Historical Players

• Dalit Panthers: Inspired by the Black Panther Party, this organization sought to combat caste discrimination. Founded by Namdeo Dhasal, Arjun Dangle, Raja Rhale, and J.V. Pawar, this movement lasted from the 1970s to 1980s. The term Dalit referred to lower-caste communities and was used as a way to reclaim and invigorate the term. They were later joined by many Dalit-Buddhist activists.
• Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart Cellar Act): This legislation abolished an earlier quota system based on national origin and established a new immigration policy, prioritizing immigrant family reunification, skilled laborers, and refugees of violence and unrest. In the first five years of the bill’s passage, immigration to the United States from Asian countries quadrupled. It’s also important to note under past policies, Asian immigrants had effectively been barred from entry.
• The Redress Movement: Refers to the “efforts to obtain the restitution of civil rights, an apology, and/or monetary compensation from the U.S. government” for World War II’s American concentration camps of Japanese Americans. During the 1960s-1970s, activists fought, protested, and pursued redress in court and in Congress. This resulted in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing a national apology and individual payments of $20,000 to surviving detainees.
• Vietnam War: This war between North and South Vietnam lasted between 1955-1975. Due to paranoia of communism, the United States became heavily involved in supporting South Vietnam. Across the world in the United States, a new generation of Asian Americans were grow up, forming their own values and beliefs that differed from their parents. Young adults were beginning to form an Asian American identity during this war and seeing Asian faces as the enemy were conflicting for many. Kazu Iijima of Tripe A said, “The Vietnam War made Asian identity much more clear. It clarified in many minds what racism was all about.”
• Yellow Pearl: An Asian American folk music group of the 1970s. Composed of Chris Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto, and Charlie Chin, they performed around the country, spreading their message of Asian American pride and need for change in institutional systems. Asian Week columnist, Phil Tajitsu Nash stated, “Asian-derived people who had been classified in the Census as ‘Other’ suddenly realized that they had an identity, a history, and a place at the table.”