#seeding change

[rainingmusic]

Dan Pound - Spiral Dance http://www.danpound.com/

[abackwardmap]

Hi, it would mean a lot to me if you could take a second to read this! 

This year, thanks to the Seeding Change Summer Fellowship, I will be spending my summer working closely with Chinatown Community for Equitable Development (CCED), a grassroots, volunteer-run organization that seeks to unite and empower the residents of a quickly gentrifying Los Angeles Chinatown.

I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, and have spent many weekends making the short journey to Chinatown for dim sum, getting the odd hair cut, and restocking my family's restaurant supplies. As I’ve grown up, I've come to understand things about this city: it isn’t purely Chinese, the local businesses here work long and hard, and many Asian Americans in my community have seemed to forget about it and its rich history. As developers come in, many long-time businesses have been forced to close; residents (97% of whom are tenants) have begun to see their rents rise to a price that they can no longer afford. Families are losing both their homes and their sources of income – and no one seems to be listening to them.

I have watched my own parents face discrimination and bullying  because of their inability to speak English fluently. I’ve seen shame and embarrassment blatant on my mother’s face as she silenced herself from asking any questions, or defending her actions.  It wasn’t until I was much older when I realized that I could use my own privilege, as an educated, second generation Asian American, to fight back the people who have only pushed around my parents and many others like her. 

CCED works hard to lift up the voices and concerns of people like my parents, who have been all but erased in this agenda of gentrification.  Their concerns need to be at the forefront in this period of change. We need all the help we can to ensure that we continue the work that we do. As a fellow, I am dedicating my full time to CCED, and hope that you can support me by donating $25 to the fellowship that allows me to fully concentrate on the work I am doing for, and with, the Chinatown community. Any amount counts and every donation is helpful! The total amount will go: one-thirds towards continuing the fellowship next year, one-thirds to CCED, and one-thirds towards a reconvening in SF at the end of Summer. THANK YOU!!

[allthatremainsislnl]

seeding change fellowship reflection: June 30 - July 3, 2014

This week at the Chinese Progressive Association - San Francisco, I experienced various emotions from the work I was doing and the conversations I engaged with. I met with the supervisors and fellows for our respective projects for the summer to look at the goals, outcomes, and create a timeline for process. I also did street outreach in the Excelsior district to gather pledge card signatures in support of CPA’s org-wide summer campaigns – increasing the minimum wage to $15/hr in four years and the anti-speculation tax. Lastly, we also participated in an information exchange with a couple of organizations involved in the Bad Apple protest that we went to afterwards, where I learned about the ways that Apple has been violating the rights of workers and students in China, Philippines, and the U.S

At the Apple exchange, an organizer from Hong Kong said something that made me re-see the importance and intention of outreaching. She said that it would be great if as a result of this protest, Apple changed their practices like allowing security guards to unionize as well or dropping the security firm that is currently subcontracted by the stores. However, the main goal is to change the public’s view so that they will speak out and the stores/management will listen to what the public has to say. It was really interesting because it wasn’t something that I necessarily thought about – I saw them as mutually exclusive.

The week started off challenging because I learned that I felt challenged by the constraints I have created for myself. This showed up in my outreaching that I did my first week, participating in protests, and speaking Cantonese. I remembered what Linda said at the grassroots fundraising training – that my belief in the cause has to be greater than my fear. I re-learned that my fear was larger than my vision. In attending my second protest, I felt the same feelings of being uncomfortable in the beginning and feeling like I was a fish in a fishbowl from people looking and taking photos of us. As time went on in both, I felt better because I kept the vision and intention of the protest at the forefront and felt the solidarity with the other people. I learned that I needed to shift my ingrained internalizations of being seen as a quiet Asian American womxn.   

At the same time, I experienced feelings of frustration, embarrassment, and shame at being able to understand Cantonese, but could only speak a little. I am missing a lot of vocabulary and connecting words and practicing Cantonese this week brought up the uncomfortable feelings that made me feel stressed and defeated. I see language as an integral part of doing work within the Asian immigrant community and not being able to communicate, makes me feel separate. In those moments, I learned that my fear of messing up and not being able to curl my tongue and replicate what I could hear and understand prevented me from wanting to try.

Something that organizer, Ken, said during our reflection session resonated with me. He told us, “the point of organizing is for people to take risks. You may not win the campaign and workers may not get a single cent from their back wages. Even though there are tangible costs of speaking out, we still want to push them so that they reach their full potential as leaders.” I took what he said about the importance of risk taking with me on Thursday when we did street outreach for the second time. This week I felt less afraid – instead of ending my rap with asking, “do you support this and can you sign this pledge card?” I asked if they relate to the campaign issues and if they have any questions. I pushed myself to take a risk in asking open-ended questions even though it meant opening the window to be challenged or be asked a question I don’t know the answer to, all of which usually promotes nervousness. However, I reminded myself that outreach is about building relationships, which is important in building the movement.

For the coming week and I imagine for many weeks after this fellowship, the advice I want to give to myself is to be patient with my process and ground myself in the quote by Mary Anne Radmacher: “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”

[allthatremainsislnl]

http://www.seeding-change.org

This summer, I have been given the opportunity to be a part of the National Fellowship Program for Asian American Organizing, launched this year through the Seeding Change program: A Center for Asian American Movement Building. Coordinated by the Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco Chinatown, the program trains and cultivates young Asian American activists to be organizers and do movement building work to develop the power of working class Asian immigrant communities. Along with 16 other fellows, we are placed at host sites around the country learning about the issues faced within the communities through on the ground grassroots community organizing, participating in weekly political education trainings, and engaging in reflection sessions.  

Applying to the fellowship came at a time when I couldn’t shake the strong pull yet anxiousness at the thought of doing work in this community. Over the past couple of years, I have been doing mostly capacity building and direct service in predominately black/brown communities, which was important, but it didn’t change systems or build collective power. I saw this as an opportunity to get back to the roots of how I got politicized and reconnect to what really grounds me in this work - my great grandma/grandma/mama’s struggles and resilience, growing up in a low-income single mama household and immigrant family, understanding my hxstory as an Asian American (specifically Chinese American) womxn of color, and my intersecting identities. 

As a Fellow, I’m able to learn the necessary and tangible skills to do systems change work and sharpen the lens that I view the world. I’m also furthering my personal development – continuing to learn about myself, step out of my comfort zone, and to gain the confidence in myself to do this work in this community as an Asian American womxn with particular family experiences. The skills I am gaining has allowed me to build upon my current foundation so that I can better serve the communities I am a part of and work towards collective community healing. Lastly, I’m finding new ways of integrating movement-building skills with the personal empowerment/transformation of individuals.

It is said, “the revolution will not be funded.” This is why we’re asking our communities for support because launching a new national fellowship program that is prioritizing what is needed for the movement rather than what is fundable is expensive. My goal is to raise $400. If you support the intentions of this fellowship program and believe in the power of young people and the importance of movement building, then please consider donating. With your donation, you’ll be: 1) supporting me and investing in my growth, and 2) furthering a movement where people can live wholly and with dignity. I would be really appreciative of any you are able to give. 

CLICK THE LINK to DONATE! <3