Following a screening of her documentary "My America ... or Honk if you Love Buddha," producer and director Renee Tajima-Pena spoke Thursday night in List 120 about her experiences as a social activist, filmmaker and Japanese American to kickoff Asian/Asian-American History Month.
Thirty-seven more film screenings, discussions, speakers, workshops, ceremonies and dances celebrating Asian and Asian-American history will occur almost daily throughout November. The events are also part of a month of themed programming sponsored by the Third World Center, "Community at Odds: Looking Inward, Reaching Outward."
Tajima-Pena spoke of the 1990s, when U.S. immigration laws loosened and Asian Americans started emigrating from not-as-traditional countries, which created a more diverse Asian-American population.
"The 1990s was a period of confusion, of wondering, 'Well, who are we and how do we define ourselves?' So, I decided to travel across the country and answer that question," Tajima-Pena said.
Now, she makes "social change documentaries about whatever pisses me off," Tajima-Pena said with a laugh.
Tajima-Pena became involved in social activism while in elementary school, when she was assigned a report for which she had to use primary sources. Because it was a topic with which her family was familiar, Tajima-Pena interviewed her mother and grandmother about the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. When Tajima-Pena presented her findings to the class, her teacher yelled, "That's not true - things like that don't happen in America."
"I got angry," Tajima-Pena said, "because my mother had shown us where they were interred for two and a half to three years. The truth can be dangerous."
As she got older, Tajima-Pena continued as a social activist for Asian-American causes at Harvard University. She said she had trouble deciding whether to "wield the camera or the picket sign. Sometimes, I was wielding both."
Tajima-Pena was also actively involved in protesting the Vincent Chin case during the 1980s, when Chin - an Asian American - was killed by two white men who were only punished with probation and a fine.
Tajima-Pena pointed out the changing face Asian-American identity. "I grew up in the '60s and '70s. There was no info on Asian Americans then," she told The Herald. "Things started closed off to Asian Americans," Tajima-Pena said, including jobs and education opportunities, but "awareness has changed 180 degrees."
Janine Kwoh '09, a co-programmer for the month's events, said the events are about gaining "a better idea of what it means to be Asian or Asian-American. We have to be self reflective and also reach out to other people within our community and also outside of our community."
To set this year's events apart, the programmers are encouraging activity and action in addition to thought and discussion - part of the "Reaching Outward" of the month's title. "The looking inward is something that we've done for many years now. There's been a lot of reflection, but there hasn't been that much of a follow-up in terms of practical 'let's do something,' " said Herald Photo Editor Rahul Keerthi '09, the other co-programmer for the month's events. "What we wanted to do this year was actually just try things."
The programmers emphasized the collaboration between numerous student groups involved in the month's events. Keerthi told the Herald he was most excited about the spoken word workshop this Saturday which will be a joint event with the Black Heritage Series' programmers. "We talk a lot about Asian activism and black activism but not the similarities and interactions between the two," said Kwoh.
Kwoh, Keerthi and Tajima-Pena all independently pointed out the fact that the Asian-American activists are not fighting solely for social equality. "Justice is not just us," Tajima-Pena said. "There is a whole history of Asian Americans demanding justice but not just for us."
"(This month) is not just for our community (of Asian Americans) but our community in the sense of the greater campus," Keerthi said.
Students received Tajima-Pena well. "She was really interesting," said Amy Tan '09 after hearing Tajima-Pena's speech. "A lot of the stuff she showed made me really angry. She talked about how she was pissed off and I think a lot of the community activism and organizing we do here is because we're pissed off, not because we want credit. I wish the whole campus was pissed off," Tan said.
Emma Tai '07.5 asked, "Where can we learn more about documentaries like this?"
Tajima-Pena's newest project is a film about latinos and Mexican Americans.
"The TWC has been reaching out to the main campus. A lot of efforts (have been made) but we need to keep that up," said Keerthi.
All events of Asian/Asian-American History Month are free and open to the public.
