“That’s why I was attracted to that, and I feel like for social justice, I’ve always understood that the world was unfair, you know I mean, but I think the part that really killed me was how cruel it is unnecessarily.”

“I saw how Asian American Studies helped me understand or relate to other groups in a better way you know I mean. I feel like a lot of times when we look, when we think ‘Asian Americans,’ even like that Latinx or like Black you know, these are big homogenous groups, and people have the tendency to just like take broad strokes about what it means to be like that.”

Matthew (Matt) Vu studied from 2007 to 2012 at UC San Diego, majoring in General Biology and Ethnic Studies. While being a student of Thurgood Marshall College, he was actively involved in Summer Bridge, the Cross Cultural Center, Student Affirmative Action Committee, Kalbigang Pilipino, Asian and Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APSA), and the Coalition for Critical Asian American Studies (CCAAS). This interview also covers topics regarding the 2010 Compton Cookout incident, student activism at and beyond UCSD, and the advocacy efforts for and excitement surrounding the establishment of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies Program at UCSD in 2020. Currently, Matt is a Community Ownership Policy Advocate/Organizer with T.R.U.S.T South LA.

The interview was conducted on May 2021 via Zoom by Johnny Nguyen, who connected with Matt through the AAPI Studies Community Archive Project and through his involvement in APSA as the Vice Chair of Finance and a former Political Action and Awareness Intern. Johnny is currently an undergraduate student of Mechanical Engineering and Political Science.