Impact That Comes in Waves and Grows
Sometimes, long term impact doesn't always come fast and furious.
It comes in waves and builds on the work from those brave enough to chart a course often unknown, filled with challenges and never traveled before.
When I signed on to help with AAJA’s 40th anniversary in 2021, it was more than just celebrating a milestone for an organization that has given me so much but it was an opportunity to honor our founders and capture our origin story and key moments in our community and profession.
The 40th anniversary project comprised of many moving parts from oral history videos to our work with publishing “Intersections: A Journalistic History of Asian Pacific America” in partnership with UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center - another place that hold a special place in my journey as an 2010 alumni of UCLA’s Asian American Studies MA program.
This past week, I learned about a professor who was using the 40th anniversary oral histories in his classes, as well as using chapters of Intersections as required reading. Since getting more involved with studying journalism history and its intersections with race and gender, this professor has been really passionate about getting his students to learn more about social movements, so AAJA's work has been a great resource.
Specifically, he played this clip to provide students with an overview of the organization, and last semester, used the chapters on Vincent Chin in class. This upcoming fall, he plans to assign students the chapter that discusses Japanese American incarceration.
This story made my day and week. Knowing that there’s life for this work we completed years ago beyond the milestone and the next generation is learning about our stories.
Rewatching this clip only confirms our work then and now is more critical and vital as ever - and why organizations like AAJA matter.
Check out our oral history videos: https://www.aaja.org/40th/oral-history-founders-videos/
Pick up your copy of Intersections: https://www.aaja.org/40th/intersections/
