Donate to SASC Summer Institute 2013
Please donate to SASC SI here.
The Southeast Asian Student Coalition’s (SASC) mission is:
“To unite Southeast Asian Communities, particularly those bounded by the historical context of the Viet Nam War, and to address the economic inequalities, social injustices, and political under-representation that they face.”
SI is an all-expense paid, five-day educational program hosted at UC Berkeley that connects high school students and community members nationwide. We bring 36 high school students from all over the country to address Southeast Asian underrepresentation in higher education and low recruitment and retention rates.
20% of US population DO NOT have a high school diploma
20% of Asian Americans DO NOT have a high school diploma
Compare this to
38% of Vietnamese Americans, 50% of Laotian Americans,
54% of Cambodian Americans, 60% of Hmong Americans
DO NOT HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA
The US National Average for a Bachelors Degree:28.8%
US National Average for Asian Americans for a Bachelors Degree: 44%
While 7.5% of Hmong Americans and 9.4% of Laotian Americans have a Bachelor’s Degree.
By connecting students to their culture and history, we aim to foster young leaders and empower students to create social change.
This year we are all proud of our very own Sevly Snguon as he runs as a senate candidate for the ASUC, the largest autonomous student government in the nation.
Sevly currently serves as REACH!’s Co-Director this year and has continually demonstrated his commitment to social justice by being a strong advocate for his community. As a potential Senator, he aims to promote student activism and professional development through the resources of the ASUC.If all goes well, he will be the ASUC’s second Cambodian-American Senator. You can stay updated with Sevly’s progress by checking out his Facebook Page Sevly Snguon for ASUC Senate!
Let’s all ensure Sevly gets into Senate next year and vote for him here as our #1 vote on April 9th-11th.
The Cambodian brotha’ Sevly Snguon doing werk! Sevly also serves as the chair for SASC’s Southeast Asian Prisoner Outreach Program (SEAPOP).
#SouthBayFirstThursdays + Immigration Reform : Asian Pacific Islanders Matter Too
What: South Bay First Thursday presents Immigration Reform: Asian Pacific Islanders Matter too
Where: 2400 Moorpark Ave. #210, San Jose, 95128
When: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Facebook Event: Immigration Reform: Asian Pacific Islanders Matter Too
“We Southeast Asians are a fighting people”
“Jonathan Tran, a HIP [Hmong Innovating Politics] organizer who’s also with the Southeast Asian Action Resource Center, thanked the district staff for working so hard on a plan that is so flawed. “To the board members who have not stood up to this terrible process…we Southeast Asians are a fighting people….because we are a people who have been denied peace,” he said. We want to work alongside you. Instead of the opportunity to uplift communities, you have again denied our communities peace.”
Source: Sacramento Press
Hmong Clothes: The New Trend
The Hmong, a hill tribe that has its roots in the mountainous areas of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The most current and significant event that greatly changed the lives of the Hmong was our participation in the Vietnam War. After the United States lost the war, the Hmong were abandoned to their own fate and was faced with persecution by the communist government of Vietnam. Villages were torched, men, women, and children were killed, and all their possessions were lost. There was no way out of this persecution but to run and leave the jungles of Laos, so they made their way to Thailand to seek refuge. Through the help of some American government programs, many of the Hmong were relocated. Some went to France, others to Argentina, but many came to the United States. Being an American born Hmong child, I tend to forget about the Hmong, or Miao, that live in China. Except, that isn’t the only thing forgotten as well. Slowly, but surely, many of the Hmong-American born are losing the knowledge to our very rich culture. I myself am one of those Hmong-American born.
After the war, the Hmong were easily forgotten by the mainstream world. The deeds that Hmong soldiers had performed during the war was left to gather dust and most definitely to be forgotten. From there the Hmong tried their best to assimilate into modern society and, at the same time, maintain their cultural practices which were, at times, very difficult to do. One of those very things that the Hmong are slowly losing is the skill to sew textiles, or paj ntaub. Back when many of the Hmong lived in villages, sewing was a necessary skill for the wives and daughters to know because had they not known how to sew, then the family would be without clothes. However, in this day and age, it’s much easier to produce clothes without the need to hand sew everything with one’s own hands. A lot of the clothes and embroidery sewn by the Hmong is very colorful and intricate and it varies from region to region where the Hmong live.
“A love poem dedicated to the woman of my life”
Music by Matthew Vista
Singing by HoHoua Xiong www.youtube.com/user/hohouaxiong
Audio Editing: William Wong
Video Editing: Antony Marshall
Shout outs to UC Davis SAFE Southeast Asian Furthering Education for taking part in the videoThis is pretty damn amazing.
Mind officially blown.
The homie Fong tho.
Source: fongtranpoetry
UC Berkeley, Southeast Asian Student Coalition (SASC) alumni, Laotian bboy brotha’ Binly aka Lancer featured by Strife TV’s Coupe Street team.
Reflections on the 2012 APIASF Higher Education Summit
By Charles Nguyen
My experience at the 2012 APIASF Higher Education Summit has inspired me more than I had anticipated. As a Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Thai American, I was well aware of the poor higher education attainment rates and severe lack of role models in professional degrees among Southeast Asians reflected in my community. However, the shocking data presented in the CARE report made me realize how seriously disadvantaged Southeast Asians were in higher education. For instance, I was appalled to learn that 42.9% of Cambodian-Americans who enrolled in college did not complete a degree. Of the rest who did earn a degree, only 7.6% earned an advanced degree. The data was even more alarming for other ethnic groups.
I realized the model minority myth is still as present as ever and continues to render minority groups invisible from the help they need and deserve. Because of the tendency to aggregate all Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) ethnic groups under one umbrella, the problems and realities AAPIs face are left unaddressed and unseen. As a result, deserving AAPIs are not included in “minority” descriptions and receive significantly less funding for scholarships and AAPI serving schools, and left out of programs designed to help disadvantaged groups.
Southeast Asian Culture Teacher
So next week I start working as a teacher for the Socio-Economic Center for Southeast Asians as a teacher for the summer program. It will be interesting, I have to handle 30 kids and try my best to teach them what I know.
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately and this is like studying for history. I have so much to retain.
I’ll be coming in with a Lao, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Cambodian outfit to show the children. I have a Lao and Hmong outfit I can borrow from LCC but the Khmer and Viet one I might have to ask around. This should be fun, I’m seriously going to walk into work with an outfit on and switch every hour. Trying to get some photos before Summer is over. I want to incorporate a cooking class as well. Maybe make some papaya salad or pho, something along that line.
Wooo! Can’t wait!
