The Politics of Identity in Immigration: Understanding Yellow Power

1. THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY Yellow Power

2. No Person Is Illegal • To racialize MX immigrants as illegal is dehumanizing. • It obscures & simplifies social, political, & economic conditions of immigration

3. MAKING (IL)LEGAL ALIENS • Explosion of Asian immigration due to preference categories • Family reunification community support & increased probability of assimilation • Brain Drain  legal Asian workers come in as skilled/professional labor to develop industries • Shutting down of Mexican immigration due to universal quotas • Creates problem of “illegal” immigration  racializes Mexican immigrants as criminals • Undocumented immigrants fuel agricultural and service industries, continue legacy of marginalized, racialized, low-skill, cheap labor in developing US economy • Model Minority versus Illegal Alien • “good” immigrants versus “criminals”

4. Current reform? • Continues militarization of the border • Doubles amount of agents • Adds 700 miles of border fence • Pathway to citizenship • Takes on average 13 years • Cannot go into effect until border security is increased • Increased surveillance • Electronically tracks international exits/entries • Employers must use e-verify to identify undocumented • Increased # of taxpayers by 10 million • Predicted to result in $900 billion in taxes in 10 years • Won’t pass without mass movement of immigrants and allies

5. Question 3 While Cold War liberals were reforming immigration policies in the 60s & 70s, what political projects were Asian immigrant communities engaging in on the grassroots level?

6. The Asian American Movement • Defined by 1968 SFSU/UC Berkeley strikes for ethnic studies • Key characteristics: • Coalitional politics • Broad criticism of multiple vectors of oppression • Recognition of domestic and international connections • Cycle of center & periphery • Primarily college-aged, second generation movement

7. Education as Politics • Why are you here? What is the goal of education? • 1960 California Master Plan (Umemoto 29) • Public Good vs Private Profit • Privatization of the public university • serve the corporation vs “serve the people”

8. Key Terms • Hegemony • maintenance of social dominance through force and consent • Subordinate groups can always become hegemonic  cycles of dominance and resistance • Politics  actions taken in response to social structures of power • Situational political mobilization  depending on the specific historical situation, groups will unite with each other to mobilize for political action

9. Politics & Identity • Identity Politics  • Your social identity determines your politics • Ex: because you’re black you would automatically vote for Obama • Politics of Identity  • The recognition that race is a social construction. • Not all people of color are naturally the same politically. • The choice to work together because of shared social position and experience. • Ex: supporting immigration reform because of recognition of how illegality dehumanizes

10. Politics of Identity • From Oriental to Yellow Power to Third World Front • SFSU strikes as moment to (re)create Asian American identity as act of resistance and coalition in Cold War context • 1st world– developed capitalist nations; US & Western Europe • 2nd world – developed socialist nations; USSR & PRC • 3rd world – newly decolonized, developing/underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa, & Latin America

11. QUESTIONS • Who was Vincent Chin? Why was his life and death pivotal to Helen Zia’s decision to become a political activist in the Asian American community? • According to Glenn Omatsu, who are Asian American neoconservatives and what role did they play in diminishing the Asian American Movement? • “Are the ideas of the movement alive today, or have they atrophied into relics – the curiosities of a bygone era of youthful and excessive idealism?” (Omatsu 57)