‘I’m an example of speaking up’: how one woman helped change the way Asian-Americans see themselves

Helen Zia fought with her father to go to university. She went on to become one of the first American women to graduate from Princeton in 1973. While there, she successfully lobbied to start an Asian American Students Association. A few years later, she demanded that authorities in Detroit handle the slaying of a Chinese-American man, Vincent Chin, as a hate crime. She succeeded. Later, her books and articles would showcase the violence and discrimination faced by Asian-Americans. It seems Zia has always been fighting – and the reasons to fight never cease. “Asian Americans have been slammed as cartoon characters,” she said. “We’ve been called gooks, geeks, geishas. Moving beyond racial slurs to communities of strength and influence is a battle that doesn’t die.” Indeed, even after all the battles she has fought, current conditions present unusually fraught challenges. “This time feels different,” Zia said at a leadership workshop in Oakland. When people started blaming China for the Covid-19 pandemic, it seemed certain Asian-Americans would feel blowback too. “I see you nodding your heads,” she told the crowd. “You went, ‘Oh, s***.’” No one laughed. “Where we are today is a consequence of so many things that we, some of us, have been predicting for some time,” Zia said. Among those changes is the growing diversity in the US, which some members of society find threatening. Though hardly a household name to the general public, the 70-year-old activist and author is a trailblazer among those who care about Asian-American issues and civil rights. Known for her hard-hitting talk and fierce intelligence as well as her warmth, Zia speaks with such energy and conviction that she leaves her audiences inspired and often in awe. In US, Yelp sees sharp increase in racist anti-Asian business reviews “Most men or women might have given up by now,” said Mary Yu Danico, professor of sociology and director of the Asian American Transnational Research Initiative at Cal Poly Pomona. “Racism – bias against Asian Americans – has flourished for a long time and it still exists in public and in private. Helen could have gone on to do something lucrative or with less stress. But you continue to hear her reasoning and her passion day after day.” Zia was an early proponent of what was once a novel idea: that Americans with roots in China, Japan, Vietnam and other Asian countries could unite as Asian-Americans to organise, and when necessary, agitate. The group identity would expand to more parts of Asia, such as India, and later include Pacific Islanders. Some believe it’s not far-fetched to say that without Zia, May would not now be observed as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Island Month. To her, the important thing is her work, not herself. “I’m an example of speaking up,” she said. “Never a role model.” But to many, that is exactly what she is, and her life has been marked by a devotion to duty – duty she developed young. Early beginnings Born in New Jersey to parents from Shanghai, Zia was five when she began helping in her parents’ floral novelty business, doing her share along with five siblings. Her father was convinced that instead of giving flowers to new mothers, consumers might buy something more creative. The elder Zia combined blue and pink duckies with a lamp shade, or a carousel with a music box, both items sporting cups for holding blooms. He trained his kids how to carefully assemble them. He was an educated man who wrote poetry, plays and a novel – and fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage. He taught his children to be the same. “Just remember, when Europeans were naked in caves, we were wearing silk,” he would say. Zia’s mum barely knew English, while her dad spoke with a heavy accent, making him a target for mockery and racism. “The Chinese – we have always been regarded as perpetual foreigners,” younger brother Hoyt Zia recalled. As the 1960s unfolded, the Zias lived in a mostly-white New Jersey community near Philadelphia, but Hoyt and Helen Zia remember being increasingly exposed to a multiracial society and this prompted her interest in social justice campaigns. In “Asian American Dreams”, her groundbreaking book that is part memoir, part social history, she recounts a life-changing incident in secondary school when she discussed civil rights with two friends – Rose, who was black, and Julie who was white: “As I offered my thoughts, Rose abruptly turned to me and said: ‘Helen, you’ve got to decide if you’re black or white’. Stunned, I was unable to say that I was neither, that I had an identity of my own. I didn’t know the words ‘Asian-American’. It was a concept yet to be articulated.” Zia, who was her school’s valedictorian, was determined to learn more about outside communities. But her father forbade her from pursuing higher learning. ‘I had to hide my ethnicity’: Asian-American actor Michael Tow on his youth “She was accepted at every school she applied to and had a drag-out battle with him. He finally relented and let her pick Princeton, the closest of the schools she got in,” said Hoyt Zia, a retired lawyer. “Dad said Chinese girls didn’t need an education, but my sister always had a fighting spirit. She knew she wouldn’t get anywhere without getting educated.” After launching the Asian American Students Association, a group that has grown into a thriving presence on hundreds of campuses, Zia found a voice protesting US involvement in the Vietnam war while joining causes pushing for racial unity among low-income minority groups. Later, while enrolled in medical school in greater Boston, she detoured – heading to Detroit in 1976 to work in construction because she believed women were under-represented in the field. Her move brought her to the same city as Vincent Chin, who in 1982 was beaten to death by two white men with a baseball bat. At the time, Japanese carmakers were increasingly competing with US companies, and the men blamed the 27-year-old Chin for the loss of their jobs. Zia, who had added journalism to her repertoire, wrote about all aspects of the killing. Chin was not Japanese but he was Asian, and for his killers that was enough. Her work galvanised Asians-Americans in Michigan and across the country. By 1987, when filmmakers released the documentary “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” the intensity of the Asian-American movement rose to a new level – amassing unprecedented attention. Supporters marched on the streets with Zia, and in a first, the protesters included cooks and laundromat owners, along with engineers and lawyers, carrying signs demanding their civil rights. Thus, a generation of activists was born. And she continues to draw new supporters. “I had no idea that any of these events happened – that violence against Asians had blown up and continues to be out of control – until I tuned into a Zoom [call] and heard her emotional voice sharing this history,” said Sue Chao, a store clerk from China who relocated to Los Angeles in 2019. “I’ve been researching that history, and I see Helen Zia’s name a lot. Thanks to her, I now realise how our cultural reality is shaped by the past.” Australian lecturer’s ‘anti-China’ remarks spark discrimination concerns But the concept of a pan-Asian community is not universally embraced. A 2022 study by the Pew Research Center into Asian identity found that “many participants felt that neither ‘Asian’ nor ‘Asian-American’ truly captures how they view themselves and their identity. They argue that these labels are too broad or too ambiguous, as there are so many different groups included within these labels”. Still, the concept Zia helped launch decades ago remains strong and she remains in demand as a speaker at universities nationwide. Publicly, Zia has also been a force for LGBTQ rights, not hesitating to spotlight the intersection of being a lesbian with Chinese-American roots. She and her wife, Lia Shigemura, tied the knot in 2008 after California began issuing same-sex marriage licences to couples. One morning in Oakland, where Zia has made her home for more than two decades, the crowd at a conference hosted by the Center for Asian Pacific American Women would not stop clapping – even before she spoke – for their keynote speaker. The mood in the room, sombre as observers listened to her life story, turned electric – with most spectators recording her on their phones, scribbling notes or asking for a photo with the guest of honour afterward, including moderator Gia Vang, an NBC Bay Area TV news anchor. Initially, when asked to appear with Zia, Vang remembered thinking: “Wow. The Helen Zia, someone at the forefront of all the issues we care about. She’s a real-life person advocating for us, not a myth.” One woman working with Asian elders asked about the health of Zia’s parents. Two others wanted her autograph. Zia was quick to respond, whipping out a fine-point pen, joking: “And what do you do? It’s probably me who needs your signature on my book.” On what keeps her going, Zia said: “Always have something to offer. Never think you’re alone.” Then she was off to San Francisco – to the next scheduled talk, another chance to educate, to inspire others to action. 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