I had previously red Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A history of the Hip Hop Generation before attending Jeff Chang’s speech at UCLA in November of 2008. This book was exhilarating to read, offering insights into the history of marginalized ethnic youths and what they did to contribute to the hip hop movement . In Chang’s speech he re-iterated some of the points in the book, while focusing on Asian American’s impoverished upbringings.
He articulated that there is empowerment through diversity, and that Asian Americans have made profound influence in the educational field. He stated in the beginning of the lecture that Asian American’s are the “new majority” at UCLA. He signifies the importance of this fact because in 1968 there was only 10% representation by minorities in this school system. According to Change there was a motivating force that brought together key elements of activism such as “knowledge and political action” which founded many ethnic studies programs. This in turn reached out to these minorities and offered them opportunities to succeed in the University of California school system, which enforced graduation requirements. Not only did Chang point out the accomplishments of API activism, such as divesting funds from South Africa, but he also touched on the negative impacts coming from the 1968 election of Richard Nixon. This campaign catered to the right winged middle-America. This ignored the voices of minorities, creating a racial divide which constituted politics in this country until this year. He mentioned the catastrophe of Katrina, the inhumane treatment of prisoners, and the “out of date” immigration system. Despite these atrocities, Chang keyed into Obama’s compelling victory as the new president elect to demonstrate how the minorities could be represented through the most powerful voice in politics.
America has progressed past the racial dived which has prohibited a nomination of a multi-racial persons. Although this achievement is momentous there are still racist issues which confront our society that we cannot look past. He ended his speech by emphasizing the need for a balanced admission policy that should be sensitive to deserving minorities to shape the future school system and the opportunities which is provides. He quotes martin Luther King Jr towards the end of his speech, “The fierce urgency is now.” This holds true today more so than ever before. James Chang emphasized the need to change the policies which have beleaguered are country for the past eight years(36days until Obama’s innaugration)!Read Jeff Chang’s speech
