The co-president of the Asian Pacific American Student Organization said something Friday afternoon at the rock on Farm Lane that set the tone for the weekend.

“Alone we can create a difference,” said Thomas Hang, a studio art junior. “Together we can create history.”

Hang was one of many speakers who addressed a crowd of nearly 200 people during an Asian and Pacific American power rally that would kick off APASO’s Fall 2000 Leadership Conference weekend.

The annual conference is designed to provide unity and awareness to the Asian Pacific American community.

Soh Suzuki, a studio art senior and minority aide in Snyder and Phillips halls, voiced many of the concerns of APA students in front of Friday’s crowd. He said MSU doesn’t do enough to support the increasing diversity of its population.

Suzuki also said MSU has not been supportive of a degree program focusing on Asians and Pacific Islanders living in America, as well as adding more Asian language courses to the existing curriculum.

“University officials told us that if we wanted APA studies or more Asian languages, then we should attend the University of Michigan,” he said.

Suzuki, a member of the conference’s planning committee, said students must continue the struggle previous students started.

“We appreciate what we have that was achieved by students before us who fought for us,” he said. “And we’ve come to this point, but this isn’t the end. We must stay active and we must represent ourselves.”

Sarah Wahab, APASO programmer, began her speech by quoting civil rights leader Mohandas Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world,” she said.

Wahab, a communication junior, encouraged students to break the “quiet, subservient Asian” stereotype and take a stand against the “seductive Asian girl” and the “smart model minority” myths.

“And when you hear someone say ‘chink,’ you better step up and address it because if you don’t, who will?” she said.

In the same fashion, students were encouraged to be loud while chanting during their march from the rock, through the Administration Building, past Cowles House and to the Union.

“What do we want? APA studies! When do we want it? Now!”, resounded from the crowd.

Workshops Saturday focusing on APA issues began the second day of the conference.

A banquet and dance featuring two keynote speakers at the Kellogg Center completed the conference. Daren Rikio Mooko, a fourth-generation Japanese American and director of the Asian American Resource Center at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., stressed activism .

He said while many of the students may be active on campus, they may not always know the best way to affect change.

“Maybe I’m preaching to the choir, but the choir may not necessarily know how to sing,” he said.

Mooko agreed with students who say MSU is overdue in implementing an APA studies program.

Rooko encouraged students to be activists by researching the issues and speaking with administrators rather than using militant tactics.

“Activism can’t be about the 60s,” he said. “As administrators, we’re ready for you. Raid the building and we can follow protocol. You go to jail and where is your movement now? It’s about being smart and playing the game.”

Providing some entertainment for the night, comedian Tou Ger Xiong performed an act he called “Bruce Lee meets Snoop Doggy Dogg.” His routine combined the history of the Hmong, Xiong’s native culture, with physical comedy and hip-hop.

Xiong told the story of his life, from living in Thai refugee camps, to adjusting to the effects of having “one foot in American culture and one foot in Hmong culture” after moving to St. Paul, Minn., in 1979.

Later, Xiong encouraged audience participation during a rap that told the history of the Hmong in five chapters - from their days living in the mountains of China, to their war against the Chinese, to fleeing into Thailand and Laos, to being recruited by the CIA to fight undercover in the Vietnam War and, finally, to their immigration to America.

Despite the humorous message of his performance, Xiong left the audience with a saying his mother told him that said the wisdom of his culture is always worth more than the knowledge he would learn from American culture.

“No matter my age, I’m more wise than you,” Xiong said. “Because in my lifetime, I’ve eaten more rice than you.”