Commentary: Seize the time again … again!
nwasianweekly.com | May 6th 2011
By Frank Irigon
For Northwest Asian Weekly
On Feb. 9 and March 2, 1971, the Oriental Student Union, led by co-chairs Alan
Sugiyama and Mike Tagawa, led demonstrations at Seattle Central Community
College, closing the district’s administration building to protest the lack of
Asian American administrators at the multiethnic college.
“If there are no Asian administrators working, there will be no one working,”
Sugiyama declared at the beginning of the peaceful demonstrations.
Sugiyama pointed out that highly qualified Asian Americans applied for top jobs
at the college, but were consistently not hired or passed over for promotions
by lesser-qualified whites. Because of these injustices, the Oriental Student
Union decided to seize the time and correct these injustices by holding
peaceful demonstrations.
These demonstrations brought together the Black Panthers, Brown Berets,
American Indian Students Association, Young Socialists, and sympathetic white
students in support of the Asian American demonstrators and their demands.
Ironically, the top administrator at the college was an African American who,
instead of being a harbinger for change, was an opponent of it. He decided that
in no way was he going to capitulate to the demands of the Oriental Student
Union. Instead, he was going to fight them.
These demonstrations were a portent of things to come in the metamorphosis of
Seattle’s Asian American community in the coming decades.
These demonstrations turned a community that chose to let things slide and not
cause waves, into a community dedicated to direct action to change things for
the better. Once baptized in the waters of civil disobedience and taking it to
the streets, the Asian American community was emboldened to challenge the
status quo. They were no longer going to be the model minority. They were going
to stand up and be counted among the brothers and sisters who clamored for
peace and social justice.
Out of the cauldron of the demonstrations at Seattle Central Community College
arose many more direct action activities, from the founding of the Pacific
Northwest’s truly Pan-Asian community newspaper, the Asian Family Affair, to
the Kingdome demonstration. The former published news that was important to the
Asian American community that the local media wouldn’t report. The latter
prevented loss of the character of the International District/Chinatown due to
construction of the Kingdome and kept it as a neighborhood for its primarily
Asian elderly residents.
In the end, though it didn’t happen immediately, the Seattle Community College
District appointed an Asian American, Dr. Peter Ku, as its president and later
as its chancellor. Presently, Asian American Mark Matsui is the president of
North Seattle Community College.
But there is room for improvement, and not just on this campus, but at other
community and technical colleges in the state of Washington.
In the face of today’s economic challenges and while the burden of paying for
the state’s financial solvency is falling on the backs of the poor, the middle
class, retirees, and labor unions’ right to organize, isn’t it time for all of
us to seize the time, again? ♦
This commentary was originally printed in the March issue of Puget Sound
Alliance for Retired Americans. It has been reprinted here with permission.
Frank Irigon has had various social service leadership positions related to
International District and Asian/Pacific Islander issues. He was co-founder of
Asian Family Affair and has served as executive director of Washington Asian
Pacific Islander Families Against Substance Abuse.
He can be reached at [email protected].
Original Page:
http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2011/05/commentary-seize-the-time-again-%E2%80%A6-again/
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