Incidents of Racism at UC Berkeley: Testimony of Laotian American Student Representatives Club

[Sue Vang:] Hi everybody, I’m Sue Vang, and I’m one of the Co-President’s for the Laotian American Student Representatives Club on campus. We just wanted to say that Southeast Asian students are so displacing and Asian as part of the minority number. This just assumes that we’re wealthy, we have resources, and we’ve come from comfortable backgrounds. And basically, that’s just not the case at all for us. And often times, in our classes, wherever we go, people don't recognize that. And the campus itself doesn't recognize that.

Our numbers and our experiences are so different from the typical model minority, which is a terrible stereotype as it is. We don't come from over-educated backgrounds. We came from refugees of the Viet¬nam War that brought us here, poor and uneducated. Those are the backgrounds that brought us here.

And also, our numbers on campus are so low and our ethnicities are not recognized on this campus. If you look at the statistics, the breakdown of Asian groups on campus, when you research it, and call around looking for it, we don't have numbers for Lao, Hmong, and Indian. Those are our ethnic groups. There are other ones as well.

When you look at those, we’re the quote “other” in the pie charts. In most charts there isn't a specific category for us, and we just feel -- just seeing myself being categorized as “other,” or not seeing my Hmong ethnicity out there, is very insulting to me. And that makes it very hard for me.

Our other Co-President will talk about other experiences and the Club.

[Sybil:] Hi everyone, my name is Sybil and I’m going to speak on a very recent experience that has occurred. As Laotian Student Representatives, we’re holding an event on the 16th of November, because that’s the week prior to the Big Game. There was some misunderstanding, but we had reserved Upper Sproul for the 16th of November and we received -- I received an e-mail personally, because I made a reservation for Upper Sproul, from an individual from the University of California UC Rally Committee, for the tree chopping event for the Big Game.

I want to read one thing, one of her quotes that she wrote on her e-mail. “Also, as well as the 16th going on at Lower Sproul is AAA, the Asian American Association, was having a showcase for arts.” So this is what she is saying. After explaining the reason why the communication between OSL, the Office of Stu¬dent Life, she said, “Would you possibly be able to move to Lower Sproul on November 16? The AAA is going to sell food down there, and I thought you might be able to use one another for publicity and such. It would be greatly appreciated, and we’d love to help make this move as easy for you as possible. Please get back to me ASAP with any concerns or questions you may have.” End quote.

So basically, she was trying to say, “You’re Asian, just go down to the rest of the Asians on Lower Sproul, and let us have Upper Sproul for our events.”

I replied and said that our stated purpose -- and that I would have preferred to talk to her, to let her know our response. So the next day she called me -- I’m not going to mention her name, because it’s not neces¬sary. But the next day she called me and she asked if we could move. I said that we had been planning this for months. Obviously, the reason we had Upper Sproul reserved is that we -- we’re not going to move our event, and that it’s important to us as well as our community here, Southeast Asians in particu¬lar, the Hmong, Tin, and Lao. We’re overlooked, we’re seen as model minorities.

Anyhow, I told her, “We’re not going to move, we’re not going to move our event. I’m sorry, but we’re not going to change.” So she asked if we could go to Lower Sproul and do our event with AAA, and I said, “AAA will probably use the mics down there as well.” And I told her that we didn't want to impede on their event. And I was ready to inform her event as well.

And she said, “Well, why don't you -- wouldn't it be more beneficial if you moved down to Lower Sproul with AAA. And if you were on Upper Sproul, you could do your event on Upper Sproul, you would be competing with them.”

And I’m like, “Competing? How would we be competing?” And so she said -- she couldn't really answer, and so she said, “Well if you guys are the same, you have the same interest groups.” And I’m like, “Not really. We’re different ethnic groups and we have our different purposes, although we do have commonalities.” And I would say, “That would be the same as you being o Upper Sproul, doing your event, for the tree chopping for the Big Game.”

She didn't say much. But that was our recent experience. And we’re still going to have our event, which is on November 16, a Wednesday. (Applause) So come on. We’ll be out there and we’ll make our state¬ments and let the University and the campus know that Laotian students are here.

I’m going to leave some fliers on the table, if that’s okay, Yvette, so please grab some on your way out; okay? Thank you.