2008 Woodie Awards
Controversy Welcomed At APALSA Conference
Martha Jeong
Issue date: 3/9/06 Section: News
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 Media Credit: Alexandra Bell Students listening to a panel discussion on Kelo and Eminent Domain: Can the Government Parcel Out Chinatown? |
Controversy. The theme for the 12th Annual National Asian Pacific American Conference on Law and Public Policy provided ample breeding ground for the latest and most crucial debates affecting the Asian American community at large, including domestic violence and immigration, eminent domain in Boston's Chinatown, law firm culture, Katrina relief, voting rights, and internet censorship in China.
Conference co-chair Patty Chen 2L explained that the theme was "intended to be a little darker, to stand in contrast to the brighter 'call to action' themes of other conferences." Co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) at Harvard Law and the Asian American Policy Review at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, the two-day conference had more than 275 attendees, including 50 students who came from out of state. The conference kicked off its program last Friday evening with an opening keynote speech by attorney Susan Yu and a musical performance by singer/songwriter Kevin So at the Boston Marriott.
Yu, a partner with Mesereau & Yu, LLP, is most widely recognized as having successfully defended Michael Jackson in his recent trial. She started her speech with her recollections of the moment when Jackson was acquitted on all counts and her phone began to ring off the hook. Everyone who wanted to know how it felt like to be the first Asian American female lawyer in such a high-profile litigation case. Yu's personal response to such accolades was to say that in actuality, her journey began long before the Jackson trial and victory.
Yu talked about her firsthand experiences with racial discrimination -- when she was six years old, she had to sit in the back of the bus with her mother in San Francisco. She talked about the blood, sweat and tears sacrificed by her parents to give her the opportunities she was able to have to become a better person and an educated individual. Yu spoke of her memories of going to an inner-city school. She was shocked to seeing her older sister defend herself in a fistfight with another girl and then warn others to not mess with her because she was Bruce Lee's sister.
Yu also talked about how she took off a year and a half from college to help her dad bus tables at a deli during times of financial trouble. As Yu highlighted some of her personal journey and struggles, she finished by reminding the audience that the Asian American community does not exist on their own. "We don't live in isolation and we didn't get here on our own either, she said. "We [Asian Americans] would not be here today without the Black Civil Rights Movement." Yu emphasized the critical need for lawyers to go out and give back using our intellect, tools and compassion to reach out to the misunderstood, impoverished and marginalized people in our communities.