The Evolving Landscape of Asian America
VIEW EVENT DETAILS55th Anniversary of the Immigration & Nationality Act
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Private Screening - PBS Documentary Clip (Members only - limited spaces): 11:00–11:30 AM PHT
Public Webcast - Panel Discussion: 11:30 AM – 13:00 PM PHT
In 1965, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act. This milestone legislation abolished the National Origins Formula, which had codified de facto discrimination against ethnic minorities, including Asians, with respect to American immigration policy. The lasting effect of this turning point in American history has significantly altered demographics in America ever since. Waves of immigration from the Asian continent in particular began to reach America’s shores in substantial numbers and this influx of pioneers had to overcome immense obstacles upon settling in the “land of the free.” Today, Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans and other diaspora communities from this side of the Pacific have become the fastest growing population in the country and have certainly made their mark on contemporary American life. Emerging from the margins to starring in the mainstream, certain heroes arising from these cultural communities have proudly and gracefully represented this collective hyphenated identity of what it means to be “Asian American” with remarkable success.
As we commemorate the 55th anniversary of this watershed moment in American history, Asia Society, has received permission from Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to screen for our members a private Zoom viewing of highlights from their recent five-part documentary series, “Asian American.” Weaving together the powerful personal stories of recognizable and diverse Asian immigrants, this brilliant production casts a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played in shaping the story of America. The roughly 30 minute clip excellently frames the public webcast panel reflection that will follow, where our distinguished Asian American speakers will recount their own challenges growing up in their adopted homeland and share fresh perspectives on what it means to belong. As Asian Americans get set to cast their ballot in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election exactly one month from the date of this webcast, we must not forget all that our forebears have already overcome, as we continue to assert our rightful place in the present and future of America.
Speakers
Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His other books are a short story collection, The Refugees; Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction); and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America. He is a University Professor, the Aerol Arnold Chair of English, and a Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, he is also a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and the editor of The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives. His most recent publication is Chicken of the Sea, a children’s book written in collaboration with his six-year-old son, Ellison. His next book is the sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed, forthcoming in March 2021. (Pre-recorded)
Kathy Matsui is vice chair of Goldman Sachs Japan, co-head of Macro Research in Asia and chief Japan equity strategist. She is a member of the Asia Pacific Management Committee and Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. Executive Committee and also helps oversee Launch With GS, Goldman Sachs’ $500 million commitment to narrow the gender investing gap. Kathy joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and was named managing director in 1998 and partner in 2000. Kathy has been ranked No. 1 in Japan Equity Strategy by Institutional Investor multiple times. She was chosen by The Wall Street Journal as one of the "10 Women to Watch in Asia" for her work on the "Womenomics" theme and was named to Bloomberg Markets magazine’s “50 Most Influential” list in 2014
Nayan Shah is a Professor in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California and the author of "Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco’s Chinatown" (University of California Press, 2001) and "Stranger Intimacy: Contesting Race, Sexuality, and the Law in the American West" (University of California Press, 2012). "Stranger Intimacy" reveals the intersections between capitalism, the state’s treatment of immigrants, sexual citizenship, and racism in the first half of the twentieth century. In exploring an array of intimacies between global migrants, Nayan Shah illuminates a stunning, transient world of heterogeneous social relations—dignified, collaborative, and illicit. At the same time he demonstrates how the United States and Canada, in collusion with each other, actively sought to exclude and dispossess non-white races.
Helen Zia is a writer, activist and Fulbright Scholar. Her latest book, Last Boat out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese who Fled Mao's Revolution, was one of NPR's Best Books of 2019 and a finalist for a 2020 PEN prize. President Bill Clinton twice quoted from her first book, Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, which chronicles the civil rights struggles of Asian Americans in the contemporary U.S.; her book, My Country Versus Me, about Chinese American nuclear physicist Wen Ho Lee, who was falsely accused by the FBI of being a spy for the PRC. Helen Zia is the daughter of immigrants from China and was born and raised in New Jersey. Her role as an activist in the landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence is featured in Who Killed Vincent Chin? In 2010, she was a witness in the case for marriage equality that went to the Supreme Court. A graduate of Princeton University’s first coeducational class, Helen has received two honorary doctorates. After attending medical school, she became a community organizer, construction laborer, autoworker, and after which she discovered her life’s work as a writer.
Ramy Inocencio is the Asia correspondent for CBS News, based in Beijing. He joined CBS News in April 2019 and contributes to all broadcasts and platforms. Inocencio has two decades of experience reporting across Asia, America and Europe covering numerous international news stories of our era with live coverage and original reporting of major geopolitical events, natural disasters and emerging technology trends around the globe. Before joining CBS News, Inocencio was a New York-based anchor and correspondent for "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia." At Bloomberg Television, he covered the first face-to-face summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping from Mar-a-Lago, reported from Paris on the 2016 Bastille Day terror attack and traveled across the United States in 2015 for "Wiring the World," his technology innovation series. He also anchored for Bloomberg Radio and launched two daily podcasts on U.S.-Asia Pacific economic and financial ties. Previously, Inocencio was CNN International's Asia business correspondent based in Hong Kong and CNN's NASDAQ reporter in New York City. (Moderator)
*The private documentary clip screening will be available for AS Philippines members to watch on Zoom only, free of charge. Kindly email [email protected] to reserve a slot
*The public webcast panel discussion will be livestreamed on Facebook & YouTube.