Empower and Act: DO SOMETHING!

Date: Saturday, April 15th

Location: Alfred Lerner Hall at Columbia University (115th and Broadway)
In the following rooms: Satow, Ramp Lounge East, Ramp Lounge West,Broadway, 568, 477

Time: 9 AM- 4 PM (followed by an outdoor Asian American music festival)

Cost: Free!!! Light breakfast and lunch provided if you pre-register by midnight on Friday! (Lunch and dinner are each $5 otherwise)

Housing: If you need housing, please make a note of it. We will try our hardest to find you housing.

Introducing, DO SOMETHING!, the Columbia University Asian American Alliance's day long conference on Asian American social/political issues. Through various workshops, lectures, and discussion planted throughout our conference, we are hoping to shed some light on some important issues affecting APAs, issues that have been buried too deep in the dregs of obscurity for far too long. Furthermore, not only are we planning to excavate these hidden, deep-seated social problems, but also, we expect our workshops to educate and empower students so that they may confront these ancient issues. Basically, by cultivating knowledge and discussion of social/political issues in the APA community, we can more effectively harvest the skills and strength of the APA community to act-- to fight racism, discrimination, and other pestilences of society-- to do something. Students should know that they do not need to conform to the passive, domesticated model minority stereotype. We have fath that our conference will empower students to take action and project a stronger, clearer APA voice in the face of inequalities.

Our goals

a) To raise awareness and educate people (both within our community and without) about the issues that APAs face in society.
b) To empower, inspire, and impassion activism to battle these struggles in the fight for social justice.
c) To promote understanding of the Asian Americans' position in a larger movement for social justice and struggle. For example, the model minority myth has pitted us against other communities of color. By addressing this issue, we can strengthen the APA community by recognizing how we face similar injustices and how we are perpetrating wrongs by failing to notice the oppression that others face and in turn, fail to recognize the oppression we face.
d) To create a stronger Asian American community among students and activists in New York City. In a city with such a vibrant Asian American population and ample resources for battling oppression, if students and activists could educate and empower each other in order to create a strong APA voice, to create solidarity, and to fight for social change together, then only the sky is the limit.