Getting involved in activism and social justice within the AAPI community had never really crossed my mind for most of my life. Home for me is New York City, where I spent seven years attending a predominantly white independent school. Throughout much of that time, I struggled to make sense of my own experiences with my identity as an Asian American woman from a lower socioeconomic background, so rather than choosing to voice my internal thoughts, I stayed quiet. I brushed off microaggressions and didn’t complain. I chose not to question why my only exposure to AAPI histories consisted of exotified literature like Madame Butterfly or the occasional mention of the Chinese Exclusion Act in a history course.
Now, as I’m about to enter my junior year at Pomona College, in many ways my life could not be more different. I took my first Asian American studies courses last fall “just for fun,” and they ended up being some of the most meaningful classes I’ve ever had. The frameworks within ethnic studies have given me new approaches to thinking about my own identity outside of whiteness. It allowed me to get involved with AAPI activism, which led me to finding CAUSE and applying for the Leadership Academy.
When I first walked into the CAUSE office last Monday for day one of Orientation, I was buzzing with nervousness and anticipation. I had never had an internship like this before, and the thought of meeting so many new people—and living with them for three days—scared me quite a bit. I also had limited prior experience with public transit in Los Angeles, and I had irrational fears of getting lost or tripping and falling in my heels while walking through Union Station.
But despite all this, I ended the first few days feeling surprised and excited to come back. I had never been able to be part of an AAPI community where everyone voiced similar passions for activism or political advocacy, and I loved hearing about the other cohort members’ backgrounds. One of the first activities we did on the orientation retreat consisted of drawing life maps, and I found that we all came from different experiences and exhibited various skills, yet ended up here together with similar interests in this program.
On our last day of Orientation, we returned to the CAUSE office for a networking session with host office supervisors, board members, and several CLA alums. I spent some time talking to Shekinah, a 2019 CLA alum who, to my surprise, ended up coming back and working full-time at her host office where she was originally placed as an intern. She also mentioned that many of the CLA alumni stayed in touch even years later, which made me very happy to hear. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the summer, where we can start the civic engagement project next week and also get to start work at my host office!
