Phillips Academy Affinity and Asian Pacific Islander Identity

Source of Pride or Source of Pain?
Asians and Pacific Islander Experience in Independent Schools
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
Seattle Girls’ School
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)

Agenda
 Conversation Norms
 Basic Definitions
 Making the Case for Affinity Groups
 Creating and Launching Affinity Groups
 Why for Asian and Pacific Americans?
 Going Forward

Conversation Norms
 Speak from the “I” perspective
 Disagree without being disagreeable
 Seek first to understand before being understood
 Criticize ideas, not people
 Work from your own learning edge and acknowledge
others may be coming from different places
 Demonstrate respect
 Be open-minded; seek clarification
 Take risks; lean into discomfort
 Assume positive regard
 Honor the spirit of confidentiality
 Remember the right to pass
 Ouch!
 Share air time

Basic Definitions
The term affinity group is used as a
bringing together of people who have an
identifier in common, e.g. race, gender,
religion, family status, etc. Affinity groups
are for individuals who identify as members
of the group and can speak to the
experience of being a member of the group
from the “I” perspective.

Basic Definitions
The term alliance group is used as a
bringing together of people who have a
common commitment to an identifier group,
e.g. race, gender, religion, family status,
etc. Alliance groups are for individuals who
identify as members of the group and/or as
people who support and stand in solidarity
with that group.

Basic Definitions
The term interest group is used as a
bringing together of people who want to
learn about, share, and engage in a special
interest, e.g. hobby, skill, topic, etc.
Interest groups are for individuals who want
to gather to teach, learn, and share.
Membership can be fluid and changing.

Why Affinity Groups Are Great
 Safety and Comfort to be
Authentic
 Affirmation
 Critical Mass
 Identity Socialization
 Building Resilience
 Preparing to Engage
Deeply with Other Groups
 Empowerment Toward
Action

Effect of Varying Identifications

Orientations Toward Ethnic Identity

Why Affinity Groups
Meet Resistance
 Unacknowledged Fear
of Assembly
 Unacknowledged
Resistance to
Empowerment
 Desire to Stay Ignorant
of Issues
 Privilege

Forms of Resistance
• False Parallels
• Inverting the Injustice
• Outright Dismissal
• Minimization
• Righteousness
• Colorblindness
• Jealousy

Stage 1: Identify the Need
 Gather data around the
school’s population
 Gather research on the
challenges groups face
 Gather research on the
benefit of affinity groups,
explicit conversations
 Gather data around need
and desire
 CONNECT TO YOUR
MISSION

Stage 2: Determine Format and
Definitions
 Affinity, Alliance, or Interest?
 Identities/Identifiers
 Timing
 Space
 Facilitators
 Group Goals or Mission
Statements
 Curriculum

Stage 3: Communicate and Invite
 Initial Communication from
Head
 Communicate the Need, the
What, the How, and the Who
 Communicate Definitions,
Goals, and Missions
 FAQs
 Faculty/Staff,
Parents/Guardians, Students

Stage 4: Facilitate Groups
 Identity Pride
 History
 Positive Change and
Activism
 Opportunities and
Challenges
 Strategies for Success
 Supporting Each Other

Stage 5: Wash, Rinse, Repeat
 Assess Effectiveness
 Make Improvements
 Re-Launch Every Year
 Utilize Student/Family Voice
 United Front

Possible Affinity Group Curriculum
 Culture Share
 Celebrations of
Holidays/Events
 Identity Exercises
 Current Events
 Movies
 Field Trips
 “What Do I Do If…”

Factors Leading to More Success
 Pride > Struggle
 Deflection of Blame
 Inclusive of Full Spectrum
 Who’s in the Room
 Youth Driven Curricula
 Opportunities to Share
 Collective Action

Factors Leading to Less Success
 Lack of Consistency
 Lack of Budget
 Lack of Curricula
 Reinforcement of
Stereotypes
 Chauvinism
 Adult Agenda
 Visitors and Gawkers

What Does Asian Pacific American Mean, Anyway?

An Artificial Construct

The Story of Asian Pacific America

History of Conflict

Asian Pacific American History
 1763 Filipinos settle Saint Malo
 1778 Chinese sailors land in Hawaii
 1820s Chinese immigration begins in earnest
 1865 The Central Pacific Railroad Co. recruits
Chinese workers for the transcontinental railroad
 1878 Chinese are ruled ineligible for naturalized
citizenship
 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is passed

Takao Ozawa vs United States

 1941 Japan air force attacked Pearl Harbor; FBI arrests
pro-Japanese community leaders
 1941-45 Filipino resistance movement, working closely
with U.S. Army, fights the Japanese invaders
 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive
Order 9066 on February 19, uprooting 100,000 people
of Japanese descent on the west coast to be sent to
Internment camps.
 1943-1945 Japanese Americans volunteer for the US
Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team and becomes
the highest decorated military unit in US history
 1946, the Luce–Celler Act of 1946 grants naturalization
opportunities to Filipino Americans and Indian Americans
(which included present-day Pakistanis and Bangladeshis)

 1956 Dalip Singh Saund is the first Asian (Sikh) to be elected for
Congress
 1962 Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaiʻi elected for the US Senate
 1965 Patsy T. Mink of Hawaiʻi becomes the first woman of color in
Congress.
 1965 Luck Wing serves four terms as the Mayor of Sledge
Mississippi, population 600
 1968 Term “Asian American” is coined as a part of the Asian
American Movement, a radical movement for social justice (Red
Guard)
 1971, Norman Y. Mineta elected mayor of San Jose, California;
Herbert Choy nominated supreme court justice.
 1974, George R. Ariyoshi elected governor of Hawaiʻi
 1975 More than 130,000 refugees enter the U.S. from Vietnam,
Kampuchea, and Laos as Communist governments are
established there following the end of the Indochina War.

Black Panthers and The Red Guard

Asian American History
 1976 Samuel Ichiye (S. I.) Hayakawa of California and
Spark Matsunaga of Hawaiʻi elected as US Senators
 1978 Ellison S. Onizuka becomes the first Asian American
astronaut
 1982 Vincent Chin is accused of being a Japanese
(being blamed for loss of jobs) and beaten to death.
 1987 First formal signing of the Proclamation of Asian
Pacific American Heritage Week by the White House
 1988 U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties
Act of 1988 apologizing for Japanese American
internment and provide reparations of $20,000 to each
victim
 1992 Korean businesses are looted and burned during the
LA Riots

Asian American History
 1992 Eugene Chung is football offensive lineman in the NFL
 1992, Hae Jong Kim elected Bishop of United Methodist Church
 1996 Gary Locke is elected as the first Chinese American governor
 1999 Gen. Eric Shinseki becomes the first Asian American U.S.
military chief of staff
 2000 Norman Y. Mineta becomes the first Asian American appointed
to the U.S. Cabinet
 2002 Yao Ming is the number one draft pick in the 2002 NBA draft
 2003 Ignatius C. Wang becomes a bishop of the Roman Catholic
Church
 2008 Tim Lincecum (half Filipino) a starting pitcher for the San
Francisco Giants, is selected as an All Star for the Major League All
Star Game

Emergent Themes
 The Perpetual Immigrant
 The Worker Not Leader
 Black or White or Neither?
 Weak as a Socio-Political Group
 Ethnically Separated

Myth of the Model Minority
 Overly Hard Working and Tireless
 Will Work Under Extreme Circumstances
 Quiet and Cooperative
 Serene, Smart, Resilient
 Doesn’t Seek the Limelight

Legacy of the Myth
 Outsourcing of Cheap Labor
 Orientalism in Health Care
 Tokenism and Minimalization
 Stress of Achievement
 Funneling into STEM Fields
 Where Are You From?

What Kind of API Are You?
 Southeast Asian
 South Asian
 Pacific Islander
 Multiracial
 Transracially Adopted
 International Student
 3rd Generation or Later
 Recent Immigrant
 Refugee

What Kind of API Am I?

Young Man, Promising Career, Lovely Wife

Young Family

My Story: Korea

Three daughters

Coming to America

Mrs. Connors

Mr. Hawley

MASP Counselor

Ted Allen

My Story: A New Path

What’s Your Story?

Going Forward

Presenter Information
6th Faculty and
Professional Outreach
Seattle Girls’ School
2706 S Jackson Street
Seattle WA 98144
(206) 805-6562
rlee@seattlegirlsschool.org
http://tiny.cc/rosettalee

Talking Points for Affinity Groups

“Affinity Groups” We Already Have
• Gendered Bathrooms
• Faculty Meetings
• Tracked Classes
• Financial Aid Allocation Meetings
• Sports Teams
• Divisions and Grades
• Casts of School Plays
• Faculty/Staff Rooms

Equality versus Equity
Everybody gets a shirt versus everybody
gets a shirt that fits.
Say you have 10 bottles of insulin and 10
people. Equality says you should give
one bottle to each person. Equity says
you should distribute the insulin evenly
among the three who are diabetic.
What is “fair”?

Conflation of Individual/Institutional

Privilege
“Privilege exists when one group has
something of value that is denied to others
simply because of the groups they belong
to, rather than because of anything they’ve
done or failed to do.”
[as described by Peggy McIntosh and quoted by Allan Johnson]
Privilege is SYSTEMIC. It drives the
systems that dominate our societies.

Situational Advantage
There are prime parking spots and seats
reserved for people with disabilities. People
with disabilities are often first to board
planes and other transportation vehicles.
These advantages are situational and do not
balance out systemic oppression.

Safety versus Comfort
Safety: I feel that, in this space, I can ask questions without
fear of judgment. I can voice my perspective and know that
I will be validated for the fact that that is my truth. Others
may challenge my ideas, but that challenge is in the spirit of
greater shared understanding and growth.
Comfort: I feel that, in this space, my reality will be agreed
with, validated, and unchallenged. I don’t have to explain
myself to be understood, and I don’t have to justify my
perspective, as everyone shares it.
In education, it is critical to have an environment where we
are always safe but not always comfortable...
SO THAT WE CAN LEARN AND GROW.

Phillips Academy Affinity and Asian Pacific Islander Identity

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