User:Dds7ae/sandbox

Bay Area Asian Coalition Against the War (BAACW) was one of the largest and most prominent anti-war Asian American organizations. BAACW began when it became heavily involved in the larger national Anti-Vietnam War movement in the San Francisco Bay area. Unlike the larger anti-war group, BAACW identified as an anti-imperialist and promoted solidarity with the Vietnamese people. It was comprised of seven independent regional chapters, but was coordinated and hosted biweekly meetings. Their activities organized many Asian Americans in demonstrations, marches, study groups, and fundraising drives.

Origins and Organization
Though Asian Americans did support the Anti-Vietnam War movement, they had to form separate groups because of differing ideologies. While larger Anti-Vietnam movement focused on the American youth with their slogan “Bring our Boys Home,” BAACW had an “anti-imperialist perspective that called for solidarity with the Vietnamese people in their struggle for self-determination from U.S. domination.” Hundreds of Asian Americans marched separately in the November 1969 anti-war demonstration in San Francisco. In the April 1971 anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C., Asian Americans dissociated from the rest of the protestors in response to the coordinating committee of the demonstration refusing to make a statement against racism. BAACW was finally formed in May 1972 to solidify an Asian presence to the Anti-Vietnam War movement in the San Francisco Bay area.

On May 12, 1972, the Bay Area Asian Coalition Against the War rallied at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco, calling for Asian Americans of varying backgrounds to oppose the killing of fellow Asians in Vietnam. There were five hundred people in the rally listening to Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Vietnamese Americans in the coalition condemning the war. Their slogan “One Struggle, Many Fronts,” advocated opposition to anti-Asian war in Vietnam and the oppression and exploitation of Asians in America. Moreover, they also expressed support for the 7 Point Peace Program, proposed by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam.

Ideology
Opposition to the war in Vietnam attracted many organizations with varying ideologies, including pacifism, liberalism, cultural nationalism, and Marxism-Leninism. While the broader Anti-Vietnam War movement was primarily white, the leftist portion was more diverse, comprising of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and whites. According to Maeda, leftists opposed the war because of three reasons. First, leftists viewed it as an imperialist attempt by the US through conquest. Second, leftists claimed the war as racist because of the death of a disproportionate numbers of non-white soldiers. Third, leftists identified with Vietnamese because both are oppressed by U.S. power. These points of view made for a disconnect with the “Bring our Boys” home mentality of the broader Anti-Vietnam War movement. BAACW therefore moved “to declare racial commonality with the Vietnamese people, to build multi-ethnic racial solidarity among Asians in the United States, and to mark Asian American distinctiveness from the mainstream antiwar movement.”

BAACW was driven by this “Asian American left,” which included San Francisco radical newspaper Rodan staff, student leaders in Asian American student organizations, members of I Wor Kuen, the Asian Community Center associated with Wei Min She, activists for the International Hotel, and the J-Town Collective and Japanese Community Youth Center. Because of this leftist membership, it was organized around two “principles of unity:” opposing the Nixon Administration and supporting the Provisional Revolutionary Government 7-Point Peace Program of July 1971.

Activities
BAACW was organized into seven regional chapters, each acting as its own “mini-movement center.” The Asian Student Union at the University of California Berkeley served as one center in the east Bay Area, together with other centers in San Francisco State College, Japantown, Chinatown, and Manilatown. Although these chapters were autonomous, the coalition was highly organized and met biweekly on reports and action plans. Like other Asian American Movement groups, this coalition consisted of ethnic-specific groups, Asian student organizations, church organizations, civil rights groups, and leftist organizations. These hundreds of Asian Americans participated in demonstrations and marches in the larger Anti-Vietnam War movement and teach-ins on college campuses and ethnic communities.

BAACW also included veterans’ perspectives into its programs. Many Asian American soldiers in the United States army experienced a “common racialization,” that is being identified with the enemy. Many Asian American veterans recall fellow soldiers visually equating with them with enemy in basic training and calling them “gooks” or “Japs.” Moreover, they were forced to carry identifications on and off base. The Japantown regional chapter coordinated a meeting of Asian American veterans to discuss their military experiences. BAACW also allowed a veteran to “talk about war atrocities and the contradiction he faced as an Asian forced to fight against other asians” in a demonstration. In addition to the above activities, BAACW promoted solidarity with Vietnamese people through fundraising and charity. For one of their fundraisers, BAACW produced an anti-war calendar for 1973, donating the proceeds for the Asian American Medical Supply Drive. The Los Angeles-based Asian Movement for Military Outreach had a medical supply drive for the war, which garnered participation from the BAACW, the New York Asian Coalition Against the War, and the Los Angeles Asian Coalition. The supply drive was to demonstrate support for the Vietnamese people, further promoting this racial ties between Asian Americans and the Vietnamese people.