Talk:CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities

CAAAV

Comments from Prof. Kelley

Overall, the site looks pretty good, but it could use some expansion and substantive changes (and careful proofreading—I already made some corrections).

First, you probably don’t want to put the CAAAV website at the top, otherwise there isn’t much incentive to stay on your own website. Check out some other pages on our site, such as Critical Resistance, for ideas.

Second, the links at the top are ok, but there isn’t much to distinguish each link. They just sort of run together. Look at some others, like BlackOut Arts Collective, for ideas.

Third, the link ‘goals for group 10’ could be eliminated.

Fourth, your History of CAAAV really needs some help! For one thing, you don’t have to draw so heavily on their website. What about the sources you include in suggested reading, etc? There has been quite a bit written on CAAAV’s origins, and the Vincent Chin murder that was key in inspiring its formation. And why say it was founded by some Asian women and not mention anyone’s name? What were their early campaigns about? Has it always been NY-based? You have an opportunity to tell more history than the CAAAV website, and this they will appreciate. After all, we’re talking about 29 years!

Fifth, under current project, try not to rely so heavily on their website. It’s important to research beyond and find your own language. Also, Domestic Workers United is also a project of CAAAV, and you all should have a link to their page on your site.

Finally, Resources/Links. First of all, you have the resources/links page from Coalition to Preserve Community!!! You all need to work with them to fix this. Second, your actual resources page is “Suggested Reading….” You need to annotate these sources a little better (for example, it’s hard to tell what’s a film and what’s a book). But what are these things about and why are they related to CAAAV. Seems like most of these sources are random studies of immigration policy? CAAAV is a social movement with a rich history; there has been quite a bit written, not just on the group and its campaigns, but the particular campaigns with which they are involved. Again, you can go back to the wave of anti-Asian violence in the 1980s up to the Domestic Workers United campaign to the struggles of workers in Chinatown against NYU. You have to substantially expand this page and at least give a couple sentences of annotation so we know what the reading/site is about.

Do you all have time to work on this over the summer to get it together?

Prof. Kelley

Hey guys,

I think at this point you can take down your discussion page, since the semester's almost over. Also, email me (jh2161@columbia.edu) if you want to do a joint page between our two organizations, mine's Domestic Workers United. Great site!! -Jamarah