Asian American's Finding Their Voices On the Internet

Recently, Alexandra Wallace's "Asians in the Library" video was the subject of a huge discussion on the Internet.  For those who were fortunate enough to miss this wonderful (sarcasm intended) piece of work, click on the link above to view the video and see why it was the subject of so many discussions among many Asian-Americans. 


The reason why the video was the subject of so many discussions was that fact that it was posted on YouTube.  Many people don't seem to realize that just about anything you post on the Internet is fodder for the public.  Miss Wallace's mistake was underestimating the impact her message had on the Asian American community.  Because of the Asian-American's response to the video, UCLA had to address the issue of the video.   Miss Wallace was forced to apologize and later withdrew from UCLA due to the video.

With the prevalence of the Internet these days, Asian-Americans are flexing their voices on issues like never before.  According to some studies, Asian-Americans are the heaviest users of the Internet among all other ethnic groups.  This would explain why Miss Wallace's video went viral almost as soon as it was posted.  Besides the fact the video was posted on a public website, many Asian American's are connected to many of the friends world wide via social networking sites like Facebook.

With the ability to connect to so many people via the Internet,  videos like Miss Wallace's are easily distributed to thousands of people from all around the globe.   Obviously, it wasn't just a few people who were offended, otherwise Miss Wallace or UCLA could have easily ignored the uproar.

I am proud that Asian-American's are using the Internet to flex their political voices.  In the days before the Internet, Asian-Americans had to rely on word of mouth, Asian-American media sources or other news distribution sources that were limited in scope.  That made it difficult to contact certain segments who not have had access to these media sources and get the word out on issues.

These days, the Internet is a good equalizer.   Asian-American groups and organizations are taking advantage of the Internet to get news such as Miss Wallace's video out to large number of people.   With more Asian-Americans engaged, more and more people are speaking out on the issues that face the community.

For too long, Asian Americans have been too quiet over the many injustices that have occurred over the years.  From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Japanese American Internments (and others), Asian-Americans have never been able to gather significant numbers to show a unified voice on issues.

I believe those days are over.  The Internet is great for information research and exchange.  For Asian-American's in the 21st Century, it's gives us a voice that we've never had.  Let's USE IT!