For those of you who don’t know, ECAASU stands for East Coast Asian American Student Union. It holds an annual conference, at a different college every year, in which students from Minnesota to Florida come to discuss and learn about various and relevant issues in the Asian American community.
Even though this was a conference and not a retreat it had all the effects of one including healing, empowerment, and self-discovery. All of which I was hoping to find there.
Our ECAASU conference happened the weekend of a snowstorm. The conference took place at Cornell University, a sprawling campus that’s way, way bigger than my current university. There were buildings that were old and beautiful and others that were sleek and modern. The change in environment was nice and really helped open me up to learn new things. It was awesome feeling like an Ivy League student for a day.
I attended a workshop called "Yolk In An Eggshell." In contrast to my last workshop, a lot of people from my school were there too. The boys leading the workshop talked about important issues regarding Asian representation in the media such as stereotyping, yellowface, and not casting Asians as leads because those movies “wouldn’t sell.” I decided not to participate in the acting portion because I felt that that narrative was better represented by other people more than me. As someone who is Hispanic-passing (and also actually part Hispanic), I don’t have the same problems as people who only look Asian. And I didn’t want to take away their story.
I also attended a caucus for Southeast Asians. There was also a caucus for mixed-race people happening at the same time. Later that night, a girl from my school asked me if it was because I identified more as Southeast Asian than mixed race. I definitely identify as both, equally. It’s just that meeting other people of mixed race hasn’t been as rare for me as for others, whereas with the exception of this year, being around numerous Southeast Asians near my age just didn’t happen, and I wanted to meet some from other schools.
The closing ceremony was the smallest part of the whole conference. I’m going to tell you about the most memorable ones for me.
If I had to pick a favorite part, I would have to say it was when Paul Tran showed us some of their poems. Their workshop was my first one of the day. We got to talk and get to know each other afterward before heading off to lunch with some really cool girls that were also in the workshop. But words CANNOT describe how in awe I was when they walked out in a red velvet dress and flower crown, and everyone clapped and cheered so acceptingly. Their poetry and delivery was so powerful, and they had the perfect stage presence that I wanted to shout, “That’s my big,” as people at my school are prone to doing.
Rapper Bambu also performed with DJ Phatrick. I think the most touching part was when he rapped telling his son to be careful around the police because police assume that a little brown kid holding anything resembling a gun is dangerous. This hit hard because Bambu, and in extension his son, was Filipino, a nationality that isn’t known for being killed unfairly by the police. That doesn’t really happen in my area, and the fact that it happens in their neighborhood in California saddens me.
I watched a group of students from Cornell called LOKO perform a style of hip-hop dance to Korean music. They were so talented, and anyone who says Asians don’t have sex appeal needs to watch them perform. One guy from my school yelled, “Call me!” at them, and another wanted to propose to one of the girls.
The event closed with Stephen Lim from the segment “Worth It” on Buzzfeed. And let me tell you, every time the guy said ANYTHING, the room erupted into loud screams and thunderous rounds of applause. And I get why they were going so crazy. Being in the presence of someone in the mainstream media who represents you positively is an exciting thing. To be honest, I have never watched any of his videos, but he seemed like a cool dude. He kept saying that he was bad at public speaking, but the room DID NOT CARE. He also said that he was surprised by how we were freaking out over him, because usually when he speaks in public people don’t care.
Here is a title of a workshop I didn’t go to, but I think the message is powerful, relevant, and true: We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.