Dennis RomeroIn a rare show of solidarity among crosstown rivals, students at UCLA and USC were planning a joint town hall meeting to discuss racism against Asian American students on both campuses.
The event scheduled for Wednesday night was being organized in response to the recent mailing of a racist flier to Asian American student groups at both schools.
For UCLA, at least, it wasn't the first time Asian Americans were targeted with this kind of hate:
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Earlier this month a racist flier was sent to the Asian Pacific Coalition at UCLA and to Asian Pacific American Student Services at USC, setting off the latest uproar.
See also: Racist, Anti-Asian Flier Rocks UCLA, USC Campuses
In 2012 students at UCLA's Vietnamese Student Union and Pacific Islanders Student Association found a similar flier posted to a bulletin board they shared.
Authorities at both schools were investigating the latest incident.
Some students at UCLA believe the flier was part of a pattern of bias against the campus' largest ethnic group, a pattern that goes back to the 2011 video rant “Asians in the Library” and beyond.
The VSU told us this:
… We want to highlight the fact that these issues transcend campuses and schools, and are also present in the larger community. The crosstown rivals (UCLA and USC) are standing together in order to demand that the administration at both these institutions look at the policies and programs (or lack thereof) that perpetuate racism and sexism.
The event was to take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., but a location was still TBA. We will keep you posted.
[Added at 2:22 p.m. on Wednesday]: The location is the UCLA Student Activity Center, 220 Westwood Plaza.
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