Issue: 679   Date: 08/28/2003

Building Bridges - St. Louis African Asian Americans Dialogue Group

By Olivia O. Ly-Pieknik

"The struggle has been to show that difference does not have to be oppositional", Molefi Kete Asante wrote in his book, The Afrocentric Idea (1987). That is exactly what members of the St. Louis African Asian Americans Dialogue Group (Dialogue) have focused on. We help each other understand the differences in our cultures but we also choose to focus on our similarities, our needs and wishes for ourselves, our families, problems we have at workplaces, we laugh together, we discuss issues we encounter in our communities, and we acknowledge our common struggle against prejudices and stereotypes. Participants of the Dialogue consisted of members of the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA) and Cote-Brilliante Presbyterian Church (Cote-Brilliante). 

Currently, CAPA members are Asian-Americans from various ethnic backgrounds such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese. Ms. Jamie Graham, a retired librarian from Washington University and historical researcher, was appointed by Rev. William Gillespie to make contacts with the Asian American community. Rev. Gillespie, pastor of Cote-Brilliante explained that the Dialogue is the second relationship building efforts by the congregation. "We recognize that the tables need more mixed conversations, and the purpose of the dialogue is bringing all the races together", Rev. Gillespie commented. Rev. Gillespie has been pastor of Cote-Brilliante since 1956. He was the recipient of the St. Louis American Foundation Salute to Excellence Lifetime Achiever in 2000. Since 1992, Cote-Brilliante has collaborated a mentoring program with Central Reform Congregation, a racial dialogue program with Ladue Chapel and was chosen as recipient of the $100,000 "I Dare You" award from the Danforth Foundation in 2002. 

Started in August 2000, members of the Dialogue have been meeting and sharing potluck dinners at each other’s homes, other times at restaurants, enjoying good food and friendships at church picnic (in July), attending worship services (in September), participating in the annual Asian Americans Heritage reception (in May) and recently, a field trip to the Black World History Wax Museum. The Dialogue was formed as part of the requirement when I graduated from the Dismantling Racism Institute in 1999. This is a week long training program by the National Conference of Community and Justice (NCCJ) which provides community leaders the training to become effective agents to confront prejudices within themselves and to dismantle racism in their community. 

After the initial meeting in August 2000, the members agreed that the group will meet at least quarterly, that the dialogue would be most beneficial when members are racially represented, that participants should be willing to communicate in a spirit of brother & sisterhoods. The members also agreed on ground rules, format of discussions and informal agendas as well as there would be no blaming or assigning guilt. 

During one of the early gatherings, Cynthia Jones, a member of Cote Brilliante mentioned about their unsuccessful relationship building with a Taiwanese congregation. When attending Cote Brilliante church picnic, the Taiwanese brought their own food such as boiled fish and rice because they thought the fried chicken, green beans, ribs and pies were too "heavy". This is not a problem with CAPA members. We only brought our appetite, piled our plates with good "heavy" food and were not bashful for second of delicious desserts. 

After a few initial meetings, Janet, K., an African American participant, raised a concern that the group needs more participation from Asian Americans to generate the kind of deep conversation and a truly cross-cultural learning experience. "Unless the group can get a truly racially balanced, I am reluctant to commit more time", Janet wrote in her last email. 

I am glad to report that even though the participants all lead busy lives with work, family and personal commitments, the Dialogue continued. The comfort & trust level increased as we learned to dance together. At one of the potluck dinners, the group found out that when Ms. Jamie Graham who lived in Central West End could not get a ride, Dr. Kendall Itoku, a member of Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) drove from his home in Chesterfield to bring Ms. Graham to the gathering. 

While the Dialogue focused on things that we have in common, we also talk about Uncle Ray aka racism (this is the borrowed term from the Post-Dispatch columnist, Sylvester Brown, Jr.) because we recognized that we will not "get to the root of a problem if we're afraid to talk about it" (Post-Dispatch/ Metro St. Louis, July 29, 2003). As Asian Americans, we recognized that the "model minority" myth has been a wedge to separate and distances Asian Americans from African Americans and other minorities, wrote Elizabeth Martinez in her book, De Colores means all of us (1998). At the same time, African American participants acknowledged that they must overcome their own lack of understanding towards Asian cultures and misconceptions about Asian Americans. 

In the book, Yellow - Race in America Beyond Black and White (2002), author Frank Wu wrote "Asian Americans and other people of color have before us an opportunity and a challenge. Only together can we make the most of the opportunity and rise to the challenge." I met the author at his speaking engagements sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in 2000 and again in 2001 at the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP). When I shared with Mr. Wu about the Dialogue Group and expressed my frustration that the discussions were not as productive and at the level I have hoped. His response was "You are making contribution to the community. Keep trying, keep showing up and keep talking." However, he reminded me that "Asian Americans should not assume that we will take over as the leaders of coalitions just by showing up".

So we will keep on trying, working together as equal partners, as brothers, as sisters, enjoying good food, strengthening our friendships, learning about each other, to discuss what we have in common and our different perspectives and maybe someday we will become so strong that Uncle Ray will not come out of his room and whatever he does, he won't be able to embarrass us no more.