Model Minority Mutiny: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Center Our Racial Identities and Solidarities
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Saturday, Jul. 16 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Ends: Saturday, Jul. 16 5:15 PM (Eastern)
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders continue to be used as a wedge for racial justice and stereotyped as the model minority. Despite this, people are standing up, taking action and organizing to advance worker, immigrant and civil rights. Join us for a discussion about the opportunities and challenges facing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in movements for racial justice. How are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders amplifying their racial identities especially in a time of demographic change? How are they asserting and centering their solidarities with other communities of color including with the movement for Black lives and the movement led by undocumented youth?
Moderator
Gregory Cendana
Strategist, politico and coalition builder Gregory Cendana is the first openly gay and youngest-ever Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Institute for Asian Pacific American Leadership & Advancement. He also serves as the Chair of National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, as Treasurer for the Labor Coalition for Community Action and is the youngest General Board member of the AFL-CIO. Gregory has been named one of Washington DC’s most influential 40-and-under young leaders, one of the 30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30 & the “Future of DC Politics”. Previously, he served as President of the United States Student Association (USSA), where he played an integral role in the passage of the Student Aid & Fiscal Responsibility Act and Healthcare & Education Reconciliation Act. In his spare time, Gregory enjoys singing karaoke, choreographing dances and trying to cook. Be a part of his journey by following him on twitter at @GregoryCendana.
Other sessions: Uniting and Mobilizing Communities of Color, Millennials and Working People in 2016 [Sponsored Panel], Moving Beyond Brogressives: Ensuring Economic Justice Includes Reproductive Justice, How to Have a Conversation About Race Without Everyone Running Out of the Room
Panelists
Deepa Iyer
Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American activist, writer, and lawyer. Deepa is currently the Senior Fellow at the Center for Social Inclusion where she provides analysis, commentary and scholarship on equity and solidarity in America’s changing racial landscape.
In November 2015, Iyer published her first book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (The New Press). Iyer previously served as the Executive Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) for nearly a decade.