Correction: MOSAIC and the Student Union were not credited in collaboration with this CAPISE event, the article failed to mention the new prayer space on campus, and CAPISE was incorrectly cited to have an internship program.
The San José State’s Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE) hosted a speaker discussion event in honor of Arab American Heritage Month in April and Asian Pacific American Month in May on Monday at 3 p.m. in the Student Union.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month begins in May and celebrates the achievements and accomplishments of API around the United States, according to Asian Pacific American Month’s website.
Arab American Heritage Month was officially declared in April 2021 and celebrates the diversity and achievements of Arab Americans, according to a webpage from the U.S. Department of State.
Asian American studies sophomore Yong Ooi, a community organizer at CAPISE, asked speakers opening questions about how students can get involved in advocacy in more ways than protesting.
Ooi said CAPISE began with decades of work where faculty and students were requesting a center for API students.
“We provide a space for Asian or Pacific Islander students to hang out, get resources from and career advising and even study abroad advising,” Ooi said.
She said discussions like these help students engage with advocacy.
One of the speakers, Maryam Ayadi, the president of the SJSU Muslim Student Association, said her first experience with advocacy started by advocating for a prayer space for Muslim students at SJSU.
“The Muslim community was overlooked, where there is a large population of Muslims on campus,” Ayadi said.
She said the Muslim Student Association was finally able to get a prayer space and room in the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center.
Current Program Coordinator for CAPISE, Mary Tran, said CAPISE offers different services including drop-in hours, a resource librar, and our first-year Asian Pacific Islander empowerment internship program.
“Specifically today's panel highlighted what advocacy and activism look like for API and Arab Americans,” Tran said.
She said CAPISE also hosts a lot of events that center around what API means to students and provides the opportunity for students to engage with other people with similar thoughts.
“Many times when we go through experiences we might feel like we are the only ones, but we are here to let students know we support them,” Tran said.
Ooi wrapped up the discussion by asking the panelists what last pieces of advice could be given to students who want to advocate but may not know where to start.
Caz Salamanca, a director for the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center at UC Santa Cruz, said to start by learning other people's language of advocacy.
“Change can take a long time sometimes, but don't give up on your goal,” Salamanca said.
Diana Pondivilla Victa, a department manager for the César E. Chávez Community Action Center and president of (CaCCCHE) which is the California Council of Cultural Centers in Higher Education, said understanding your system is the number one step.
She said knowing what it is you want to change is the number one question you should be asking yourself.
“You don't need 50 people for change to happen as long as people can support you,” Victa said.
