Journalist speaks out

Helen Zia never had a class that taught her about Asian Americans growing up. She rarely heard about her ancestors who helped improve the United States. But her family taught her to be proud of her Asian heritage, Zia said, and when she discovered journalism, she found the role she could play in society.\n"If I raised my voice, I could change the world," she said. \nZia spoke Wednesday in honor of Asian Pacific American Month about breaking cultural barriers and collaborating for social change. \nA second generation Chinese-American, she said she considers herself to be an activist, journalist, feminist, writer and a proud lesbian.\nA. Magazine, which deals with Asian American issues, called Zia, "one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade." \nZia encouraged people to speak out in order to change what is wrong with society, she said, and that the entire nation suffers when people are silent. Asian American people still face difficulties today, she said, and recently Asian American people are being accused of spying for the Republic of China. "Increasing hostility between America and China will have an impact, not only on Asian Americans," she said.\nThese types of situations make social change difficult to occur because, "inaccurate portrayals are dangerous to us as a society," Zia said. Social change will only happen if people transform themselves, she said.\nZia spoke about the challenges she faced as a minority and how she developed into an adult and journalist, despite facing many roadblocks because of her heritage.\nShe said she heard many stereotypical and racial slurs while growing up. Asian-American history was left out of her education, she said. It was sad that many important Asian Americans who helped build the United States were not taught about in school, Zia said. \nThe reason that these things are here today is because of the students who spoke up and and made themselves heard, Zia said. She was taught pride in her heritage as a child and when she got older she found out the role she could play in society, she said.\nFor this reason, without a journalism background, she decided to become a journalist so she could speak up and be heard, she said. \nDean of Women's Affairs Jean Robinson said one of the reasons Zia was invited was because she represents a type of activism that really makes a difference. Many people feel that Zia is a woman who is committed to bringing justice, Robinson said.\nSophomore Ryan Alb said Zia was well versed on the problems of Asian Americans in today's society.\n"I was surprised that the speech was so light hearted but she also effectively pointed out the problems in our culture," he said.