Review

Synopsis
This collection of essays "devoted to contemporary Asian American activism. . . . {includes such topics as} the rise in anti-Asian violence, the social construction of race and ethnicity, the politics of Asian American studies, and the 1992 Los Angeles uprising." (Libr J) Index.

From The Publisher
An important collection of essays that gives voice to contemporary Asian-American activism, offering thoughtful, radical analyses on a range of pressing issues. 

Reviews
From E. Hu-DeHart - Choice  
Along the model of The State of Native America, ed. by M.A. Jaimes {BRD 1992}, who provides a provocative afterword to this volume, this collection . .. is an important contribution to the literature on Asian Americans and is unique in its focus on activism, resistance, and identity. Contributors reflect much of the ethnic diversity among Asian Americans, e.g., Asians of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, East Indian, and Filipino descent, as well as gender, sexual, and generational diversity. . . . The resulting multiplicity of voices and perspectives are bound together by a progressive political agenda. Many of the essays are fun, exhilarating, and provocative as well as enlightening.
 
From Library Journal  
This second book in the ``Race and Resistance'' series is the first collection exclusively devoted to contemporary Asian American activism. It touches upon a range of pressing issues, including the rise in anti-Asian violence, the social construction of race and ethnicity, the politics of Asian American studies, and the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. The contributors reflect the diverse, often radical voices of labor organizers, artists, film critics, lawyers, writers, and historians. The themes covered here explore not only conventional topics of race and identity but also the empowerment of Asian Americans in the 1990s. The book further advocates an end to all forms of discrimination, from class and gender to geography and generation, within Asian American communities. For libraries with Asian American studies collections.-- Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., New York
 
From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly  
This collection of 18 essays by activists and academics should provoke recognition that discussions of race in the U.S. must go beyond the binary black-white model. Glenn Omatsu contributes a valuable overview of Asian-American activism, dating it to the 1968 student strike at San Francisco State University. In a stimulating essay exploring the Los Angeles riots, Bong Hwan Kim notes that simply trying to foster dialogue between blacks and Koreans to solve racial tension is useless without an agenda for social transformation. Sonia Shah observes that Asian women's groups have yet to develop a specifically Asian feminism, though Asian women are victimized by highly particular stereotypes of dress, beauty and accent. Jessica Hagedorn and David Mura argue that their hybrid identities can be a source of richness. Addressing mainstream politics, Milyoung Cho traces political battles in New York City's Chinatown, warning that race-based voting can be self-defeating. Other essays address protests against the musical, Miss Saigon , domestic violence and the future of Asian-American studies. Aguilar-San Juan is a former editor at South End Press. (Jan.)
 

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements
	A Note About Terms
	Foreword: Facing the Mirror
	Introduction: Linking the Issues: From Identity to Activism	1
I	Riots, Roses, and Racism: Some Burning Issues in the 1990s
1	The 'Four Prisons' and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s	19
2	Between Black and White: An Interview with Bong Hwan Kim	71
3	America's First Multiethnic 'Riots'	101
4	Roses, Rites and Racism: Interview with Sophea Mouth	119
5	When Know-Nothings Speak English Only: Analyzing Irish and Cambodian Struggles for Community Development and Educational Equity	125
6	Presenting the Blue Goddess: Toward a National, Pan-Asian Feminist Agenda	147
II	Where Are You from? When Are You Going Back?: Exploring Race and Identity
7	Seeing Yellow: Asian Identities in Film and Video	161
8	The Exile Within/The Question of Identity	173
9	A Shift in Power, A Sea Change in the Arts: Asian American Constructions	183
10	The Predicament of Filipinos in the United States: 'Where Are You From? When Are You Going Back?'	205
11	Is the Ethnic 'Authentic' in the Diaspora?	219
12	Smells Like Racism: A Plan for Mobilizing Against Anti-Asian Bias	235
III	The Heat Is on: Asian Americans on the Road to Empowerment
13	Overcoming our Legacy as Cheap Labor, Scabs, and Model Minorities: Asian Activists Fight for Community Empowerment	253
14	The Heat is On Miss Saigon Coalition: Organizing Across Race and Sexuality	275
15	Identity in Action: A Filipino American's Perspective	295
16	Holding Up More Than Half the Heavens: Domestic Violence in Our Communities, A Call for Justice	321
17	Building An Asian Pacific Labor Alliance: A New Chapter in Our History	335
18	Asian American Studies: Reevaluating for the 1990s	351
	Afterword: Liberating Race	365
	Index	373
	About the Contributors	391
	About South End Press	395