The 13th Annual Asian Pacific Islander Issues Conference.
The 13th Annual Asian Pacific Islander Issues Conference consisted of a great many events that dealt with many serious problems that dwell deep within the United States and continue to keep Asians, as well as Asian Americans, down and suppressed from breaking the typical stereotypes. The conference was held at the UC Berkeley campus in the Dwinelle Hall with a goal of promoting awareness of our rights and the political, social, and the economic environment in which we exist, and to inspire us to act on such awareness. The main focus of this conference was to help the Asian community become more aware of the current state of which Asians really do live in. Historically, our opportunities, identities, and life experiences have largely been imposed on by the dominant society, directly and indirectly. A rally was held to help the community understand that we can reject what we have been subjected to and that it is up to us as a community to reclaim our realities by redefining our identities to suit our communities strengths and differences to achieve empowerment. .
The keynote speaker was Erik Mar, Vice President of San Francisco Board of Education. He discussed issues such as youth gang prevention, mental health, immigration and film roles. He even conversed about the inspiring new film Better Luck Tomorrow and also had a guest appearance of the BLT (Better luck Tomorrow) crew. The conference also held the Campaign Against Southeast Asians Deportation. The issues related to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. This law has caused for all non-citizen immigrants to be subjected to mandatory deportation if convicted of an "aggravated felony" as defined by the Department of Justice. This was regardless or if it was a non-violent crime of if the person had served some prison time. In March 2002, the U.