Asian American Civil Rights Movements

Every minority has had to endure the injustice and inequality that has been thrust upon them here in US. Thankfully they wouldn’t back down without a fight, and so from the 1960s onward many activist movements rose up to fight for equality and justice. One of the people spearheading the many movements was Yuri Kochiyama. She was Japanese-American but supported all minorities. Since after WW2 she was involved heavily in activist movements. In 1995 she gave a speech to the Asian American Convocation at Brown University. In it she addressed the current issues of racial inequality and what should be done. At the time the issue of racism was still a problem and that’s why she wrote the speech, in order to address the problem and inspire change to

The equality that civil rights movements have advocated for has not seemed to have taken any effect as the level of racism and discrimination was incredibly high at the time period. Unsurprisingly it was the poor section of the community that was suffering the most from it. The Asian-Americans were considered a model minority meaning many thought that they were smart. While this seemed to be a good thing the misconception had some negative consequences. As they were thought to be smart many felt the pressure of this because their help was sought, even though it was only a part of the American-Asian population that was successful. Plus many that needed assistance were denied and Asian-American students are expected to have greater achievements based on the stereotype. By this time Kochiyama was already involved heavily in supporting minority groups, having done so with famous figures such as Malcom X a few decades earlier. Seeing how the Asians were being treated she decided to make a speech to reach out to all Asian-Americans. The primary concern for Asian-Americans at the time was the heavy racism so that’s one piece that Kochiyama addresses in her speech. She mentions how the Asian-Americans should unite here under a Pan-Asian community in order to deal with segregation they are facing. She talked about all the good things about Asians but portrayed America as a bad place, trying to motivate more Asians to become active in fighting for their rights. It’s been 20 years since Kochiyama made her famous speech and new problems face the Asian-American community that would have required a new version of Kochiyama’s