Review

4

By Greg Thomas

Gran Torino

Recent mainstream films introduced plots driven by racial tension. In 2006, Paul Haggis’s film “Crash,” won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Clint East-wood directed this year’s Gran Torino with a similar theme us-ing racial stereotypes and cultur-ally insensitive situations. Gran Torino showed that people can change through self-realization.

This is the first time that a pre-dominantly Hmong American cast has had the opportunity to play the leading roles in a major motion pic-ture is a feat in itself for the Hmong community. However, for the rest of us who know absolutely nothing or little about the Hmong commu-nity, how does the portrayal of the Hmong family in this film affect our overall perception of the culture?

The representations of a Hmong gang in the film fits the stereotype of Asians from rough neighborhoods, and therefore, these young individuals are consid-ered gang members. This depicted all troubled youngsters from the Hmong community to be gang members. That’s the direction Gran Torino followed, and the manner that Hollywood depicts culture.

The portrayal of Hmong’s as gang members was obvious-ly an exaggeration that strayed away far from the goal of the film. The goal of the film was simply to introduce an all Hmong cast as well as telling a small story about their community. Although, there are many issues in this film that are posed as problematic.

UCSC Hmong American

Running Time: 116 mintues

Directed by : Clint Eastwood

Starring: Clint Eastwod, Christo-pher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her

Synopsis: Korean War Veteran Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) lives alone in a neighborhood in Detroit. Over time, it has become a dominantly large Asian community. Soon after the death of Walt’s wife, a Hmong family moves next door. Being the conservative-natured racist bigot he is, Walt doesn’t quite welcome the new neighbors with open arms.

student Nancy Vang mentioned that there were many culturally signifi-cant traditions that were portrayed in the film. However, the approach that was taken by Eastwood somewhat distorted some Hmong traditions. For instance, Eastwood’s character Walt attends the Hmong family’s barbeque, and as he taps one of the children on the head. Sue informs him that this is a form of disrespect.

According to Nancy, she had never heard of such a thing and thought that it was a bit ridiculous. In another scene, a family member was shown cutting off the head of a chicken to which Walt utters the word ‘barbaric.’ Clearly, the scene didn’t have a clear explanation and could easily be misinter-preted. “I laughed to myself and said, we’re not barbarians. The sacrificial symbolism rep-resents the birth of a new child and also a blessing,” com-mented Nancy. There are many cultural aspects of the Hmong culture in the world, but director Eastwood didn’t fully attempt to explain the cultural sig-

nificance of each Hmong tradition. The movie was designed to

be about Eastwood’s character, Walt, while the Hmong family was clearly an addition to the film. Not all Hmong are gang members and to a certain extent, Eastwood did not emphasize much on their culture.

Being the first American major motion picture incorporated an all Hmong cast, audiences will assume that the stereotypes presented about Hmong people are accurate. Any Hollywood movie that portrays Asians, Latinos, or Blacks as part of the cast will find someway to utilize cultural stereotypes. Our society may not be culturally insensitive but audiences tend to enjoy racial humor.

The plot of this film was not entirely based on explaining Hmong cultures and traditions. The Hmong community is a very rich culture and one film will not give a moviegoer everything they need to know. However, the film was definitely a break through for many Hmong actors and actresses as they gain exposure in the film industry.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Reinforcing Stereotypes

Movie Showing:March 9, 2009 5-7pm @ ERC

SNAP!Winter 2009 5

Join a committee: entertainment, food, programming, publicity, emcee, and more!

Interested? Contact: Paul Vo, Elisa TorateEmail: yearendceremony2009@gmail.

comor call (831) 459-5349

Asian American/Pacific Islander

YEAR END CEREMONY Committee

Sign up SENIORS at www2.ucsc.edu/aapirc/

Come help plan this annual event celebrating the achievements of AA/PI graduates!

Heritage MonthPlanning Committee

NEEDS YOU! Help to…Represent the diverse Asian American/Pacific Islander community.

Combine our roots with our identities of today

Have any ideas or want to join the planning committee? Contact: Theresa Tsao at ttsao@ucsc.edu or email heritagemonth2009@gmail.com or call (831) 459-5349

Get involved in organizing events publicizing designing logos and themes

Meetings: Mon 5-7pm Location at ERC Lounge

Hey Everybody!

We first off would like to thank you for your interest in KASU! We hope that you guys all come out and participate in this new family!

KASU was formed during Winter 2009. It’s creation was in part because there needed to be a space where those of Korean hertiage and those who just wished to learn more about Korean culture could gather, learn, and share experiences together.

Any type of input is welcome. Any type of activi-ties or suggestions that you would like to share, please feel free to email at UCSCKASU@gmail.com. We will update and let you know when we have definitive times and dates. Again, we want to make this everyones organization, so please DO NOT HESITATE! Thanks again for your support! EVERYONE IS WELCOME SO BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

MUCH LOVE!

-KASU

Meet N’ Greet(upcoming)

Lets get together and discuss what we want to see, gain, and experience through KASU!

February 24, 2009 6:30 - 8 p.m.Muwekma Ohlone Conference Room (Bay Tree Building)

Korean American Student Union (KASU)

ences of being an AA/PI women. The 2nd workshop was about using acrylic paint to convey our voice and thoughts on canvas.

Since many AA/PI women are known to have quiet and shy personalities, these workshops promote

a w a r e n e s s and voice for women who would like to share their experiences and perspec-tives. These workshops can help young AA/PI women regain self-confidence so

SNAP!Winter 20096

Come one come all to Chinese Student Association’s 23rd annu-al Lunar New Year Banquet to celebrate the year of the Ox with us. Eat great food, watch some awesome performances and meet new peo-ple! We even have a dance after the show! You can’t miss it! So get dressed up, come on out, and let’s reign in the new year with a BANG!

Yell-Oh Girls! Reload: Visualiz-ing Self and Community is a three part workshop series sponsored by AA/PIRC to provide a safe space for Asian American/ Pacific Islander (AA/PI) women to rediscover their voices on issues regarding home, family, racism, stereotypes, identity, and body image.

The 1st workshop was a dis-cussion on analyzing the anthology “Yell-Oh Girls” with personal experi-

Yell-Oh Girls! By Ami Wong

... continued from pg. 3

rected seminar that educates students about history and allows students to have dialogues. “Since the number of living WWII Filipino Veterans is de-creasing, it is up to the youth to carry out their legacy,” as Krizia expressed.

Self-awareness about the topic is the first step towards youth movement. Hopefully, this will bring change not only to the Filipino American Veter-ans but also to the greater community.

Gaining knowledge is power; therefore, students should use that knowledge to be proactive.The voice of a united community is the force we need in this movement for justice.

C u r r e n t l y ,

- Stephanie Chau and Chinese Student Assocation

COME ATTEND: Vision, Voice, and Expression of AA/PI WomenFeb 25, 2009 5-7pm @ ERC

they can share and educate others about their identity and cultural issues.

Yell-Oh Girls is an inspiration to AA/PI girls and women to yell as loud as you can and let no one stop your voice about what you want to tell the world.

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Winter 2009 7

Winter 2009 January

Presidential Inauguration: A Call for a Community 1/20th various locations on campus all day

Yell-Oh Girls! Workshop: Dialogue (Part 1 of 3) 1/21, 5-8pm @ ERC Lounge

Leadership Mixer 1/28, 5-7pm @ ERC Lounge

February

Yell-Oh Girls! Workshop: Painting (Part 2 of 3) 2/4, 5-8pm @ ERC Lounge

Loving Through Arts and Crafts 2/5, 6-9pm @ Cervantes & Velasquez Conference Room

(Bay Tree Building)

Laura Kang Talk (Chair and Asociate Professor of Women’s Studies, UCI)

2/11, 5 pm @ Humanities 1 Room 320

PacificIslanderReception2/18,3-5pm@ERCLounge

AA/PI Graduate Students - Creating Space for Community: A Reception & Discussion on

topics important to you 2/23, 5-7pm @ ERC Lounge

Hmong Student Assocation Culture Show 2/23, 6-8pm @ Oakes Learning Center

Korean American Student Union Meet N Greet2/24, 6:30-8pm @ Muwekma Ohlone Conference

Room (Bay Tree Building)

Yell-Oh Girls! Workshop: Vision, Voice, and Expression of AA/PI Women (Part 3 of 3)

2/25, 5-7pm @ ERC Lounge

Chinese Student Association Lunar New Year Banquet 2/28, 5:30-11pm @ Stevenson Event Center

March

Mental Health Event 3/4, 5-7 PM @ ERC Lounge

Multicultural Career Conference 3/7, 10-3:30 pm @ Stevenson Event Center

April

Vietnamese Student Association Charity Show 4/5, 7:30pm-9:30pm @ Stevenson Event Center

SNAP!

Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource CenterUniversity of California, Santa Cruz339 Bay Tree Building1156 High StreetSanta Cruz, CA 95064Phone: (831) 459-5349Fax: (831) 459-2469www2.ucsc.edu/aapirc

Map

SNAP! StaffAdvisors

Copy Editors

Contributors

Nancy I. KimKa Yee ChiuMonty PrasadOlivia LeungKhanh TrinhRosie MarquezRodelyn MarquezGreg ThomasAmi WongStephanie ChauLinden ChanJustin KoBarbara Barton