Southeast Asian, Take 2

Really now. As you all know, I live in Oakland, where I have learned at my job about some of the Southeast Asians’ particular community concerns, and via the work of some of my old college friends. In particular, I am thinking about Oakland Chinatown based Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) and their organizing around the Laotian community in Contra Costa County, living in an industrial zone which includes the Chevron Refinery, and the Mien populations in East Oakland, organizing to ensure that folks can transition into American urban living and retain their cultural and religious practices.

In the meantime, many groups of Southeast Asian youth have recently experienced harassment including wrongful arrests and racial profiling (as gang members, etc.) by the Alameda police as a result of one group of youths’ violence and the very unfortunate death of one young lady.

I am thinking the above, the plight of communities in American urban areas, do not make it into area studies departments, but really now, this is my way into “Southeast Asian” in Oakland.

I have just been thinking about pragmatic statements that I think students would prefer to hear over all the lofty and political yadda yadda. I also think parents of graduates perhaps like to hear that there are practical applications for their children’s non-straight forward sounding, not practical nor applicable in “real life” sounding majors.

Just trying to keep it real.