Terry Park

This workshop provides a broad historical and contemporary overview of anti-Asian violence in the U.S. It focuses on the two dominant discourses that have shaped racist institutions, policies, and practices towards Asian Americans–”yellow peril” and the “model minority myth.” Asian American participants are invited to reflect on how these two discourses have shaped their lived experiences. All participants are also given space to think of concrete ways to challenge anti-Asian racism in order to cultivate a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

This workshop, delivered in May 2022 to Etsy and Sisense, identifies the very real problem of the "bamboo ceiling" that deprives Asian Americans, particularly those of East Asian descent, from promotion to executive/leadership positions in the corporate workplace. But just as importantly (if not more so), I challenge *how* we (sometimes) talk about the bamboo ceiling that inadvertently reinforces the very Model Minority Myth that gives the ceiling its shape. Instead of only "looking up"--towards individual understandings of advancement & success, and possible absorption of harmful and self-destructive values of what it means to be a leader--I advocate a politics of looking down: towards hyper-invisibilized yet vibrant Asian American communities, particularly Southeast Asian, working-class, immigrant & refugee, formerly incarcerated, undocumented, and queer & trans.

This racial equity-focused workshop, delivered in May 2022 to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as part of their recognition of AAPI Heritage Month, provides a broad historical overview of how U.S. empire played a crucial role in Asian American community formations and how this imperial history continues to shape lived experiences of anti-Asian violence.