TAPAS Events for the Year 2020
Let Them Work Action Hour!
This was an action hour in support of Harvard workers and contractors that were threatened to be fired during the height of the pandemic, as well as immigrants whose work permits were threatened with confiscation by the Trump administration.
Bong Joon-Ho's The Host and American Imperialism
Destress from reading week by watching this fantastic drama in which the monster is the horrifying sea-squid of American imperialism!
Deconstructing Liberal Myths about Asian America
A creative workshop centered around deconstructing liberal myths of the Asian American experience.
#ShutDownAFRICOM: Resist US Colonization of Africa
The purpose of AFRICOM is to use U.S. military power to impose U.S. control of African land, resources and labor to service the needs of U.S. multi-national corporations and the wealthy in the United States. This is a teach-in in solidarity with the Black Alliance for Peace, hosted by the Eritrean and Ethiopian Students Association (EESA) and the Nigerian Students Association (NSA), with support from The Task Force for Asian American Progressive Advocacy and Studies.
Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity: from Palestine to Turtle Island (the "Americas")
Hosted by PSC. A conversation about settler colonialism and indigeneity with Professor Marcelo Felipe Garzo Montalvo, Harvard and Professor Loubna Qutami, UCLA.
Activism, Amplification & Allyship: A Conversation on Black and Asian Solidarity
Panelists spoke about their experience studying and organizing in the intersections of Black and Asian American solidarity, allyship, and activism. After hearing from our panelists, we hosted an action hour.
Imperialism and Jennifer Laude
An open-forum panel discussion featuring Queer theorist and Fulbright scholar Zachary Frial, UC Riverside Sociology Professor Victoria Reyes, and PJ Raval, the director of Call Her Ganda for a discussion of both the Laude case itself and its historical, cultural, and political resonances.
Call Her Ganda Screening: How One Life Galvanized a Nation
In this event, we watched Call Her Ganda, a documentary following an activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude) in their quest to galvanize a political uprising, pursue justice and take on hardened histories of US imperialism.
(Gay)me Night - A Queer Asian American Game Night
Join the progressive Asian American org TAPAS for a chill night of (gay)ming! While all identities are welcome and none will be assumed, this event will be centering and celebrating the experiences of queer Asian Americans.
TAPAS Intro Event - AAPI Advocacy, Art, and Academics
This was our 2020 intro meeting! Regardless of your age, experience, or identity, you are welcome to our organization.
A Conversation with Jeff Yang
Join TAPAS for a conversation with noted Asian American journalist Jeff Yang. Jeff Yang is a featured contributor for CNN, a columnist for the South China Morning Post's Inkstone magazine, and can be regularly heard both on NPR and on his podcast, They Call Us Bruce.
Economic Justice Action Hour
This was our second action hour for ECONOMIC JUSTICE, hosted by Harvard TAPAS (the Task Force for Asian American Progressive Advocacy & Studies) and SLAM (the Student Labor Action Movement).
Activism through Art: Intercollegiate Asian American Zine Workshop
Harvard’s TAPAS (The Task Force for Asian American Progressive Advocacy and Studies) and The Wave literary & arts magazine hosted an AAPI Zine history and workshop event that celebrated the role of zines in activism.
AAPI Activism & Int'l Solidarity
TAPAS and Ruodi Duan presented on how, from waging the Vietnam anti-war movement to standing in solidarity with BLM, AAPI political identity is and has been shaped by a solidarity with a diversity of struggles from around the world.
8 To Abolition Action Hour
This was an hour of direct action, along with a brief presentation and discussion, on Black Lives Matter solidarity and prison and police abolition.
Read our action hour guide at https://tiny.cc/TAPAS8GUIDE
So You Wanna Be Anti-Racist?
This was a student-facilitated conversation on the systems of white privilege, racism, and white supremacy—the first installment of a series on understanding how we can practice anti-racism.
The Cost of Prisons: A Documentary Screening and Day of Action
A screening of Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story, followed by collective emails and calls to demand the decarceration of prisons during this pandemic.
The Half of It Watch Party
A casual netflix watch party for the release of The Half of It, followed by a zoom discussion / hangout!!!
movie synopsis: "A shy, introverted, Chinese-American, straight-A student finds herself helping the school jock woo the girl they both secretly love. In the process, each teaches the other about the nature of love as they find connection in the most unlikely of places."
(by the director of saving face, another great queer as am movie :,) )
Asian American Resistance & Creative Clapbacks
Our panelists Frances Kai-Hwa Wang & Wen-Hao Tien discussed how the history of Asian Americans is one of resistance and art. We will look at moments of racial violence — like the Chinese Exclusion Act, post-9/11 discrimination, and the time of COVID-19 — and the ways Asian Americans have responded creatively to clap back. We also discussed what you can do to help the community during this time.
All the Boys 2 Screening & Discussion!
TAPAS met on March 5th at the Lowell House Theater where we watched To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You and discuss issues of Asian American media representation and its limits.
AAA presents: APIDA Decade Roundup
At the decade’s end, the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, Harvard TAPAS, Harvard Asian American Womxn's Association, and Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association met to look back toward the paved historic milestones in APIDA politics, culture, and social influence, as well as celebrate and collaborate over ways to build upon this momentum in 2020.
Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Launch
Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine launch event featuring a panel discussion. Hosted by HOOP, co-hosted by TAPAS and others.
Southeast Asian Deportation and the Model Minority Myth
At this panel, we sought to complicate the dichotomy of good-bad immigrants and what it means to deserve citizenship, residency, and mobility, particularly in context of deportations of Southeast Asians who immigrated as refugees fleeing war violence.