Mural Against Asian Hate
My project for this class has taken a different direction since the first essay. Establishing a narrative first essay dove into this issue of the lack of scholarships for Asian-American students but ultimately simplified this into the issue of Asian hate on campus. I stumbled into dead-ends in the first project about scholarships for Asian students at Rutgers University. Therefore, for my final creative engagement project in “Media, Movements, & Community Engagement,” I decided to shift my focus onto a more larger issue that is prevalent within the Asian community and narrow it down to hate against the Asian community at Rutgers University- New Brunswick. With Rutgers being a predominantly white university, several Asian students, including myself, do not feel a sense of belonging attending this university. It is difficult to find a community that you can fit into when you are not represented. This prompted me to go to the Asian American Cultural Center located on Livingston campus to better understand the community that my engagement could benefit from.
The Asian American Cultural Center is not very well known and a resource that is first to come to mind when in need of help. We as students are not introduced to these centers as a place of refuge but that is a part of student safety that they offer. I spoke to the senior program coordinator, Shaheena Shahid, where she said that during the pandemic due to language barriers and physical appearance, Asian American students “were more afraid to go out causing less socialization so this became more of a safe space.” Asian American students make up 24% of the Rutgers population but it is not represented in leadership roles or professors; it’s not present. “Until there are more leadership roles represented by Asian Americans, then I think it would shift the academy.” By bringing more awareness within the courses and curriculum itself, this could inform and normalize Asian heritage within students. Until that is normalized as regular American culture, then there is still going to be an academy where there is a feeling of not feeling wanted or belongingness. When asked what direction and resources students could be pointed to if they felt unsafe, Shahid mentioned their counselor from Asian decent who holds office hours. They also have different methods of getting involved such as the junior intern program, senior intern program, and a mentor/mentee program so you are always connected to the center. I also spoke to a fellow student, Daniel Au, who said that by being involved in the Asian American Cultural Center, he felt a place of belonging and has brought forth a lot of involvement. It is difficult being a student where it was not built on sort of “acceptance” at first. For concerns regarding overall campus safety, the Rutgers Police Department can always be contacted and even offer a walk home “buddy” assistance.
The Beloved Community Arts Project is something I have considered and looked into to help with the arts interventions in community development and advocacy. It is a program that invites students to express their vision of a beloved community at Rutgers, experienced first-hand or aspirational. The entries can include short essays, poetry, short videos, performance, and visual artwork. The work of all winners are featured on the CACP website and invited to an event on campus showcasing their art. The submissions are currently closed but I feel like this could be a way to broadcast the idea more and possibly digitally put it in an area as an idea to show how it would look before actually doing it. I believe an area that would be good for this mural would be on Livingston campus right behind the student center in the courtyard area with the seats.
The stakeholders that stand to benefit through participating in this project are the Asian American Cultural Center and the APIDA Student Organization Program. These all have involved students and directors that would definitely be willing to share time and resources to benefit this overlooked community. The Arts and Design program at Mason Gross would also be a good stakeholder for this project.
This project will be successful as it will be a large mural that is put up at a location that obtains a lot of traction. It will be created by Asian American students to help raise awareness and it will be in view to any student, faculty, or local passing by. The community impact expected is an increased understanding of Asian Americans and ceasing unnecessary hate that come from places of ignorance or the lack of education. Through art, the interpretation could be larger and receive more media coverage. Alongside interpretation, people could relate it back to their own cultures and relate and see that their communities are not the only one that is struggling and to consider other overlooked communities as well. Creative engagement makes it easy for people to comprehend a message and encourages conversation without any effort from the audience. It is a visually appealing form of advocacy and gets people thinking and talking which makes this creative engagement a successful advocacy and community development tool.
