The World Is Yours!
Issue #6
The Women's Issue

This issue of the 'zine is dedicated to all the Asian and Pacific Islander sisters in the Struggle, who, with their passion, strength, and honesty, continue to inspire me.

Welcome to issue number 6 of The World Is Yours (Ours!). This is the Women's Issue. Christina and I are the guest editors. I want to give a brief background of why we decided to pull together this issue. Earlier this year, we found out about a disturbing incident of sexual harassment in one of the "progressive" community organizations. The response at that time from the rest of the community was. . .silence. For myself I was shocked and saddened by our inability to engage in honest dialogue about sexism in the movement.

So why is this issue necessary? Simply, sexism and patriarchy still exist, both in our own communities and in the broader society. So part of our goal was to create a space where Asian and Pacific Islander women could express themselves and their thoughts. There's definitely a need for that. I once went to a panel on women of color in the movement and everyone there quoted men in their presentations. And you know there are women working in movements all over the world! Don't we ever say anything worth quoting? So in putting together this 'zine, we want to say that we, as API women, have meaningful things to express and capture.

The difficult part that we need to struggle with is coming together as Asian and Pacific Islander women while recognizing and acknowledging our differences - that we have different histories that give us different experiences and for many of us, privileges. We can say sisterhood is global but sometimes we have more in common with our brothers than we have with each other. Based on our class, our ethnicities, our sexual orientation - we are parceled out some standing in this hierarchical society of ours. And we can't forget that we live in a First World Capitalist Super Power and how we benefit from the exploitation of Third World peoples (even our own). And for us Asians to recognize that Pacific Islanders have a completely different history than us - for one they are not a community of immigrants. The Pacific Islands were stolen and annexed to the U.S. We're clumped together out of some government bureaucratic need, not out of any real connections.

So with all these differences, how do we even begin, or do we want, to come together? I guess this is where the vision part comes in. We always seem to be working against something or the other. And there are so many things in this world to be against - hunger, poverty, war, exploitation, violence, homophobia, heterosexism, racism, sexism, and the list goes on and on. But we rarely stop to express what we are for - what kind of a community and world we want to live in. Anger pushes us to action, but hope has to sustain us. We need to move ourselves and others, not only by the hatred we feel for oppression but for the love of our people. And for our desire for the liberation of all people - to live our lives as humans, not as machines. But we can't do it by ourselves. That's why we all need to come together. And part of that coming together involves struggling and dialoguing with each other - because we're not all coming from the same place.

The following pieces of writing and artwork are completely unedited (except for a comma or hyphen here and there) and uncensored. This is part of letting ourselves express whatever we want, however we want. This is by no means a complete representation of our communities. I want to especially thank Sally Soliai for letting us use her piece (you were the first submission!) even though she is sick of being the PI of every API group she's a part of. I also want to thank everyone who submitted. And of course, much thanks to Christina, without whom this 'zine would not have happened and who puts up with my messed up fax modem for 2 hours. It's scary to put a part of yourself out for everyone to see. It's something that's never been encouraged for us as women, as people of color, or as Asians and Pacific Islanders.

So please read on. . .I want to highlight the letter in the center that talks about the issue of sexism in the movement. It has been endorsed by many API community organizations. My hope is that it brings about some of the open dialogue that is necessary for women to be able to work in the movement for social change.

-Sun Lee

My political consciousness started in South Central, where I tutored middle school kids during my freshman year of college. Empty lots, homeless folks, and a predominantly poor, African American neighborhood stood in stark contrast to the rolling green hills of UCLA and the mostly white, middle class suburb where I grew up. It shook the very foundation of my liberal beliefs to learn that racial segregation is alive and well, socioeconomically enforced in the 1990s.

To sort out my outrage and confusion, I wrote what Ryan likes to call my "flaming letters," which were published in the Viewpoint section of our campus newspaper. Writing about the contradictions I saw helped me develop a new political consciousness. Eager to move from writing to action, I cut off my hair, carried a picket sign, walked precincts, gave speeches, organized rallies, wrote letters, participated in civil disobedience, and stood up to challenge professors who wanted to avoid critical discussions of sexism in ethnic studies classes or felt that racism need not be discussed in women's studies.

And four years later, as I begin a new career as a 6th grade teacher in LA's notorious public school system, I know that this is only the beginning. Because within the confines of a patriarchal, racist, homophobic, capitalist, dehumanizing society, it is only through our dreams that we can discover what a new society would look like. Through our writing, we can "give name to the nameless so that it can be thought," as Audre Lorde says.

For women of color, making time to write or otherwise express ourselves is not always easy, but it is necessary. Sun and I were both pleased with the number and diversity of women who contributed to this 'zine, and I would like to thank all of you for making the Women's Issue what it is.

-Christina Shigemura

Issue 7
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