Voter registration drive, Chinatown, San Francisco. Efforts to gain a greater voice at the ballot box required long hours of signing people up, and persuading them that exercising their civil rights was an important responsibility. People like Henry Der, who fought for issues like voter registration and affirmative action, sometimes found themselves accused of being un-American in their efforts (see text below).
Photo by Russ Lowe.

Roots of a Civil Rights Activist

By Henry Der

I joined other students in the candlelight Vietnam War protest. As further expression of our frustration and anger, we students took over a campus administrative building [at Stanford University] and staged a spontaneous sleep-in. My opposition against the Vietnam War eventually took me over to the Oakland Military Induction Center to protest the conscription of young men.

My work as a civil rights advocate was particularly challenging because some in the Asian American community were unsure, if not hostile at times, toward affirmative action strategies and programs. Others in the San Francisco Chinese community wrongfully associated or equated my civil rights work with un-American activities.

[01 Transforming Ourselves]     [02 Not Without Struggle]     [03 Serve the People]
[04 Listening to the Small Voice]     [05 The Big Picture]     [06 Revolution]
[Author Bios]     [Site Credits]     [Home]

Copyright © 2002 AAMP.