"WE DON'T GIVE ENOUGH HUGS": FREEDOM DREAMING ACROSS GENERATIONS
“WE DON’T GIVE ENOUGH HUGS”: FREEDOM DREAMING ACROSS GENERATIONS
By Yvonne Y. Kwan
““We don’t give enough hugs—not just physical hugs, but hugs like programs that tell people, whoever needs it, seniors or youth, that we care””
While interviewing community champions for the Santa Clara County Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Perspectives Oral History Project, our elder-activists have spoken so passionately about the diverse communities they have served for decades in the Eastside. Alongside these “hugs” were also collective efforts by grassroots organizations like Asian American Community Involvement (AACI) and Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) that developed direct social services and legal support for our vibrant yet systematically disenfranchised communities. Those who championed such efforts include greats like Manang Cora, Ed Kawazoe, Loc Vu, Jeanette Arakawa, Connie Young Yu, Mike Honda, and Manong Robert Ragsac—among many others who have advocated for the rights, resources, and recognition of underrepresented AAPI and other BIPOC communities.
Pulitzer Prize winner and Santa Clara County native Viet Thanh Nguyen has argued that despite the contributions and diversity of AAPI, there is great narrative scarcity around AAPI representation. So, to address what school curricula still overlook, the AAPI Perspectives Project shines light on the activists who have lived in and shaped the development of marginalized communities in our county. Through these oral histories that center cross-racial coalitional work, students and teachers can leverage these resources to water and nourish the roots of activism—right here in the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, Muwekma lands where many of our ancestors have settled and cultivated as guests.
“Through these oral histories that center cross-racial coalitional work, students and teachers can leverage these resources to water and nourish the roots of activism...”
When I am at Santee Elementary, I can see our freedom dreams come to life as I work with teachers and hear students share their stories. Instead of having youth “stand on the shoulders of giants,” as Nikkei Resisters activist Susan Hayase has said, we seek to have young and old be shoulder to shoulder, examining our cultural lives and activism from past, present, and future. Mr. Ashwin at Santee discussed how he and his fifth-grade students examined heat maps of the local areas and found that compared to affluent areas around San Jose, Franklin McKinley School District’s geographic boundaries disproportionately experience higher heat concentrations. The students even noticed the lack of green space at their school and began discussions about what collaborations it would require to plant more trees to beautify but also lessen the severity of the heat in the sweltering valley sun.
The Eastside is a historically working-class immigrant and refugee community that has experienced not only benign neglect but also systemic racism and class discrimination. But alongside such challenges, there have always been people who have not only resisted but united across cultures and languages to bring change that centers and celebrates the joys of our community members. It is our time now to share our communities’ stories and freedom dreams for the next generation who will be at the helm of social change.
“...we seek to have young and old be shoulder to shoulder, examining our cultural lives and activism from past, present, and future. ”