Thursday, November 20, 1997
Roundtable tries to find solutions for racial issues
CONFLICT: Exhibit on Japanese internment brings panel to
Powell
By Rachel Munoz
Daily Bruin Staff
If you haven’t noticed, UCLA is intensely diversified. Maybe
that is something you are used to, maybe it is not. But UCLA is a
reflection of the city and the world around us.
In Los Angeles alone there are over 200 ethnic groups, forcing
Angelenos to consider the concept of race relations. Yet, this
diversity is quickly spreading to other cities across the
country.
On Tuesday, the College Library Rotunda of Powell Library housed
‘And Redress For All’, a panel of four individuals discussing the
path to better race relations in our country.
This panel was part of the series, "A More Perfect Union,
Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution" a travelling
exhibition organized by the National Museum of American
History.
Originally, the panel of speakers were brought together to
discuss the ramifications of the Japanese American Redress on
current race-related issues. However, the topic focused
specifically towards current race relations and the problems that
need to be addressed.
"How do we begin to conceptualize … the complex groups we have
in our nation today?" asked Mitch Maki, the moderator, and a
professor of Social Welfare at UCLA.
Ron Wakabayashi, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission, was first to introduce his
ideas.
"We had a very special drama," began Wakabayashi. "The
internment was the only act in American history that conspired to
put an entire ethnic group in concentration camps. There have been
atrocities in the United States, but never one so severe."
In focusing his discussion on the Japanese American experience
earlier this century, Wakabayashi discussed what could have
happened, and what did happen to Japanese American and Asian
Americans, more generally, as a result of the concentration
camps.
"We could have been an affluent community. Many Japanese
families had to start all over again," he said. "The dramatic story
was the basis to let us go forward and get the redress bill."
But the visible differences of what happened to many Japanese
Americans doesn’t begin to encompass the stereotypes that are still
perceived.
"The trial we went through as a community gave us certain
stripes," he explained. "We are in a middle position – we aren’t
quite dominant and we aren’t quite oppressed."
Wakabayashi feels that in the eyes of other ethnic groups, Asian
Americans don’t suffer the same oppression, which plays for and
against them in different situations.
Ultimately, social conditions have allowed these perceptions to
take place, according to Wakabayashi.
Joe Hicks, Executive Director of the Multicultural Collaborative
in Los Angeles, began his speech by calling attention to the
display boards set up throughout Powell’s College Rotunda. Doubling
as the panel’s discussion area, the boards tell the story of the
Japanese Americans’ oppression, resilience, and victory.
In moving to his main topic of concern, Hicks used the title of
the exhibit to connect his own views to Japanese redress.
"In forming A More Perfect Union … we need to heal wounds
caused by race and discrimination," he said. He suggests that
ethnic conflicts have been increased recently by Propositions 209
and 187, the OJ Simpson trial and job competition.
To whom is a nation in racial distress to turn? The answer is
our government, according to Hicks.
"In a nation as diverse as ours … the role of the government
is important in setting the tone," he begins. "The role of the
government is to confront racial divisions and begin to talk about
how we move forward."
Apparently President Clinton agrees with Hicks regarding the
government’s role in race relations.
Recently, the president began The Initiative on Race, a
special-interest group to address the ethnic problems our country
faces.
"We need to dismantle social constructs of race to become a
healthier society," Hicks said. "Issues of discrimination are still
bound in the concept of race."
Angela Oh, attorney and an advisor for Clinton’s initiative, is
one of seven Americans asked to inform and advise the president on
how the committee articulates its vision.
"I act as a source of information and as a vehicle by which
intelligence can be brought to the president. My responsibility is
to deliver information to him for a realistic picture of
concerns."
Oh explained the goals put forth by President Clinton.
"The president has decided to undertake an effort … to look at
how to articulate a vision … of one people," Oh said. The
committee plans to have conversations with people around the
nation, beginning on December 3 in Akron, Ohio.
"How we get non-minority people to the table," is the question
Oh asks, referring to the importance of minority presence at the
discussions.
In July of this year, Oh made a statement surrounding the ideas
of the Initiative that stirred up some controversy. She decided to
repeat that statement for the UCLA audience, and explain the
meaning behind it.
"As we move forward to the 21st century, we must look beyond the
black/white paradigm," she repeated for the audience. The statement
attracted attention because some people believed that she wanted to
ignore the black/white issues, which, according to Oh, is not the
case at all.
"Many of us are neither black nor white," she said. "And have
without a doubt encountered inter- and intra-group prejudices and
bigotries."
Oh suggests that we move beyond our own self-interest to develop
a new paradigm that is relevant and inclusive of all ethnicities
and races.
She believes that people are really concerned and want to make a
difference, but simply don’t know how.
"There is a hunger, within our country, to look introspectively
at ‘what role do I play,’" she said. "The real impact of the
Initiative must be translated into global action."
Oh feels that that global action will come in the form of
programs and policies.
"Our ultimate goal is to move toward a community of justice and
a sense that you have a stake in this system," she said. "I hope
that you feel that you can have a place in all this."
Dennis Kao, the policy coordinator of Welfare and Reform for the
Asian Pacific American Legal Center, addressed the issues of
welfare and immigration reform.
He began with an interpretation of the underlying concept of
welfare reform as a move to get lazy people back to work, but
insists that not all people on welfare are "lazy."
This view of welfare has recently led to the cutting of welfare
programs in the U.S., one of these being Standard Supplemental
Income, a program for the elderly, disabled, and blind who are
unable to work.
Kao argues that within the new immigration reform, most legal
immigrants with these problems have been completely cut off from
receiving any assistance.
"The whole notion of race played a major role in welfare reform.
The concept of welfare is incredibly stigmatized," he said.
Kao conjured up the typical image of someone on welfare as an
African American single woman who has been dependent on public
assistance for a long time and continues to have children. He
believes that the media has encouraged this stereotype of a welfare
recipient.
"The reality is that welfare reform and immigration reform
impacts all ethnic and racial groups," he said. "As a multicultural
society, how do we deal with this?"
Kao believes that Asian Americans are considered the model
minority, and through that are able to raise a voice over welfare
reform.
Ultimately, Kao wanted to relate that welfare and immigration
reform are not going away. Instead of solving the old problems,
these new reforms seem to create new problems.
Very few comments were heard from the audience, but one audience
member questioned the dismantling of the racial structure created
by society.
"Race is a social construct … that will probably take hundreds
of years to deconstruct," Hicks replied. He believes that race
intertwined with the societal standards determined by people in
power long ago.
"Unless we begin to argue … for racially neutral properties
… we don’t go very far," Hicks continued. "We need to begin to
dismantle categories and talk more functionally."
Essentially, Hicks believes that color blindness does not
currently exist, but feels this a goal we should work towards. In
addition, our society needs to dismantle the notion that a certain
skin color attributes characteristics or qualities to a person.
"Really, race tells us nothing of value," Oh claimed. "But it is
used to divide people into categories. It is useful for the
government to make these classifications."
"We are starting to realize different concepts," added
Wakabayashi. "The core is equality."
As the discussion came to a close, Oh expressed her views on the
concept that there simply isn’t enough wealth to go around.
"I reject the notion that there isn’t enough to go around," she
said. "From my personal experience I have seen, over and over
again, how you can expand the pie. But it takes vision … and
risk."
Oh feels that the vision and risk necessary for these changes
are not reaching today’s young adults. They are not concerned with
the huge issues of humanity, like those raised at the panel, but
feels that money controls their minds.
With the hope that more younger people will become concerned
with the issues, Oh has found that many people do care about
humanity.
"People do have resources and they want to contribute badly …
but don’t know what vehicles to use," she said. "I want to let
people know that there is something going on."