Brandeis Asian American Students Association has a rich history of activism, cultural expression and social activities on campus. It draws its support and ideas from its diverse Asian-American and non-Asian membership. Recently, BAASA has become more involved with planning inter-club activities such as the annual Asian Awareness Week(which has since progressed to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month--as of spring 2004), interracial forums, and various panel discussions.

A Historical Overview:

"Two years before the founding of the Asian American organization, black students had occupied Ford Hall with a set of demands regarding admissions policies and a black studies department. In 1970, in the wake of the American invasion of Cambodia, the students at Brandeis went on strike...Asian American had been involved in both cases to a greater or lesser degree...But they began to see that something was strange about their involvement, about shouting "Bring the boys home" during antiwar demonstrations, and supporting, like many white students did, third world struggles on campus.

They began to see that the Vietnam War was killing Asian people and that all kinds of excuses and comments were being made about how Asian people did not respect human life; that their deaths and degradation did not matter. As Asian American students, they saw that it was not enough to raise the cry about American soldiers being killed; they understood what the killing of Asian people in Vietnam meant to them...in 1971 BAASA was first formed by a group of Chinese undergraduate students. They called their club an 'Asian American' organization because of the purpose of its founding. The war was being fought against Asian people; racism and discrimination were facing Asian people, alienation from mainstream American life was a fact of Asian American life...During its second year, BAASA became actively involved as an organization in many aspects of the third world struggle at Brandeis and the antiwar movement. A program of recruitment was initiated; BAASA entered into negotiations with the University administration regarding Asian American admissions and financial aid policies as a brother/sister organization of GRITO (now Ahora) and AFRO (now Black Student Organization). The consideration of Asians as a minority group by the university became an important issue, which appeared upon the demands and proposals of all three third world groups. BAASA participated in a demonstration blocking the main entrance of the university in support of their demands. In the spring of 1972, Hanoi fell under the attack of daily American bombing raids, directed only at industrial and military installations but against residential areas, hospitals, schools and water works. BAASA prepared a statement on the Asian American view of the war and distributed copies to all people at Brandeis. BAASA co-sponsored a demonstration of Asian Americans against the war in Boston. This was a year of the intense political activity for BAASA; it became known to various Asian groups throughout the country and it gained the respect of the Brandeis Community.

26 years later... Looking back it is easy to see how at one time BASA was the strongest and most committed Asian student group on the east coast. At its conception, it was also the only Asian American student group in the Boston area. However, the intensity with which the Asian Americans bonded had much to do with the urgency and purpose of the times.

Shortly after, disunity within the group had threatened to weaken BAASA's ability to address issues concerning Asian Americans on campus and beyond. It hasn't been until recently that BAASA, through the efforts of determined students, has been able to awaken again. We in BAASA seek to carry on the efforts of the founding members to fulfill the goal of racial harmony, solidarity and cultural understanding. However, we cannot do so unless we first confront and understand the issues which the Asians face in America today. Over a quarter of a century has passed since the founding of BAASA, how much as really changed? Somewhere along the line BAASA was marked as a cold impersonal clique. We became separated from the other string minority organizations such as Ahora and the Black Student Association. We were losing the support of the Asian American community and lost sight of our own goals. We forgot how important it is to speak our experiences, user our voices, and to listen.

Let' talk about the emergence of Asian American feminists, Asian Jews, bi-raciality, homosexuality, male/female stereotypes, inter-generational gaps, inter-racial dating, assimilASIAN. Let's talk and inform about how it feels to be Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, South Asian, Hmong in America, let's talk about how it feels to be Asian in America, Asian at Brandeis, about having pride in our culture. But most importantly, let's talk about our role in other non-Asian communities. Most of the time it's not enough to just sit and talk, but perhaps that's been BAASA's weakness, that we never actually invited people to sit down and talk. This year we're going to be doing a lot of that and hopefully a little more.

So we at BAASA would like to extend a billion Hershey kisses to all those who are a part of BAASA and all those (Asian American and non-Asian American) who would like to join our organization in pursuit of racial harmony, cultural understanding, and really good food. (and for booty's sake we don't want to sound too serious, we have some fun things planned too!)

"There is a cure for what ails us as a people and that is to talk to each other, we've got to talk to each other about the ways in which we hurt each other, ways in which we hurt each other is also through silence. Because nobody can unload the pain, or the shame or guilt by not speaking." -Marlon Briggs