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INTRODUCTION
In the winter of 1968, Asian American students at San Francisco State College, together with their Black, Chicano, and Native American counterparts, embarked on the longest student strike in U.S. history with the goal of transforming higher education. The students demanded an open admissions policy to counter increasingly elitist admissions policies. They demanded a College of Ethnic Studies to provide a "relevant" education that critically examined the experiences of Third World people within a context of racism, capitalism, and imperialism. They also insisted on a curriculum that included their histories, cultures, heritages, and contributions.1
As Glenn Omatsu notes, involvement in the strike "deeply affected Asian American consciousness."2 Students "redefined racial and ethnic identity, promoted new ways of thinking about communities, and challenged prevailing notions of power and authority."3 Under the emergent pan-Asian banner of "Yellow Power," this new identity and critical consciousness represented "a rejection of the passive Oriental stereotype and symbolize(d) the birth of a new Asian-one who will recognize and deal with injustices."4
While the political conditions that gave rise to the Asian American movement have largely faded under the weight of political conservatism and backlash, the goals of Asian American activists have persisted. Indeed, in the 35-plus years since their movement's inception, Asian Americans have made significant progress toward the goal of transforming higher education. A new interdisciplinary field of knowledge has been established. Asian American Studies has been institutionalized in programs and courses across the country. The 2003 Cornell University Directory lists 50 Asian American Studies Programs.5 Asian American student activism has played a central role in the formation of many of these programs.
It is evident that young Asian Americans, like their 1960s counterparts, have continued to develop an Asian American critical consciousness and commitment to working for social change. What is less obvious is how those Asian Americans develop such a critical consciousness. What leads them to become interested in Asian American issues and activism?
Some answers can be found scattered in the literature. Autobiographies and biographies of Asian American activists offer one source of information, often revealing how individuals arrived at their understanding of and commitment to political activity on behalf of Asian Americans. Helen Zia, for example, in her book Asian American Dreams, tells of how...