Tentative Schedule
09:00AM - 10:00AM: Registration and Breakfast at Tables outside of Satow
10:00AM - 11:00AM: Keynote Speaker Professor Gary Okihiro - leading Asian American and Ethnic Studies professor from Columbia University
Gary Y. Okihiro is the Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, and a Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
His research interests are Asian American studies and southern Africa . He is the author of nine books in U.S. and African history, six of which have won prizes, most recently of The Columbia Guide to Asian American History (Columbia University Press, 2001) and Common Ground: Reimagining American History (Princeton University Press, 2001). Others include A Social History of the Bakwena and Peoples of the Kalahari of Southern Africa, 19th Century (Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), Storied Lives: Japanese American Students and World War II (University of Washington Press, 1999), Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II (University of Washington Press, 1996), and Margins and Mainstreams: Asians in American History and Culture (University of Washington Press, 1994).
Professor Okihiro received a PhD in African history from the University of California , Los Angeles , in 1976.
He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Studies Association, and is a past President of the Association for Asian American Studies.
11:10AM - 12:25PM: Workshop Track 1
Post-9/11 Immigration/Deportation Issues
Workshop Locations: Satow
Workshop Leaders South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrrow (SAALT)
Theresa Thanjan has worked within NYC immigrant communities for ten years, as a social worker, program director and activist. Concerned by pervasive anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, Theresa produced and directed Whose Children Are These?, a documentary about the impact of Special Registration on the lives of three Muslim teenagers. Since the documentary's release, it has won a number of awards including Best Documentary at both the 2004 Indo American Arts Council Film Festival in New York and the 2005 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. It was also honored with the Best Direction for a Short Documentary by the Brooklyn Arts Council. Theresa recently completed her documentary for PBS broadcast with a Media Fund grant from the Center for Asian American Media. Whose Children Are These? is Theresa's first film. As the founder of NYC Maharani Productions, she produces socially progressive media including films and public service announcements.
Arefa Vohra joined SAALT in January of 2006 as the Advocate for Community Empowerment. She will be working with South Asian communities and allies locally and nationally to help strengthen the South Asian voice in America toward greater civic and political engagement. Arefa previously worked as an Immigrant Women Program intern for Legal Momentum, previously NOW Legal Defense Fund where she helped coordinate the Office on Violence Against Women Training and the 10th National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women Conference. She also was with the ACLU of Northern California as their Surveillance Project Consultant, where she gathered information concerning post-9/11 government surveillance and effects of the USA Patriot Act toward peace activist and immigrant communities. Arefa has remained active with local communities through her involvement with the ADC-SF chapter, CAIR SF/Bay Area chapter and CAIR-Southern California chapter. Arefa received a dual B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in Mass Communications and History.
Workshop Descriptions
The South Asian community has been adversely affected post 9/11 based on racial profiling, detentions, deportations, and anti-immigrant sentiment. This workshop will feature the award-winning documentary "Whose Children Are These?" by director Theresa Thanjan. The film highlights the affects of Special Registration policy on children of South Asian descent. A discussion will follow the film which analyzes the state of the South Asian community nationally and what policies are endangering the community as a whole. We will strategize on how students can actively organize around these issues.
Exploring the Myth: A Conversation about the "Model Minority"
A Dessert and Discussion
Workshop Location: IRC Conference room, 552 W. 114th Street
Workshop Description:
How does the myth of the "model minority" relate to the solidarity shared between the API community and activists belonging to other communities of color? How can we breakdown these misconceptions to create more unity and advocate for similar causes? Come and share your views with Professor Okihiro and others who wish to address these questions and related issues.
Justice for James Yee
Workshop Location: 568
Workshop Leaders: Justice for James Yee Ad Hoc Committee
Wayne Lum (main presenter): My work has revolved around social and political prisoner support work for the last 13 years. In particular, as a former coordinator of the David Wong Support Committee and Asians For Mumia and Jericho. I have also worked with issues dealing with human rights and anti-imperialism. I have contributed to the book "Legacy to Liberation" by Fred Ho. The past few years I coordinated the Justice For James Yee Ad Hoc Committee.
Joe and Fong Yee: Parents of the Chaplain James Yee and members of the committee.
Elizabeth Yee: Aunt of Chaplain James Yee and member of the committee.
Workshop Description:
The Justice For James Yee Ad Hoc Committee was formed in response to the false and unjust targeting of Muslim Chaplain and U.S. Army Captain James Yee. We will discuss the significance of the case as it relates to the post 9/11 political climate and how a Chinese American, after converting to Islam, became a convenient target of the government's war on terrorism. Also, we will highlight the role and strategy of the committee's grassroots organizing in fighting this injustice, and despite the exoneration of Chaplain James Yee, why full justice has still not been served. We will also allow time for Q & A.
Activism in Asian American Arts/Media
Workshop Location: West Ramp Lounge
Workshop Description:
Want to break into the professional arts industry? Interested in how Asian American writers, film makers, comedians, playwrights, and actors are changing the vibrant, artistic landscape of New York? How can the arts be used as a vehicle for social, political, and artistic progress, and how is our APA identity intertwined within the work we create? Featuring panelists Anjali Goyal (from the Asian American Writers Workshop), and Gladys Chen, Grace C. Lee, and stand-up comedian Eliot Chang from 2G, Second Generation (a New York -based, non-profit theater company dedicated to bringing world-class Asian American stories to the world's stage) sharing their experiences as artists on the vanguard of New York City’s rich, exciting, and eclectic art scene.
Workshop Leaders: Asian American Writers Workshop (AAWW) (Featuring 2G - Asian American Theatre Company for the Art/ Artists)
The Asian American Writers' Workshop is a national not-for-profit arts organization devoted to the creating, publishing, developing and disseminating of creative writing by Asian Americans.
Anjali Goyal is the public programs and publications assistant at The Asian American Writers' Workshop. She graduated from Ohio University in English literature. She is also an active member of the South Asian Women's Creative Collective.
Gladys Chen (President/Project Director) has been working with Second Generation (2G) since the company's inception in 1997. From 1997 to 2001, she was the Managing Director of Second Generation and produced its first Off-Broadway musical Making Tracks. During this time, she helped to create Second Generation's In the Works series.[See More...]
GRACE C. LEE (Resident Producer, Second Generation) Grace recently served as Talent Producer for the first televised Asian Excellence Awards, and has produced the previous 3rd and 4th annual Concerts of Excellence, to recognize the contributions of Asian American artists. Grace is the former Executive Director of Second Generation (2g), a nonprofit Asian American theater company, and now serves as Resident Producer, and has held senior positions in design/internet companies such as Sapient. She has produced The Wedding Banquet: The Musical’s developmental tour in Asia and Seattle in 2003, and 2g’s original rock musical about the Asian American experience, Making Tracks. Other producing projects include the off-Broadway hit, The Karaoke Show, 2g After Dark series, In the Works development series, Songs from Making Tracks, and production managing the The Wedding Banquet: The Musical and Making Tracks albums. She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in communication.
Culture of Gender
Workshop Location: East Ramp Lounge
Workshop Description:
Gender is more than just a binary system. Gender doesn't just mean man and woman, male/female, masculine/feminine. There is a difference between sex and gender, and gender identity and sexual orientation. We aim to break these things down and familiarize participants with Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex issues and how they are linked to culture(s). We will explore the diversity of gender identity and expression so that participants are not limited to the binary system.
Workshop Leaders: Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA)
APICHA's mission is to combat AIDS-related discrimination and to support, empower, and enhance the quality of life of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the New York City area - particularly community members living with AIDS and HIV infection - through client services, education, training and technical assistance, community organizing, coalition building, policy analysis, and research.
Tristan Vizconde is the Community Health Education Coordinator at APICHA: Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS. He works to help train, support and empower the Queer and Questioning Asian and Pacific Islander Community through peer education, outreach and social marketing campaigns. After resisting for years, he finally broke down and started to read the Harry Potter Book series. (He desperately wants you to ask him about EquAsian, the Queer & Questioning social support group for API Young people 22 and younger and GAA, the weekend retreat for Gay Men 18 and older J.)
12:25AM - 01:10PM: Free Lunch and Social Mixer
01:20PM - 02:35PM: Workshop Track 2
Organizing women against sex trafficking/women's issues/critical human rights
Workshop Location: 568
Workshop Leaders: Gabriela Network
Becca Dean has been a member of GABNet since 2002. She graduated from NYU with a liberal arts degree focusing on women of color feminist theory and critical studies. Becca is currently working on her MLIS at Pratt University and is a militant librarian at the Brooklyn Pubilc Library.
Thea Tagle (BC'04) has been a member of GABNet since 2002, and is currently the NY/NJ chapter's internal education coordinator. She works at Sanctuary for Families, a NYC domestic violence social service agency. This fall, Thea will begin working towards a PhD in Ethnic Studies at UCSD.
Workshop Description:
How do we raise awareness and bring attention to current issues affecting Filipinas and Filipina Americans, such as sex trafficking and prostitution, the war on terror, immigration and labor export, and women's rights? Come join two current GABRIELA Network members, as we discuss the organizations' campaigns, modes of resistance and education, and the ways that we build community and solidarity with men and other Filipino/people of color activist organizations. Find out the different ways YOU can support our work and even get involved in the struggle. Come with questions and open minds.
Immigrant Access to Resources/Housing
Workshop Location: Satow
Workshop Description:
To advance the rights of Asian Americans and all those in need through advocacy and access in civil rights, immigrant assistance, social services, affordable housing, and economic development; to empower our communities through research and publishing that embody our issues and concerns; and to foster understanding and unity among diverse communities through building coalitions and forming collaborations.
A brief history of their efforts in social equity, advocacy and communication, affordable housing, technological literacy, the struggle for immigrant rights, access to legal resources, healthcare, counseling, and community wellness can be found here.
Workshop Leaders: Asian Americans For Equality (AAFE)
AAFE's executive director Margaret Chin is bringing in tenant leaders from the affordable housing movement, organizers who have worked extensively within the Asian American community and beyond. These are activists who have and continue to mobilize people in affecting change through demonstrations, education, public policy, and more.
A Strategy for Racial Justice or Racial Divide?
Workshop Location:477
Workshop Description:
Affirmative action is a policy that is often discussed yet seldom understood. Come to this interactive workshop to explore the impact of affirmative action on you, the history of affirmative action, and recent judicial impacts on affirmative action. This workshop will have an open discussion that delves into these and many more questions: How does affirmative action affect Asian Pacific Americans? Does affirmative action promote racial justice for all communities of color? Does affirmative action cause a divide between Asian Pacific Americans and other communities of color?
Workshop Leaders: Wayne Ho of the Coalition of Asian American Children and Families (CACF)
Wayne Ho, MPP, is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF). He is responsible for leading the nation's only pan-Asian children's advocacy organization by overseeing agency administration, program oversight, board relations, staff supervision,community partnerships, and fundraising. To ensure that Asian Pacific American needs are being represented, Wayne is a member of the Program Council of the Partnership for After School Education (PASE), Immigration Advisory Board Subcommittee of the NYC Administration for Children's Services (ACS), Advisory Board of the New American Leaders Fellowship Program of the New York Immigration Coalition, and Immigrant Families Advisory Committee of the Center for Law and Social Policy. Previously, Wayne was the administrator of out-of-school time programs for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), where he collaborated with community based organizations, city and county agencies, and state and federal departments to meet the academic and social needs of over 7,000 students at 72 underserved K-12 schools. During his tenure, SFUSD was recognized by the California Department of Education as a model after school partnership. He also conducted policy analysis for ACS on options for public and non-profit agencies to expand child care and worked with the Blue Ridge Foundation New York on performance management systems for start-up non-profits. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Wayne founded several volunteer-based programs to empower youth of color to pursue higher education and to become community advocates. Wayne received his bachelor degree from UC Berkeley and his Master in Public Policy from Harvard University.
HIV/AIDS in our Community and Our Lives
Workshop Location: East Ramp Lounge
Workshop Description:
You've learned about HIV before, but what do you REALLY know? Can you be HIV positive and not transmit the virus? How does HIV affect you?? Share what you know with others in an open dialogue about HIV in our lives.
Workshop Leaders: Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA)
Diana Roygulchareon is the coordinator of the Young Peoples Project at APICHA - the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS, and AIDS service organization focusing mainly on the Asian and Pacific Islander community. As coordinator of the Young People's Project, Diana's main goal is to help train, supervise and provide support for Asian and Pacific Islander peer educators, peer mentor, and advanced peer counselors ages 14-24 to provide HIV prevention and related topics education to their peer groups in New York City. She is bi-racial, of Thai and Ecuadorian decent and resides in New York.
J. Erik Navoa is a peer educator in the Young Peoples Project. Along with his team of peer educators he provides HIV prevention education to API young people in New York City through interactive workshops, street outreach of safer sex materials and information, and working on curriculum to empower young people to make healthy choices. He is also a volunteer at FAHSI - the Filipino American Human Services Inc, and resides in Queens.
Ryan Natividad, since his early college years, has advocated for various groups and causes. He was a PTI (Peer Training Institute) Peer Educator at APICHA (Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS) aiding A&PI youth through HIV/AIDS and STI education and prevention. He also worked for FAHSI (Filipino American Human Service, Inc.) as a college intern before becoming Administrative Coordinator. During this time, he was greatly involved with the Filipino community of New York City and aided in facilitating intercommunity relations among various Filipino organizations. Working with the LGBT A&PI community, he served as the Social Events Chairperson in the Steering Committee of GAPIMNY (Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York). He is also an activist member of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Linking the Children of the Motherland), a grassroots Filipino youth group advocating for the rights of Filipino youths through education of Philippine history, consciousness of current events in the Philippines, and mobilization. Ryan currently works as a YMSM (Young Men who have Sex with Men) Peer Counselor at APICHA and is in transition with his education.
02:45PM - 04:00PM: Workshop Track 3
Voting Rights Act Reauthorization
Workshop Location: East Ramp Lounge
Workshop Description:
To educate, motivate and engage our audience about the VRA Reauthorization, with specific sections and actions that student activists can take.The workshop will address the reauthorization of temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, focusing on the language minority provisions of Section 203 and the pre-clearance provisions of Section 5. The conference will help educate participants about the implications of reauthorization for residents of New York City and the Northeast region, specifically non-English speaking minorities and communities of color, who are disproportionately affected by the problems the VRA seeks to remedy. The conference series seeks to generate widespread interest within our target communities and to spur participation in the campaign to reauthorize the VRA.
Workshop Leaders: Korean American League for Civic Action (KALCA)
Michael Taehyo Park, Executive Director: Before joining KALCA, Mr. Park worked for Yoon & Partners LLP as an administrative managing officer. Raised in South Korea, Mr. Park came to the United States after completing his military service. He received his B.A. degree in Political Science at Allegheny College, PA and was an honoree of the "Who's who in American Colleges and Universities" awards. Mr. Park earned his J.D. degree from Boston University School of Law. While in law school he was a mentor for international students and served as a Teaching Assistant for courses in the LL.M. program. Over the course of five years, Mr. Park had also engaged in volunteer work for migrant workers and orphanages in South Korea. He is also an accomplished Jazz singer and pianist who regularly performed in Jazz clubs in and around Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Park worked as a youth center counselor providing free piano lessons to children of all ages. Additionally, he served as the assistant director of an all African American gospel choir.
APA's in Film
Workshop Location: Satow
Workshop Description:
Director Georgia Lee will discuss her experiences as an APA filmmaker and specifically, her experiences in making her film, Red Doors. She will also discuss the potential of film as a source of empowerment in the ways that movies can challenge and dispel common stereotypes of Asian Americans, as well as the possibility of creating Asian American films with universal appeal. There will be clips from the film as well as discussion and Q & A.
Workshop Leaders: Georgia Lee - Director of the soon-to-be-released film Red Doors
After graduating from Harvard with a degree in Biochemistry, Georgia Lee worked for management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. While at McKinsey, Lee was selected by Martin Scorsese to apprentice on Gangs of New York after he saw Lee's first short film, The Big Dish: Tiananmen '89. Her subsequent short film, Educated, showed in over 30 festivals around the world. Lee's first feature film, Red Doors, won the Best Narrative Feature Award in the NY, NY Competition at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. Red Doors has gone on to win the Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting at CineVegas, as well as the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Award for Screenwriting at Outfest. Red Doors will be coming out in theaters Fall 2006.
Mental Health in the APA Community: Building Bridges and Leveraging Assets for Community Recovery
Workshop Location: 477
Workshop Description:
Funded by the American Red Cross, the Asian American Federation's program, "Building Bridges and Leveraging Assets for Community Recovery" (subsequently referred to as "the Mental Health Project" or "MHP") aims to increase access to culturally appropriate mental health services for September 11th affected Chinatown elders and World Trade Center victims' families. In partnership with two community-based service organizations, Asian LifeNet (ALN) and South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS), it aims to connect difficult-to-reach, high-need populations with skilled, culturally competent mental health support.
To achieve this goal, the MHP has the following objectives:
1. Provide direct mental health services to Asian American victims' families and affected Chinatown elders;
2. Increase awareness of mental health issues;
3. Bolster the process for connecting individuals in need with appropriate service providers; and
4. Enlarge the pool of qualified professionals to serve targeted
AA populations via institutional arrangements.
Workshop Leaders: Yilo Cheng (Mental Health Project Manager)
Empowering South Asian Women
Workshop Location: West Ramp Lounge
Workshop Leaders: Sakhi for South Asian Women (An organization committeed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin)
Sakhi for South Asian Women is a community-based organization in the New York metropolitan area committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin. Recognizing oppression based on class, immigration status, religion, and sexual orientation, we work to empower women, particularly survivors of domestic violence. Sakhi strives to create a voice and safe environment for all South Asian women through outreach, advocacy, leadership development, and organizing.
Sakhi structured its programming to follow a two-pronged approach in addressing domestic violence within the South Asian community:
1. We provide a safe place, support, friendship, and a full-range of culturally-sensitive, language-specific services to South Asian women facing abuse in their lives; and, 2. We work to inform, actively engage, and mobilize the South Asian community in the movement to end violence against women forever. After 16 years of working with and being an integral part of our community, we at Sakhi know that in order for families to be healthy and happy, violence and oppression must be eliminated at the heart and root of our communities. We know that community members themselves must be aware of and participate in the dialogue in order for true and sustainable change to occur. Our vision of a society without domestic violence lies within the community's ability to take ownership in the fight to end violence against women.
Fatma Zahra, Domestic Violence Services Program Advocate, joined Sakhi in October 2004. As the Domestic Violence Program Advocate at Sakhi, Fatma manages many of Sakhi's requests for assistance from survivors of violence. She provides ongoing support, services, resources, translation services, within Sakhi's Domestic Violence program for both new callers and approximately 20 women on an ongoing basis. Fatma is also leading the development of Sakhi's Faith-based Initiative, which will first focus on three separate arenas: research and resource compilation of faith-based programs, leaders, and resources; a compilation of survivors' beliefs and thoughts behind issues of faith; and cultivation of partnership and collaboration within different faith communities. Fatma is fluent in Bengali. Fatma can be reached at 212.714.9153 ext. 108, or fatma.zahra@sakhi.org.
Queer APA Organizing in NYC
Workshop Location: 568
Workshop Description:
This workshop will highlight some of the issues that LGBTQ APA organizations in New York City are addressing today. We will explore how activism can stem from identity politics - and we will look at how these issues affect not just queer APAs but also the larger APA community. We will discuss what it means to be an ally to queer APAs and the importance of working in coalition across and beyond identity politics. We will also discuss ways to continue to be involved in community activism and organizing after graduation.
Workshop Leaders: Q-Wave
Kian Goh is a partner in super-interesting LLC - a Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary architecture and design practice - and a faculty member at Parsons The New School for Design. She is also a musician and pop culture critic whose feature articles and reviews have appeared in the Village Voice,Puncture, and Wallpaper.
Sel J. Wahng, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at National Development and Research Institutes/Medical and Health Research Association of NYC. He is also a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Professor at the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University. This semester he is teaching "Asian American Popular Culture" at CU. He is also on the Board of Directors of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).
Tamiko Beyer is a hapa writer, performer, and activist. Her poetry, articles, and reviews have been published in a variety of print and online journals, and she is part of a queer writing workshop, Agent 409, which performs in NYC & other cities on the East Coast. She is on the steering committee of Q-Wave, an organization for LGBTQ women and transgender people of Asian descent. She was recently hired as the Publications Coordinator for Women Make Movies, a nonprofit media arts organization in NYC.