Join us for an upcoming talk!
"Paving the Path to Justice: Undocumented Asian Immigrant Activism and the Opportunity4All Campaign"
Ju Hong, Director of the UCLA Dream Resource Center
Time and Venue: February 5, 12:10-1:30pm | Student Community Center, Multi-Purpose Room
In this talk, Ju Hong discusses the history and discourse of the immigrant rights movement in the post-9/11 United States from the perspective of an undocumented Asian/Korean immigrant justice activist. Drawing on his experiences organizing the community and advocating for immigrant rights issues for over 15 years, he invites audiences to engage with how undocumented Asian immigrants have been uniquely positioned as the "deserving" or the "disposable" undocumented (model) minority in the United States and how the group has fought against such racial regime. Ju will also introduce Opportunity for All, a UC-wide campaign that could remove significant barriers to important educational opportunities for thousands of undocumented students in the UC system. Currently, approximately 44,326 undocumented college students in California do not have equal access to on-campus opportunities — including work study jobs, paid internships, student leadership positions in campus organizations, teaching assistant positions, and other educational and professional opportunities for deeper involvement with their institutions — solely because of their immigration status.
Ju Hong is the Director of the UCLA Dream Resource Center (DRC), a program team of the UCLA Labor Center that empowers immigrant youth and allies to be at the forefront of social justice movements. Ju Hong has over a decade of experience in the immigrant rights movement. Ju was a former board chair of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and is a member of the Leadership Council of Immigrants Rising. In 2013, Ju challenged former President Obama on his administration’s record number of deportations during a presidential speech at the Betty Ong Center in San Francisco, California. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in political science and graduated from San Francisco State University with a master’s degree in public administration. While at UC Berkeley, Ju became the first undocumented student government Senator in UC Berkeley history.
Please contact Professor Ga Young Chung gachung@ucdavis.edu in the Department of Asian American Studies if you have any questions.