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celebration of asian american women

The 1st Annual Celebration of Asian American Women dinner took place in Pauley Ballroom on Friday, November 9 with the purpose of honoring the achievements of Asian American women. This event was hosted by Asian American Public Leaders and Asian Pacific American Theme Housing.

The evening began slowly with a long seating period and entertainment by UC Jazz and the Golden Overtones being moved up in the program to fill up this time. Dinner began with a request for the men present to show their appreciation for Asian American women by serving the women their food and drink. This gesture eliminated the need for a serving staff but received a mixed response from attendees because half the dinner guests were unexpectedly forced to work for their meal. Even amongst the women being served, there were some who felt the gesture was patronizing.

The purpose of the evening was found to be similarly ambiguous as dinner progressed. Speakers and performers covered subjects as varied as the need for Asian American bone marrow donors, Asian American political leaders, and Chinese folk dance. The variety of topics introduced caused the CAAW event to feel like an advertisement, a political platform, and a proponent of East Asian cultural preservation at different points during the evening, while failing to focus on empowering attendees. At the end of the event, attendees were left with an awareness of Asian American women in society but not the means to apply their new knowledge.

The speakers, dancers, and performers who took the stage during dinner showed the strength and diversity of Asian American women. The organizers of CAAW were able to bring together presenters with backgrounds in public service, activism and the non-profit sector to share their experiences and achievements as Asian American women.

San Francisco School Board Representative Jane Kim spoke about the grassroots campaign that helped her become the youngest elected official in San Francisco. Kim worked with students in San Francisco schools to develop youth leadership and civic engagement and served as the Youth Program Director at Chinatown Community Development Center before beginning her political career. A graduate of Stanford’s Asian American Studies program, Kim related experiences from her activist background and advised the activist community at UC Berkeley to find success through building community, building coalitions and knowing their own history.

Keynote speaker Julie Soo related her experiences growing up in a political San Franciscan family and attending UC Berkeley as a pure mathematics and statistics major. Soo serves as the statewide chair of the Democratic Party’s Asian Pacific Islander (API) Caucus. Speaker Jan Masoaka recently retired from her highly successful position as chief executive of Compass Point Nonprofit Services, a consulting firm serving nonprofit businesses. Masoaka applauded the politeness, sassiness and intelligence of Asian American women and noted the need for leaders of color in the Bay Area to address problems of poverty and health in minority communities.

A performance by spoken word artist Jennii Le proved to be one of the highlights of the evening. Jennii Le read powerful, emotionally charged poems about her Vietnamese roots. Le expressed the pain in the strained relationships between immigrants and their children and encouraged small girls to dream big. Le’s poems were especially moving, as many audience members shared her experiences of growing up in an immigrant family.

Theatre Rice performed a skit exploring identity and insecurity called “Counting Sheep,” in which a chance encounter at a coffee shop leads to a confrontation between two strangers that force them to face insecurities about aging, homosexuality, appearance, and loneliness.

The San Francisco Chinese Folk Dance Association performed the traditional dances of the Korean and Inner Mongolian minority groups in China with skill and precision but they seemed mismatched for CAAW in that this group was not related to honoring Asian American women.

Attendee Emily Wei said, “It was a very cute event. I think the event went well considering it was the first time for the event.”

CAAW was modeled after Black Women Appreciation Night, a dinner event hosted by African American fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha (APA) to thank African American women in the Cal community. The organizers of CAAW worked with APA in creating a similar event, but one that seeks to commemorate Asian American women as well as show appreciation for them.

CAAW organizer Mike Yen said, “The idea for CAAW has been around since last spring, but we started working on it this semester.” The student group Asian American Public Leaders was formed by the CAAW organizers when they realized the benefit of having student group status in putting on campus events such as CAAW. Future plans of AAPL include a mental health program that would serve Cal students.

Unfortunately, the evening was plagued by avoidable technical difficulties that led to the event starting almost an hour later than the scheduled time and lasting about two hours later than planned. A clip from “The Next Sunrise,” a documentary in progress about stereotypes faced by Asian American women, was seen but not heard due to problems with the sound system. A photograph slideshow of early Asian American immigrants was moved up in the program because the borrowed projector needed to be returned to its owner. These mistakes could be easily avoided in future events through better planning.

CAAW had an impressive array of student group sponsors such as the Teo-Chew Association and Vietnamese Student Association, but the noticeable lack of South Asian representation in presenters and audience members could also be improved for future events. Yen said, “We were a small group of organizers and it was the first time many of us worked in a student organization. We had a hard time contacting other student groups and generating interest in the event. We had to put on this event very quickly.”

The Celebration dinner ended with another gesture of appreciation for the women present. Male volunteers and organizers of the event gave each female audience members a single rose with more grace than when dinner had been served.

The 1st Annual Celebration of Asian American Women created an entertaining evening that discussed the frequently overlooked accomplishments of Asian American women. Future Celebrations of Asian American Women will hopefully continue to promote positive images of Asian American women and improve on achieving this goal.