Third World, Second Thoughts
by annie cho40 years after its occurrence, the TWLF movement still inspires activism
Around this time last year, I didn’t know what third world Liberation Front was really about. And honestly, I wasn’t interested in knowing the details. Yes, I heard that it was a strike that created Ethnic Studies, but why should that have mattered to me? I had no intention of becoming an Ethnic Studies major.
My initial understanding of twLF was simply factual, another set of factoids to memorize alongside names and dates in a history book. The Afro-American Studies Union, the Mexican-American Student Confederation, and Asian American Political Alliance joined forces to create a Third World Liberation Front in the beginning of 1969. The front began picketing on all major entrances of the UC Berkeley campus, as well as on Bancroft and Telegraph. After months of protests, an Ethnic Studies department with was formed and began operating on October of the same year.
I first found it strange that people had to fight for Ethnic Studies in the first place at a place like UC Berkeley. I understood Cal as a diverse place, so why didn’t its curriculum and courses reflect that? And why were the twLF strikes so important?
Looking back, I think I had difficulty understanding the importance of twLF because I had taken my knowledge of my culture for granted. I was a first-generation immigrant, so perhaps I thought that something like Ethnic Studies was not necessary. I grew up knowing a lot about my native culture; my parents insisted that my brother and I know the ‘old’ ways, even though it was inevitable that with time, we would become more American than Korean. But I’ve come to believe that all students have a right to learn about different ethnic groups and cultures on a campus that claims to be diverse.
Last year, I attended some of the festivities of the 39th anniversary of twLF, and I began to understand. twLF is important because it was a collective effort of underrepresented groups that came together to fight for something that was lacking on the UC Berkeley campus. I went to an inter-generational dinner and heard ‘badass’ activists from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s speak about their experiences, and I was inspired. Even if I didn’t fully realize the value of having an Ethnic Studies department on campus, it was clear to me that if some of these people cared enough to spend multiple nights in prison for a cause and cared enough to share their experiences years after, twLF had a greater importance than I could understand at that point.
This year, I can say with certainty that I have a greater understanding and appreciation for twLF. Though I still have no plans to become an Ethnic Studies major, I attended the 40th anniversary events of this year with piqued interest. The inter-generational talks, events put on by ethnic groups on campus, rallies on Sproul Plaza—they had new meaning this year because I understood what we were celebrating -- the triumphs of those who pushed to have Ethnic Studies at Cal.
As these heroes in the past and twLF become ancient history, it becomes all the more important to remember what the twLF strikers sacrificed in order to fight for what they believed in. That is why the anniversary celebrations persist today, 40 years later, and why they must continue to go on. After all, what’s to stop us from taking the right to study our own minority cultures for granted? Who will remember leaders like Richard Aoki, who passed away a few weeks ago?
Now, about a year and a half after stepping onto the UC Berkeley campus as a student, I see people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and I see that there is a correlation to the diverse student body and the courses of study available on campus.
However, the battle for people of color is definitely not over. Currently, the fight for foreign languages continues, as API language programs are threatened as the UC system faces budget cuts. At an event earlier this year called Language Matters, the keynote speaker said in his address that though Berkeley has a reputation for being a progressive campus, it is not because the students themselves are innately activists or that Berkeley accepts progressive students, but rather because students have to fight for what they want. twLF serves as a reminder students can stand up for what they believe in and instigate real change on this campus.