September 13, 1998
For our second general meeting, we started off with a little bit of entertainment from our three lovely teaching assistants, Marques, Nhan, and Karen. They showed four or five different short skits, which dealt with the oppression that the Asian Americans went through during the early to mid 20th Century. I really enjoyed the skits. I was entertained and educated at the same time. Instead of just hearing the dates of the events and hearing what the events were, it was easier for me to understand by seeing the events acted out. Through the play, I felt the hate that the Asian Americans felt during that time and made me glad that I really haven’t experienced hate at all.
I learned about many of the laws that were passed in order to stop the Asian American people from achieving their “American Dream”. I was shocked to find out that there were laws against Asian Americans and how they were treated as “colored” children. I always thought that the only oppressed people in the United States were the African American people, and I was surprised at how the hate was also on Asian Americans. Our history books never told the whole story about our country and it made me wonder how many other people are not aware of the Asian American situation. The only event that I knew that the Asian Americans were oppressed was the internment camps during World War II. That is probably what other people think too. The lecture was very informative and interesting.