NCBI Seattle - Asian Constituency

Asian Constituency

Asian Constituency Retreat

Welcome!

This is the web page for the NCBI International Asian Heritage Constituency, led by Darlene Lee of Seattle, WA, and Kalav Mistry, of Liecester, England.

Highlights from the 2004 Retreat:

The diversity within the group was rich, and it illustrated the range of our experiences. Some examples are:

There were folks from the U.S., England, and Switzerland.
We had participants of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Mien, Indian, Korean, Tamil, and Pakistani heritages.
There was a mix of women and men in their 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's.
A participant from the GLBT constituency who was out.
We had Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, and Taoist religious traditions represented.
We had a range of experiences to share – adoptee, refugee, U.S. born, non-U.S.er are some examples of our specific perspectives.

We worked on the impact of racism and internalized oppression, and what separates us as Asian men and Asian women.

Here are some words from retreat participants:

“Thanks again for making such a wonderful space where we could all share some of our issues.”
“I feel privileged to be brought into people's lives through sharing stories, ideas, food, dance, playtime.”
“I now have new terminology to identify the racism & oppression I experience and a clearer understanding of how it evolved.”

Keeping Connected:

In an effort to keep us, the members of the NCBI International Asian Heritage Constituency, connected and to contradict our patterns of isolation, we have created a listserv to share thoughts, joys, struggles and information over email. If you are interested in joining this listserv, please email Darlene Lee.

Moving our Constituency Forward:

We are constantly planning how to grow and move our constituency forward within NCBI. If you would like to lend your support towards this effort, please contact us. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions as we lead our constituency onward.