Autobiographical speeches
bear witness to prejudice
■ Personal tales of prejudice
cap a three-week workshop
brought to campus by APASU
By Arlene Juan
For the Emerald
Nine students expressed their
concerns surrounding the issue
of discrimination toward minori
ty groups and explored intimate
details of their lives through dra
matic autobiographical pieces
Sunday in “My Own Story,” the
final product of a three-week in
tensive student workshop.
“I commend their courage for
bringing to light the most impor
tant issues that choke the minor
ity community today,” said
Jeanne Ebuen, a junior pre-busi
ness administration major and
audience member.
Critically acclaimed director
and actor Alex Luu returned to
the University for a second year
from Los Angeles to coordinate
the special student show, which
was held in the Ben Linder
Room. He performed last year,
and the Asian/Pacific American
Student Union and others want
ed to bring him back this year for
students to work with him.
Luu said his goal for the stu
dent workshops and the final
event was to “liberate the human
spirit, especially for the Asian
community whose identity has
been underrepresented and for
gotten.”
Each of the nine performers
composed his or her story and
Luu helped them shape the deliv
ery techniques. They revealed
their thoughts, emotions, politi
cal beliefs, struggles and tri
umphs. With only photographs
as props and using limited auxil
iary sounds, the performers ex
pressed their private pain and
anger.
“This presentation is meant to
entertain the audience but also to
leave a mark on their conscience
and make them aware of the real
ity surrounding them,” Luu said
Friday.
Daniel Duong, a Vietnamese
American, began the program by
describing the discrimination he
has experienced in a community
dominated by Caucasians,
“We are all supposedly made
equal under the eyes of God,” he
said. “That’s not true in America
... In my own home country I am
an alien because of my slanted
eyes and brown skin.”
Duong cited the dating pool on
campus as an example of this dis
crimination.
“Girls overlook my potential
to be boyfriend material because
white people have generalized
Asian males to have a small penis
and to be less manly,” he said. “If
we are all equal, I have yet to see
it.”
Noelle Miller, a Korean Ameri
can, illustrated the stereotypical
attitudes she encountered from
some Americans.
“English is the only language I
know, and yet white people
speak to me with a slow and sim
plified speech as if I don’t under
stand a word,” she said.
The experiences these students
face were not limited to America.
Christie Cruz presented a story of
her life as a Filipino-Japanese
American growing up in what
she said was a racist environment
in Japan.
“Filipinos were seen as trash;
the women as whores, nannies or
maids,” said Cruz. “Japanese men
would walk up to me saying, ‘five
thousand yen, five thousand yen’
assuming I would give them easy
sex because I was Filipino. I was
only fourteen.”
Throughout the presentations
the audience laughed and cried,
and during a question-and-an
swer period after the show they
praised the performers.
“I hope there are more oppor
tunities like this available to the
campus’s growing yet silent com
munity,” Ebuen said. “I would
love to see Alex come back again
every year.”
Participants in the perform
ance said the experience was en
riching.
“I think the most valuable gift
this opportunity gave us was the
chance to say whatever we want
ed without being judged,” said
Phuc Nguyen, a Vietnamese
American performer. “Some of
the things we said tonight may
have been offensive to others, but
we expressed what was inside
and told our story.”
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