Table Of ContentChains of Babylon
Critical American Studies Series
George Lipsitz, University of California–Santa Barbara, Series Editor
Chains of Babylon
The Rise of Asian America
Daryl J. Maeda
Critical American Studies Series
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Excerpts from the poem “To My Asian American Brothers,” by Pat Sumi, appear courtesyof
Tetsuji Gotanda and Kiyoko Gotanda.
Lyrics from “Yellow Pearl,” “We Are the Children,” “Something about Me Today,” “Jonathan
Jackson,” “Warrior of the Rainbow,” “Somos Asiáticos,” “Divide and Conquer,” and “War
of the Flea,” by Nobuko JoAnne Miyamoto and Chris Iijima, appear courtesy of Nobuko
JoAnne Miyamoto and Jane Dickson.
Lyrics from “Wandering Chinaman” appear courtesy of Charlie Chin.
Quotations from “Firepot” and “Jungle Rot and Open Arms,” by Janice Mirikitani, were
originally published in Time to Greez! Incantations from the Third World(Third World
Communications and Glide Publications); reprinted courtesy of Janice Mirikitani.
Lyrics from “Song for a Child,” by Chris Iijima, appear courtesy of Jane Dickson.
Chapter 3 was previously published as “Black Panthers, Red Guards, and Chinamen:
Constructing Asian American Identity through Performing Blackness, 1969–1972,” American
Quarterly57, no. 4 (December 2005); reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Copyright 2009 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
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Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maeda, Daryl J.
Chains of Babylon : the rise of Asian America / Daryl J. Maeda.
p. cm. — (Critical American studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978-0-8166-4890-0 (hc : acid-free paper) — isbn978-0-8166-4891-7 (pb : acid-free
paper)
1. Asian Americans—Politics and government—20th century. 2. Asian Americans—Social
conditions—20th century. 3. Asian Americans—Ethnic identity. 4. Political activists—United
States—History—20th century. 5. Social movements—United States—History—20th century.
6. Third World Liberation Front—History. 7. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Protest movements—
United States. 8. African Americans—Relations with Asian Americans. 9. United States—Race
relations—History—20th century. 10. United States—Social conditions—20th century. I. Title.
e184.a75m34 2009
305.895'073—dc22
2009017762
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In the spirit of Pat Sumi and Chris Iijima
In memory of George Maeda
In hopes for the future of Alex and Kenji
Chains of Babylon
bind us together
but we do not touch
With this sword
I would free you
But where are your chains?
They are not like mine
In your eyes
I see your spirit
bound by chains
by burdens
by weight
by hearts
so heavy
the sword cannot free you
yet
—Pat Sumi, “To My Asian American Brothers”
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: From Heart Mountain to Hanoi 1
1. Before Asian America 19
2. “Down with Hayakawa!” Assimilation vs. Third World
Solidarity at San Francisco State College 40
3. Black Panthers, Red Guards, and Chinamen: Constructing
Asian American Identity through Performing Blackness 73
4. “Are We Not Also Asians?” Building Solidarity through
Opposition to the Viet Nam War 97
5. Performing Radical Culture: A Grain of Sand and the
Language of Liberty 127
Conclusion: Fighting for the Heart of Asian America 154
Notes 161
Bibliography 183
Index 199
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Preface
This book is a cultural history of Asian American activism and identity
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. By tracing ideas about race, ethnicity,
nation, and empire expressed in social movement cultures and formal
cultural productions, it recuperates a set of political actions that brought
into being the category of “Asian American.” Throughout, it argues that
cultural critiques of racism and imperialism, the twin “Chains of Baby-
lon” of the title, informed the construction of Asian American identity
as a multiethnic formation committed to interracial and transnational sol-
idarity. This focus on cultural manifestations follows Lisa Lowe’s dictum,
“Where the political terrain can neither resolve nor suppress inequality,
it erupts in culture.”1Indeed, this book proceeds from a conviction that
the cultural sphere—deWned broadly, from everyday performances and
ways of being to drama, music, and poetry—cannot be reduced to an
aftereffect of the political but rather must be understood as in constant
dialectical relation with the political.
The topic of Asian American activism during the 1960s has garnered
much scholarly attention but not nearly enough. It is a politically charged
subject that demands that its critics take stands and stake positions, for
interpretations of the past are inevitably informed by present-day con-
cerns. Because I want to be clear about the partiality and limitations of
this project, I must begin with three caveats. First, throughout the book
ix
Description:Traces for the first time the rise of the radically antiracist and antiwar Asian American movement In Chains of Babylon, Daryl J. Maeda presents a cultural history of Asian American activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, showing how the movement created the category of “Asian American” to j
