#asian american

TheGAPA Foundation Scholarship provides financial assistance to API LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer) students who are in the process of applying to, or are currently attending, a post-secondary institution. The purpose of the GAPA Foundation Scholarship is to provide financial assistance to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students in high school; undergraduate, graduate or professional school; or trade or vocational school who are interested in activism in the API and LGBTQ communities.

For more information about applying for a GAPA Foundation Scholarship, please see our Scholarship Guidelines page. To learn more about past winners, please see our posts on our scholarship recipients from 2013 and 2014.

To apply electronically, please submit your application HERE. A paper copy of the application, which may be printed out and emailed to us, is availablehere.

APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR SCHOLARSHIPS IS JUNE 15, 2015.

SUMMER INTERNSHIP
The Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA) is a national non-profit, non-partisan and grassroots organization founded in 2001. APAPA was established with the primary mission of empowering Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Americans in civic and public affairs through education, active participation, and leadership development. APAPA developed voter registration events, internships, scholarships, voter education forums, leadership, and networking programs designed specifically for the education, betterment, and advancement of the API community.
The APAPA-Southern California Region (APAPA-SCR) was established eight years ago to serve the SoCal community. The SCR currently has five chapters (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Gabriel, Youth, and Orange County). APAPA-SCR along with the Los Angeles Chapter, San Gabriel Chapter, and Orange County Chapter are awarding a number of leadership and summer internship positions for current Asian and Pacific Islander college and graduate school students.
The purpose of the internship is to help students better understand California state and local government and to develop future leaders in the API community. Each intern must spend a minimum of 50 hours in the assigned office between July 6 – August 14, 2015, working for a local/state legislator, congress member, or constitutional officer in Southern California. Upon completion of the internship, each intern will be awarded a $500 scholarship. There is also a week-long, all-expense-paid study-tour to Northern California to work and play together national and international student leaders from many other partner organizations.
We would like to invite your students to apply for this comprehensive leadership program. With our positive experience working with your students in the past, we are going to give favorable considerations for your student leaders. We appreciate your help dispersing the application information.
The internship application form can be found at APAPA website: http://apapa.org/scc/tp-apapa-scc.aspx
or download directly from:
http://apapa.org/scc/pdf/APAPA-SCR_internship_appl_2015.pdf

The Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that encourages and promotes civic participation of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the electoral and public policy processes at the national, state and local levels. APIAVote envisions a society in which all AAPIs fully participate in and have access to the democratic process.
The APIAVote Internship Program strives to encourage and cultivate young AAPI student leaders to explore a career in the public sector or the political arena. This internship program will also provide hands on experience and training on how to organize and implement voter activities to increase the participation of AAPIs in the electoral process. For the Summer of 2015, we are offering paid and unpaid internships.  
INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE
The internship program is tailored per organizational needs and intern skills.  Interns may work on any of the following areas: Communications/Technology (new media and traditional), Graphic Design, Field (working with APIAVote partners to mobilize for elections), Research and Policy (research and advocate for policy recommendations), Training (Norman Y. Mineta Leadership Training Institute), or Youth (engaging and organizing our youth coalitions).
In addition, applicants selected for these internships will collectively work on the implementation of APIAVote’s Young Voters campaign. This will include identifying, recruiting, and training student organizers to implement voter engagement activities and developing campaign materials for 2016. General Internship: This internship is opened to any student looking to support APIAVote’s various programs.  
Requirements for all Internship Applicants:
College or graduate student
Leadership abilities
Oral and written communication skills
Dedicated to promoting civic participation of AAPIs in the electoral and public policy processes
Applications must include:
Application form
Resume including Education, Work Experience, Political Experience, Extracurricular Activities, Awards/Honors
Copy of most current academic transcript
One page typed essay on your interest in the internship program and describe “What does civic engagement mean to you and how do we increase it among AAPI young voters?”
Two letters of references

check it out here!!!

Occurring during the summer, the Nikkei Community Internship is a paid, 8-week, full-time internship experience designed to help you make your mark in the community.

Design and implement impactful projects, meet community leaders and build your legacy by helping to shape our community’s future in the NCI program.

Program Start: June 15, 2015
Program Finish: August 7, 2015

*NCI is an 8-week program. Requires two overnight commitments on June 15-16 and August 6-7.

Each intern will receive a $2,000 incentive upon completion of the program.

*There is no cost or application fee to participate in NCI.

Interns are placed at a variety of locations across the Greater Los Angeles area. Placement varies based on organizational placement.
March 14 Deadline

http://www.kizuna-la.org/programs/nikkei-community-internship-2/

The Korean American Coalition’s (KAC) Summer College Internship Program (SCIP) is designed to provide personal and professional development opportunities to highly qualified Korean American college students, and to encourage them to take on future leadership roles in the Korean American community.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The program places participants in sponsor offices four days a week. Applicants will be able to rank their interest in four fields - Government/Political, Non-Profit, Corporate, and Media - and will be placed accordingly. Past internship placements have included positions at Samsung America, KTLA, FOX, KCBS, KNBC, an investment bank, Public Counsel Los Angeles, Center for the Pacific Asian Family, CRA, and the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer, Congressman Xavier Becerra, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and State Controller John Chiang.
SCIP will begin at the KAC National College Leadership Conference, where participants hone their leadership skills by hearing from distinguished speakers, engaging in skill-building exercises, and learning about Korean American and Asian American history and identity.

PROGRAM DETAILS:
 1 week (June 22 – June 26, 2015), KAC National College Leadership Conference (NCLC)
 7 weeks (June 29 - August 7, 2015), 40 hours per week
 Potential internship placements, all Los Angeles County-based:
 Government/Political, Non-profit, Corporate, Media
 Unpaid
 Transportation and housing costs are not subsidized by the Program
 All applicants must be enrolled in a four-year college or university

APPLICATION PROCESS
Completed applications must be postmarked by Friday, February 27, 2015.
The application requires:

 Application Form
 Two Letters of Recommendation in Sealed Envelopes
 Two Essays
 Resume
 Academic Transcript
 $20 Processing Fee made to “Korean American Coalition”

IMPORTANT DATES
 Friday, February 27, 2015 Application Postmark Deadline
 March 2 – March 6, 2015 Phone Interviews
 Monday, March 9, 2015 Selected Interns Notification
 June

The Google Policy Fellowship is now accepting applications in North America. 2015 will mark the eighth summer of this program, which places undergraduate and graduate students at key tech policy think tanks and NGOs. Applications are open now through March 12, 2015.

Please help recruit top talent to this program! Our blog post has details about the program and application process that you can share with friends, alumni networks, and anyone else who is interested. Note that while Google facilitates the program and sponsors the fellows, we do not participate in the selection process. Host organizations choose their fellows directly.

This program has been great way to grow the next generation of tech policy advocates and build relationships with them at an early stage.  In fact, a large number of Google Policy Fellows have become full time policy staff at their host organizations. Program alumni also have gone on to work for regulatory agencies, in academia, and at start ups.

If you have friends who are interested in the program and have questions beyond what is covered on the site, please feel free to connect them directly to [email protected].

_______________________________

Last summer, students from all over the US and Canada gathered to explore pressing questions at the intersection of technology and policy. Whether working on data security standards at the National Consumers League or innovation economy issues at the R Street Institute, students gained hands-on experience tackling critical technology policy questions.

2015 is just beginning, but these issues show no signs of slowing down. We’re excited to announce the 8th annual Google Policy Fellowship, which connects students interested in emerging technology policy issues with leading nonprofits, think tanks, and advocacy groups.

Applications are open today for North America, and students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to apply before Thursday, March 12th.

This year’s organizations include:
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Enterprise Institute
American Library Association
Center for Democracy and Technology
Center for Data Innovation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Engine
Future of Music Coalition
Georgetown Center on Privacy & Technology
Global Network Initiative
Internet Education Foundation
Internet Keep Safe Coalition
Mercatus
National Consumers League
National Hispanic Media Coalition
Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
Public Knowledge
R Street Institute
Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
TechFreedom
Technology Policy Institute
The Citizen Lab
US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

More fellowship opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Europe will be coming soon. You can learn about the program,application processandhost organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.

2015 Application

http://www.onlinecpi.org/sej_application

Who will be the next class of organizers in San Diego? SEJ Fellows are the current and future leaders in the fight for social and economic justice.

Help spread the word to passionate college students interested in fighting for social and economic justice!

Overview

The Students for Economic Justice (SEJ) summer fellowship will be an intensive 6-week program that will give committed student activists organizing experience in a current campaign for economic justice.  College students will receive organizing skills training and will be engaged in educational discussions on various topics.  The goal of this program is to build the next generation of young leaders and community organizers who will effectively push forward social change and economic justice in San Diego. Students receive trainings from various community and labor leaders throughout San Diego and will finish the program with a better understanding of the social and political landscape of the region. These are some of the trainings and hands-on experience that will be provided during the summer internship program:

Organizing Skills

Doorknocking, Phonebanking, and Turnout 101

Understanding Power / Choosing Your Strategy

Coalition Building

Communications and Using the Media

Organizing and Taking Action to Win Change

Political Education

Accumulated Struggles: A History of Economic and Social Movements

Understanding San Diego’s Regional and Political Landscape

Current campaigns for economic & social justice in San Diego

Ideal candidates
First, second, and third year college students are encouraged to apply. If you are a graduating senior, we highly recommend for you to apply for the SEJ Assistant Coordinator part-time position.

Commitment
The SEJ fellowship is an intensive full-time program. It is not recommended that fellows hold other jobs or attend summer school at the same time. Exceptions may be negotiated. Fellows are also expected to stay involved after the program is over and to hold SEJ info sessions at their respective schools.

Dates of Program
Monday, June 29, 2015 - Friday, August 7, 2015 (six weeks). It will be up to 40 hours a week. Some evenings and weekends may be required but not mandatory.

COMPENSATION

This is a paid fellowship at a living wage ($14/hr). CPI makes the effort to ensure that interns are compensated fairly for their time and that financial challenges do not inhibit students from participating in the program.

Requirements
All applicants are required to fully complete this application form and also submit (1) a separate page with answers to two essay questions, (2) a resume, and (3) one letter of recommendation.

Applications Due Date
5:00 pm, Friday, February 27, 2015. Applications should be submitted via email to [email protected].

QUESTIONS
If you have any questions, contact Trinh Le: 619-584-5744 ext. 24 or [email protected].  

The Center on Policy Initiatives is proud to be an affirmative action employer. People of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

The recent film “The Great Wall” starring Matt Damon was released in theaters just a couple of weeks ago, and while I admittedly have not seen the film, the trailer and film poster alone raised a series of red flags and questions in my head. For those who have not heard of the movie, it basically tells the story of a warrior in China who joins a team of elite soldiers to help defend the Great Wall. 

I think this film speaks volumes on the state of Hollywood today and also exemplifies exactly what Asian actors are trying so hard to fight against in the entertainment industry - whitewashing and the white savior narrative. The film is directed by one of China’s greatest directors, Zhang Yimou, and features several A-list Chinese celebrities including Andy Lau, Eddie Peng, and Lu Han. Additionally, the film was shot on location in China and supposedly tells the story of China’s might and power. It’s interesting then, to see that Matt Damon is the lead of the film, the “white savior,” and the only person featured on the film’s widely advertised movie poster.

When the film trailer was first released, it immediately sparked outrage, but Matt Damon defended himself by saying that he did not take the role from a Chinese actor, nor was the role altered for him in any way. He also insisted that critics were jumping to conclusions based off of the trailer without having seen the film, and it makes their views less credible. While all of this may be true, it does not change the fact that there is a very obvious placement of a white character where a white character does not belong. Additionally, this character plays the most important role in the film and is highlighted (based on the trailer) as being more essential than the rest of the characters. In fact, Matt Damon is the only actor that has any speaking lines in the entire trailer, even though several other Chinese actors are stated to have leading/crucial roles in the film.

There are so many different elements here that display Hollywood’s rejection of non-white actors and it makes it hard to believe that there has been any progress made. The white savior narrative, the whitewashing, the trailer, the promotional photos, and more, all point to one thing - Hollywood doesn’t believe that Chinese actors are marketable. At the very least, Hollywood believes that White actors are the most marketable, the easiest to sell, and perhaps the easiest to relate to. But this self perpetuating philosophy confines Asians in the entertainment industry and guarantees that no progress can ever be made. People sometimes wonder why so few Asians show up at award ceremonies like the Oscars, but the truth is simply that Asian Americans are never granted the opportunity to play Oscar winning roles because they are too often seen as a “niche” market or as “too exotic” to be front and center. 

While minor progress has been made, such as the writing of the film “Crazy Rich Asians” and the popularization of the TV show “Fresh off The Boat,” we have yet to see the integration of the Asian community in the entertainment industry and Asian actors remain very much a niche group. So while hope ultimately prevails, Hollywood still needs to make great strides before genuine diversity can be reached. 

If you’re more interested in learning about the Asian American’s role in Hollywood today read this article from the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/movies/asian-american-actors-are-fighting-for-visibility-they-will-not-be-ignored.html?_r=0

Matt Damon article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/matt-damon-wants-you-to-know-he-didnt-steal-a-role-from-a-chinese-actor_us_58473eaee4b0b9feb0da1d06

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/awky8y/in_the_1920s_to_the_1930s_some_people_thought/

Yeah, it was absolutely true. Many colleges, Ivy League and not, had quotas for Jewish attendance. This mostly became an issue in the interwar period.* While Jews had been emigrating to the US for several hundred years, since the first settlement of what is now New York, a massive wave of Eastern European Jewish emigration began in 1881 and continued in full force until (and to an extent through) World War I. In the 1920s, this ended due to racist, eugenicist influences on Congress- draconian immigration laws were enacted in 1924 to drastically limit immigration particularly of poor and “less white” people, like Jews, Italians, and Greeks, by basing the permitted immigration on numbers from 1890, when relatively few had emigrated. However, by the 1920s, colleges felt like they were facing a different problem- second-generation advancement. Jews who had arrived since 1881 had come with little to no English and relatively little education in general, but especially given the emphasis on assimilation and the “melting pot” which their children received in schools and settlement houses, the children of immigrants were far more Americanized, and their parents pushed them toward academic success. By 1915, for example, about 40% of students at Columbia were Jewish (either immigrants or first generation Americans)- ironically due to the fact that Columbia had made it easier for them to get in as public school students by basing admissions on standardized tests.

College administrators were not happy about this, so they decided to do something about it.

Examples:

• In 1922, Harvard implemented a 10% quota for Jews in order to prevent a “Jewish problem,” in the words of its president, A. Lawrence Lowell. He rationalized this by saying that he wanted to decrease potential antisemitism on campus.

• Harvard also changed its admission system from an entrance exam (which favored studious Jews from the well-performing NYC public school system, who generally succeeded) to a system in which they accepted students from the top seventh of their class regardless of their score on the exam. This favored students in other parts of the country who had received lower quality education, and had the additional “benefit” of reducing the number of Jewish accepted students.

• In the 1920s, Columbia basically invented the modern college application form. Why? So that they could weed out Jewish (and potentially other undesirable) applicants. Knowing that many Jews changed their names to hide their Jewishness, these forms required that past names be listed and also asked for country of origin, mother’s maiden name, and social organizations. And you know those questions about extracurriculars? Those were also invented for this purpose, as a measure of “character”- with character meaning “not Jewish.” Jews were known for being studious and “greasy,” not participating in all of the typically WASPy social concerns, and so by making “character” a requirement they were able to eliminate Jews from the pool. Nicholas Murray Butler, when discussing the more limited admission of Jews, stated that there had been no conscious effort to eliminate Jews- after evaluating the application forms, Jews were simply among “the lowest grade of applicant,” this despite the fact that so many had previously been accepted on the basis of grades.Harvard soon followed suit in using an application form, and many other colleges adopted it in the coming years.

• While universities like Princeton had been interested in making a quota, it took Harvard and Columbia making the first move for them to implement one, along with colleges like Barnard, Yale, Duke, Rutgers, Adelphi, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State, Washington and Lee, the Universities of Cincinnati, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia, and Washington, and the Bronx campus of NYU.

• Colgate University kept six Jews enrolled specifically in order to counter charges of antisemitic admissions.

• Syracuse University housed Jews separately from other students and had a KKK branch on campus.

• Sarah Lawrence College had a question on its application about whether applicants had been raised with “strict Sunday observance.”

-Even as late as 1945, Dartmouth retained a quota for its Jews, citing its status as a Christian college for Christian men.

• If a Jew WAS accepted to an elite university, he (they were generally not coeducational yet) could expect not to be accepted into university culture. The social clubs and fraternities which made these colleges one big boys’ club did not let Jews among their number. They were often considered to lack college spirit, be physically repulsive, not drink enough, be brown-nosers, and not participate in sports enough, as well as to raise the academic standard too high. They were also considered to be below the appropriate level of social class and standing.

-At Brown University, Jewish students were barred from fraternities, but also barred from creating their own fraternity, purportedly to prevent antisemitism.

• At the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, the page with the number two ranking cadet, who happened to be Jewish, was perforated so that those who desired could remove it without defacing the volume.

• Even at universities which accepted small numbers of Jews, almost no Jews would be accepted as college professors. Fewer than 100 Jews were hired as faculty throughout the country, and nearly all under protest or some kind of special circumstance, with the caveat that they didn’t usually hire Jews.

• Graduate programs admitted few Jews, using as the pretext the fact that they would never be hired as university faculty.

Despite all this, Jews continued in their quests for education, becoming 9% of college students despite being 4% of the general population. They were also nearly half of the total number of college students in New York City. They generally matriculated at City College of New York (called by some the “cheder [religious school] on the hill”) or NYU’s downtown campus (nicknamed “New York Jew”). In 1920, CCNY and Hunter College (the women’s college) had 80-90% Jewish student bodies. CCNY had been the first college to create a Jewish fraternity, ZBT, which stood for Zion Bemishpat Tipadeh, or Zion Shall Be Redeemed With Judgement. Even there, there were few Jewish faculty members- for example, there were only four at CCNY. By the 1930s, there were still only 5, and CCNY was faced with charges of antisemitism in their hiring.

There were absolutely protests of this practice. There was an outcry, for example, when Columbia implemented its application form. However, for the most part, Jews preferred not to attend colleges where they would be social outcasts and often (especially those who already lived in NY) actively chose schools like CCNY/Hunter College and NYU (and initially Columbia) as they were close to home and would provide a more Jewish-friendly environment. In general, especially in the 1930s and 40s, the US was a pretty antisemitic place (I touch on this here). For example, in a poll in the 1940s, 45% of college students said they would not want to be roommates with a Jew. The end of the practice of Jewish quotas wasn’t so much due to outcry as due to an internal examination of antisemitism in the US and the decline of the phenomenon in the postwar years. (The Civil Rights Act didn’t exist til 1964, so the practice wasn’t illegal.)

*That’s not to say there was no discrimination against Jews in colleges before this- many prominent Jews of the early 20th century, such as Oscar Straus and Bernard Baruch, later noted the difficulties they faced as Jews in university.

If you tell me, an American, to go “back to your country,” you are making less of America. The false America is puritan politics and displaced land. The true America would be the dream of my father, a place embracing every tribe and tongue and culture to build home.