Comparing The AAPA And The I Wor Kuen

The formation of grassroots organizations in the mid twentieth century proved to be an essential driving force of the Asian American movement, mainly due to their ambitions and ability to attack racial problems in communities. At the height of the 1960’s civil rights movement, the Asian American Political Alliance, and the I Wor Kuen were notable grassroot organizations. The AAPA, for short, was birthed on the campus of UC Berkeley in California, while the I Wor Kuen was formed in New York City’s Chinatown. Their core goal is notably identical; their desire to create a utopian society separate from “white America”. Ultimately, the AAPA and the I Wor Kuen coincide with their ambitions to create their own absolute society, but differ in their

Part of this repression was the tuberculosis infection rates in New York City’s Chinatown. The I Wor Kuen claimed the community had the highest infection rate in the country, and attributed it to extremely dense living spaces, low sanitation and a lack of medical resources. The organization describes their community as “ghettoes”, and considers them colonies in an empire that is the United States. Furthermore, they believe the US government colonized the Chinese into the small neighborhoods of Chinatowns in order to be controlled and tortured through a lack and dependency of resources. The I Wor Kuen’s principals promote the idea of a large-scale war against society in the United States. Consequently, the I Wor Kuen intended to wage a revolutionary war, by “preparing to defend our communities against repression and for revolutionary armed war against the gangsters, businessmen, and police”, as transcribed in their 12 Point Platform and Program. The organization’s ideologies narrowed down to the destruction of the existing American government in exchange for their own, Chinese, anti-imperialistic

The I Wor Kuen utilized media in order to motivate and educate members by screening movies regarding domestic issues and the Chinese Revolution. Furthermore, they promoted revolutionary and Maoist propaganda in order to educate members of revolutionary tactics and a realization of the problems occurring in the community. The I Wor Kuen also sought to attack disease by creating a door-to-door tuberculosis campaign and the ensuring proper treatment and free x-ray’s at a municipally held clinic. The organization also created campaigns to end economic exploitation in Chinatown, through the “Streets Belong To the People” demonstration that forced tourist busses off of Chinatown streets. At last, the I Wor Kuen’s efforts to destroy American imperialism translated into their war against major monopolistic organizations in Chinatown itself. The CCBA was a coalition of associations that had controlled Chinatown’s political and economic structures, and the I Wor Kuen was determined to diminish their reach of local businesses. They believed “the CCBA is the extension of the U.S. Government in Chinatown, so we are attacking the government through it.” Similar to the ambitious quality of the AAPA’s, the I Wor Kuen imagined the destruction of the United States government and military through a revolutionary war against imperialistic forces, the establishment