final self reflection letter

Xinyu Shang

ASAM 100 BB

Reading Journal

The article, “In My World 1+1=3” by Yuki Kondo Shah gives the experience of

Yuki Kondo who identifies as a multiracial. Yuki is a young woman with a Bangladeshi

father and a Japanese mother. Yuki notes that when she was young, living in Japan she

identified as a Japanese, however, upon relocating to the United States when she was

seven, she struggled figuring out where she fits in. According to Yuki, when growing up,

she always felt stuck between her two identities and she could not clearly identify with

one side over the other. She notes that, “While I spent most of my childhood being

Japanese and my college years identifying as a mixed-race minority. I began my

professional career as an Asian America.” The experience of Yuki, is one of many, where

it shows the dynamics of being Asian American in the United States. Yuki chronicles the

conflicts that come with being a multiracial and the conflict that comes with striking a

balance between the two races.

The article, “Who Studies The Asian American Movement? A Historiographical

Analysis” by Diane Fujino studies the historiography of the Asian American Movement.

The article focuses on the period from the late 1960s when resistance by the Asian

Americans was regarded as a social movement to the 1970s when the Asian American

Movement was on the decline. According to Fujino, the rise of the Asian American

Movements was prompted by Asian revolutions, the Black Power ideology and the Third

World. Such is because these events positioned the Asian Americans as a model

minority. The AAM especially developed during the height of Black Power and hence it

serves as a reflection of the radicalism that existed in the 1960s and 1970s. The AAM

was championed by activists who sought to contest racism by challenging the

racialization of the Asian Americans. Through their struggles, these activists

demonstrated the existence of anti-Asian racism and also challenged any sorts of

discrimination against the Asian Americans by advocating for a more just society. Thus

helped to shape the pan-Asian and Third World identities. Overall, the article offers a

very interesting account on how the Asian American Movement played a major role in

bringing the concerns of the Asian Americans to light and in fighting for better treatment

of the Asian Americans.

The article, “The Emergence of Yellow Power” by Gidra was written in 1969

where it includes assertions of the Asian-American identity based on the educational

experiences of different college students. The article thus serves as the voice of the Asian

American Movement as it brings to light issues facing Asian Americans that are often

sidelined by the mainstream media. The article is thus all about self-expression and not

necessarily about stereotypes. Gidra allows for the different authors to position cultural

and political issues in the United States within the larger Asian American Movement.

Since the article is dominated by authors that are Asian American in nature it focuses on

concerns like the incarceration of the Japanese Americans and how each identity group of

the Asian Americans had its own unique experiences and dealt with different struggles in

their struggle against the stigma imposed on them. By discussing such concerns, the

authors discuss buried trauma and also express their hidden emotions on the experiences

facing the Asian Americans. Overall, the article is very insightful, it not only focuses on

the negative aspects that are associated with Asian Americans rather it presents a new

perspective for the Gidra authors to acknowledge and embrace their past, hence allowing

them to better reconcile their past, their present and their future.