- Helen Zia
Helen Zia (;
pinyin : Xiè Hànlán) (born 1952) is an American journalist and scholar who has coveredAsian American communities and social and political movements for decades.She was born in
New Jersey to first generation immigrants fromShanghai . She enteredPrinceton University in the early 1970s and was a member of its first graduating class of women. As a student, Zia was among the founders of the Asian American Students Association. She was also a vocalanti-war activist, voicing herOpposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War , and a firm believer infeminism .She entered medical school in 1974, but quit in 1976. She moved to
Detroit, Michigan . She went to work as a construction laborer, an autoworker and a community organizer, after which she discovered her life’s work as ajournalist and writer.She is the author of "Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People", a finalist for the prestigious Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize.
President of the United States Bill Clinton quoted from "Asian American Dreams" at two separate speeches in theWhite House Rose Garden .She is also co-author, with
Wen Ho Lee , of "My Country Versus Me", which reveals what happened to the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused of being a spy for thePeople's Republic of China in the “worst case since the Rosenbergs.”Zia is former Executive Editor of "
Ms. Magazine ". Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, books and anthologies. She was named one of the most influentialAsian American s of the decade by "A. Magazine".Zia has received numerous journalism awards for her ground-breaking stories; her investigation of date
rape at theUniversity of Michigan led to campus demonstrations and an overhaul of its policies, while her research on women who join neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations provoked new thinking on the relationship between race and gender violence inhate crime s.Zia has been outspoken on issues ranging from
civil rights and peace towomen's rights and countering hate violence andhomophobia . In 1997, she testified before theU.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the racial impact of the news media. She traveled toBeijing in 1995 to theUnited Nations Fourth World Congress on Women as part of a journalists of color delegation. She has appeared in numerous news programs and films; her work on the 1980sAsian American landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence is documented in the Academy Award nominated film, “"Who Killed Vincent Chin?"” and she was profiled inBill Moyers ' PBS documentary, “"Becoming American: The Chinese Experience."”Zia received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Law School of the
City University of New York for bringing important matters of law and civil rights into public view.Zia remained closeted during much of her early career. She came out nationally on a live
C-SPAN broadcast in the early 90s. [ [http://www.mlksymposium.umich.edu/ The University of Michigan's Annual Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium] ,University of Michigan website. Retrieved onSeptember 7 ,2007 .] She currently resides in the Bay Area with her partner, Lia Shigemura. The pair were married inSan Francisco in 2004. [Malinda Lo. [http://www.afterellen.com/blog/malinda/top-5-queer-asian-american-women Top 5 queer Asian-American women in entertainment and media] ,AfterEllen.com (May 23 ,2007 ). Retrieved onSeptember 7 ,2007 .] , and again in 2008 [Jesse McKinley. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/us/17cnd-marriage.html Hundreds of Same-Sex Couples Wed in California] ,New York Times (June 17 ,2008 ). Retrieved onJune 17 ,2008 .]References
External links
* [http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/speakers.asp?1+EV+1333 Helen Zia] at [http://www.speakoutnow.org/index.html SpeakOutNow.org]
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