Jan 24, 2017 Women’s March LA, Roots at CAMLA, #schooltrump at Castelar
Joining a 750 thousand other people on Saturday monring, my wife and I piled in the van with our 8-year-old as well as my sister and brother-in-law and their two daughters, to take part in the Women’s March in Los Angeles.
Sure, there was some blue language on the protest signs mixed in with the pink knit hats but we thought that Eloise seeing the community of activists speaking up for public education, the environment, and the rights of women, immigrants, LGBTQ, and other minorities was worth any explaining we’d have to do.
The turnout was as peaceful as it was staggeringly large. I didn’t hear one person complain about long waits for food in Little Tokyo or the Arts District, and read later that there were no arrests all afternoon. Talk about peace and unity.
Only two days before, we attended the opening of an activism-themed show the Chinese American Museum. Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968-80s collects artifacts from the Yellow Power movement to document a moment in time when Asians struggled in unity with Black Panthers, Brown Panthers, and feminists.
The evening began with remarks from the museum’s president and guest curator and was galvanized by a fiery speech by Asian American organizing veteran Warren Furutani. I talked to my friend Steven Wong about the timing of the show–one day before Trump’s inauguration–and he said it was completely unplanned.
I really loved the posters, flyers, and pamphlets–the bold, pasted-up graphic design and no-bullshit language that still has shock value today. “This is a gook” and “Off the pigs”–activists can’t get away with that sort of thing as much these days.
I also appreciated seeing activism serving the kids, elders, and workers in Chinatown. My daughter goes to school at Castelar Elementary, which was a site of many actions along with the library next door and Alpine Rec Center across the street. How cool was it for Eloise to see how people have joined to protect the mostly blue-collar, low-income, immigrant community that lives in the neighborhood?
That was probably not shocking to her, since earlier in the day my family braved the rain to march with teachers and families in protest of our commander-in-chief’s anti-public school policies–not to mention his treatment of women, immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ, and people with disabilities. Although the current presidency does not appear to be prioritizing the rights or well-being of women, Asians, or kids in public school, weekends like this will hopefully make Eloise feel like she has a voice.
Find out more about Roots: Asian American Movement in Los Angeles 1968-80s at camla.org, get involved in your community, and follow Imprint on this page as well as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too!