Kwon Journal 5/2 - Leigh Bagood


One of the most important realizations made by AYPAL in this reading was how the democratic process limited the “power of youth.” This is ironic because of how our U.S. ideals of democracy encourage youth participation and pushes the idea of youth as the future of the nation. However, at the same time, the government fails to legitimize youth political action as non-voters. This is related to Shah’s article about Laotian teenage activists who overcame societal limitations to push for change in their community. In contrast to Shah’s article, Kwon focused on AYPAL’s activism against deportation. AYPAL tackled the discourse of U.S. imperialism and found ways that the deportation of Asian Pacific immigrants was rooted in imperialism and neoliberal ideals. The discussion of neoliberalism reminded me of a unit from a Sociology course I took that looked at how neoliberalism negatively impacted women of poorer communities. The elimination of social safety nets set low-income families into a vicious cycle of in the same way it does for Asian Pacific immigrants. One can’t deny the racist undertones of immigration policies when immigrant communities are targeted for criminalization, while they are criminalized by the very system that places them in poor conditions and hinders their ability to thrive as a community.

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