hardboiled

building coalitions within the southeast asian community

SASC Benefit Concert

The Fall of Saigon in 1975 marked the beginning of the mass exodus of refugees by the hundreds of thousands by boat and land into neighboring countries. After spending months or even years in refugee camps, many Southeast Asian refugees were resettled in places like the United States, Canada, France, Australia and other countries around the world. Southeast Asian refugees who were eventually resettled in the United States faced many obstacles transitioning from their way of life in the homeland to the way of life in the United States. Southeast Asian refugees would have to start from scratch to rebuild their lives and communities in a foreign environment in which they did not understand the language or culture. The struggle to adapt to the American way of life while retaining traditional culture and values continues to this very day for Southeast Asian refugees and their children as the generational gaps widen. There is hope for the Southeast Asian communities, however, as coalitions are being built within the community to not only educate one another, but also empower the youth and combat issues like deportation, poor health, gangs and other issues that affects the community.

An example of such a coalition is Berkeley's Southeast Asian Student Coalition (SASC), which was formed in the year 2000 "to empower the Southeast Asian American community." SASC's mission statement is "To unite Southeast Asian communities, particularly those bounded by the historical context of the Viet Nam War, and to address the social injustices, the economic inequalities, and political underrepresentation that they face." The founders of SASC understood that change and representation of the Southeast Asian community would only happen with the building and maintaining of coalitions within the community. In order to make this a reality, SASC decided to target the youth within the Southeast Asian community by planning and bringing students to what has now become an annual Summer Institute (SI). According to Muttika Chaturabul, Operations Co-Chair of SASC, "SASC SI is a five day event that brings high school students to UC Berkeley to engage in an intellectual development of cultural and community identity through a Southeast Asian American perspective, while at the same time, learning about higher education opportunities."

Current SASC Summer Institute Co-Director, Danielle Duong expressed the importance of the program:

"Southeast Asian American students have been historically underrepresented in higher education. SASC Summer Institute strives to address this issue by introducing high school students to the higher education experience and connecting them to resources and information that will help them navigate through the college application process. Additionally, SASC Summer Institute is committed to expanding students' knowledge base and understanding of Southeast Asian history and culture in hopes of inspiring students to take their own initiative to create positive changes in their communities at home."

Thus, not only are the Southeast Asian youth exposed to the college environment, but they are also learning about their history, one that is not discussed in US history textbooks. Stephanie Yang, Public Relations Chairperson for SASC, reflected upon her experience during the Summer Institute: "As a past SASC SI mentee, participating in SASC was the turning point when it came to embracing my culture and recognizing all the struggles the Southeast Asian communities had to go through." Yang's story is only one of the many success stories that have come from the SASC Summer Institute as many former mentees have become the leaders that the SASC founders had hoped they would be. What is also great about the SASC Summer Institute is that it is an all-expense-paid program for the participants. However, that means it requires a lot of fundraising to make it happen, which brings us to the SASC Benefit Concert.

This year's SASC Benefit Concert, entitled "Do or Diaspora: Keep Our Communities Together," took place on Saturday, April 5, 2008 in Heller Lounge (Multicultural Center). According to Maurice Seaty, Public Relations Chairperson for SASC, "'Do or Diaspora' means that as a community, not just Southeast Asians, but for Latinos, Filipinos, etc. to come together and take a stance against deportation and the dispersal of our families across the world." Thus, as the title of the event suggests, either we come together and "Do" something as a community to stop deportation or "Diaspora" will continue and our families will be moved all over the world.

As a fundraising event, donations were collected upon entry into Heller Lounge, but no one was turned away for lack of funds. In addition to the donation boxes, "Do or Diaspora" t-shirts were sold, along with personalized tote bags and other crafts made by SASC members. Yours truly also had the privilege of selling Vietnamese sandwiches and water to the hungry and thirsty folks attending the event.

Since it was a benefit concert, let's move on to recap the entertainment that the people in attendance enjoyed that night. There were traditional cultural performances by both the Pilipino American Alliance and Berkeley Cambodian Student Association. The Vietnamese Student Association also performed a "modern lyrical" piece from their cultural show. Musical performances featured Cable Car Stars, a hip-hop group that states, "Hip-Hop ain't about all that nonsense you see on TV or hear on the radio. Real Hip-Hop comes from the soul"; and Jive Theory, a group that "can be noted as somewhere in between Hip Hop/Jazz/Funk/Soul/Experimental/Good." The Southeast Asian Young Leaders (SEAYL), comprised of high schoolers from Richmond and other parts of the East Bay, also performed. SASC also has a mentorship program with SEAYL, so it was wonderful to see both college and high school students working together for such a great cause. Laura Thammavong, a third-year Cal student observed, "It was amazing to see Southeast Asian youth being inspired to make a difference for themselves and in their community." There was also dancing from "New City," a group of dancers from the Bay Area and Sacramento with the motto of "If you want to dance, Just Dance. It doesn't matter how you do it, Just Dance." And if that wasn't enough entertainment, there were also many spoken word performances that were not only powerful, but also inspiring and thought-provoking. Thidamony Cheas, a Cal alum summed up the night by stating, "The SASC Benefit Concert was very empowering, it was nice to see the unity within the Southeast Asian community and the passion, talent, and art in performers and the audience that night."

SASC understands the importance of coalition building not only within the Southeast Asian community, but also within other communities of color that face similar challenges. Seaty felt that the highlight of the night for him was "the coalition of communities and spreading awareness and giving support, it wasn't just about fundraising, but also enjoying the night."