I have conditional access to social connections and networking opportunities that many other AAPI peoples and individuals do not have out of no personal fault of their own. This week illustrated that fact to me given the multitudes of pre-existing personal connections I found myself stringing together, as I learned how to network and socialize, adapting to the expectations of the social spaces my host office engaged in.
Intern Robinson Lee with Pasadena City College Trustee Ryan Liu at the City of San Gabriel’s Independence Day Celebration
Before I formally started my time with Assemblymember Mike Fong’s District Office, I was a friend and student of a pastor who worked closely with the office to care for victims of the Monterey Park mass shooting. That connection made it easier to talk and address the nuance and difficult circumstances of the mass shooting with the host office’s staff as it indicated my proximity to the communities affected by the tragedy. On Wednesday, I accompanied my supervisor, Jennifer Tang, to the opening of the East Wind Foundation’s Chinese Community Cultural Center, at the Far East Plaza, in the morning and the City of San Gabriel’s Independence Day celebration in the evening. At the plaza, I encountered familiar faces including a staff member for another Assemblymember I had worked with for the organization APIs Mobilize for their summer program, and another staff member whom I had encountered before at Monterey Park and Arcadia-related city events. That evening, I met Pasadena City College trustee Ryan Liu who graduated from my alma mater, Arcadia High School. In a short amount of time, a combination of my family’s professional background, my education attainment at Arcadia High School and Pitzer College, and my previous volunteering and work in AAPI spaces around me have already built inroad to be acquainted with people and individuals in, or adjacent to, significant decision-making in Southern California.
Various local dignitaries along with East Wind Foundation board members cutting the opening ribbon of the Chinese Community Cultural Center in the Far East Plaza in LA Chinatown
Yet, what about the peoples and individuals who do not have that same access? Unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience say that people less privileged than me have the same access I enjoy. The apocryphal business adage, “It's not what you know, but who you know” seems true for our current political and socio-economic state of affairs. Still, I hardly think that it is the path to an equitable and egalitarian future.
This past Friday, an idea that was shared was that part of acting upon our values is not just directly how we act as individuals, but also in who we are uplifting and putting into positions of expertise, power, and authority with the means that we have. We may not be able to express a position directly, or organizationally. Yet, we may be able to put someone we trust and rely on in a position where they can do the work that we want to collectively accomplish. Faced with this inequity, I am resolute to lift up other like-minded AAPI individuals, who simply do not have the same access and privileges that I have, with me.
2024 CLA Interns posing with Office of Assemblymember Mike Fong’s District Director Jennifer Tang
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by Robinson Lee, Leadership Academy 2024 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.