Bridge 1.5 (May/June 1972)
"Bridge is published bi-monthly by the Basement Workshop, inc., an independent, no-profit, cultural organization of Asian Americans at 54 Elizabeth Street, New York, New York 10013.
Table of Contents:
Editorial: Must Foreign Students Come From Wealthy Families?
China Through the Boob Tube, by Bridge Staff
Chinese in the United States: A Vew from Peking Part II. Translated by Odoric Wou
Asian Students vs. University Control: The Confrontation at C.C.N.Y., by R. Takashi Yanagida. Report of a student protest at CCNY (later CUNY), where Asian students staged a three-day take-over of Goethals Hall, the building housing the Asian studies office starting March 25, 1972. While the protest started with a small number of students, it quickly grew to includes as many as 300 Asian, Black, and Puerto Rican students, who occuped the building for several days. The students had four demands, and the administration quickly acceded to three of the four demands, including the resignation of the then-chair of the Asian studies department, R.N. Varma. After additional protest, the university agreed to hire four new Asian studies faculty with a focus on Asian American Studies -- and to give students input in the hiring process.
An excerpt: "What the students wanted was a relevant program of studies that would eventually serve the needs and interests of average working people in the community. [...] The significance of these events at City College cannot be isolated from the background of the Asian students. In New York City there are perhaps 70,000 Chinese residing on the Lower East Side, including Chinatown proper. There are an additional 50,000 Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans and other Asians throughout the rest of the metropolitan area.
Most of the students from Chinatown who attend college commute to C.C.N.Y. Because of its tuition-free policy and its strong engineering and science programs, the college has become a route for Chinatown youth to gain middle-class privileges."
'Japan Inc.' vs. the U.S. A., by John Luter
The Story of the New York Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, by James T. Lee
The Kuomintang in Chinatown, by Victor Nee
Vancouver Chinatown: An Overview, by M. Michael Chao
The Arts: 'in the American Neighborhood': Cartoons by Morrie Turner, interview by Suzanne Joe
Excerpt: "The accompanying comic strips were specially created for Bridge Magazine by Morrie Turner, the nation's first Black syndicated cartoonist depicting ethnic minorities as they are. From blacks to Indians to Asians, Mr. Turner's 'Wee Pals' column has broken the stereotyped images of ethnic minorities in America. mr. Turner's 'George' marks the breakthrough of a cartoonist's portrayal of an Asian child as a regular column. [...]
Morrie Turner was born December 11, 1923, and raised in Oakland, California. Mr. Turner still lives in Oakland. He is married and has one son, also married. He completed high school but wishes he had gone to college. Mrs. Turner tries to stress the value of education by going to schools to talk to children. He teaches at Laney Junior College and the College of San Mateo, as he puts it, 'to maybe turn somebody on to cartooning.'
The Arts: On the Wings of the Great White Christian Bird. A review by Shawn H. Wong of Bitter Strength by Gunther Barth
The Arts: Flying Fox of Snow Mountain, Part II. A Novel of the Marial Arts by Chn Yung, translated by Robin Wu
