A Straight Ally's 2008 Agenda
As a Japanese American whose mom and family were placed behind barbed wire during World War II because they were Japanese American, I can understand how unfair it is when LGBT people are treated like they are all alike and face discrimination for something they cannot change.
During the movement to redress that unfair wartime incarceration, I was struck by the different ways supposed allies treated me when I went to ask for their help. Some sympathized, but were too busy to do anything. Others wanted to help, but expected me to do all of the work. Finally, a third group understood, wanted to help, and were willing to devote some of their own time and personal capital to help my family and community receive justice.
I aspire to be like the people in that third group. When Japanese Americans received an apology and a token compensation in 1988 (although Japanese Latin Americans are still pursuing redress, which is another story), I vowed to repay the kindness shown to me by finding others who were facing discrimination and helping them receive the same fairness my community had received.
The current types of discrimination faced by the LGBT community remind me of that faced by Asian Pacific Americans over the years. For that reason, I have devoted part of my spring semester Asian Pacific American Public Policy class at U MD each year to informing students about LGBT issues and helping them to see the importance of addressing the discrimination faced by all people, not just people like themselves.
Once again, we will start the class by listening to a forum on the latest updates from those fighting for domestic partnership benefits at U MD, and then go to Annapolis with Equality Maryland to observe how a group advocates for its own rights (as a professor, I cannot force anyone to participate or base my grade on participation, but some students participate on their own). During the rest of the semester, we will use the LGBT situation as a reference point when addressing the situation facing Asian Pacific Americans.
Each class is run in different ways, but each class provides an opportunity to bring social justice into the classroom (go to http://www.rethinkingschools.org and see how even mathematics can be taught using social justice themes). I hope that each student will raise this with their teachers, and each teacher will take it upon herself to think about how to bring social concern into the classroom.
Prof. Phil Tajitsu Nash
Asian American Studies Program
University of Maryland
Best of luck to everyone in the coming year!
Kevin
