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A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Important Links: Hmong Innovating Politics: Website | Instagram Asian Refugees United: Website | Instagram Bhutanese American Refugee Rights website Transcript Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to Apex Express on KPFA. My name is Swati Rayasam.  Since the onset of the Trump administration, immigrant and refugee communities have been under increased attack, being kidnapped in broad daylight, detained in unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and deported to countries many of them barely know. All without due process or communication to their loved ones and communities. On tonight's episode, we're focusing on a particular segment of our immigrant and refugee community, Hmong and Bhutanese refugees. Both of these targeted communities are stateless with no land to call their own, and their deportation carries the very real danger of disappearance and death. Robin Gurung from Asian Refugees United and Kao Ye Thao from Hmong innovating Politics, discuss their community and personal refugee stories, and talk about the intersection of the US' deeply broken immigration and criminal legal systems, otherwise known as crimmigration. We also get to hear from the wives of two detained refugees, one Bhutanese and one Hmong, who are currently fighting to keep their families together and to protect their loved ones from the dangers of deportation as stateless people. I also want to note because this is a rapidly developing situation, that this episode was recorded on August 13th, 2025, and is being released on August 28th, 2025. For the most recent updates, please go to bhutaneserefugeerights.org or check out the Pardon Refugees campaign. Now, here's Miko. Miko: Welcome to Apex Express. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm so glad to bring you all together in this time. I'm wondering if I could ask you each to introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the community your organization serves and what you do, and let's start with Kao Ye.  Kao Ye: Hello everyone, and thank you for making space- my name is Kao Ye Tao. I use she her pronouns, and I work as the director of policy and partnerships with an organization called Hmong Innovating Politics. We are an organization that serves Hmong youth and families in Sacramento and Fresno, which holds two of our largest Hmong American communities in California. And our work with Hmong youth and families is really about developing their leadership to organize towards social justice and to get the resources that their communities deserve. Miko: Thank you, Kao Ye and Robin, could you please introduce yourself? Robin: Sure. My name is Robin Gurung. I use he, him, his, I'm from the Nepali speaking Bhutanese community. I live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. my role at Asian Refugees United is the co-founder and the co-executive director. We have our program in California and Pennsylvania. California programs are, are serving Asian diaspora and then, Pennsylvania programs are focused serving the Nepal speaking Bhutanese community. We work in the intersection of arts and healing, storytelling, civic engagement, leadership development. Thank you. Miko: Thanks Robin and I am your host Miko Lee, lead producer at Apex Express. And all of us are part of a network called AACRE Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, which is a network of progressive Asian American groups. So you all work with refugee populations. I'm wondering if you could tell a little bit more about the backstory of your community, and also if you feel comfortable about how you personally came to be a refugee in the United States. And, Robin, I'd love to start with you on that one. Robin: Sure. My community is Nepali speaking, Bhutanese refugee community. And we are ethnically Nepali, which means culture wise and language wise we speak Nepali and follow the Nepali culture tradition. Our ancestors like maybe in 18 hundreds, 19 hundreds migrated from Nepal to Bhutan and became the citizen of that country. And most people don't know about Bhutan, it's a very tiny country between China and India. And, if people know about Bhutan, then people know it through the cross national happiness concept, Bhutan is considered the happiest country in the world. So our ancestors were in mostly in the southern area of Bhutan for generations, they became the citizen. They had their own home, their own land. And then later, 1980s, early nineties, there was a policy by the government of Bhutan, which is the monarchy government system- king rules the country. They brought a policy called One Nation, One People Policy. Which means all different groups of people would have to follow the same culture, same religion, kind of follow the same dress code and because of that policy all people were forced to stay away from following our own culture or our own religion, which, most of our folks were Hindu. Our people protested against it and because of that, the government expelled over a hundred thousand of our community members. And, they expelled to India and then from like India wouldn't allow us to stay and we had to resettle in Nepal in seven different refugee camps under different international agencies like U-N-H-C-R and other agencies. Miko: And then Robin, can you tell a little bit about your personal story and how you came here? Robin: Yeah. Yeah. So 1992 is when my family had to leave Bhutan. And at that time I was three years old. I remember growing up in a refugee camp in Nepal, from three years until I was 23 years. So 20 years of my life I was in a refugee camp in Nepal. And in 2012, I came to US through the refugee resettlement program introduced to our camps in 2008, and through it US agreed to resettle 60,000 of our committee members. By 2017, I think US has resettled about 70 to 80,000 of our Bhutanese community members.   Miko: Thank you so much for sharing. Kao Ye I wonder if you could talk about your community and the refugee resettlement program that your community was a part of. Kao Ye: The Hmong American community, or just the Hmong community overall, is a group that's indigenous to East and Southeast Asia. And through our ancient history, we've always been a stateless, people fighting for our autonomy to live to practice our customs and our culture. And particularly where we come into this history of refugee is during the Vietnam War where many Hmong people, alongside other ethnic groups in Laos, were caught in the crossfire of the United States conflict in Southeast Asia. And so with the Vietnam War. The Hmong as well as many other ethnic communities that lived, in the hills and the mountains were recruited in covert operations by the CIA to fight back against the Vietnamese, the Northern Vietnamese communist forces, as well as the Putet Lao. And so once the US withdrew from Southeast Asia, it created a vacuum of conflict and violence that our people had to escape from in order to survive. And so after the Vietnam War in 1975, we saw the mass displacement of many Southeast Asian ethnic communities, including Hmong families. And that is where my history starts because my parents were born in Laos and because of this war, they fled to Thailand refugee camps and lived there for a few years until they were able to come to the United States in 1992. And I'm actually I'm a child of refugees and so what I know about this part of my history comes from the stories of my grandparents who raised me as well as what little I could learn in the textbooks of public education. And so it wasn't actually until going to college and. Being able to access more of this literature, this history that I really learned about what the United States had done in Southeast Asia and the ramifications of that for myself and my family and so many others, refugees that. Have to have had to resettle in the United States. And so it's definitely a history that runs very close, because we have relatives that live through that refugee experience. And so it is very well and alive. And so as we now approach this conversation around ICE and deportations, it really is a reminder of the trauma that our people face, but are still facing as a people that have been seen as disposable to the United States government. Miko: Thanks, Kao Ye. Let's talk a little bit more about that. But first I wanna say, did either of you ever hear about refugees in your textbooks? I never did. So I'm wondering if, you said you learned a little bit about that from textbooks. Was that something you learned in public education. Kao Ye: I did not learn about refugees or refugees experience. I learned about the war and as a Hmong kid it brought me so much delight to try to scroll through the history books just to see if Hmong people were mentioned. And even then the refugee experience was not ever something that we talked about. I felt like definitely not in, in high school. I think it was college really, that then started to articulate those terms and that Southeast Asian identity, that is really where I think I also became politicized in that. Miko: Yeah, because I think in textbooks there might be a little section on the Vietnam War, but it does not talk about the, all the Southeast Asian ethnic peoples that actually fought in the war. We have to dig that information out on our own, but I wanna move us to what is happening right now. So the Trump administration has created. Culture of fear among immigrants and refugees, these ICE raids and disappearances. It is so intense and using immigrants as a fear tool to prop up white supremacy is so blatant right now. I'm wondering if you can each talk about, how this administration's policies are impacting your communities. And, Robin, let's start with you. What is happening right now? I know since the end of March, can you share a little bit about what's been happening with Bhutanese Americans? Robin: Sure. Sure. So our people were settled to this country with the hope that this is going to be our home. But starting March of this year, with the new policies of this current administration, we started seeing abrupt, ICE arrest in our communities. People were picked up from home, their workplaces, and from their ICE, check-ins. And, since March, within I would say two to three months, more than 72 of our community members were picked up, mostly from Pennsylvania and then Ohio, and also from other states like New York, Georgia, North Dakota. So until now, we have, the records of at least 50 people who have been deported to Bhutan and at least 72 who are detained. So more than 30 people are [at risk] of getting detained. The nature of the ICE arrests that we have seen is we don't know whether the due processes were followed. They made it so hard for the families to look for attorneys, and also to track their family members. Within days family members would find their loved ones disappeared, and then they wouldn't be able to talk to them they wouldn't be able to track them and provide the support that they needed. So for us as a community organization we did not anticipate this and we were not prepared for this. And, and we didn't have the infrastructure to really address this, right? So it became such challenging work for us. Like within days we had to mobilize our people. We had to mobilize our teams to help family members with legal support, emotional support, mobilize our community members to update what's happening with this situation. The rapid response work, know your rights clinics that we had to set up. So on one hand it's the detention and deportation in the US and on the other hand, when our people were deported to Bhutan, what we're seeing is within 24 hours, they are being expelled from Bhutan to India, and then from India because India wouldn't accept them as well, they had to enter Nepal because for most of these Deportee, they're very young, they were born in refugee camps, and for most of them, the only known land is Nepal. Right. And they had to enter Nepal without documentation. And then some of them were found in refugee camps. And most of them are unknown. Like they're, they have disappeared. Miko: So that is so much over the last few months that ARU has had to step in and take a leading, role in this situation that has impacted the Bhutanese community from focusing on wellness and youth development to suddenly translating materials into Nepali, translating, know Your Rights materials into Nepali, hosting all these different events, the work that you have been doing is really powerful. I wonder if you could share with us the story of Mohan Karki, who is a community member that's currently detained in Michigan. Robin: Sure. So, Mohan Karki is now in detention in Michigan and he's a community member member who lived in Ohio. So he was detained by ICE during his regular ICE check-in , I believe in April, they detained him and then he was taken for deportation. And last minute, the families and the community had to come together and then appeal the deportation. Right now he's in Michgan detention center and his wife, who was pregnant and had due date, when Mohan was being deported on June 10, is now fighting day and night to stop the deportation and also to bring Mohan home. Right now, Asian Refugees United and other community partners, like AWPAL, Asian Law Caucus are working together to support Mohan's family, to bring Mohan home and also running a, GoFund me fundraiser, to help the family pay the legal fees. Miko: Thanks Robin. And we're gonna listen to Tikas story right now. Tika Basnet: Hi, my name is Tika Basnet I'm from Ohio and I'm fighting my husband deportation case.  So on April seven, a lot of people told us not to go to the ICE office, but my husband wanna follow the rules, he wanna go there. We went to the Westerville office inside And we sit down, we talk to each other. Nothing will go wrong. And suddenly ICE told us to come inside and they told us that my husband got travel documents from Bhutan. I told them like it is not safe for my husband to get deport in Bhutan, all the Bhutanese people run away in 1990s due to the ethnic cleansing and if my husband get deported in Bhutan, he will either gonna get killed, tortured, disappeared, imprisoned, I don't know what will happen, but they did not listen to me. So they detained my husband and I came at the parking lot and his mom saw me coming alone. So they start crying and I told them like, Mohan is gone and this is the last time I think I'm gonna see my husband. the time that my husband was taken away from Butler County on June 10 I was 41 weeks pregnant. I was supposed to deliver on, June 10. But no, I told the doctor I change my delivery time. I am not gonna go now like I need to fight for my husband. Like, When Bhutanese people started coming here in 2007. Third party promise us that in here in United States, we will get our identity. That identity will never taken away. They promise us that the way Bhutan take our identity, they will not gonna do that. we thought that this is our home. We thought that having a green card, having a citizenship, it is permanently, but no, we are, we all are wrong. And that identity is taken away within a second. And we became stateless again. So, my husband, Mohan Karki he just arrived in the United States he been here less than two years when the incident happened. He did not understand the law. He did not understand the culture. He did not know anything.  My husband he was only 17 years old, high school student coming from school to home. On the way to reach their apartment, there is one private house. They are just trying to go to the shortcut from the backyard. So some neighbor call 9 1 1. And that only one mistake lead to deportation.  The place that we come from, there is no boundaries. In Nepal, we are allowed to go anybody property We are allowed to walk somebody else house and because of the cultural difference, he's paying price right now.  At that time, nobody can speak English. They cannot understand what police were saying and Nepali interpreter told my husband that if you say I'm guilty, you'll out of prison soon. But if you did not say I'm guilty, you'll end up in prison for 20 to 25 years. High school student he's scared he just say, I'm guilty, and he did not know what is deportation mean. He did not know what he was signing. Nobody informed him what he was signing. That signing was deportation. What happened in 2013 is impacting us in 2025 and still he wish he did not cross somebody else backyard at that time. He wish he knew that he wasn't allowed to cross somebody else's backyard. I don't know what will our future is gonna be, but I hope that he gets second chance. His community love him. He love people. He was working as a truck driver. He paid taxes. He was supporting his parent. He was supporting me. My daughter deserve to have a father. You know, she's just one month. But now the dream that I was hoping one day I'm gonna build with my husband that is taken away and I'm left alone with this child. I already went through a lot without him, i'm the only one that fighting for my husband case. The deportation is not only breaking one family, but it is breaking everybody, the community and the family. And I hope that people can support me so I can fight for my husband case. Like I really need so many attorney. I need criminal attorney to open up his 2013 case. And I have wonderful, wonderful attorney, my husband get stay off removal, but that is not guarantee my husband can get deport anytime. The attorney fee are really expensive and he still needs support. The US made bhutanese people a promise of home. We belong here. Stop the detention and deportation. Stop deporting Bhutanese people. We are stateless. We don't have country, don't have a home. This is our home. US is our home. We belong here. Miko: Of the 72 people, Mohan is the first Bhutanese refugee that we actually have a stay of release on, as Robin was saying earlier, most of the folks were moved from state to state, so you can't really get a lawyer in that time. And as we all know, nonprofit immigration lawyers are under a lot of stress because of the attack of this administration. So it makes it incredibly complicated, let alone the legal fees that it costs to help support people going through this. And right now, Mohan has a stay on his, deportation and the lawyer that they do have is drafting up a letter to be able to release him into the community and also overturn his original case that happened as a minor in Georgia, which was a ridiculous case where he was leaving school, early high school, first year in the country, leaving high school early, and walked with his friends across a backyard. And the neighbor that they walked through their yard called the police, and they arrested him along with his friends for trespassing, they gave him paperwork that he didn't even understand. He signed it along with a interpreter they gave him false information to say he'd be locked up for 25 years, or if he signed this papers, that would be fine. He could go and what the papers said was it changed his charge into a felony and had him sign a letter of deportation. So this is part of the failure of our American legal system that we're not providing adequate information. It is a lack of due process. Thankfully, the work that Asian Law Caucus and United States of Stateless and other community activists are doing to call this out and help work with us is really critical. I wanna turn now to Kao Ye how this administrations is impacting Hmong refugees, and how is it similar or different to the experiences that Robin is describing for the Nepali speaking Bhutanese community? Kao Ye: I echoed many of the sentiments and the challenges that Robin shared around what we as nonprofit, grassroots organizations are having to build and grapple with just the limited infrastructure that we have to deal with the current ICE disappearances and deportation and all the support that's needed for the families. And so thank you Robin, for sharing that. I wanted to start broad a little bit because I think that this Trump administration is happening in the backdrop of the 50th year commemoration of the end of the wars in Southeast Asia and the refugee resettlement. We had over 1.1 million Southeast Asians resettle to the United States, the largest immigration resettlement, in American history. And so this year brings so many complexities, I think as a Southeast Asian community where there is a level of looking back at policies that have impacted us and have failed, but also looking forward what is the community that we are building together to move and progress together. And so there are those complexities, I think as the fact that it's the 50th year and like, this is what we're dealing with. This is the trauma that we are grappling with. And so I wanted to put that out front and center because even I think within our communities , there is no necessarily enlightenment in terms of how we talk about what is happening to our people and how they're getting deported unjustly. So that is why it is so important to have this dialogue within our communities as well as the solidarity that we also share with the Bhutanese community and other immigrant groups too. I think that in many of our Southeast Asian communities, their reasons for deportations is very tied to past convictions, and so this is the intersection between criminal law and immigration law. And it makes it complex because our people are now having to consult not just an immigration lawyer, but like criminal attorney so that they could really assess like what kind of relief they can get in order to mitigate, impending deportations. And then also miko you had shared about the lack of adequate legal service or representation because many of these folks, right, that have had these convictions that have now served their time and are simply members of our community that make our community rich. They are now having to revisit removal orders that they signed, thinking that, oh, nothing necessarily was gonna happen because they don't have a repatriation agreement. So, in our community, there was never a thought that we were going to be deported back to our home country because of that policy. And so that is a big contributing factor as to why the Hmong community, we don't have that infrastructure to really support our members who have gone through the criminal justice system and now have those removal orders. And so HIP, as well as many other grassroots. Sadly we did have to scramble to put this know your rights information together because again, I don't think that there was visibility in the need for us in this conversation around immigration Southeast Asians are a segment of our API community and so it just, I think, multiplied the invisibility that we already faced as a group of Southeast Asians. And so the support was definitely not there. And, to Robin's point, we did our best to try to put this information together to our community, starting with the Know Your Rights. And then we also realized like it was more complex than that, and that the legal supports were so necessary because everyone's case was different. I think what we're still dealing with now is that there's always been a lack of trust between our community members and government entities and nonprofit organizations. And so, if someone is dealing with the situation, they wanna go to, a partner that they trust to help them, even if they're not necessarily equipped to do that work, is that they're going to only the people that they trust because there is such a big mistrust. And so I think that, there is still the level of trust building that is needed to be done within our community so that folks feel comfortable to come to us or come to other people for support. And I think what makes me feel emotional is just when I hear about community members feeling hopeless and just feeling like there's nothing that they can do and that level of disempowerment to me, I think is something that is real. And I can't say that we can't combat it, but I think that it is about being able to find different outlets of support for them. Miko: Thank you for lifting that up. And just , in terms of the numbers, over three months, March, April and May, there were about 72 Bhutanese Americans that have been detained. And this is just kind of starting up with the Hmong community. So we had 15 that were detained from Minnesota and another 10 right now are being held in Michigan. And we also see this happening with Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodians, and Myan folks. All of these folks as Kao Ye you're pointing out, have had common threads, which is connections with the system, with the criminal legal/ justice system and crimmigration is something that in the AACRE network we've been talking about and working on, which is really about the education to prison, to deportation pipeline. And one of the things that this administration had talked about is, let's get rid of all the murderers and the rapists. You know, this like scare language about people that are convicted criminals, let's get rid of them all. But the fact of the matter. The vast majority of all of these people are people like Mohan Karki, a cultural misunderstanding that happened when he was a child. Like Lou Yang, who is Hmong refugee detained in Michigan right now. Somebody who was involved in something as a kid, but has since then become a leader in the community. So let's take a moment and listen to the spouse of Lou Yang, a Hmong refugee detained in Michigan in July. Anne Vu: My name is Anne Vu and I come before you today with a heart full of hope. Sorrow and a plea for justice. I am a proud American, a mother of six, the daughter of Hmong refugees who would gain their citizenship, and the wife of a man called Lou Yang, who is now detained and faced with potential deportation from the only country that he's ever known. Lou has lived in Michigan since October, 1979. He was born stateless in a refugee camp in Nongkai Thailand and his family fled Laos due to persecution. His father and like many others, served with the United States force during the Vietnam War as part of the Secret War, recruited by CIA in Laos, a conflict that most Americans do not know has happened. The Hmong were recruited by the CIA as part of the Secret War to help America during the Vietnam War. But when the war ended and the US withdrew, we were as the Hmongs declared enemy of the state. What followed was genocide, polarization and persecution by the state, and it was because of our alliance, the promise made by the US government that the Hmong refugees were legally settled here under certain migration of refugee laws and acts. And Lou arrived here as a young, toddler in infancy. In 1997, he was arrested on an alleged accomplice in an attempt home invasion, second degree. He was in the vehicle at the time. He never entered the home. He literally was still a juvenile at that time. He had a court appointed attorney and was advised to take a plea without being told it would affect his immigration status for the rest of his life. This is the reality of our immigration system – long, complex, confusing and devastating, unforgiving. It is not built for people like us, people like Lou, people who have served their time, rebuilt their lives and have nowhere else to go. We've walked this legal path, we've stayed together in the lines, and yet we are here punished today. Lou has no other charges, no current legal issues, no history of violence. He is not a flight risk. He is not a danger to our public safety. He is a father, my husband, a son, a son-in-law, a grandson and a brother to many, and our leader and a provider to our community, and to my family. He renews his work authorization and follows every rule asked of him no matter how uncertain the future felt. Together, we've raised six beautiful children. They're all proud Americans. Lou has contributed to Michigan's economy for decades working in our automotive industry and now he is gone and all that he is built is unraveling and the community is heartbroken. We didn't come from wealth. We didn't have every opportunity handed to us because we didn't come seeking a land of opportunity. We came here because of survival. We had to build from the ground up. But the most important thing was Lou and I, we had each other. We had our families, our friends, and our neighbors. We had a shared commitment to build a better life, grounded in love, respect, and purpose. And somehow that's still not enough. For years, we were told like other Hmong families that Laos in Thailand would never take us back. And that has changed. In June, 2025 the US imposed a partial travel ban on Laos, citing visa overstays, and lack of deportation cooperation. And in response, Laos began issuing these documents under pressure. Today over 4,800, including Hmong, Myan, and the other ethnic minorities are facing removal to Laos and to many other countries, many have never stepped foot in a country that they are now being sent to. Lou is Stateless like many others that is detained with him. None of these countries recognize him. He was born in the Thailand refugee camp, it does not recognize him nor qualify him for any sort of Thai citizenship and I'll tell you guys right now if forced to return, he will face danger because of his family's deep ties to the CIA and United States military. Deporting him turns him, a civil servant and respected community leader, into a political casualty, it would be a grave and irreversible injustice. To deport him now is to punish him to death. Once again, 50 years later, as we celebrate resilience this year across the nation, we are now celebrating a fight within our own grounds, right here in United States, right here in Michigan. We're now fighting the same fight within our own country. Thousands of Southeast Asian Americans, many that entered legally admitted as refugees are being deported for decade old offenses they've longed paid for. America is our country. All we ask is the right to stay in the home that we've helped to build and work hard to protect. We are not seeking special treatment. We are asking for justice, compassion, and a second chance in this country to claim what we believe in. To Governor Whitmer and members of Congress and all elected officials, please help bring Lou and the many others home. Urge ICE and DHS to release him on humanitarian grounds. Help his case. Help us preserve the integrity of our laws and the dignity of our families. And to the public allies and the media. Please call our elected officials. Please call these offices.  Please share Lou's story. We need voices. Voices louder than ours alone. It is hard times you guys. It is real. And I speak to you from the bottom of my heart. Please help me and our families in the many that are suffering. This is our home. These are our children. This is my husband and this is our fight. Let him come home. Let our families be whole again, and let America keep its promise. Thank you guys for hearing me. Miko: Lou Young is a community leader. Michigan, who actually runs a nonprofit in support of Hmong folks in that community, and is targeted and also has a stay of removal. So we're doing a targeted campaign for both of these folks, Lou Yang and Mohan Karki, to be able to get them released to overturn their original convictions and they also have spouses that are telling their stories and telling the impact these detentions have had. Because while this current administration talks about getting rid of criminals, what they are actually doing is breaking apart families and community. Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to Apex Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. Coming up is Deporting the Pilgrim from the Anakbayan Long Beach Mayday Mix tape.   Swati Rayasam: That was please be strong, featuring Hushed, loudmouth and Joe handsome. And before that was deporting the pilgrim from the Unec Bayan Long Beach Mayday Mixtape. Now back to the show. Miko:  I wanna shift us a little bit to talking about Asian american representation in the larger fabric of immigration justice in the United States. Mostly many of our Asian communities have been like isolated, not really involved in the broader immigration movement. And I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the difficulty and nuance of bringing your community struggle to the forefront because many of us heard about the Venezuelans and the Mexicans that have been deported and what was going on, but we don't hear as much about these stories of our Asian sisters and brothers. I wonder if one of you could give voice to that. Robin: Before going there can I add something to  Miko: of course.  Robin: crimmigration conversation? So when you all are sharing about that, I was thinking about, the justice system in this country and what we are seeing right now is a broken justice system. Like you said, Miko, where families are separated where families are broken, and what I don't understand is, when, let's say your loved one gets into trouble, makes a mistake, and gets into a trouble, then, as a human being, like, don't you want your loved ones to rebuild their lives? Like Yes, of course there is a system that you have to follow, the laws that you have to follow, but at the end, I think we all want our loved ones to come back, rebuild their lives, right? And what we're seeing in this country is they're constantly breaking the families. And I don't see how we are going to build a better future when we are constantly, hurting the families. And in the cases of detention and deportation, what we're seeing is the double punishment. Like the mistakes that they had made, but then throughout their life, they have to go through that, a continuous cycle of being punished. And not just the individuals, but their family members have also go through the challenges, the suffering, right? And in the case of Bhutanese from double punishment to double expulsion to this, the state of being statelessness. Right? So what kind of future we are imagining when an individual has to go through that continuous cycle of being punished and not having the opportunity to rebuild their lives. So that's a big question mark that I think, we all need to think about. To your later question around my community and the larger Asian American context or the national context. My community is relatively new to this country. We lived, almost two decades in a refugee camp, which was a enclosed camp. And our lives were dependent on foreign aids like UNHCR or ILWF. Pretty much I would say we had our own world over there. And for us to work outside the refugee camp was illegal. There was no laws that gave us the permission to work outside. So we were not pretty much exposed to the outer world. So for us to come to US was a big step. Which means pretty much from basic every day stuffs like, you know, using a bathroom, using a kitchen, taking a bus. All of those were foreign for us. So for our community to really tap into the education system, the political landscape of this country. And also like the experience of being expelled for voicing our, our opinions, for fighting for our rights. Right? So for us, for our community to kind of step in into the politics, it's like re-traumatizing ourselves. I would say there are a lot of barriers, multi-layered barriers for our community members to really tap into the larger political, like socio political landscape, from language barriers to culture barriers to education, to pretty much everything. So right now, the way our committee has been being attacked. It's a surprise to the community. And also it is like kind of traumatizing the community and taking us back to the same place of feeling, insecure, feeling like we don't have a home. And we did hope that this is legally, this is going to be a home. Because after coming to the US most of us became the legal citizens of this country and we started rebuilding our lives. Now it's kind of like going back to the same circle of statelessness. Miko: Thank you for sharing about that. Kao Ye, would you like to add to that? Kao Ye: When I think of the Hmong American community and even the Southeast Asian community and why the narratives of what is happening still feels very invisible. I think of how our community, we were assimilating for survival. And I speak on that as a child of my refugee parents and siblings where growing up we were taught to, listen, not speak out, not cause trouble. Go through the system, listen to authority, listen to law enforcement. And because of that, I feel it's shaped a culture of fear. Fear to dissent and fear to speak out because we care so much about the stability of our families. And we wanted to protect ourselves, because of everything we've gone through with the war. And we are finding that it's been challenging for our community members to come forward with their stories. Honestly, we're still sitting on that and we're still kind of sitting through like, why is there that tension? You know, I feel like folks are going through a lot and even folks have, our impacted loved ones, but they're afraid to tell their story because of fear of of retaliation. And so I think that there is a level of, I think that lack of even psychological safety, but real, physical, real financial safety that people have. And I think that being a factor to the assimilation, but also this facade of like the American dream and like if we don't just disrupt, if we don't speak out, we will be protected. And, white supremacy, right? Like we will be okay. And it's a facade because we know that because our communities are the ones getting kidnapped and getting deported. Right. And so I think there is that fear, but there's also recognition of this now, this facade that the silence doesn't protect us and that there is a real need for us to really, be strong in speaking out, not just for our SEA siblings that are impacted, but for all of our immigrant groups, even the Bhutanese community, right. That's been impacted during this time. And so I, yeah, I think it is that multi-layered experience of being a Southeast Asian refugee community on top of, being part of this AAPI umbrella. AAPI we are not homogenous. We all have very unique histories as to how we have dealt with the systems in this country and how we came into this country. And so I think it's been challenging to make space for those nuances. And at the end of the day, I still see the interconnections that we all have together too. And so, I think it's the willingness to make space for those different stories. And I am finding that more of our ethnic media, our smaller news outlets are more willing to cover those stories as opposed to, these larger mainstream outlets. Like they're not covering those stories, but we are. Miko: Thank you. Oh, both of you have brought up so much today about our failed criminal justice system, about us punishing people as opposed to rehabilitating people and punishing them more than once. We brought up questions around statelessness and the impact that it has, and I just recently learned that the United States does not have any policy on Statelessness. So one of the things that this coalition of folks is trying to do is to get a congressional hearing to help the United States develop policy around statelessness, because it is actually our responsibility and our duty to do that. The other thing I hear you both talking about is this good immigrant, bad immigrant trope, which we've heard of a lot, but I think that's also very much connected to why so many members of our communities don't wanna speak out because this connection with, you know, quote unquote criminal history might be something that's shameful. And I'm wondering if you both see that as a divide mostly between elders in the community and younger folks. Robin, do you wanna talk about that? Robin: Yeah. I mean, initially when we were mobilizing our community members to fight against the the unjust and unfair detention and deportation, this issue around the perception around good immigrants and bad immigrants became one of the main topic of discussion. We had to deal with people, and mostly elders, but I would say some young folks as well, who would pull themselves back on speaking against this issue because for them people who are being deported or detained are criminals and they deserve this kind of mindset. And not being able to see the larger picture of how the administration is targeting the immigrant and the refugee population of this country and really trying to dismantle community power, right? So, yes, it is a challenge that we are, we're going through and I think it's going to be quite a bit of work, to really build solidarity within our own communities. Kao Ye: I feel that the divide in the Hmong community is stemming from class and education. I feel as though when folks are articulating, regurgitating these justifications of the bad immigrant as to why folks should be deported it's folks that maybe kind of made it in their lives and now they're comparing themselves to folks that were not in that situation. And there is this growing within our community as well, where some folks are getting that education, getting, good jobs. But so much of our community, we still suffer from poverty, right? And so, I think that has been really interesting to witness the level of division because of class, because of income and also the education piece. Because oftentimes when folks are feeling this, it comes from a place of ignorance as well. And so that's why I think the education piece is so important. I actually feel though our elders are more understanding because these are their children that are being separated from them. And Robin's point is that when we have loved ones that go through the system, we just want them to rebuild their lives and be self-sufficient. And I feel like those are the values that I grew up in my community where our parents were always about keeping the family together to a fault, you know? And so they don't want separation. They just want us to be well and to do well, and to turn our lives around. And so, I feel strongly that our elders, they do understand that the importance of giving this opportunity for us to, to stay together and turn our lives around. Miko: Thank you so much, both of you for joining me here today to talk about this important conversation. I'm wondering if you could provide our audience with how they could find out more about what is going on and what are next steps for our audience members. Robin, let's start with you. Robin: Yeah. I just wanted to add what, Kao Ye talked about. I do agree the patterns around the divide is based on class. And I do see that in the community, and not just the class, but in our community class and caste, I would say. And in terms of the class, there were some instances where we had to deal with even the highly educated like PhD holders kind of, questioning us like, you know, what we are advocating for, and, I couldn't understand like, I couldn't relate the education, the title, the degree that he holds and the perception around this issue. Right. So, I just wanted to echo that. So, in terms of our work and Asian Refugees United, our website is www.asianrefugees.org And you can find us in our Instagram, Facebook, Asian Refugees United. Miko: And you can also get latest news about what's happening at bhutaneserefugeerights.com. Yeah. And Kao Ye how can folks find out more about your work? Kao Ye: Right now HIP is part of a statewide network in California called the Pardon Refugees Campaign, where we are really pushing Governor Newsom to pardon all refugees, not just Southeast Asians because of everything that we talked about, about how our families, they deserve to stay together. And so, I don't think we have a website up yet, but you can follow this campaign with us. We will be having a rally and press conference, coming up soon, in the next few weeks. And so, I would say that please follow us in that work where we are really moving in coalition with all of our uh, grassroots partners to advocate for our loved ones that are currently being impacted. Miko: Thank you so much, Robin Gurung, Asian Refugees United and Kao Ye Thao from Hmong Innovating Politics. Thank you so much for being with us here today, and I hope you listeners out there take action to keep our families together, to keep our people in the communities as loved ones where they belong. Thank you all. Have a great night. Swati Rayasam: I'm so grateful that Miko was able to talk to Robin and Kao Ye. And for those who missed it, visit bhutanese refugee rights.org for the most recent updates on the Bhutanese refugees. The press conference in rally Kao Ye mentioned took place last week on August 21st, 2025, but check out the Pardon Refugees Campaign for updates from the coalition supporting Hmong, Cambodian Laotian, Myan, and other refugees facing deportation. Thanks so much for tuning in to Apex Express. Please check out our website at kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex Express is produced by  Miko Lee, along with Jalena Keene-Lee, Ayame Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar,  Anuj Vaida, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Ravi Grover, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support and have a good night.   The post APEX Express – August 28, 2025 – “And we became stateless again” appeared first on KPFA.

A federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit to protect all children who would be impacted by Donald Trump's unconstitutional birthright citizenship ban, and he issued a preliminary injunction putting a temporary stop to it. In a very real and direct sense, federal judges from coast to coast are protecting we the people against Trump's lawlessness and abuse of power. Glenn does a deep dive into the new court ruling, and highlights how the four below-listed organizations are fighting for the rights of all children born in the United States from whom Trump is trying to unconstitutionally strip citizenship. ACLU Immigrant's' Rights Project: https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrant...The Asian Law Caucus: https://www.asianlawcaucus.org/NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/Democracy Defenders Fund: https://www.democracydefendersfund.org/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit to protect all children who would be impacted by Donald Trump's unconstitutional birthright citizenship ban, and he issued a preliminary injunction putting a temporary stop to it. In a very real and direct sense, federal judges from coast to coast are protecting we the people against Trump's lawlessness and abuse of power. Glenn does a deep dive into the new court ruling, and highlights how the four below-listed organizations are fighting for the rights of all children born in the United States from whom Trump is trying to unconstitutionally strip citizenship. ACLU Immigrant's' Rights Project: https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrant...The Asian Law Caucus: https://www.asianlawcaucus.org/NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/Democracy Defenders Fund: https://www.democracydefendersfund.org/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two counties in the region say the summer tourism season is going well. And, the Asian Law Caucus takes up birthright citizenship on behalf of newborns who are at risk of losing their citizenship.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight Producer Swati Rayasam showcases a community panel of how discriminatory exclusion policies during times of heightened fears of national security and safety have threatened our communities in the past, and how the activities of the current administration threaten our core constitutional rights, raising the specter of politicization and polarization of citizenship, immigration visas, naturalization rights, and the right to free speech.   Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison – “Wong Kim Ark is for All of Us” SHOW TRANSCRIPT Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to APEX Express on KPFA. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm back as your special producer for this episode. Tonight we have an incredible community panel titled Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison. This panel explores the history of how discriminatory exclusion policies during times of heightened fears of national security and [00:01:00] safety have threatened our communities in the past, and how the activities of the current administration threaten our core constitutional rights, raising the specter of politicization and polarization of citizenship, immigration visas, naturalization rights, and the right to free speech. I'll pass it on to UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Mike Chang to kick us off. Mike and Harvey: We're starting on Berkeley time, right on time at three 10, and I want to introduce Harvey Dong. Harvey Dong: Okay. The sponsors for today's event include, AADS- Asian American and Diaspora studies program, uc, Berkeley, Asian American Research Center, the Center for Race and Gender Department of Ethnic Studies- all part of uc, Berkeley. Off campus, we have the following community groups. Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Law Caucus, [00:02:00] Asian Prisoners Support Committee, and East Wind Books. Okay, so that's, quite a few in terms of coalition people coming together. My name is Harvey Dong and I'm also a lecturer in the AADS program and part of the ethnic studies department. I can say that I exist here as the result of birthright citizenship won by Ancestor Wong Kim Ark in 1898. Otherwise, I would not be here. We want to welcome everyone here today, for this important panel discussion titled: Deport, Exclude, Revoke, Imprison – Immigration and citizenship rights during crisis. Yes, we are in a deep crisis today. The Chinese characters for crisis is way G in Mandarin or way gay in [00:03:00] Cantonese, which means danger and opportunity. We are in a moment of danger and at the same time in a moment of opportunity. Our communities are under attack from undocumented, documented, and those with citizenship. We see urgency in coming together. In 1898, the US Supreme Court case, US versus Wong Kim Ark held that under the 14th Amendment birthright, citizenship applies to all people born in the United States. Regardless of their race or their parents' national origin or immigration status. On May 15th this year, the Supreme Court will hear a President Donald Trump's request to implement an executive order that will end birthright citizenship already before May 15th, [00:04:00] deportations of US citizen children are taking place. Recently, three US citizen children, one 2-year-old with cancer have been deported with their undocumented parents. The numbers of US citizen children are much higher being deported because it's less covered in the press. Unconstitutional. Yes, definitely. And it's taking place now. Also today, more than 2.7 million southeast Asian Americans live in the US but at least 16,000 community members have received final orders of deportation, placing their lives and families in limbo. This presents a mental health challenge and extreme economic hardship for individuals and families who do not know whether their next day in the US will be their last. Wong Kim Ark's [00:05:00] struggle and the lessons of Wong Kim Ark, continue today. His resistance provides us with a grounding for our resistance. So they say deport, exclude, revoke, imprison. We say cease and desist. You can say that every day it just seems like the system's gone amuk. There's constant attacks on people of color, on immigrants and so forth. And our only solution, or the most important solution is to resist, legally resist, but also to protest, to demand cease and desist. Today brings together campus and community people. We want you all to be informed because if you're uninformed , you can't do anything. Okay? You have to know where things are at. It's nothing new. What they're trying to do, in 1882, [00:06:00] during times of economic crisis, they scapegoated Asian Americans. Today there's economic, political crisis. And the scapegoating continues. They're not doing anything new. You know, it's old stuff, but we have to realize that, and we have to look at the past in terms of what was done to fight it and also build new solidarities today. Wong Kim Ark did not take his situation sitting down. He went through, lots of obstacles. He spent three months in Angel Island he was arrested after he won his case because he was constantly being harassed wherever he went. His kids when they came over were also, spotted as being Wong Kim Ark's, children, and they too had to spend months at Angel Island. So Wong Kim Ark did not take his situation sitting down. We need to learn from him today. Our [00:07:00] next, special guest is Mr. Norman Wong, a good friend of mine. He was active here in the third world Liberation Front strike that led to ethnic studies. He did a lots of work for the development of Asian American studies and we've been out in touch for about, what, 40 years? So I'm really happy that he's able to come back to Berkeley and to talk about yourself, if you wish, maybe during the Q and a, but to talk about , the significance of your great-grandfather's case. Okay, so Norman Wong, let's give him a hand. Norman Wong: Hello, my name's Norman Wong. I'm the great grandson, Wong Kim Ark. Wong Kim Ark was [00:08:00] born in the USA, like my great-grandfather. I, too was born American in the same city, San Francisco, more than 75 years after him. We are both Americans, but unlike him, my citizenship has never been challenged. His willingness to stand up and fight made the difference for his struggles, my humble thanks. Wong Kim Ark however, was challenged more than once. In late 1889 as an American, he traveled to China in July, 1890. He returned to his birth city. He had his papers and had no problems with reentry. In 1895, after a similar trip, he was stopped from disembarking and was placed into custody for five months aboard ship in port. [00:09:00] Citizenship denied, the reason the Chinese exclusion Act 1882. He had to win this case in district court, provide $250 bail and then win again in the United States Supreme Court, March 28th, 1898. Only from these efforts, he was able to claim his citizenship granted by birthright from the 14th Amendment and gain his freedom. That would not be the last challenge to his being American. My mother suffered similar treatment. She like my great-grandfather, was born in America. In 1942, she was forced with her family and thousands of other Japanese Americans to relocation camps an experience unspoken by her family. [00:10:00] I first learned about Japanese American internment from history books. Executive order 9066 was the command. No due process, citizenship's rights stripped. She was not American enough. Now we have executive order 14160. It is an attack on birthright citizenship. We cannot let this happen. We must stand together. We are a nation of immigrants. What kind of nation are we to be with stateless children? Born to no country. To this, I say no. We as Americans need to embrace each other and [00:11:00] cherish each new life. Born in the USA. Thank you. Harvey Dong: Thank you, Norman. And Annie Lee, will moderate, the following panel, involving campus and community representatives who will be sharing their knowledge and experience. Annie Lee, Esquire is an attorney. She's also the, managing director of policy for Chinese Affirmative Action, and she's also, heavily involved in the birthright citizenship issue. Annie Lee: Thank you so much Harvey for that very warm welcome and thank you again to Norman for your remarks. I think it's incredible that you're speaking up at this moment, to preserve your ancestors' legacy because it impacts not just you and him, but all of us [00:12:00] here. So thank you. As Harvey said, my name is Annie Lee and I have this honor of working with this amazing panel of esteemed guest we have today. So I will ask each of them to introduce themselves. And I will start, because I would love to hear your name, pronouns. Title and organization as well as your personal or professional relationship with the US Immigration System. So my name's Annie. I use she her pronouns. I'm the managing Director of policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action, which is a non-profit based in San Francisco Chinatown. We provide direct services to the monolingual working class Chinese community, and also advocate for policies to benefit all Asian Americans. My relationship with the immigration system is I am the child of two Chinese immigrants who did not speak English. And so I just remember lots of time spent on the phone when I was a kid with INS, and then it became U-S-C-I-S just trying to ask them what happened to [00:13:00] a family member's application for naturalization, for visas so I was the interpreter for them growing up and even today. I will pass it to Letty. Leti Volpp: Hi everybody. Thank you so much, Annie. Thank you Harvey. Thank you, Norman. That was profoundly moving to hear your remarks and I love the way that you framed our conversation, Harvey. I'm Leti Volpp. I am the Robert d and Leslie k Raven, professor of Law and Access to Justice at the Berkeley Law, school. I'm also the director of the campus wide , center for Race and Gender, which is a legacy of the Third World Liberation Front, and the 1999, student movement, that led to the creation of the center. I work on immigration law and citizenship theory, and I am the daughter, second of four, children of my mother who was an immigrant from China, and my father who was an immigrant [00:14:00] from Germany. So I'll pass it. Thank you. Ke Lam: Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, Norman. So my name's Key. I go by he, him pronouns or Nghiep “Ke” Lam, is my full name. I work for an organization called Asian Prison Support Committee. It's been around for like over two decades now, and it started behind three guys advocating for ethics study, Asian and Pacific Islander history. And then it was starting in San Quent State Prison. All three of them pushed for ethics study, hard and the result is they all was put into solitary confinement. And many years later, after all three got out, was Eddie Zang, Mike Romero and Mike no. And when they got out, Eddie came back and we pushed for ethics study again, and we actually got it started in 2013. And it's been going on to today. Then the programs is called Roots, restoring our Original True Self. So reconnecting with who we are. And one of Eddie's main, mottos that really stuck with me. He said, we need to all connect to our chi, right? And I'm like, okay, I understand what chi is, and he said no. He [00:15:00] said, you need to connect to your culture, your history, which result to equal your identity, who you are as a person. So, the more we study about our history and our culture, like, birthright citizen, it empower us to know, who we are today. Right? And also part of that is to how do we take down the veil of shame in our community, the veil of trauma that's impacting our community as well. We don't talk about issue that impact us like immigration. So I'm a 1.5 generation. So I was born in Vietnam from Chinese family that migrant from China to Vietnam started business after the fall of Vietnam War. We all got kicked out but more than that, I am directly impacted because I am a stranded deportee, somebody that got their, legal status taken away because of criminal conviction. And as of any moment now, I could actually be taken away. So I live in that, right at that threshold of like uncertainty right now. And the people I work with, which are hundreds of people, are fixing that same uncertainty.[00:16:00] Annie Lee: Thank you, Ke. I'm gonna pass it to our panelists who are joining us virtually, including Bun. Can you start and then we'll pass it to Chris after. Bun: Hey everybody, thank you for having me. My name is Bun. I'm the co-director of Asian Prison Support Committee. I'm also, 1.5 generation former incarcerated and under, direct impact of immigration. Christopher Lapinig: Hi everyone. My name is Christopher Lapinig, my pronouns are he, him and Sha. I am a senior staff attorney on the Democracy and National Initiatives Team at Asian Law Caucus, which you may know is the country's first and oldest legal aid in civil rights organization, dedicated to serving, low income immigrant and underserved AAPI communities. In terms of my connection to the immigration system, I am, I also am a beneficiary of a birthright citizenship, and my parents are both immigrants from the Philippines. I was born in New York City. My [00:17:00] extended family spans both in the US and the Philippines. After graduating law school and clerking, my fellowship project was focused on providing litigation and immigration services to, survivors of labor trafficking in the Filipino community. While working at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles, I also was engaged in, class action litigation, challenging the first Trump administration's practices, detaining immigrants in the Vietnamese and Cambodian communities. Annie Lee: Thank you, Chris. Thank you Bun. Let's start off by talking about birthright citizenship since it's a big topic these days. On the very, very first day of Trump's administration, he issued a flurry of executive orders, including one that would alter birthright citizenship. But I wanna take us back to the beginning because why do we have this right? It is a very broad right? If you were born in the United States, you are an American citizen. Where does that come from? So I wanna pose the first question to Letty to talk about the [00:18:00] origins of birthright citizenship., Leti Volpp: Very happy to. So what's being fought about is a particular clause in the Constitution and the 14th Amendment, which says, all persons born are naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. Okay, so that's the text. There's been a very long understanding of what this text means, which says that regardless of the immigration status of one's parents, all children born here are entitled to birthright citizenship with three narrow exceptions, which I will explain. So the Trump administration executive order, wants to exclude from birthright citizenship, the children of undocumented immigrants, and the children of people who are here on lawful temporary visas. So for example, somebody here on an [00:19:00] F1 student visa, somebody on a H one B worker visa, somebody here is a tourist, right? And basically they're saying we've been getting this clause wrong for over a hundred years. And I will explain to you why I think they're making this very dubious argument. Essentially when you think about where the 14th amendment came from, in the United States, in the Antebellum era, about 20% of people were enslaved and there were lots of debates about citizenship. Who should be a citizen? Who could be a citizen? And in 1857, the Supreme Court issued a decision in a case called Dread Scott, where they said that no person who was black, whether free or enslaved, could ever be a citizen. The Civil War gets fought, they end slavery. And then the question arose, well, what does this mean for citizenship? Who's a citizen of the United States? And in 1866, Congress [00:20:00] enacts a law called the Civil Rights Act, which basically gave rights to people that were previously denied and said that everybody born in the United States is a birthright citizen. This gets repeated in the 14th Amendment with the very important interpretation of this clause in Norman's great-grandfather's case, the case of Wong Kim Ark. So this came before the Supreme Court in 1898. If you think about the timing of this, the federal government had basically abandoned the reconstruction project, which was the project of trying to newly enfranchised, African Americans in the United States. The Supreme Court had just issued the decision, Plessy versus Ferguson, which basically legitimated the idea that, we can have separate, but equal, as a doctrine of rights. So it was a nation that was newly hostile to the goals of the Reconstruction Congress, and so they had this case come before them, whereas we heard [00:21:00] from Norman, we have his great-grandfather born in San Francisco, Chinatown, traveling back and forth to China. His parents having actually left the United States. And this was basically presented as a test case to the Supreme Court. Where the government tried to argue, similar to what the Trump administration is arguing today, that birthright citizenship, that clause does not guarantee universal birthright citizenship saying that children of immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because their parents are also not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The Supreme Court took over a year to decide the case. They knew that it would be controversial, and the majority of the court said, this provision is clear. It uses universal language. It's intended to apply to children of all immigrants. One of the things that's interesting about [00:22:00] what the, well I'll let Chris actually talk about what the Trump administration, is trying to do, but let me just say that in the Wong Kim Ark decision, the Supreme Court makes very clear there only three narrow exceptions to who is covered by the 14th Amendment. They're children of diplomats. So for example, if the Ambassador of Germany is in the United States, and, she has a daughter, like her daughter should not become a birthright citizen, right? This is why there's diplomatic immunity. Why, for example, in New York City, there are millions of dollars apparently owed to the city, in parking tickets by ambassadors who don't bother to pay them because they're not actually subject to the jurisdiction in the United States. Okay? Second category, children of Native Americans who are seen as having a sovereign relationship of their own, where it's like a nation within a nation, kind of dynamic, a country within a country. And there were detailed conversations in the congressional debate about the [00:23:00] 14th Amendment, about both of these categories of people. The third category, were children born to a hostile invading army. Okay? So one argument you may have heard people talk about is oh, I think of undocumented immigrants as an invading army. Okay? If you look at the Wong Kim Ark decision, it is very clear that what was intended, by this category of people were a context where the hostile invading army is actually in control of that jurisdiction, right? So that the United States government is not actually governing that space so that the people living in it don't have to be obedient, to the United States. They're obedient to this foreign power. Okay? So the thread between all three of these exceptions is about are you having to be obedient to the laws of the United States? So for example, if you're an undocumented immigrant, you are subject to being criminally prosecuted if you commit a crime, right? Or [00:24:00] you are potentially subjected to deportation, right? You have to obey the law of the United States, right? You are still subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Okay? But the Trump administration, as we're about to hear, is making different arguments. Annie Lee: Thank you so much, Leti for that historical context, which I think is so important because, so many different communities of color have contributed to the rights that we have today. And so what Leti is saying here is that birthright citizenship is a direct result of black liberation and fighting for freedom in the Civil War and making sure that they were then recognized as full citizens. And then reinforced, expanded, by Wong Kim Ark. And now we are all beneficiaries and the vast majority of Americans get our citizenship through birth. Okay? That is true for white people, black people. If you're born here, you get your ci. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to go to court. You don't have to say anything. You are a US citizen. And now as Leti referenced, there's this fringe legal theory that, thankfully we've got lawyers like [00:25:00] Chris who are fighting this. So Chris, you're on the ALC team, one of many lawsuits against the Trump administration regarding this unlawful executive order. Can you tell us a little bit about the litigation and the arguments, but I actually really want you to focus on what are the harms of this executive order? Sometimes I think particularly if you are a citizen, and I am one, sometimes we take what we have for granted and you don't even realize what citizenship means or confers. So Chris, can you talk about the harms if this executive order were to go through? Christopher Lapinig: Yeah. As Professor Volpp sort of explained this executive order really is an assault on a fundamental constitutional right that has existed for more than a hundred years at this point, or, well, about 125 years. And if it is allowed to be implemented, the harms would really be devastating and far reach. So first, you know, children born in the us, the [00:26:00] parents without permanent status, as permissible said, would be rendered effectively stateless, in many cases. And these are of course, children, babies who have never known any other home, yet they would be denied the basic rights of citizen. And so the order targets a vast range of families, and not just undocument immigrants, but also those with work visas, student visas, humanitarian productions like TPS, asylum seekers, fleeing persecution, DACA recipients as well. And a lot of these communities have deep ties to Asian American community. To our history, and of course are, essential part, of our social fabric. In practical terms, children born without birthright citizenship would be denied access to healthcare through Medicaid, through denied access to snap nutritional assistance, even basic IDs like social security numbers, passports. And then as they grow older, they'd be barred from voting, serving on juries and even [00:27:00] working. And then later on in life, they might be, if they, are convicted of a crime and make them deportable, they could face deportation to countries that they never stepped, foot off basically. And so this basically is this executive order threatened at risk, creating exactly what the drafters of the 14th Amendment wanted to prevent the creation of a permanent underclass of people in the United States. It'll just get amplified over time. If you can imagine if there's one generation of people born without citizenship, there will be a second generation born and a third and fourth, and it'll just get amplified over time. And so it truly is just, hard to get your mind around exactly what the impact of this EO would be. Annie Lee: Thanks, Chris. And where are we in the litigation right now? Harvey referenced, a hearing at the Supreme Court on May 15th, but, tell us a little bit about the injunction and the arguments on the merits and when that can, when we can expect [00:28:00] that. Christopher Lapinig: Yeah, so there were a number of lawsuits filed immediately after, the administration issued its exec order on January 20th. Asian Law Caucus we filed with the ACLU Immigrant Rights Project. Literally we were the first lawsuit, literally hours after the executive order was issued. By early February, federal judges across the country had issued nationwide preliminary injunctions blocking implementation of the order. Our case is actually not a nationwide injunction. And so there're basically, I believe three cases that are going up to the Supreme Court. And, the Trump administration appealed to various circuit courts to try to undo these injunctions. But all circuit courts upheld the injunctive relief and and so now the Supreme Court is going to be hearing arguments on May 15th. And so it has not actually ruled on whether or not the executive order is constitutional, but it's going to. I mean, it remains to be seen exactly what they're going to decide but may [00:29:00] 15th is the next date is the big date on our calendar. Annie Lee: Yeah. So the Trump administration is arguing that these judges in a particular district, it's not fair if they get to say that the entire country, is barred from receiving this executive order. Is that procedurally correct. Judges, in order to consider whether to grants an injunction, they have a whole battery of factors that they look at, including one, which is like likelihood of winning on the merits. Because if something is unconstitutional, it's not really great to say, yeah, you can let this executive order go through. And then like later when the court cases finally worked their way, like a year later, pull back from that. And so that's, it's very frustrating to see this argument. And it's also unfair and would be very messy if the states that had republican Attorneys General who did not litigate, why would you allow the executive order to go forward in those red states and not in these blue state? It really, I would say federalism run terribly amuck. Swati Rayasam: [00:30:00] You are tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley,. 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. Annie Lee: But anyway, let's see back off from the actual case because I think what we're really talking about and what Chris has alluded to is, these cases about birthright citizenship, all the immigration policy is essentially determining who belongs here. Who belongs here. That's what immigration policy is at its heart. And we see that the right wing is weaponizing that question, who belongs here? And they are going after very vulnerable populations, undocumented people, people who are formerly incarcerated. So Bun if you can talk about how, is the formerly incarcerated community, like targeted immigrants, targeted for deportation? What is going on with this community that I feel like most people might not know about? Thank [00:31:00] you. Bun: Yes. For our folks that are incarcerated and former incarcerated, we are the easiest target for deportation because we are in custody and in California, CDCR colludes with ICE and on the day that we are to be paroled they're at the door, cuffing us up and taking us to detention. I'm glad to hear Harvey say, this is a time of fear for us and also opportunity. Right now, our whole community, the Southeast Asian community, mainly are very effective with immigration. In the past 25 years, mostly it was the Cambodian community that was being targeted and deported. At this moment, they are targeting, all of the Southeast Asian community, which historically was never deported because of the politics and agreements, of the Vietnamese community. And now the Laos community thats more concerning, that are being targeted for deportation. Trump have opened a new opportunity for us as a community to join [00:32:00] together and understand each other's story, and understand each other's fear. Understand where we're going about immigration. From birthright to crimmagration. A lot of times folks that are under crimmigration are often not spoken about because of our cultural shame, within our own family and also some of our community member felt safe because the political agreements. Now that everybody's in danger, we could stand together and understand each other's issue and support each other because now we could see that history has repeated itself. Again, we are the scapegoat. We are here together fighting the same issue in different circumstances, but the same issue. Annie Lee: But let me follow up. What are these, historical agreements that you're talking about that used to feel like used to at least shield the community that now aren't in place anymore? Bun: Yeah. After the Clinton administration, uh, passed the IRA [immigration reform act] a lot of Southeast Asian nations were asked to [00:33:00] take their nationals back. Even though we as 1.5 generation, which are the one that's mostly impacted by this, had never even stepped into the country. Most of us were born in a refugee camp or we're too young to even remember where they came from. Countries like Cambodian folded right away because they needed the financial aid and whatever, was offering them and immediately a three with a MOU that they will take their citizens since the early two thousands. Vietnam had a stronger agreement, which, they would agree to only take folks that immigrated here after 1995 and anybody before 1995, they would not take, and Laos have just said no until just a few months ago. Laos has said no from when the, uh, the act was passed in 1995, the IRRIRA. Mm-hmm. So the big change we have now is Vietnam had signed a new MOU saying that they will take folks after 1995 [00:34:00] in the first administration and more recently, something that we never thought, happened so fast, was Laos agreeing to take their citizen back. And then the bigger issue about our Laos community is, it's not just Laos folks. It's the Hmong folks, the Myan folks, folks, folks that are still in danger of being returned back 'cause in the Vietnam War, they colluded and supported the Americans in the Vietnam War and were exiled out and kicked out, and were hunted down because of that. So, at this moment, our folks are very in fear, especially our loud folks, not knowing what's gonna happen to 'em. Ke Lam: So for folks that don't know what IRR means it means, illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. It actually happened after the Oklahoma bombing, which was caused by a US citizen, a white US citizen. Yeah. But immigration law came out of it. That's what's crazy about it. Annie Lee: Can you tell us, how is APSC advocating to protect the community right now because you [00:35:00] are vulnerable? Ke Lam: So we had to censor a lot of our strategies. At first we used to use social media as a platform to show our work and then to support our community. But the government use that as a target to capture our people. So we stopped using social media. So we've been doing a lot of on the ground movement, such as trying to get local officials to do resolutions to push Governor Newsom to party more of our community members. The other thing is we hold pardon workshops, so try and get folks to get, either get a pardon or vacate their sentence. So commute their sentence to where it become misdemeanor is not deportable anymore. Support letters for our folks writing support letters to send to the governor and also to city official, to say, Hey, please help pardon our community. I think the other thing we are actually doing is solidarity work with other organizations, African American community as well as Latin communities because we've been siloed for so long and we've been banned against each other, where people kept saying like, they've taken all our job when I grew up. That's what they told us, right? [00:36:00] But we, reality that's not even true. It was just a wedge against our community. And then so it became the good versus bad narrative. So our advocacy is trying to change it it's called re-storying you know, so retelling our story from people that are impacted, not from people, not from the one percenters in our own community. Let's say like we're all good, do you, are there's parts of our community that like that's the bad people, right? But in reality, it affects us all. And so advocacy work is a lot of different, it comes in a lot of different shapes and forms, but definitely it comes from the community. Annie Lee: Thanks, Ke. You teed me up perfectly because there is such a good versus bad immigrant narrative that takes root and is really hard to fight against. And that's why this administration is targeting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated folks and another group that, are being targeted as people who are accused of crimes, including Venezuelan immigrants who are allegedly part of a gang. So, Leti how is the government deporting [00:37:00] people by simply accusing them of being a part of a gang? Like how is that even possible? Leti Volpp: Yeah, so one thing to think about is there is this thing called due process, right? It's guaranteed under the constitution to all persons. It's not just guaranteed to citizens. What does it mean? Procedural due process means there should be notice, there should be a hearing, there should be an impartial judge. You should have the opportunity to present evidence. You should have the opportunity to cross examinee. You should have the opportunity to provide witnesses. Right? And basically Trump and his advisors are in real time actively trying to completely eviscerate due process for everybody, right? So Trump recently said, I'm doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our country. But the courts don't seem to want me to do that. We cannot give everyone a trial because to do so would take without exaggeration, 200 years. And then Stephen Miller said the judicial process is for Americans. [00:38:00] Immediate deportation is for illegal aliens. Okay. Quote unquote. Right. So I think one thing to notice is, as we're hearing from all of our speakers are like the boxes, the categories into which people are put. And what's really disturbing is to witness how once somebody's put in the box of being quote unquote criminal gang banger terrorists, like the American public seems to be like, oh, okay you can do what you want to this person. There's a whole history of due process, which exists in the laws which was created. And all of these early cases actually involved Asian immigrants, right? And so first they were saying there's no due process. And then in a case called Yata versus Fisher, they said actually there is due process in deportation cases, there's regular immigration court proceedings, which accord with all of these measures of due process. There's also a procedure called expedited removal, [00:39:00] which Congress invented in the nineties where they wanted to come up with some kind of very quick way to summarily exclude people. It was motivated by a 60 Minutes episode where they showed people coming to Kennedy Airport, who didn't have any ID or visa or they had what seemed to be fake visas and they were let into the United States. And then they disappeared, right? According to the 60 Minutes episode. So basically Congress invented this procedure of, if you appear in the United States and you have no documents, or you have what an immigration inspector thinks are false documents, they can basically tell you, you can leave without this court hearing. And the only fail safe is what's called a credible fear screening. Where if you say, I want asylum, I fear persecution, I'm worried I might be tortured, then they're supposed to have the screening. And if you pass that screening, you get put in regular removal [00:40:00] proceedings. So before the Trump administration took office, these expedited removal proceedings were happening within a hundred miles of the border against people who could not show that they had been in the United States for more than two weeks. In one of his first executive orders. Trump extended this anywhere in the United States against people who cannot show they've been in the United States for more than two years. So people are recommending that people who potentially are in this situation to carry documentation, showing they've been physically in the United States for over two years. Trump is also using this Alien Enemies Act, which was basically a law Congress passed in 1798. It's only been used three times in US history it's a wartime law, right? So it was used in 1812, World War I, and World War II, and there's supposed to be a declared war between the United States and a foreign nation or government, or [00:41:00] there's an incursion threatened by a foreign nation or government, and the president makes public proclamation that all natives of this hostile nation, 14 and up shall be liable to be restrained and removed as alien enemies. Okay? So we're obviously not at war with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, right? They have not engaged in some kind of invasion or predatory incursion into the United States, but the Trump administration is claiming that they have and saying things like, oh, they're secretly a paramilitary wing of the Venezuelan government, even as the Venezuelan government is like cracking down on them. It's not a quasi sovereign, entity. There's no diplomatic relationships between Tren de Aragua and any other government. So these are legally and factually baseless arguments. Nonetheless, the administration has been basically taking people from Venezuela on the basis of tattoos. A tattoo of a crown of a [00:42:00] rose, right? Even when experts have said there's no relationship between what Tren de Aragua does and tattoos, right? And basically just kidnapping people and shipping them to the torture prison in El Salvador. As I'm sure you know of the case of Kimber Abrego Garcia, I'm sure we'll hear more about this from Christopher. There's a very small fraction of the persons that have been sent to this prison in El Salvador who actually have any criminal history. And I will say, even if they had a criminal history, nobody should be treated in this manner and sent to this prison, right? I mean, it's unbelievable that they've been sent to this prison allegedly indefinitely. They're paying $6 million a year to hold people there. And then the United States government is saying, oh, we don't have any power to facilitate or effectuate their return. And I think there's a struggle as to what to call this. It's not just deportation. This is like kidnapping. It's rendition. And there are people, there's like a particular person like who's completely [00:43:00] disappeared. Nobody knows if they're alive or dead. There are many people in that prison. People don't know if they're alive or dead. And I'm sure you've heard the stories of people who are gay asylum seekers, right? Who are now in this situation. There are also people that have been sent to Guantanamo, people were sent to Panama, right? And so I think there questions for us to think about like, what is this administration doing? How are they trying to do this in a spectacular fashion to instill fear? As we know as well, Trump had said oh, like I think it would be great when he met with Bukele if you build four more or five more facilities. I wanna house homegrown people in El Salvador, right? So this is all the more importance that we stick together, fight together, don't, as key was saying, don't let ourselves be split apart. Like we need a big mass coalition right? Of people working together on this. Annie Lee: So thank you leti and I think you're absolutely right. These Venezuelans were kidnapped [00:44:00] in the middle of the night. I mean, 2:00 AM 3:00 AM pulled out of bed, forced to sign documents they did not understand because these documents were only available in English and they speak Spanish, put on planes sent to El Salvador, a country they've never been to. The government didn't even have to prove anything. They did not have to prove anything, and they just snatch these people and now they're disappeared. We do have, for now the rule of law. And so Chris, there are judges saying that, Kimber Abrego Garcia has to be returned. And despite these court orders, the administration is not complying. So where does that leave us, Chris, in terms of rule of law and law in general? Christopher Lapinig: Yeah. So, I'm gonna make a little personal. So I graduated from Yale Law School in 2013, and you might know some of my classmates. One of my classmates is actually now the Vice President of the United States. Oh man. [00:45:00] Bless you. As well as the second lady, Usha Vance. And a classmate of mine, a good friend Sophia Nelson, who's a trans and queer, was recently on, I believe CNN answering a question about, I believe JD Vice President Vance, was asked about the administration's sort of refusal to comply with usual orders. Yeah. As we're talking about here and JD had said something like, well, courts, judges can't tell the president what he can't do, and sophia, to their credit, said, you know, I took constitutional law with JD, and, we definitely read Marbury Versus Madison together, and that is the semial sort of Supreme Court case that established that the US Supreme Court is the ultimate decider, arbiter, interpreter, of the US Constitution. And so is basically saying, I know JD knows better. He's lying essentially, in all of his [00:46:00] communications about, judicial orders and whether or not a presidential administration has to comply , with these orders. So, to get to your question though, it is of course unprecedented. Really. It is essentially, you know, it's not, if we not already reached. The point of a constitutional crisis. It is a constitutional crisis. I think it's become clear to many of us that, democracy in the US has operated in large part, and has relied on, on, on the good faith in norms, that people are operating good faith and that presidents will comply when, a federal judge issues an injunction or a decision. It kind of leaves us in an interesting, unprecedented situation. And it means that, lawyers, we will continue to litigate and, go to court, but we can't, lawyers will not save the country or, immigrants or communities. We need to think extensively and creatively. [00:47:00] About how to ensure, that the rule of law is preserved because, this administration is not, abiding by the longstanding norms of compliance and so we have to think about, protests, advocacy, legislatively. I don't have the answers necessarily, but we can't rely on the courts to fix these problems really. Annie Lee: Oof. That was very real, Chris. Thank you. But I will say that when there is resistance, and we've seen it from students who are speaking up and advocating for what they believe is right and just including Palestinian Liberation, that there is swift retaliation. And I think that's partly because they are scared of student speech and movement and organizing. But this is a question to all of you. So if not the courts and if the administration is being incredibly retaliatory, and discriminatory in terms of viewpoint discrimination, in people and what people are saying and they're scouring our social [00:48:00] media like, Ke warns, like what can everyday people do to fight back? That's for all of you. So I don't know who, which of you wants to take it first? Ke Lam: Oh man. I say look at history, right? Even while this new president, I wanna say like, this dude is a convicted felon, right? Don't be surprised at why we country is in the way it is, because this dude's a convicted felon, a bad business person, right? And only care about the billionaires, you know? So I'm not surprised how this country's ending up the way it is 'cause it is all about money. One way that we can stand up is definitely band together, marched on the streets. It's been effective. You look at the civil right movement, that's the greatest example. Now you don't have to look too far. We can actually, when we come together, they can't fight us all. Right? It is, and this, it's like you look at even nature in the cell. When things band together, the predators cannot attack everyone. Right? They probably could hit a few of us, but in the [00:49:00] long run, we could change the law. I think another thing is we, we, as the people can march to the courts and push the courts to do the job right, despite what's going on., We had judges that been arrested for doing the right thing, right? And so, no matter what, we have to stand strong just despite the pressure and just push back. Annie Lee: Thanks, Ke. Chris? Christopher Lapinig: What this administration is doing is you know, straight out of the fascist playbook. They're working to, as we all know, shock and awe everyone, and make Americans feel powerless. Make them feel like they have no control, make them feel overwhelmed. And so I think first and foremost, take care of yourself , in terms of your health, in terms of your physical health, your mental health. Do what you can to keep yourself safe and healthy and happy. And do the same for your community, for your loved ones, your friends and family. And then once you've done that do what you can in terms of your time, treasure, [00:50:00] talent to, to fight back. Everyone has different talents, different levels of time that they can afford. But recognize that this is a marathon and not necessarily a sprint because we need everyone, in this resistance that we can get. Annie Lee: Thank you, Chris. Leti Volpp: There was a New Yorker article called, I think it was How to Be a Dissident which said, before recently many Americans, when you ask them about dissidents, they would think of far off countries. But they interviewed a lot of people who'd been dissidents in authoritarian regimes. And there were two, two things in that article that I'm taking with me among others. One of them said that in surveying like how authoritarian regimes are broken apart, like only 3.5% of the population has to oppose what's going on. The other thing was that you should find yourself a political home where you can return to frequently. It's almost like a religious or [00:51:00] spiritual practice where you go and you get refreshed and you're with like-minded people. And so I see this event, for example as doing that, and that we all need to find and nurture and foster spaces like this. Thank you. Annie Lee: Bun, do you have any parting words? Bun: Yeah. Like Ke said, to fight back, getting together, understanding issues and really uplifting, supporting, urging our own communities, to speak Up. You know, there's folks that can't speak out right now because of fear and danger, but there are folks here that can speak out and coming here learning all our situation really give the knowledge and the power to speak out for folks that can't speak down [unclear] right now. So I appreciate y'all Annie Lee: love that bun. I was gonna say the same thing. I feel like there is a special obligation for those of us who are citizens, citizens cannot be deported. Okay? Citizens have special rights based [00:52:00] on that status. And so there's a special responsibility on those of us who can speak, and not be afraid of retaliation from this government. I would also urge you all even though it's bleak at the federal level, we have state governments, we have local governments. You have a university here who is very powerful. And you have seen, we've seen that the uni that the administration backs down, sometimes when Harvard hit back, they back down and that means that there is a way to push the administration, but it does require you all putting pressure on your schools, on your local leaders, on your state leaders to fight back. My boss actually, Vin taught me this. You know, you think that politicians, lead, politicians do not lead politicians follow. Politicians follow and you all lead when you go out further, you give them cover to do the right thing. And so the farther you push and the more you speak out against this administration, the more you give them courage to do the right thing. And so you absolutely have to do that. A pardon [00:53:00] is critical. It is critical for people who are formerly incarcerated to avoid the immigration system and deportation. And so do that. Talk to your family, talk to your friends. My parents, despite being immigrants, they're kinda old school. Okay guys, they're like, you know, birthright citizenship does seem kind of like a loophole. Why should people like get like citizenship? I'm like, mom, we, I am a birthright citizen. Like, um, And I think for Asian Americans in particular, there is such a rich history of Asian American civil rights activism that we don't talk about enough, and maybe you do at Berkeley with ethnic studies and professors like Mike Chang. But, this is totally an interracial solidarity movement. We helped bring about Wong Kim Ark and there are beneficiaries of every shade of person. There's Yik wo, and I think about this all the time, which is another part of the 14th Amendment equal protection. Which black Americans fought for that in San Francisco. [00:54:00] Chinatown made real what? What does equal protection of the laws even mean? And that case was Seminole. You've got Lao versus Nichols. Another case coming out of San Francisco. Chinatown about English learner rights, the greatest beneficiary of Lao v Nichols, our Spanish speakers, they're Spanish speaking children in schools who get access to their education regardless of the language they speak. And so there are so many moments in Asian American history that we should be talking about, that we should educate our parents and our families about, because this is our moment. Now, this is another one of those times I wanna pass it to Mike and Harvey for questions, and I'm so excited to hear about them. Mike and Harvey: Wow, thank you so much. That's a amazing, panel and thank you for facilitating annie's wanna give it of a great value in terms of that spiritual home aspect. Norm how does your great grandfather's , experience in resistance, provide help for us [00:55:00] today? Norman Wong: Well, I think he was willing to do it. It only took one, if no one did it, this, we wouldn't be having the discussion because most of us would've never been here. And we need to come together on our common interests and put aside our differences because we all have differences. And if we tried, to have it our way for everything, we'll have it no way for us. We really need to, to bond and bind together and become strong as a people. And I don't mean as a racial or a national group. Mm-hmm. I mean, we're Americans now. We're Americans here think of us as joining with all Americans to make this country the way it's supposed to be. The way [00:56:00] we grew up, the one that we remember, this is not the America I grew up believing in. I'm glad he stood up. I'm proud that he did that. He did that. Him doing that gave me something that I've never had before. A validation of my own life. And so yes, I'm proud of him. Wong Kim Ark is for all of us. It's not for me to own. Yeah. Wow. Really not. Thank you so much. Wong Kim Ark is for all of us. And, and , talking about the good , that we have here and, the optimism that Harvey spoke about, the opportunity, even in a moment of substantial danger. Thank you so much everybody. Mike and Harvey: This was amazing and really appreciate sharing this space with you and, building community and solidarity. Ke Lam: But is there any, can I leave with a chant before we close off? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. So this is a chant that we use on the ground all the time. You guys probably heard it. When I said when we fight, you guys said we [00:57:00] win when we fight. We win when we fight, we win. When we fight, we win up. Swati Rayasam: Thanks so much for tuning into APEX Express. Please check out our website at kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. APEX Express is produced by Miko Lee, along with Jalena Keene-Lee, Ayame Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Ravi Grover, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support, and have a good [00:58:00] night.   The post APEX Express – 6.26.25-Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison – Wong Kim Ark is for All of Us appeared first on KPFA.

0:08 – On Day 1, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship. The order would affect any children born in the U.S. for whom neither parent has permanent immigration status. Immigrants' rights advocates say this order is blatantly unconstitutional, violating the 14th Amendment. Two major lawsuits were immediately filed in response, one by a group of state Attorneys General and the other by civil rights groups. Aarti Kohli of Asian Law Caucus joins us to talk about the rights groups' lawsuit and the history of Asian and Pacific Islander communities standing on the forefront of defending immigrants' rights in the U.S. 0:33 – Giselle Garcia, a volunteer with NorCal Resist, explains what to do when you see ICE in your community and explains your rights in interacting with immigration agents. Alameda County, San Francisco, and Sacramento all have emergency rapid response phone hotlines that members of the public can call to confirm ICE's presence and seek emergency legal help. 0:45 – Aja Arnold of independent Atlanta news outlet Mainline talks about the new podcast, “The Process is the Punishment,” covering the ATL 61, the 61 defendants indicted and swept up in a broad police crackdown against activism to save the Weelaunee Forest and prevent a police megalopolis from being built in the city. The activists are facing charges under Georgia RICO laws, which observers say is a tactic meant to quell free speech. The post How to prepare to respond to immigration raids in Northern California; plus, civil rights groups sue to save birthright citizenship appeared first on KPFA.

Venture Capital | Innovation | Mobility Trends | Sustainability | Career Transition | Investment | Community | Advice Join us for an engaging conversation with Samantha Huang, Principal at BMW i Ventures, where she focuses on early-stage investments in transformative technologies such as AI, big data, Industry 4.0, mobility innovation, and sustainability. With a passion for driving progress, Samantha dives deep into the trends shaping the future of transportation, the next generation of human experiences, and the rise of sustainable solutions.In this interview, Samantha reflects on her dynamic career journey, from her legal and research background to her role in venture capital. She shares her expertise on what it takes to succeed in the fast-paced VC world, insights into emerging opportunities in mobility and sustainability, and advice for aspiring leaders looking to navigate the evolving landscape of innovation and investment.Samantha holds a J.D. from UC Berkeley Law School and an MA in history from Stanford University. A licensed California attorney, she previously worked as Lead Researcher at the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University, focusing on innovation, immigration, and entrepreneurship. Samantha is also a dedicated advocate for diversity and empowerment in venture capital, serving as Board Director for the Asian Law Caucus and Board Director and Head of Content for the Emerging Venture Capitalists Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of venture capitalists.Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the leading voices shaping the future of venture capital and technology! Follow Samantha's updates online: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-huang-10375b106/ 

Monterey and Santa Cruz counties offer election resources in multiple Asian languages. It's one way California has tried to increase voter registration, turnout and accessibility in recent years.

How have companies like Uber and Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash and others, changed the nature of work from bad to horrific? Veena Dubal joins me to explain how such companies have exported globally a technique of algorithmic wage discrimination that pays workers based on data to which they have no access. Owners dangle bonuses before workers but take away work from them as they draw close to achieving their targets; they use psychological tricks derived from video games to create a casino-like environment where the house always wins. Dubal urges us not to fall into the trap of competing against the house, but back to “good old-fashioned organizing.” This is one of the most powerful and significant episodes of Speaking Out of Place.Professor Veena Dubal's research focuses broadly on law, technology, and precarious workers, combining legal and empirical analysis to explore issues of labor and inequality. Her work encompasses a range of topics, including the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on workers' lives, the interplay between law, work, and identity, and the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements.  Dubal has written numerous articles in top law and social science journals and publishes essays in the popular press. Her research has been cited internationally in legal decisions, including by the California Supreme Court, and her research and commentary are regularly featured in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, etc. TechCrunch has called Prof. Dubal an “unlikely star in the tech world,” and her expertise is frequently sought by regulatory bodies, legislators, judges, workers, and unions in the U.S. and Europe.  Professor Dubal is completing a book manuscript that presents a theoretical reappraisal of how low-income immigrant and racial minority workers experience and respond to shifting technologies and regulatory regimes. The manuscript draws upon a decade of interdisciplinary ethnographic research on taxi and ride-hail regulations and worker organizing and advocacy in San Francisco.Prof. Dubal received a B.A. from Stanford University and holds J.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where she conducted an ethnography of the San Francisco taxi industry. The subject of her doctoral research arose from her work as a public interest attorney and Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow at the Asian Law Caucus where she founded a taxi worker project and represented Muslim Americans in civil rights cases. Prof. Dubal completed a post-doctoral fellowship at her alma mater, Stanford University. She returned to Stanford again in 2022 as a Residential Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.  Prof. Dubal is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Fulbright, for her scholarship and previous work as a public interest lawyer. 

In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with Professor Veena Dubal about how such companies have exported globally a technique of algorithmic wage discrimination that pays workers based on data to which they have no access. Owners dangle bonuses before workers but take away work from them as they draw close to achieving their targets; they use psychological tricks derived from video games to create a casino-like environment where the house always wins. Dubal urges us not to fall into the trap of competing against the house, but back to “good old-fashioned organizing.” This is one of the most powerful and significant episodes of Speaking Out of Place.Professor Veena Dubal's research focuses broadly on law, technology, and precarious workers, combining legal and empirical analysis to explore issues of labor and inequality. Her work encompasses a range of topics, including the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on workers' lives, the interplay between law, work, and identity, and the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements. Dubal has written numerous articles in top law and social science journals and publishes essays in the popular press. Her research has been cited internationally in legal decisions, including by the California Supreme Court, and her research and commentary are regularly featured in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, etc. TechCrunch has called Prof. Dubal an “unlikely star in the tech world,” and her expertise is frequently sought by regulatory bodies, legislators, judges, workers, and unions in the U.S. and Europe. Professor Dubal is completing a book manuscript that presents a theoretical reappraisal of how low-income immigrant and racial minority workers experience and respond to shifting technologies and regulatory regimes. The manuscript draws upon a decade of interdisciplinary ethnographic research on taxi and ride-hail regulations and worker organizing and advocacy in San Francisco.Prof. Dubal received a B.A. from Stanford University and holds J.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where she conducted an ethnography of the San Francisco taxi industry. The subject of her doctoral research arose from her work as a public interest attorney and Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow at the Asian Law Caucus where she founded a taxi worker project and represented Muslim Americans in civil rights cases. Prof. Dubal completed a post-doctoral fellowship at her alma mater, Stanford University. She returned to Stanford again in 2022 as a Residential Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Prof. Dubal is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Fulbright, for her scholarship and previous work as a public interest lawyer.www.palumbo-liu.com https://speakingoutofplace.comhttps://twitter.com/palumboliu?s=20

In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with Professor Veena Dubal about how such companies have exported globally a technique of algorithmic wage discrimination that pays workers based on data to which they have no access. Owners dangle bonuses before workers but take away work from them as they draw close to achieving their targets; they use psychological tricks derived from video games to create a casino-like environment where the house always wins. Dubal urges us not to fall into the trap of competing against the house, but back to “good old-fashioned organizing.” This is one of the most powerful and significant episodes of Speaking Out of Place.Professor Veena Dubal's research focuses broadly on law, technology, and precarious workers, combining legal and empirical analysis to explore issues of labor and inequality. Her work encompasses a range of topics, including the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on workers' lives, the interplay between law, work, and identity, and the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements. Dubal has written numerous articles in top law and social science journals and publishes essays in the popular press. Her research has been cited internationally in legal decisions, including by the California Supreme Court, and her research and commentary are regularly featured in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, etc. TechCrunch has called Prof. Dubal an “unlikely star in the tech world,” and her expertise is frequently sought by regulatory bodies, legislators, judges, workers, and unions in the U.S. and Europe. Professor Dubal is completing a book manuscript that presents a theoretical reappraisal of how low-income immigrant and racial minority workers experience and respond to shifting technologies and regulatory regimes. The manuscript draws upon a decade of interdisciplinary ethnographic research on taxi and ride-hail regulations and worker organizing and advocacy in San Francisco.Prof. Dubal received a B.A. from Stanford University and holds J.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where she conducted an ethnography of the San Francisco taxi industry. The subject of her doctoral research arose from her work as a public interest attorney and Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow at the Asian Law Caucus where she founded a taxi worker project and represented Muslim Americans in civil rights cases. Prof. Dubal completed a post-doctoral fellowship at her alma mater, Stanford University. She returned to Stanford again in 2022 as a Residential Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Prof. Dubal is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Fulbright, for her scholarship and previous work as a public interest lawyer.www.palumbo-liu.com https://speakingoutofplace.comhttps://twitter.com/palumboliu?s=20

In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with Professor Veena Dubal about how such companies have exported globally a technique of algorithmic wage discrimination that pays workers based on data to which they have no access. Owners dangle bonuses before workers but take away work from them as they draw close to achieving their targets; they use psychological tricks derived from video games to create a casino-like environment where the house always wins. Dubal urges us not to fall into the trap of competing against the house, but back to “good old-fashioned organizing.” This is one of the most powerful and significant episodes of Speaking Out of Place.Professor Veena Dubal's research focuses broadly on law, technology, and precarious workers, combining legal and empirical analysis to explore issues of labor and inequality. Her work encompasses a range of topics, including the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on workers' lives, the interplay between law, work, and identity, and the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements. Dubal has written numerous articles in top law and social science journals and publishes essays in the popular press. Her research has been cited internationally in legal decisions, including by the California Supreme Court, and her research and commentary are regularly featured in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, etc. TechCrunch has called Prof. Dubal an “unlikely star in the tech world,” and her expertise is frequently sought by regulatory bodies, legislators, judges, workers, and unions in the U.S. and Europe. Professor Dubal is completing a book manuscript that presents a theoretical reappraisal of how low-income immigrant and racial minority workers experience and respond to shifting technologies and regulatory regimes. The manuscript draws upon a decade of interdisciplinary ethnographic research on taxi and ride-hail regulations and worker organizing and advocacy in San Francisco.Prof. Dubal received a B.A. from Stanford University and holds J.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where she conducted an ethnography of the San Francisco taxi industry. The subject of her doctoral research arose from her work as a public interest attorney and Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow at the Asian Law Caucus where she founded a taxi worker project and represented Muslim Americans in civil rights cases. Prof. Dubal completed a post-doctoral fellowship at her alma mater, Stanford University. She returned to Stanford again in 2022 as a Residential Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Prof. Dubal is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Fulbright, for her scholarship and previous work as a public interest lawyer.www.palumbo-liu.com https://speakingoutofplace.comhttps://twitter.com/palumboliu?s=20

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss the fight to win a pro-worker Platform Work Directive in the European Union, Uber's rollout of dynamic pricing, and how Barcelona taxi workers have fought back against ride-hailing.Ben Wray is the coordinator of The Gig Economy Project and the co-author of Scotland after Britain: The two souls of Scottish independence. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @Ben_Wray1989.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:The Gig Economy Project has a weekly newsletter on the gig economy in Europe.Ben wrote about the Platform Work Directive for Context.In 2022, the Uber Files gave us greater insight into Uber's lobbying activities, with a specific focus on what had gone on in Europe. The leaks implicated French President Emmanuel Macron, but he said he'd do it all again.The Gig Economy Project broke down what dynamic pricing would mean for workers and spoke to Leïla Chaibi about the Platform Work Directive.The UCLA Labor Center, transport analyst Hubert Horan, and Rideshare Drivers United with the Asian Law Caucus have all found Uber raising prices while cutting driver pay.Spain passed the Riders Law to regulate gig work, and Barcelona has pushed back against ride-hailing with the backing of a taxi union called Élite Taxi.Support the show

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists Tonight on APEX Express it is A Time for Remembering. We are remembering what it is like to grow up in San Francisco and be connected to this land that is not ours. We are remembering the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese Latin Americans. We Are talking with artists and lawyers and policy makers. People who help us shape our vision of what it means to be American. Host Miko Lee talks with artists Celi Tamayo-Lee and Na Omi Judy Shintani and Lawyer Don Tamaki. Join us.   Muni Raised Me February 24–April 9, 2023 Opening Reception, SOMArts Cultural Center Artist NaOmi Shintani's website The Art of Resilience: Tanforan Exhibit Tours, Panel Discussion & Memorial Walk through February 25, 2023 1-4PM PST San Bruno BART Station & AZ Gallery, San Bruno, CA & Online ongoing exhibit on the exterior plaza and inside the San Bruno BART Station.   Day of Remembrance San Francisco, February 19, 2023, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM PST Tickets here. StopRepeatingHistory.Org   Additional information about the Cal Reparations Task Force It convened in June of 2021, and on June 1, 2022, fulfilled its first charge of publishing a sweeping, nearly 500 page report drawing a through line from the harm of 246 years of slavery, 90 years of Jim Crow and racial terror, and decades more of continuing discrimination. Here is link to  the 29 page Executive Summary, https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-executive-summary-2022.pdf   Show Transcripts: A Time for Remembering [00:00:35] Miko Lee: Tonight on apex express. It is a time for remembering. We are remembering what it is like to grow up in San Francisco and be connected to this land that is not ours. We are remembering the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese Latin Americans. We are talking with artists and lawyers, policymakers, people who help us shape our vision of what it means to be American. Hi, I'm your host, Miko Lee. And tonight on apex express I speak with artists Celi Tamayo-Lee and Na Omi Judy Shintani and lawyer Don Tamaki join us aboard apex express Welcome to Apex Express, Celi Tamayo-Lee . [00:01:19] Celi Tamayo-Lee: Thank you for having me, Miko. [00:01:21] Miko Lee: We're so happy to have you as an artist, as a community organizer. So my first question for you is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? [00:01:32] Celi Tamayo-Lee: My people are creatives. people who like to eat a lot. My lineage comes from ELOs Norte in the Philippines, in the province of La Wag and also from Toisan in village, Sega, which is, in the Guandong province in China. My people love to dance. My people are nature lovers, ocean lovers, and those who wanna figure out what it fights to get to liberation. I carry with me legacies. Of deep hope and deep faith and legacies of adventuring. I think a lot about both my grandmothers, my Popo June and my Lola Anisha, who were just both very. Revolutionary in my mind, for their times. My grandmother from the Philippines coming here, from her small village, having I think just a high school degree and making a life for herself and her family in San Francisco. My other grandmother, June, who was a housewife in Palo Alto, who I think otherwise would have become a doctor, had higher education been m ore accessible for, women in her time. I think both of them were just really loving women , who hosted a lot of open space for their communities through their food, through gatherings and parties and also being a safe place for many of our relatives in the United. [00:03:09] Miko Lee: Thank you for that. I often think about my Popo who had all this power and imagination and what it would be like if she was living today. Do you feel like you carry an additional, , responsibility to fulfill some of their dreams since they could not during their time. [00:03:28] Celi Tamayo-Lee: Yeah. I think about that a lot. I think in the moments where I'm like, wow, I have just sat at a table all day on my computer. Is this what my ancestors dreamt for me? But I think especially as I have been exploring more of my gender identity. I think I identify as a non-binary person and I think that might be something that they couldn't quite, imagine in, in the language and the terms that they knew. But I think that like real freedom to express one's within their body and how they express themselves outwardly is definitely something I think they dreamt for me and. I also feel a responsibility to be a part of movement work and be a part of continuing to build community because that is something that I've benefited so much from them. [00:04:22] Miko Lee: Talk a little bit more about your community organizing and how you combine that with your artistry and your imagination. [00:04:28] Celi Tamayo-Lee: It's definitely been a journey for myself to identify as an artist and I think, mostly cuz there's so many messages about the ways in which art will never be a career path because of how dicey it is in terms of making money, in many ways, ironically, shout out my parents, who were both very creative people and also, people who have fought for social justice for most of their lives. my dad is a civil rights attorney and was a community organizer as a young person, but also, A musician and has always played in bands as a fun side gig. when he was my age, he was in a band called Stand that would perform all over the Bay Area. And my mom herself is also a cook and just a very creative person made all my Halloween costumes growing up and as an avid gardener. Having parents like that gave me just permission to continue to grow myself in a creative way. And I do think throughout so much of history movements have really succeeded because of their artistic aspects. Even within our Asian American history, there are so many important graphic designers and artists who made protest posters. Made movement graphics that really called into being like the spirit , of what people were fighting for. , I think about all of the songs that were sung throughout the Civil Rights movement and, I think culture just has a really powerful way of opening people's minds up to things that may feel out. reach when they're thinking in a more rational way. I just think that any movement that we need, is gonna depend on the way in which culture has been influenced through art. [00:06:25] Miko Lee: And speaking of that, you've been in the studio at Soma all day today, setting up a new exhibit called Muni Raised Me. Can you tell us about your latest project? [00:06:35] Celi Tamayo-Lee: This project called Muni Raised Me is a exhibit that will be in Soma Arts for six weeks, and it is a part of their curatorial residency programs. So myself and two of my really good friends, Sasha Vu and Mei Mei Lee, we saw the flyer on Instagram that they were calling for proposals and, , applied with this idea of a show called Muni Raised Me. really what It is, is, a love letter, a gathering, a dance party of so many of our friends, our talented friends who are. Visual artists, painters, collage artists, fashion designers, photographers it's really a space that we actually wanted to create for a long time, but never really found the platform to do it. And so much of it is trying to. ,I think juxtapose like the beauty and the roots that we come from having grown up in San Francisco while also naming just the struggle it has been to persist and live here. ,most of us artists were born in the early nineties and have just come of age in this tech era within San Francisco. 2011 was when Mayor Ed Lee invited tech companies like Twitter and Google and LinkedIn in with these major tax breaks. From 2009 to 2013, every time that I visited home, There were just more and more beloved businesses that had been replaced by condos and replaced by fancy coffee shops selling $6 lattes. For myself and for many of my friends it's been a painful and lonely experience to try and maintain a life here and to, make rent, to feel creative, to still work in public service. So many of the artists in our show are organizers themselves, or are teachers and educators in public schools or in afterschool programs. And so to try and live all those different multiple dreams and identities is really a struggle in San Francisco. [00:08:53] Miko Lee: So when somebody walks into Soma Arts, what will they see with Muni raised me. [00:08:58] Celi Tamayo-Lee: Ooh. I will say one of the first things they will see is a Muni bus that we were actually gifted from SFMTA. It just so happened that they were retiring a number of their buses and we got connected to the right person. , shout out Nicole Christian who knew somebody and. We have transformed that bus into an altar. You can walk through the bus, and throughout the bus there will be altars, but there will be definitely a focal point at the very back of the bus for people to view, but also for people to interact with. I think that so much of living in the city and having grown up in the city is an experience of grief and we really wanted to make space in the show for people to bring in ancestors and bring in family members who have been lost, , or, even family members who have been pushed out of the Bay Area. we also wanna commemorate lives lost to police violence. yeah, We hope that altar can be, a realm in which the spirit is felt beyond just , the material setting of a gallery. There's also gonna be a lot of amazing collage work from Erin Kimora. We have a beautiful installation from Arena Alejo, along with, Alyssa Avilas, who is a painter and multidisciplinary artist. People will just see a lot of kind of iconography from the nineties. We have a couple of painted Muni passes and a lot of, yeah, just different gestures and shout outs to this public transportation system that I know for myself, I spent hours and hours of my life on. It was a little bit of a pocket of freedom, like with my parents not necessarily knowing where I was. It wasn't home, it wasn't school. It was a place where I got to just enjoy and see my city. [00:11:02] Miko Lee: And What would you like folks to feel after they leave the show? [00:11:06] Celi Tamayo-Lee: I hope that they leave feeling reminded that San Francisco is them and that any kind of beauty or spark or funkiness or weirdness that they feel themselves missing from San Francisco actually can come back through their own creativity, through their own hello to a neighbor through their own small act of kindness. You know, I think there are deeper relationships also made through this show. I hope that there's a feeling of oh, my people are still here. I am connected to a sense of justice and community that maybe doesn't always feel present in the everyday, but is actually there. I hope that it. Reignites some sense of connectedness to other people who call this place home. [00:11:59] Miko Lee: I wonder if you could just speak a little bit about how art helps us remember the past so that we can learn and move forward in the future. [00:12:08] Celi Tamayo-Lee: Yeah, I think art is really critical to remembering our history. It's definitely one thing to read something in a book and another thing to experience it through imagery and sound and color. it was important to us in this exhibit to in our alter space, include really important historical figures of San Francisco. So we're including people like Victoria Manalo Draves who was a Filipina American olympic swimmer, she was one of the first women swimmers to win in her divisions of diving. We also have people like Mary Ellen Pleasant, who was an African-American woman, one of the first African-American millionaires in the country, who is also dubbed as the Harriet Tubman of the West. She helped hundreds of African-American people, basically find and make lives here in San Francisco. And, She challenged the government when they told her that she couldn't ride actually on a certain part of the public transportation, and it went to the California Supreme Court and she won and that is what stopped discrimination on the trolley routes in San Francisco. Art reaches people who would not normally seek out that history. I think it just gives people a much deeper sense of their own legacies or legacies that they may not even know that they're connected to. [00:13:51] Miko Lee: Celi Tamayo-Lee, thank you so much for joining us on Apex Express. [00:13:56] Celi Tamayo-Lee: Thank you for having me. Miko. For anyone who's looking for more information, you can follow us on Instagram@MuniRaisedMe and also find us online@somaarts.com/Muniraisedme. [00:14:10] Miko Lee: That was Sealy to Mio Lee talking about muni raised me. Now take a listen to pistol jazz by Hi no Tori. A taiko solo. [00:17:41] Miko Lee: Welcome back. You are tuned into apex express, a 94.1 KPFA and 89.3 KPF. Be in Berkeley and online@kpfa.org. That was a Taiko solo. Hi no Tori by pistol jazz. Welcome artist and narrator of culture, NaOmi Judy Shintani to Apex Express. [00:18:03] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk with you. [00:18:06] Miko Lee: We're excited to talk with you too, and I wanna kick it off by first asking you, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? [00:18:16] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Well, I do quite a bit of my artwork about, the Japanese American history and so those are some of my people, I would say. But I also want my work to be visible to all kinds of people. So I'd say everyone's my people. The legacy I carry, part of that has to do with the incarceration, that is part of the history of my family. That is something that I carry with me. I think that there is intergenerational trauma. There's lessons you learn in legacy from your family and your culture. [00:18:54] Miko Lee: So we are coming along to the Day of Remembrance, which is a day that recognizes the Japanese-American incarceration. Can you tell about your family's personal connection with the incarceration. [00:19:07] NaOmi Judy Shintani: My father's family was up in Washington State in the Puget Sound area, and they lived on a houseboat and were oyster farmers. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, they immediately came and got my grandfather, who was a leader in the community. They were a concerned or worried that he might be a spy or might have information. And so He was taken away and my grandmother and my father's and his sibling didn't really know what had happened to him. A few days later they came for my grandmother and my father and his siblings. They eventually ended up at Tule Lake incarceration camp. Then my grandfather was allowed to be with the family there. On my mother's side, she was actually in Hawaii and the family was not incarcerated per se, though there's a lot of limitations and curfews that they had to live with. Her father was also a leader in the community and he was taken away for a year. And I think At that time my mother didn't really, probably up until the time of her death did not believe that they were incarcerated in Hawaii. But of course, we've learned later that there were incarceration camps in Hawaii and that my grandfather actually was incarcerated. [00:20:36] Miko Lee: Yeah, so many of these stories are hidden. Finally the one incarceration camp in Oahu is just getting turned into a, a national park soon. So More people will know about that history. That's one of the many hidden histories about the internment camps in Hawaii. [00:20:52] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Exactly. One of my goals is to explore the incarceration history in Hawaii. I've mostly been focused on my father's family cuz there's been more information. So I'm very interested in learning more about the legacy of trauma in Hawaii. [00:21:10] Miko Lee: You're an amazing artist, have created so many important pieces, and can you talk more about how you combine your sense of family history, your activism with your artistry? [00:21:22] NaOmi Judy Shintani: I think originally I started wanting to learn more about what happened to my family and also to come to grips with it for my own self. That's when I really started exploring trying to learn more, trying to Get my father to talk more about his experience and that is what really spurred me to start making art. At one point when we went to the Tule Lake pilgrimage together, he was asked how often do you think about the incarceration? It was a general question out to the elders that were at Tule Lake and they had to raise their hand and so they said every 10 years, every five years, every. Three years and they kept going and my father still had his hand raised for every day. And at that point I thought, this is something that is deep in our family, a deep trauma that's not been talked about a whole lot, and it has affected me and many families. That's when I really decided, Spend more time exploring that and exploring also meant doing research. It meant talking to other people. It meant gathering information. I did a lot of outreach to hear other people's stories written or oral. I also did surveys for descendants of people that were incarcerated cuz I hadn't heard that much from them. All of these thoughts and stories became part of my art and I think of my art as a way of educating people as well as honoring them honoring the people that were incarcerated and as a healing. [00:23:16] Miko Lee: In the byline next to your name, it says that you are a “narrator of culture, the unspoken compels me to create.” Can you share a little bit more about what that means to you? [00:23:27] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Well, I was thinking about what is it that I'm actually doing in my work and I was working with someone to come up with some sort of naming of myself, and I finally came up with the idea that I tell other people's stories, I tell stories of culture so that's why I became a narrator of culture. The unspoken compels me to create, that's because I am very Adamant about bringing these stories out to the public. I think that is through the personal stories about what people experienced. That is how we really know the history. A lot of this kind of history, these personal stories are not in history books in high school or middle school. It's about, Individuals and families. It's not just about, 120,000 people. I mean, that's a big number, but to hear the actual stories of parents and children and grandparents I think that puts a whole different light on it. [00:24:36] Miko Lee: Can you talk a little bit about your piece that's at the San Bruno BART station. [00:24:41] NaOmi Judy Shintani: I was hired by bay Area Rapid Transit Bart to create a art exhibit or historical exhibit about the Tanforan detention center that was on the land of where the BART station and the mall is now and was originally a racetrack. I came in as a curator, so I thought about what is important for people to know about Tanforan and how am I going to express that through writing and through art and through historical photographs. I actually thought that there's a lot of discrimination and hardships that Japanese immigrants, the Issei experience before. Pearl Harbor was bombed that I think had an influence on how the Japanese people were treated during that war time. So I really started talking about the history way earlier. About coming over, not being able to become citizens, not being able to own land and yet persevering and becoming successful. So that all rolled into the incarceration. There was a lot of discrimination because, the successfulness of the Japanese even though they had so many hardships. That was just an example of what things I thought were important for people to know about the incarceration, the history of Tanforan. I also spent a lot of time Expressing and telling the history of the artists that were at Tanforan art was a very important part of the incarceration. So I talked about people that were incarcerated, artists that were incarcerated, the art school they had there, and showed some of the art that was created there. and then I also included Art of Descendants. To express, you know, what's happened? How are people expressing the incarceration in art now. [00:26:48] Miko Lee: I love that you curated this kind of trauma informed practice that has been lasted for generations. Can you talk more about the art school that was at the Tanforan concentration camp? I hadn't heard that story before. [00:27:02] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Obata, who was a professor at uc, Berkeley was incarcerated. And so When he got there, he thought we have to have something that will give people some hope or some something to do while they're in prison. He had an art school that was for children as well as for adults. to Teach and encourage people to use their creativity to survive this difficult time. They had hundreds of students and a lot of different subjects as well as drawing and painting. [00:27:36] Miko Lee: So anybody can go and see this public exhibit that opened in September, right? [00:27:42] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Yes. If you want to go see it, you can of course you can ride on Bart and get off at the San Bruno BART station is, it's right on the main street level floor. If you're going by car, if you come to the Bart parking lot or the Tanforan Shopping Center, you can let the station agent know that you're there to see the exhibit. Then you'll be able to come in without having to buy a ticket. They're also encouraging classrooms and groups to come in. So you have a large group. You can call or email Bart and they will arrange that. There's also a memorial which is outside of the BART station, and that was put together by a group of Japanese Americans, some of which had connections with the incarceration there at Tanforan. They just opened a beautiful outdoor memorial, which has a statue of two of the young mochita girls that were in incarcerated photographed by Dorthea Lang. And also they have the names of the people that were . Incarcerated engraved, and they have a horse stable structure that can give you the size and the space that you would've been in if you were incarcerated there. BART and AAWAA, which is the Asian American Women's Arts Association are putting on a curatorial tour, as well as a memorial walkthrough and a multicultural artist panel on February 25th. People that wanna get more information can come have a special experience on that day. [00:29:26] Miko Lee: You're tuned into APEX express., a 94.1 K PFA and 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley and online@kpfa.org. Can you talk to me about your project that you're working on right now? [00:29:40] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Dream Refuge for Children imprisoned was originally introduced at the Triton Art Museum in Santa Clara. And it has since been traveling. It not only is about the Japanese incarceration, but I've also included children that were incarcerated in the United States, including native American children in boarding school situations that were removed from their communities and also the Central American refugee children which are the most recent group that has been incarcerated and a t the beginning were removed from their parents, and I just thought that was traumatic and horrible. It's reminded me so much of what our families went through in the incarceration of the Japanese Americans. [00:30:34] Miko Lee: Can you describe for listeners what this work looks like? [00:30:39] NaOmi Judy Shintani: I did life size drawings of children on mattresses are put onto cots. I also sewed talismans on each of the children. That represents a form of protection, a symbol of protection for the different children. So the Japanese Americans had little embroidery symbols as in Japan they would sew them on the back of children's kimonos to watch their back. I carried on that tradition of adding those kinds of symbols in red thread. For the native American children, I made little belt pouches of cedar and sage herbs that were given to me by a elder who knew I was working on this project. And so I sewed those into little red pouches that had the symbol of the four directions. For the Central American children I sewed purple crosses cuz they would often be carrying these crosses, with them when they came across the border. So those are all arranged in a circle. I just felt that the circle was such a healing shape and I wanted people to come into the space and see these sleeping children in this safe space and to relate to their experiences. And I had recordings of stories that were told by elders now about their experience when they were children. I had a woman that was in Native American boarding schools that told her stories and then also collected the stories. Belinda Arianga, a woman in Half Moon Bay that went to the border, and she told me the stories of those children. These voices were all recorded so that you can hear their stories in the room. [00:32:33] Miko Lee: So why for you as an artist, did you want to have both something that you could look at and then also listen to what was the impact of having those dual experiences for audience? What's your intention behind that? [00:32:46] NaOmi Judy Shintani: I really wanted people to experience the incarceration with different modalities. So I felt that by them seeing the children sleeping, they had one experience also walking in a circle. That was another experience. So they, there was a movement involved. To hear the stories I think gave another level and also to hear elders telling the stories that they remembered when they were children, along with hearing children speaking in Spanish and in English. And to have different ages and different genders. Telling the stories that they experienced. I think that just gave a whole nother. Way of the history entering the viewers. [00:33:32] Miko Lee: To me, there's also something quite powerful about the fact that they're sleeping children , because there's this whole innocence and kind of beauty that comes within that sleeping space, and yet they're held in detention. So it's this very intense juxtaposition. [00:33:51] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Yes. That was something that I really thought about and wanted to express that sort of vulnerability, but yet when they're sleeping, they have this time to dream of being in a different place or being in their own space. That was one of the things I really wanted people to come away with. The other thing I didn't talk about is that the Central American children I placed on the floor and they're sleeping among the Mylar blankets as well as textiles from Central America. And that really came to me when I spoke to a woman who was from Honduras who been released from those detention centers and she said whatever you do, don't put our children on beds, because they had to sleep on the cement floor. So I really took that to heart and wanted to show them in their correct plight of being imprisoned in such horrible conditions and the circle of the children around them. From the earlier generations of incarceration, I felt they were almost like guardians for the Central American children. [00:35:06] Miko Lee: And you went down to Crystal City to be part of the pilgrimage and protest, is that right? [00:35:12] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Yes. I was invited by Satsuki. Ina I wanted to talk to her about her story and about her experience. She said why don't you come along? We are going to go to Crystal City. It was the first time they were going. We're also gonna do a protest at the detention center. You can talk to a lot of people there. You can see what's happening I did talk to some families and children at the bus station that had been released when we were giving them some food and backpacks and things like that, and that was really moving and I think that actually that experience of going on that trip that sort of cemented the dream refuge for me. [00:35:56] Miko Lee: You mentioned your dad and how he kept his hand raised the whole time that he thought about the incarceration every day. Has he had the opportunity to see your work?. [00:36:05] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Yes, he has seen my work. He was very proud of it. He would often go to my art exhibits and be photographed with my work and Attend shows and I was always very happy to have him there and I think it was emotional for him. He didn't necessarily speak a lot, but he was present and I think it meant a lot to him that I was making work about his experience. [00:36:33] Miko Lee: Since we're coming up upon the day of Remembrance, how does art impact remembering and specifically about remembering about the Japanese incarceration? [00:36:44] NaOmi Judy Shintani: Well, I think it impacts it in a lot of ways. One way is that there were not a lot of cameras allowed into camp. A lot of the art that was created in camps are the only documentation, true documentation by the prisoners of what it was. To be there and how they were feeling and how they were experiencing camp. Mine Okubo's work, who I use in the Tanforan exhibition is really important because her drawings were almost the only thing I could find that showed just the. Experience of being in a horse stable, the experience of having to go to public bathrooms where people had no privacy. I mean, Those kinds of things weren't photographed by Dorothea Lang or any of the other photographers that were sent by the W R A because they were not trying to show the traumatic side of the incarceration. The fact that these artists were able to document and express themselves, that, that is, historically important and also important as a way of people understanding the emotional impact of what was going on in the camps. There's just something about a painting or a sculpture or drawing that shows such a deeper level of history it doesn't even have to be history, just the colors or the brush strokes. These are all things that you can't read about in a history book. You can't experience it in the same way. I also feel that with the descendants creating art for example, the Sansei Granddaughters is a collective I'm part of. We've all expressed our family's experience. in different ways some people are sewing, Rako Fuji, she uses glass to create kimonos with photographs. There's just different ways, that people use whatever media they think is right to express their history. [00:38:53] Miko Lee: Na Omi Shintani thank you so much for speaking with me. We're looking forward to seeing more of your artwork and your voice in the world. [00:39:01] NaOmi Judy Shintani: I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about the art and how important it is for our history in our education of this traumatic experience. I wanted to also make sure that people come to the carrying the light for Justice Bay area Day of Remembrance. Sunday, February 19th from two to four Pacific Standard Time, it's going to be at the Christ United Presbyterian Church on Sutter Street in San Francisco. In person or online. The keynote speakers can be Don Tamaki. There's gonna be spoken word performance by Lauren Ito the MCs Ryan Yamamoto, the anchor for C B s News Bay Area. And there'll be a candle candle lighting ceremony. It's always a very moving experience. It's a time for remembering and honoring those who've been incarcerated. It's a time of community and I hope people will attend. [00:40:05] Miko Lee: Welcome Don Tamaki, amazing esteemed lawyer and activist. Welcome to Apex Express. [00:40:11] Don Tamaki: Thank you. [00:40:11] Miko Lee: So first I wanna just start with the big question. Who are your people and what legacy do you carry with? [00:40:18] Don Tamaki: I'm part of the Japanese American community, I'm most known for serving on the legal team, which reopened Korematsu versus the United States. The 1944 US Supreme Court decision, widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in US Supreme Court history, our legal team reopened it some 37 years later. Newly discovered secret, intelligence reports and Justice Department memos admitting. There was no reason to lock up Japanese Americans. They were not a dangerous population. They were not engaging in espionage or sabotage , and arguments and memos between Justice Department lawyers about their legal duty and the fact that they were about to tell lies to the US Supreme Court in order to manipulate the outcome of that decision. That decision ended up in 1944 upholding the constitutionality of uprooting some 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, including my parents and their extended families into 10 concentration camps, stretching from California to Arkansas. [00:41:26] Miko Lee: Wow. You've just given us a whole history lesson. Thank you so much. And you have been a part of so many critical moments in the Asian American Pacific Islander movement. You described part of that in the overturning of the Fred Korematsu 40 year conviction, but you're also the founder of Asian Law Alliance. And were the ED at Asian Law Caucus and you're the co-founder of Stop Repeating History all of your work is just so powerful and important. I wonder with the rise and attention on anti-Asian hate right now, where do you see the Asian-American movement going forward? [00:42:02] Don Tamaki: Well, I'm glad that all light is being shined on they hate incidents against Asian Americans. It has been happening for some time, but it's never really has gotten national attention let alone regional and local attention as it is now. So I think it's on balance. It's a good thing. On the other hand, I think we as Asian Americans knowing our history need to understand where the hate comes from in the first place. And by that I mean what is the cultural strain, the historical tradition, the norm of policies and laws that led to prejudice being so systemic in the first place. If you connect the dots, I think it does go back to 1619 in the very beginnings of enslavement in America, which laid the foundations propped up the institution of slavery for 246 years. 90 years of Jim Crow to follow, and decades more of exclusion and discrimination targeted first at black people. But while those policies and laws put a target on the backs of African-Americans it also Ended up targeting on occasion Asian Americans, Latinos other disfavored groups. And so this bias has really recycled over and over through our entire history. And from time to time resurfaces to impact us as Asian Americans. The Trump administration's a pretty good example where even though we have our model minority status Asian Americans became the spreaders of the Chinese virus. Mexicans were labeled as drug dealers and rapists. White supremacists declared that Jews and immigrants were poised to replace them. And the continuation of black people being killed at the hands of law enforcement, and it barely would ev evoke any reaction at all because it was deemed so normal until the May 25th, 2020 murder of George Floyd, which was captured on videotape. So this kind of thing where, you know, of course the Japanese Americans ended up in concentration camps. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first ban against a country. But it gets recycled in different forms, whether it's the 2017 Muslim ban that Trump put out or other things that ultimately in fact, the thinking I think, of the entire country including our own communities. While I'm very hardened that we're focusing on the hate incidents against Asian Americans, I think that's been a ignored area. I'm concerned about each group sticking up for its own tribe only and not connecting the dots I did to identify where this pathology comes from in the first. So speaking of cross solidarity work, I know your work led to the groundwork reparations for incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War ii, and last year you were appointed by Governor Newsom to a reparations task force for African Americans. Can you tell where that reparations committee is at right now? Following the murder of George Floyd triggering the largest protests in American. By September of the same year, 2020 the legislature had passed secretary Shirley will Webber's bill creating a task force to study reparations proposals for African Americans and make recommendations to the legislature. I'm one of nine members appointed by the governor in the legislature, and we have three charges. One is to document the harm of the legacy of slavery, covering two and a half centuries and another century of Jim Crow in decades, more of exclusion and discrimination, and connect those dots. To the current outcomes today, and we've done that in a very sweeping, scholarly, comprehensive report. It's been called the Interim report because it's not the final ones coming out this June. The second goal is to study reparations proposals and make recommendations to the legislature. The final report, which is due 2023 in just a few months. The third requirement is to educate the public about what's happened. Because as this is really, the subject is so buried and erased. The product of a willful amnesia call it. The fact that we're. The American public, the New York Times, Washington Post is just now publishing articles on Tulsa and Greenwood in which 300 African Americans were murdered in what was called a race riot, even though that happened over 100 years ago. People are just learning about that now. And what the I interim report that we issued last June reveals is that this is not an isolated incident. That the history is littered with Greenwood. Part about educating the public, creating curriculum to provide information to students and so on. That's really our charge going forward. And in June of 2023, we'll be issuing our final report. I know that both Tsuru for solidarity and the Japanese American Citizen League worked last year to get reparations for African Americans in the Chicago area utilizing marijuana tax. I'm wondering if there's other reparations models that have been happening in the US. There's discussion for the first time. The reparation idea is as old as the Civil War when 40 acres in a mule was promised with a period of 12 years of reconstruction that happened only to have all of that rescinded. Thereafter, and again, I think because of at least it was triggered, I think by the Floyd murder local municipalities and counties, about maybe two dozen or TA have taken this up in California so far as the only state and each of those areas are coming up with different kinds of proposals. I have to say that this is largely because of the unwillingness of Congress even to study reparations, let alone do anything about it. And so local jurisdictions have taken up the lead on this. As far as the state task force on reparations is concerned, I think all of the forms are on the table. None have been decided on yet or voted on. That will come in the run up to June of 2023. [00:48:54] Miko Lee: I believe you're the only non-African-American member of that commission. Is that right? [00:48:58] Don Tamaki: That is right. [00:49:00] Miko Lee: So how can the Japanese-American reparations and apology be utilized as a model for reparations for African-American and indigenous folks? [00:49:09] Don Tamaki: They're big differences, of course between the Japanese American experience and. The experience of black people in America. First off, as the listeners know, there's simply no equivalence between four to five years in the concentration camp, losing all of your property and your businesses. Some folks even lost their lives as compared to 400 years of two and a half centuries of enslavement followed by Jim Crow and. Legalized and customarily enforced segregation, the results of which we're seeing e every day in our communities. But there are some things that are useful. The Japanese American redress and reparations movement is maybe one of the very few examples where the government acknowledged a great, wrong, apologized for. and put meaningful compensation behind that to create a meaningful atonement and how we got there. Some of the, there are some lessons that are maybe of some use. I think the other thing in my role as the only non-black person on the task force is to demonstrate. We can and should, and we're obligated to be allies in this effort. And although Japanese Americans don't have the history of black Americans in America we do know something about racial profiling. We know something about being removed and vilified and organizing to get back our dignity and some measure of atonement and. that lesson is really an American story of the meaning of the Constitution and what it means to be an American. When democracy and institutions are being challenged and in our case failed. I think with respect to other groups, whether they're. Native people or Latinos or L G B T Q, populations, disabled and so on. We all ought to be taking a look at reparations because it shines a light on so much of where the sense of separation and inequality comes from in the first place. [00:51:17] Miko Lee: Can you talk to us about the Day of Remembrance? I know you're gonna be the keynote speaker this year. Can you talk about the importance of the day? of remembrance? [00:51:25] Don Tamaki: Well, It's certainly important from a personal standpoint for our own community. It's time to reflect on our families who were taken away and incarcerated for no good reason but for the country, it's important to memorialize, and we do this annually about the perils to democracy. When racism shouts louder than the Constitution and our community endured a time where, The facts didn't matter. The law didn't matter and the constitution didn't matter. And why is that important? Because we're seeing that play out in real time today. The January 6th Capitol insurrection the Capitol was defied, five people died. 25,000 troops were deployed to protect the peaceful transfer of power. and millions today believe the election was stolen despite the utter lack of any evidence of fraud that would've made any difference in the outcome. This kind of collapse is something our own community experienced. literally the three branches of government failed. The presidency, legislative branch, Congress, and in our case, the courts they all bowed to the will of a racist notion knowing, and the government knew it at the time that that was. A, a completely false premise and yet no one had the courage to stand up, at least within the Department of Justice and within the courts. It was so normal that it was allowed to happen. We're seeing this playbook play out. It's not peculiar to the United States. This demagoguery is something that's happening worldwide and the elements are the same, which is, number one, appeal to prejudice. Number two, engage in fear mount mongering and scapegoating and three traffic in conspiracy theories and fake news. There's certainly a parallel there And that also led to the formation of stop repeating history. To be an alert, to be a point of reflection that we've seen this before and unless we become active and intervene, it's gonna happen over and over again. So that's certainly. A big reason why the day of remember it is such an important annual event. [00:53:41] Miko Lee: How does it feel to be the keynote speaker this year? [00:53:44] Don Tamaki: Well, I've gotten more than my share of recognition. There are many other people that have done really important work, but it gives me a platform at least to talk about the importance of reparations for African Americans and why it is not just a black issue, but an issue of long overdue justice. And that by shining a light on the origins of systems of exclusion, discrimination, that it helps all of us. It gives me an opportunity to connect some of the dots between our community struggle and that which been a constant for black people in America. [00:54:20] Miko Lee: We're gonna put a link to stop repeating history onto the show notes so people can take a deeper dive into some of your work. Don, you make change happen through policy and laws, and we're also talking with artists in this episode. How do you think art can help shape and change social issues? [00:54:38] Don Tamaki: As a lawyer, I used to think that laws and cases and legal action are the most important thing. And don't get me wrong it's, important. We reopened this ancient case of Korematsu versus United States, and we made a legal point as well as a public policy point. But I think the driving force For both good and bad in America, which is an amalgamation of both is culture and what I mean to say that is to say, if the culture says you will be locked up, the laws don't matter. The constitution doesn't matter. Nothing matters. You will be locked up because the culture is saying that is the norm. and I think we're again seeing this over and over again. And so how is culture created these belief systems? A lot of it has to do with artists authors those who create. that reflect and help shape the public's values. I think Artists and writers and others play a huge role in determining or helping to determine the values of a society. In the reparations movement, as well as to happen in the Japanese American redressing, reparations. the Art was really important when we went to announce our reopening of the filing of the petition in behalf of Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayshi and Minori Yasui, I called up news desks and these are educated journalists who had no idea that this had even happened in America. When I talked about American style concentration camps, they said you're talking about Japanese prisoners of war, aren't you? And they said, no, these are the removal and incarceration of an entire American population. They had not heard about that. Since that time, there've been so many books and movies and creative works and art. After how many years later Now it's in the public consciousness. People generally on both sides of the aisle, now regard this roundup is really bad idea of real travesty and an injustice. I'm glad that we played a legal role in all that. But how did the script get flipped? That was because of education. So the impact of documentary films, of books, of magazine articles, played a huge role in moving the needle of public opinion. and I think that's been true of every movement especially in the modern era. I think the artists are crucial. [00:57:07] Miko Lee: Don Tamaki, thank you so much for speaking with us. We look forward to hearing your keynote speech at the San Francisco Day of Remembrance. [00:57:15] Don Tamaki: Thank you, Miko. [00:57:16] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining us. Please check out our website, kpfa.org backslash program, backslash apex express to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex express is produced by Miko Lee Jalena Keane-Lee and Paige Chung and special editing by Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the KPFA staff for their support have a great night. The post APEX Express – 2.16.23 – A Time for Remembering appeared first on KPFA.

Continuing from last season's episode on the rise in Anti-Asian hate crime during the pandemic, this week we interviewed Senior Counsel at the Asian Law Caucus Winifred Kao. Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus is an organization that serves low-income AAPI communities, focusing on housing, immigration, and civil rights. We bring Winnie on to talk to us about a survey conducted by ALC showing how heavily Covid-19 has been affecting especially low-income Asian and Latinx workers. One statistic showed that only 12% of surveyed domestic workers and home health care workers were regularly provided N-95 respirators. More than 2/3rds of those paid below minimum wage received no information on what to do if they got sick from Covid-19. We talk to Winnie about these findings, the lack of enforcement around regulation that should theoretically be protecting workers, and how to advance accountability. Want to suggest an episode idea or share your own story? Find us on Twitter/IG (@foreignandnatl) or email us at podcast@foreignandnational.com!

Ramadan #HistoricMuslimah #22: "Sayyida al Hurra" by Kifah Shah | Today, Khateebah Kifah Shah inspires us with the life and legacy of Sayyida al Hurra (aka 'The Pirate Queen'), who started out as an Andalusian refugee in Morocco but who soon rose to become the governing Queen; she helped her city fight off invading Portuguese armies and rebuild in the aftermath of war. Kifah shows us how we can learn from Sayyida's and the Prophet Muhammad's (p) example a beautiful way to frame refugees as people who spread light wherever they go. M O R E F R O M K I F A H S H A H Watch "Moving Away from the Multitude to the One" Khutbah by Kifah Shah here: https://www.facebook.com/WomensMosque... Listen to the Q&A Discussion Circle with Kifah Shah here: https://soundcloud.com/womensmosque/q... D O N A T E The Women's Mosque of America needs your help! Make a contribution of any amount today to help us continue our work to uplift the entire Muslim community by empowering Muslim women and girls. Donate now: womensmosque.com/donate B I O Kifah Shah is the Digital Campaign Manager for MPower Change, the largest Muslim-led social and racial justice organization in the United States. She is also a cofounder of SuKi Se, an ethical fashion brand produced by artisans in Pakistan that strives to offer access to technologies that ensure high production standards and inclusive supply chains. Kifah grew up in Southern California and has been organizing since she was 15. She has worked for the Asian Law Caucus, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Unite HERE! Local 11, and UC Berkeley's Multicultural Community Center. Kifah also worked abroad in Europe at the Migration Policy Group on issues related in migration, as well as in Pakistan at the Aman Foundation/USAID on issues of health, education, and economic empowerment. She is currently a TED Resident and on the Board of Trustees for MSA West. Kifah holds a Masters in Public Administration (Economic Policy) from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies from U.C. Berkeley. S T A Y C O N N E C T E D Do you want to find out about The Women's Mosque of America's upcoming women-led & co-ed events? Sign up for our newsletter here: https://us9.campaign-archive.com/home... A B O U T The Women's Mosque of America is the nation's first women-led Muslim house of worship and a registered 501(c)3 non-profit. The Women's Mosque of America strives to uplift the entire Muslim community by empowering Muslim women and girls through more direct access to Islamic scholarship and leadership. The Women's Mosque of America provides a safe space for women to feel welcome, respected, and actively engaged within the Muslim Ummah. It complements existing mosques, offering opportunities for women to grow, learn, and gain inspiration to spread throughout their respective communities. The Women's Mosque of America provides women-led Friday jumma'a services for women and children (including boys 12 and under) once a month in Southern California. In addition, The Women's Mosque of America provides programming, events, and classes open to both men and women that aim to increase community access to female Muslim scholars and female perspectives on Islamic knowledge and spirituality. F O L L O W U S Instagram: @womensmosque Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomensMosque Twitter: @womensmosque YouTube: click on the red SUBSCRIBE button above!

Many people are unsure how to respond when they find themselves observing a conflict, or when someone might be bothering, harassing or even about to attack another person. In response to a wave of violent attacks against Asian-Americans, two organizations have partnered to offer an adapted bystander intervention training, which has been in very high demand. Paul Ocampo, development director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice/Asian Law Caucus, and Dax Valdes, a senior trainer with Hollaback, share their experiences with and strategies for safely de-escalating tense situations.

A conversation about abolitionist politics and transformative justice between Asian activists, authors and organizers. This panel explores abolitionist politics and practices among Asian organizers and cultural workers whose projects include prisoner support, anti-deportation work, disability justice, gender and sexual justice, anti-imperialism and anti-borders, and transformative justice. Speakers: Victoria Law is a freelance journalist that covers the intersections of incarceration, gender and resistance. She is the author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women and the co-author, with Maya Schenwar, of Prison By Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reform. She is also the co-founder of Books Through Bars NYC. Mia Mingus is a writer, educator and community organizer for transformative justice and disability justice. She is a prison abolitionist and a survivor who believes that we must move beyond punishment, revenge and criminalization if we are ever to effectively break generational cycles of violence and create the world our hearts long for. She is passionate about building the skills, relationships and structures that can transform violence, harm and abuse within our communities and that do not rely on or replicate the punitive system we currently live in. For more, visit her blog, Leaving Evidence. Tamara K. Nopper is a sociologist whose research focuses on the racial wealth gap, credit scoring systems and the push for alternative data, and the intersection between racism, financialization, criminalization, and punishment. She has experience in Asian American, immigrant rights, and anti-war activism. Anoop Prasad is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco and also a part of Survived and Punished and Asian Prisoner Support Committee. Anoop's work has focused on defending formerly incarcerated people from deportation with a particular focus on Cambodian refugees and domestic violence survivors. Sarath Sarinay Suong (he/him) was born in the refugee camp of Khao I Dang after his family fled Battambang, Cambodia during civil war and immigrated to his hometown of Revere, Massachusetts. To cope with the violence and pain of growing up poor, queer, and refugee, he became a community organizer, centering the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Sarath moved to Providence, Rhode Island in 1998 to attend Brown University where he majored in Ethnic Studies with a specific focus on Southeast Asian resettlement, resilience, and resistance. There, he became a co-founder and former Executive Director of Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), a community organization of Southeast Asian young people, queer and trans youth of color, and survivors of state violence organizing collectively against state violence. Sarath is also a founding Co-Chair of the Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE), an organization dedicated to working with Southeast Asian youth to organize for education justice. Sarath sits on the advisory board of the Immigrant Justice Network . And he is currently the National Director of Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN), a movement family of Southeast Asian grassroots organizations founded to fight against detention and deportation. Harsha Walia has organized in anti-border, Indigenous solidarity, migrant justice, feminist, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist movements for two decades through many community groups and organizations. She is also the author of Undoing Border Imperialism, co-author of both Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration, and Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and contributing member of the Abolition Journal. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/GL2ZbqlJRQI Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Proposition 22 Prop 22, the most expensive California ballot initiative in history, carves out app-based gig economy workers as a new employee class that lacks the benefits and protections that other workers in California get. Prop 22 also makes it more difficult for drivers and delivery workers to unionize. Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and other app-based services threatened their workers with lack of flexibility and job loss. They also spent more than $200M to persuade voters. The passage of Prop 22 is a significant loss for labor law, and copycat legislation in other states is already following. Taxi Unions The San Francisco chauffeurs’ union was powerful and effective because it had 100% participation from taxi drivers and built a strong collective identity for drivers. It even had a union hall! Unions negotiated fair contracts – wages and hours – and prevented oversaturation in the taxi market. For most of the 20th century, US taxi drivers were unionized. Today, most app-based drivers are completely atomized, lack tools to communicate with each other, and don’t see driving as a craft identity. Laws and Regulations Since the 1930s, taxi work was considered a public utility. In San Francisco, the Taxi Commission regulated fares and worker supply in order to ensure a living wage. Although the San Francisco Taxi Commission is disbanded, the Municipal Transportation Agency could again take up regulation and supply management. In addition, employment protection should be strengthened by including proper unemployment and work place insurance. Find out more: Veena Dubal is a law professor at UC Hastings. Her research focuses on the intersection of law, technology, and precarious work. Within this broad frame, she uses empirical methodologies and critical theory to understand (1) the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on the lives of workers, (2) the co-constitutive influences of law and work on identity, and (3) the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements. Professor Dubal has been cited by the California Supreme Court, and her scholarship has been published in top-tier law review and peer-reviewed journals, including the California Law Review, Wisconsin Law Review, Berkeley Journal of Empirical and Labor Law, and Perspectives on Politics. Based on over a decade of ethnographic and historical study, Professor Dubal is currently writing a manuscript on how five decades of shifting technologies and emergent regulatory regimes changed the everyday lives and work experiences of ride-hail drivers in San Francisco. Professor Dubal joined the Hastings Faculty in 2015, after a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University (also her undergraduate alma mater). Prior to that, Professor Dubal received her J.D. and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, where she conducted an ethnography of the San Francisco taxi industry. The subject of her doctoral research arose from her work as a public interest attorney and Berkeley Law Foundation fellow at the Asian Law Caucus where she founded a taxi worker project and represented Muslim Americans in civil rights cases. You can follow her on Twitter @veenadubal We've started a referral program! Refer us to your friends to get a free button or Moleskine notebook. Please use this link to get your personal referral code: https://refer.glow.fm/future-hindsight, which you can then forward to your friends.

On August 20, 2020, Asian Americans Advancing Justice's Asian Law Caucus, along with dozens of Asian American and Civil Rights organizations, filed an amicus brief opposing the US government's increasing attacks on Chinese American scientists. In this special unlocked bonus episode, Teen and Diana discuss "The China Initiative," how and why something like this gets enacted, who it hurts and who it benefits. Ethnic cleansing and fascism don't require violent mobs. Jealous colleagues, ambitious prosecutors, and an ignorant public will get the job done. But are Chinese scientists the first victims of an impending Boba Liberal pogrom, or the last line of defense against a truly failed state? In an America that is insane and eating itself, Asian Americans need to develop our own tradition of intellectualism to fight for ourselves and all Americans. TWITTER: Teen (@mont_jiang) Diana (@discoveryduck) REFERENCED RESOURCES: United States vs Tao Amicus Brief: https://advancingjustice-aajc.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/Tao%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf The Chinese in America, by Iris Chang: https://b-ok.cc/book/3236054/6cdc89 Thread of the Silkworm, by Iris Chang: https://b-ok.cc/book/2372111/9b0caa One Billion Americans: The case for many more Americans: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21449512/matt-yglesias-one-billion-americans How Two Students Touring Florida Found Themselves Branded as Chinese Spies: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/28/china-lost-students-spies-michigan-florida-espionage-fears/ Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? by Graham Allison: https://b-ok.cc/book/5152796/296be7 SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

(S3, EP 2) Anoop Prasad, Immigration Attorney w/ Asian Law Caucus, joins in for this episode continuing on the Season 3 theme "Where Do We Stand?" as he talks about the current situation that has affected Southeast Asian and other API immigrants who are currently detained by ICE and facing deportation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anoop shares about the history of the deportation of visa and green-card holding Southeast Asian immigrants, and how it has continued to accelerate under the Trump administration. Anoop offers important advice to those seeking to become better allies in the fight against ICE and advocate for the release of those facing deportation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special thanks to my sponsor Lawrence & Argyle. a Viet-American owned merchandise line representing immigrant empowerment. Get yourself a pin, hoodie or t-shirt, and show off your immigrant pride. Visit them at www.lawrenceandargyle.com, or on their Facebook or Instagram @LawrenceandArgyle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bio: Anoop Prasad is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco and also a part of Survived and Punished and Asian Prisoner Support Committee. Anoop works with Southeast Asian refugees in prison and immigration detention facing deportation due to criminal convictions. Their work has included organizing campaigns to stop deportations, policy campaigns to expand the use of clemency by Governors, and representing people facing deportation. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/banhmichronicles/support

Dale Minami is a lawyer who has defended the civil rights of the Asian Americans and other minorities.  His parents and his then one-year-old brother were one of 120,000 Japanese Americans the U.S. government incarcerated during the World War II. Dale was born in California and grew up to become a lawyer. He led a landmark civil rights lawsuit that overturned a 40-year-old conviction for Fred Korematsu, who refused to go to the government’s incarceration camps for Japanese Americans. After Fred Korematsu was arrested and convicted of defying the government’s order, he appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled against him, arguing that the incarceration was justified due to military necessity. 40 years later, Dale led the charge to overturn Fred Korematsu’s conviction after finding evidences of possible governmental misconduct. In 1983, a federal judge overturned Fred Korematsu’s conviction in the same San Francisco courtroom where he had been convicted in 1944. It was a significant moment in civil rights history. Dale gave Japanese-Americans and his parents a fair trial that they never had. Dale has also co-founded Asian Law Caucus, the first nonprofit to help poor Asian-Americans with legal problems. He has always tried to boost the image of Asian Americans, and not just in the courtrooms. He produced two films, “Drinking Tea” and “Life Tastes Good” with all Asian American actors. Both films screened at the Sundance Film Festival. When Dale was in his 50s, People Magazine named him as one of America’s Top 50 Bachelors. Today’s show notes: www.celinalee.co/episode26

Executive Director of American Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus joins Michelle and John Zipperer at the CW Club to discuss cases the organization is leading- including a class action lawsuit on behalf of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees.

Khateebah Kifah Shah delivers the 44th khutbah for The Women's Mosque of America on August 24th, 2018. Kifah addresses the "multitudes" of our busy everyday lives, and how our ultimate goal should be striving for Allah, the One. Kifah Shah is the Digital Campaign Manager for MPower Change, the largest Muslim-led social and racial justice organization in the United States. She is also a cofounder of SuKi Se, an ethical fashion brand produced by artisans in Pakistan that strives to offer access to technologies that ensure high production standards and inclusive supply chains. Kifah grew up in Southern California and has been organizing since she was 15. She has worked for the Asian Law Caucus, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Unite HERE! Local 11, and UC Berkeley's Multicultural Community Center. Kifah also worked abroad in Europe at the Migration Policy Group on issues related in migration, as well as in Pakistan at the Aman Foundation/USAID on issues of health, education, and economic empowerment. She is currently a TED Resident and on the Board of Trustees for MSA West. Kifah holds a Masters in Public Administration (Economic Policy) from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies from U.C. Berkeley. "Moving Away from the Multitude to the One" Khutbah by Kifah Shah (8/24/18)

Ify and Turquoise discuss WaPo's article chronicling the experience of a young rural white woman who is the minority at work, Asian Law Caucus to hold #NotYourCover Twitter town hall addressing support for affirmative action, further details on I Promise school's offering, yesterday's #PayBlackWoman campaign, FL Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis using Ocasio-Cortez as boogey man to raise funds, White House's continued failure to hold daily or regular press briefings, Trump's campaigning with lies about Dems registering undocumented immigrants to vote, upcoming Ferguson Prosecutor race on August 7th, and more.

Mokhtar Alkhanshali is a historian, community organizer, and coffee innovator, who envisions a world where industry empowers rather than exploits, uplifts rather than represses. Following his studies, he worked with some of the most respected civil rights and community organizations, including the ACLU and Asian Law Caucus. On several occasions, he's been requested to partner with the city of San Francisco in working on initiatives regarding civil liberties. In 2013, Mokhtar shifted his focus toward his family's roots as coffee farmers in Yemen. Seeking to reverse Yemen's nearly lost art of coffee cultivation, he founded Port of Mokha. Combining his knowledge of specialty coffee production, progressive infrastructure strategy, and community organizing, Mokhtar has helped to reverse the declining quality of Yemeni coffee and re-establish it as one of the industry's most treasured origins. Mokhtar is the subject of bestselling author Dave Eggers' new book, The Monk of Mokha. Mokhtar was in the Northwest to speak at The Elliott Bay Book Company.

San Francisco is a "sanctuary city" and the new federal administration wants to discourage this. Saira Hussain from Asian Americans Advancing Justice (also known as the Asian Law Caucus) joins us to sift through the specifics of what this means.

Show Notes: 2/26/17 On this episode, we discuss the Muslim Ban, the Trump presidency and what we can do moving forward. We also speak with Tina Sinha, Staff Attorney at the  Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus based in San Francisco.  

Saira Hussein with the Asian Law Caucus Know your rights with the Asian Law Caucus and a health clinic goes up at Standing Rock. Tonight on APEX Express, Saira Hussein, a staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus, talks about how we prepare for a Trump administration. She goes over special registration for Muslims, what to do if ICE shows up at your door, and what we can do to protect the Dreamers who came out as undocumented to take advantage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). After our interview, Saira added: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee drafted a letter that 199 organizations (including ALC) signed on to asking President Obama to rescind the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) or special registration that was enacted after 9/11. Moreover, folks can sign on to petition likes this one at MoveOn asking for the dismantling of NSEERS. In addition, there has recently been increased reporting of FBI visits to Muslim community members. We recommend that people call ALC or the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and seek an attorney before speaking with the FBI. Tyson Walker, 2nd year UCSF Pharmacy student and citizen of the White Mountain Apache Tribe We also talk with Punjabi American Rupa Marya with the Do No Harm Coalition and Tyson Walker, second year Pharmacy student at UCSF who is White Mountain Apache. They are working together and with a consortium to provide free care to all people on tribal land in the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The coalition includes UCSF providers and students, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe traditional healers, National Nurses United, Changing Woman Initiative (indigenous midwifery group) and Global Health Care Alternative Project. Click here if you'd like to donate to the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic. The post APEX Express – Know Your Rights appeared first on KPFA.

Tonight we break down the narrative of the Trump campaign and how it's hitting communities of color across the nation. We speak with artists and activists about this collective moment of grief and fear including: Jeff Chang writes extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. His books include: American Book Award Winner, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, the critically acclaimed Who We Be: The Colorization of America, and We Gon' Be Alright: Notes On Race and Resegregation. His next project is a biography of Bruce Lee. The Utne Reader named Jeff one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.” He is the executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University, and a co-founder of CultureStr/ke and ColorLines. . Ayesha Mattu is a writer and editor of two groundbreaking anthologies, Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women and Salaam, Love: American Muslim Men on Love, Sex & Intimacy. Ayesha's books have been featured globally by media including the New York Times, NPR, the BBC, Washington Post, Guardian, Times of India, Dawn Pakistan, and Jakarta Post. Terry Valen is president of NAFCON, a national multi-issue alliance of Filipino organizations and individuals in the United States serving to protect the rights and welfare of Filipinos by fighting for social, economic and racial justice and equality. NAFCON members encompass over 23 cities in the United States. Sabiha Basrai is a member of Design Action Collective. Design Action Collective is a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to serving social justice movements with art, graphic design, and web development. Sabiha is also co-coordinator of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action where she works with racial justice organizers to fight against Islamophobia. Wei Lee with ASPIRE, the first Pan-Asian undocumented immigrant led group in the country housed under Asian Law Caucus. The post APEX Express – Artists and Activists Break Down the Cultural Narrative of Trump appeared first on KPFA.

The US Human Rights Network is working to promote full implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by educating the public about the U.S. Government obligations under the treaty and by engaging community groups in the effective use of the treaty to promote human rights at home. This year, 2013, the US government is being reviewed on its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and community groups have an opportunity to get involved! In this podcast we speak with co-chairs of the US Human Rights Network ICCPR Taskforce, Jamil Dakwar, the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program and Nasrina Bargzie, the National Security and Civil Rights attorney at the Asian Law Caucus. Jamil provides an overview of the ICCPR, and the review process and Nasrina shares why it is important for community groups to get involved.

This week we broadcast a local discussion on Vincent Chin, a victim of a hate crime in Detroit 30 years ago, and its legacy. APEX Express contributor R.J. Lozada moderated a panel with Angela Chan, staff attorney of the Asian Law Caucus, Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, Ling Woo Liu, director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, and Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. The panel delves into hate crimes, the short comings of recent legislation, and how each group is working together to change the culture of law and order. The post APEX Express – June 28, 2012 appeared first on KPFA.

BAYAN USA marching to the Oakland Port during the General Strike Tonight, we bring you a special 2011 year-in-review show featuring:   Eddy Zheng and youth from Community Youth Center. Reflection on the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami with updates on the floods in Thailand and the typhoon in the Philippines. Ellen Choy talking about the Occupy Movement, with a focus on the Bay Area. Alex Tom of the Chinese Progressive Association, taking about Occupy, what Ed Lee's mayoral win means to the Chinese community, and the unrest seen in Wukan, China. Continued discrimination against the Muslim American community in New York and on the media. An update with Anh Pham, her grand jury trial, and her response to the NDAA of 2012. Lisa Chen of Asian Law Caucus talking about the California Dream Act and what campaigns they'll work on in 2012. Bernadette Ellorin of BAYAN USA looks at the issuance of the arrest warrant for former General Jovito Palparan and the calling of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to trial for human rights abuses. Matthew Ledesma‘s commentary which challenges Manny Pacquiao‘s masculinity. National Film Society, a new media studio co-founded by filmmakers Patrick Epino and Stephen Dypiangco in Los Angeles. And Irene Kao, executive director of Hyphen, talks about  independent media and its important role in challenging what the mainstream has put forth including Tiger Mom and Wesley Yang's interpretation of Asian male-ness. Whew! Tune in! With Host RJ Lozada The post APEX Express – January 5, 2012 appeared first on KPFA.

Tonight, we replay a program produced by Making Contact, “Presumed Guilty: American Muslims and Arabs” produced by Andrew Stelzer. Marie B. Choi kills it with an amazing interview with Anh Pham, a anti-war and solidarity activist whose home was raided in September 2010 because of her political activity. And we bring you a commentary from Veena Dubal, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus. Jane Chang hosts with Karl Jagbandhansingh at the controls. The post APEX Express – March 31, 2011 appeared first on KPFA.

Khurshid Khoja speaks on the injustice of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII and the continued struggle against racist scapegoating and Assembleyman Warren Furutani shares his personal history in the first pilgrimage to Manzinar and the bill he introduced, and which was passed last year, getting college degrees to Japanese Americans who were denied them because of their removal to US Concentration Camps. Victoria Law, author of Resistance Behind Bars: the Struggles of Incarcerated Women, spent nine years researching this book which talks of the often ignored injustice of women's incarceration and provides us with examples of their organizing. We will also hear a brief reminder of the upcoming Asian Law Caucus fundraising dinner from Peter Swing as well as a call of support for Mumia abu Jamal from Yuri Kochiyama. The post APEX Express – April 1, 2010 appeared first on KPFA.

This week on Apex Express,  Sirch Chanthyasack and Sonny Le join us to discuss the upcoming US Census and why it is critical for APIs to be counted.  Also, Carlo De La Cruz of the Asian Law Caucus talks about the new Citizens Redistricting Commission and the need for API's  to apply by the newly extended deadline of February 16, 2010.  Also, an update from Jill Shiraki of Preserving California's Japantowns about the upcoming Day of Remembrance commemoration taking place Feb 21, 2010.  The theme this year is "Dreams Interrupted, Dreams Fulfilled" and it marks 68 years from the date Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.  And, Tia and Frankie Legoski join us to talk about Journey to Motherland a  Korean Amerasian unification trip to korean in collaboration with AmerasianUnityFoundation, HalfKorean.com, and HAAUSA. The post APEX Express – February 11, 2010 appeared first on KPFA.

Thursday, December 17 marks the 65th year anniversary of Public Proclamation No. 21, which allowed Japanese interned in concentration camps to return home.   On tonight's show, Jill Shiraki joins us to talk about  Bay Area Pre-World War II Japanese America, and the results of Executive Order 9066.  We also hear from Jill Togawa, of Purple Moon Dance Project who talks about her present performance piece:  When Dreams Are Interrupted… We will feature sounds of a walking tour with Jill Shiraki and excerpts of Jill Togawa's When Dreams Are Interrupted.  Finally, an excerpt of a presentation given by  Veena Dubal, Staff Attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, “WHY? Questioning American Response to Fort Hood: Islamophobia, Media & Civil Rights”   The post APEX Express – December 17, 2009 appeared first on KPFA.

Shirin Sinnar is a staff attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, where she works on racial and ethnic profiling, employment discrimination, and other civil rights and workers' rights issues with a particular focus on the South Asian community. Prior to joining the Caucus, she served as an Equal Justice Works fellow with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area on post-9/11 discrimination by employers, financial institutions, landlords, and other private businesses. She is the author of the 2007 Lawyers' Committee report entitled "The OFAC List: How a Treasury Department Terrorist Watchlist Ensnares Everyday Consumers." She served as a law clerk to Judge Warren J. Ferguson of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Santa Ana, California from 2003 to 2004. Sinnar is a co-founder and board member of the Bay Area Association of Muslim Lawyers, which received the State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award for Distinguished Service in 2006. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School, Cambridge University (M.Phil. in International Relations), and Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges (A.B. in History). Her article, "Patriotic or Unconstitutional? The Mandatory Detention of Aliens under the USA Patriot Act," appeared in the Stanford Law Review in 2003. www.asianlawcaucus.org

A pioneering small school currently faces a possible closing by the school district. Hear the current situation about the struggle to save East Oakland Community High School. Apex’s Jay Pugao talks with Dr. Wayne Yang, one of the founders of East Oakland Community High School. And, indefinite detention for non-US citizens? Learn more about this as we talk with immigration lawyer Sin Yen Ling. Also, hear about the latest restrictive immigration bills, the impact on the community and what Asian Law Caucus is doing about it. Plus music, calendar and more. The post APEX Express – November 30, 2006 appeared first on KPFA.

The burning of a South Asian family's home in Concord sparks concern over anti-Asian violence. Learn about this and a vigil on Nov. 17 – to push for an investigation into a possible hate crime – by supporters like Ahimsa, South Asian Bar Association and Asian Law Caucus. Also, the CD Bridge Across the Blue contains the aspirations and hopes of immigrants set to music and words. Apex talks with artists featured on the CD such as poet Pireeni Sundaralingam and musician Oliver Rajamani about this project that gives voice to immigrant lives crossing borders and coming across new experiences. Plus music, calendar and more. The post APEX Express – November 18, 2004 appeared first on KPFA.

Declining or dynamic? The Japanese American community is the focus of Academy-award winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki's new film. Apex talks with Okazaki about "Nikkei Style" that shows at the Oakland Museum this Sunday. Also, Outsourcing, Immigration, and Elections. Learn about complex relationships being forged between the US, China, and India; the jobs, the forces of labor, and the attempt to dismantle one educational force in California. And, as jobs go abroad, does Bush's proposed immigration policy help Asian Pacific Islander immigrant workers or his re-election campaign? Apex talks with organizer Raahi Reddy of the Center for Labor, Research & Education and with Bill Hing of Asian Law Caucus. Plus music, calendar, and more. The post APEX Express – January 15, 2004 appeared first on KPFA.