Sai-kit Jeremy Lee identifies as a second-generation Hong Kong Thai Chinese American, born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a junior at the George Washington University in DC, he is majoring in Asian Studies and Chinese, and minoring in Korean and Organizational Sciences. At GWU, Jeremy co-founded GW’s Asian American Student Association Spring 2017 and currently serves as its president. He hopes to use this student organization to bring light to issues surrounding the AAPI community while also creating community for the Asian American students on campus. He’s also a member of Circle K, an international service organization, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship where he leads a small group that focuses on the intersection of the Asian American identity and faith. As a linguaphile, whenever Jeremy has free time, you’ll probably see him trying to study a new language or listening to music in a language he can’t fully understand yet.
“From March 2nd-4th I had the opportunity to attend and help facilitate ECAASU’s annual student conference at Cornell University as their advocacy research intern. ECAASU’s, East Coast Asian American Student Union, mission is to inspire, educate, and empower those interested in Asian American and Pacific Islander Issues. This year the conferences theme was continuum which focused on exploring racialization, incarceration, labor, and civil rights movements, settler colonialism, immigration policy, ethnic enclaves, and many more facets of the Asian American story. The conference was composed of performers, speakers, and workshops. As an Asian studies major at GW, it was really interesting to learn about the experience of Asian Americans in a more formal setting because in my classes at GW we only focus on Asians in Asia. We heard speakers talk about the impact DACA had on them, how people in New York’s Chinatown are fighting against gentrification by uniting the community through art, and we heard Paul Tran perform poetry about the effects of the Vietnam war on their family. As for the workshops, topics ranged from toxic masculinity to the effects of colonialism. I ended up helping facilitate the Asian Americans and Christianity workshop. This workshop allowed us to talk about Asian American theology, which basically focuses on the idea that God has created all of us and sees all of us, as well as post-colonialism theology. Essentially, what does it mean to be an Asian American Christian and how can we use this intersection to lift other people up? Compared to my interactions with religion while studying abroad in Hong Kong and learning about Asian religions at GW, one major difference between Asians, of any religion including Christianity, and Asian American theology is that Asian American theology seems to put a large emphasis on racial reconciliation and loving those that are different from you. I’m grateful that I had the chance to learn about Asian American history and the issues surrounding the AAPI community at ECAASU’s conference and am excited to go again next year!”
