Gidra 1.7
- Asian American Studies Conference. by Colin Watanabe
- Issei Centenial. by Jim Matsuoka
- Easy Rider: A True Episode. A serious account of a hate crime against two Asian American hitchhikers in a midwestern city.
- "Aion: an Asian American Quarterly." An announcement about the creation of Aion, an Asian-American themed literary journal.
- Okinawa. Unsigned. An account of a meeting with political figure from Japan on the topic of the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.
- "Shh! A Nisei is Speaking." by Mrs. Mary Tani. A response to the controversy over Bill Hosokawa's recently-published memoir, Nisei: the Quiet American. Letters had been circulating in other Japanese-American magazines (especially Pacific Citizen); here the debate is introduced to the readers of Gidra.
- "I am Curious [Yellow?]." by Violet Rabaya. A personal essay on Filipino identity -- which asks whether and how the Filipino community should be understood as "Asian American." Reprinted in Roots: An Asian American Reader (1971).
Excerpt from Violet Rabaya:
"It is very difficult to describe my plight. Being raised in a white society and having acquired white 'habits' is difficult enough to cope with when attempting to find pride in one's ancestry, but even more difficult is the alienation I find among my own people (if I may be so liberal as to include myself in the oriental race).
"I have found that the Filipino oriental has three basic differences when comparing him with other 'typical orientals,' that is, the Japanese and Chinese. First of all, as the term oriental has been interpreted by most to mean peoples of yellow skin, the Filipino is not yellow, but brown. Secondly, the heritage of the Filipino has definite and pronounced Spanish colonial influences, which have nearly obliteratred most Asian customs associated with orientals. And thirdly, the sense of unity among Filipinos, where its most needed, precisely within the popel themselves, is not strong.
[...]
"Japanese and Chinese are at once categorized as oriental, but not so the Filipino. Whenever anyone in this society thinks 'what is an oriental?' the answer immedially comes back Chinese or Japanese, maybe Korean, that is, unless one is a Filipino. This failure of inclusion of the Filipino is, of course, unconscious to the non-oriental and probably at least partially understandable, since most non-orientals care little to make distinctions when referring to orientals, or have a profound stupidity and general lack of knowledge converning the oriental.
- "The Emergence of Yellow Power in America." By Amy Uyematsu.
A serious consideration of the concept of a "Yellow Power" movement modeled on the Black Power movement. Stokely Carmichael is cited; Uyematsu walks through issues facing Asian American activists, including self-hatred, assimilation, the model minority myth, and the business orientation of the Asian community at that time. Reprinted in Roots: An Asian American Reader (1971)
Excerpt from Amy Uyematsu's "The Emergence of Yellow Power in America":
Column: "The Warren Report" (Warren Furutani)"Asian Americans can no longer afford to watch the black‐and‐white struggle from the sidelines. They have their own cause to fight, since they are also victims–with less visible scars–of the white institutionalized racism. A yellow movement has been set into motion by the black power movement. Addressing itself to the unique problems of Asian Americans, this "yellow power" movement is relevant to the black power movement in that both are part of the Third World struggle to liberate all colored people. The yellow power movement has been motivated largely by the problem of self‐identity in Asian Americans. The psychological focus of this movement is vital, for Asian Americans suffer the critical mental crises of having "integrated" into American society–
"No person can be healthy, complete, and mature if he must deny a part of himself; this is what "integration" has required so far.‐Stokely Carmichael & Charles V. Hamilton
"The Asian Americans' current position in America is not viewed as a social problem. Having achieved middle‐class incomes while presenting no real threat in numbers to the white majority, the main body of Asian Americans (namely, the Japanese and the Chinese) have received the token acceptance of white America. Precisely because Asian Americans have become economically secure, do they face serious identity problems. Fully committed to a system that subordinates them on the basis of non‐whiteness, Asian Americans still try to gain complete acceptance by denying their yellowness. They have become white in every respect but color. However, the subtle but prevailing racial prejudice that "yellows" experience restricts them to the margins of the white world. Asian Americans have assumed white identities, that is, the values and attitudes of the majority of Americans. Now they are beginning to realize that this nation is a "White democracy" and that yellow people have a mistaken identity.
"Within the past two years, the "yellow power" movement has developed as a direct outgrowth of the "black power" movement. The "black power" movement caused many Asian Americans to question themselves. "Yellow power" is just now at the stage of "an articulated mood rather than a program‐disillusionment and alienation from white America and independence, race pride, and self‐respect." Yellow consciousness is the immediate goal of concerned Asian Americans. In the process of Americanization, Asians have tried to transform themselves into white men‐both mentally and physically. Mentally, they have adjusted to the white man's culture by giving up their own languages, customs, histories, and cultural values. They have adopted the "American way of life" only to discover that this is not enough. (Emma Gee)
Column: Mellow Yellow (R. Wu)
Poems
- "Introspect" by Joyce Sakamoto
- "To be yellow" by George
- "An Oriental in Search of a Soul: A Revelation in Three Parts." By Violet Rabaya
http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-297-7/