ECAASU starts today bringing East Coast Asian Am together!
The East Coast Asian American Student Union (commonly abbreviated as ECAASU) starts today!
The organization’s membership is primarily composed of universities from the eastern United States. Its annual conferences draw students and activists from throughout the United States. ECAASU was originally established in 1978 as the East Coast Asian Student Union (ECASU) before changing its name during 2005 conference. It attracts around 1,000 students to its annual conference. The most recent ECAASU was held at University of Pennsylvania (March 4-6, 2010) and has attracted almost 1,500 students. This year, it will be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from February 18-20, 2011.
At this year’s ECAASU, we are trying to (re)build the Asian Pacific American Movement by creating a collective community. What does it mean to have a collective community? A collective community stems from a desire to create one whole community that promotes the well being of not just one group, but the well being of everyone. In order to have a collective community, it is important to bridge the gap and create a connection between the older and younger generation of activists, scholars, and artists. Through dialogue surrounding social justices issues, the younger generation is encouraged to discover struggles for solidarity from the pastAsian Pacific Islander Americans and the Third World Liberation Front Movement, Japanese Internment, Vincent Chin, LA Riots of 1992, Richard Aoki’s legacy–to discover what it takes to fight for a community despite concrete color lines. This calls for attendees to rethink usable pasts and will force them to make a connection about what it means to be an American, in particular an Asian Pacific American. What have folks done in the past that can transpire for the future? Does community simply mean your own community, or does it require attendees to find a greater voice to reach out to other oppressed, underrepresented minority groups?
Visit www.ecaasu2011.org