Aoki and Kwon article

The film about Aoki is a clear example of more explicit forms of cultural resistance, as opposed to "everyday acts of resistance" that are more covert and implicit. His involvement in the Asian American Movement and Liberation Front challenges dominant notions of Asian Americans being "apolitical" and passive. Similar to findings on Laotian youth, Aoki, as a young activist, also advocated for collective support from members inside, within, and outside the pan-ethnic Asian community (Shah (2012). This is a critical aspect to the success of social movements because it brings together groups in solidarity and often receives attention in the news, which may inspire others to be involved in social movements - like a chain reaction. If Asian Americans are able to see people like themselves engage in electoral politics, they may be more empowered to be involved in social activism and share their voices which are often silenced in our society (we can see this in the news coverage of Japanese Americans in the concentration camps, as Aoki mentioned).

The findings in the article by Kwon (2012) highlights the ways in which youth can be effective agents of change but to certain extent, specifically be campaigning against deportations of Cambodian refugees. The author found that despite the AYPAL youth being encouraged to be politically involved, their voices were still silenced in the laws and were limited to real political power even when working with elected congressional representative (p. 744). Despite the youth's willingness to be politically active/organize and regardless of having a deep awareness of the existing inequities in the US bureaucratic society, our society still does not give them the agency they deserve. This made me appreciate programs such as BRIDGE: Pilipinx Outreach and Retention which hosts annual youth conferences for historically underrepresented and educationally disadvantaged groups to learn about Filipinx culture, history, and social activism/justice. Similar to AYPAL, BRIDGE gives the youth the opportunity to share their personal narratives and question dominant notions in our society.