Podcasts about Samoans

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2025 59:58

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. In this vintage APEX episode, Host editor Swati Rayasam continues to highlight the podcast Continental Shifts created by bi-coastal educators Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owoimaha- Church. They embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. Last time we featured the ConShifts podcast, Gabriel and Estella gave a quick introduction and talked about wayfinding in the context of their work. Tonight on the podcast they're talking about anti-blackness in the PI community with Courtney Savali Andrews and Jason Fennel. Just a quick note that both Courtney and Jason's audio quality isn't the best on this podcast. So it might get a little bumpy. Enjoy the show. Episode Transcripts – Anti-blackness in the PI Community with Courtney-Savali Andrews and Jason Finau Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express. Swati Rayasam: [00:00:35] Good evening everyone. You're listening to APEX express Thursday nights at 7:00 PM. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm the special editor for this episode. Tonight, we're going to continue to highlight the podcast continental shifts created by bi-coastal educators Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owemma Church who embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. Last time we featured the ConShifts podcast, Gabriel and Estella gave a quick introduction and talked about wayfinding in the context of their work. Tonight on the podcast they're talking about anti-blackness in the PI community with Courtney Savali Andrews and Jason Fennel. Just a quick note that both Courtney and Jason's audio quality isn't the best on this podcast. So it might get a little bumpy. Enjoy the show. Courtney-Savali Andrews & intro music: [00:01:32] These issues are fluid, these questions are fluid. So I mean, I had to go and try get a PHD just to expand conversation with my family . Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:01:51] How do we uproot anti-blackness in API spaces? On today's episode, we explore this critical question with two incredible guests. Courtney and Jason share their stories, experiences, and reflections on ways our API communities can be more affirming of black identity and black humanity. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:02:13] What up, what up? Tālofa lava, o lo'u igoa o Estella. My pronouns are she/her/hers, sis, and uso. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:02:23] What's good, family? This is Gabriel, kumusta? Pronouns he/him. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:02:29] I have the great pleasure tonight of introducing our guest today, Jason Finau and Courtney-Savali Andrews. Jason is a social worker with a focus on mental health and substance abuse based in San Francisco. Courtney is an assistant professor of musicology at Oberlin College in Ohio. But I also want to be very intentional about not centering professions above who we are and who we come from. So I'm going to go to Jason first. Jason, please share with us who you are, how you identify and who are your people. Jason Finau: [00:02:58] Hi everyone. Estella, Gabriel, again, thank you so much for hosting us in this space. My name is Jason. I identify as black and Samoan. My father is a black American from Mississippi and my mother is from American Samoa, specifically in the village of Nua and Sektonga. As a military, brat kind of grew up back and forth between Hawaii and Southern California. So I have a very strong love for the ocean and where my peoples come from. So, very excited to be on your podcast. Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:03:27] [Speaking Samoan] Tālofa lava I am Courtney-Savali Andrews from Seattle, Washington. I identify as an African American Samoan. My father is from Seattle, born and raised in Seattle, from Opelika, Alabama. That's where his roots are, and my mother is from American Samoa from the villages of Nwoma Sitsona and Aminawe. And Jason and I are maternal cousins. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:03:59] I did not know that. [Laughs] Good to know. Actually, just for some context, Jason and Courtney, you were one of my blessings in 2020. I received an email message about a space called Black + Blue in the Pacific, and it was a flier for a Zoom gathering with other black Pacifica peoples and I jumped on the call, not knowing what to expect, but it was only one of two times I can remember in my entire life feeling truly seen as black Samoan, and not having to separate those two or shrink any part of myself or who I am. So Jason, can you please share what the space is about and how it came to be? Jason Finau: [00:04:42] Sure. That warms my heart that that was your reaction to participating in that space. So this was kind of born out of all of the protests against racial injustices across the country, especially with George Floyd and the other countless, unfortunately, countless deaths of black men and women at the hands of police brutality. And EPIC, which is the Empowering Pacific Island Communities, a nonprofit organization out in Long Beach reached out to me to kind of talk about how we can address anti-blackness within the Pacific Island communities in speaking with Tavae Samuelu, who is the executive director of EPIC and Teresa Siagatonu who is an amazing creative poet, artist, everything. We got together, started talking about like, well what was the real purpose for this group? Why are they reaching out to me specifically in the work that I do? And I think that part of that came from the fact that I am a licensed clinical social worker and that I do have a background in mental health and working in trauma, generational trauma and looking at how we as human beings look to take care of ourselves in a community that we as black human beings look to take care of ourselves in a community that doesn't value who we are and what that looks like for those of us who belongs to two different communities, one being the black and then the other being the Pacific Island community. And then even, you know, bringing that down even further to the, within the Pacific Island community, being in the Polynesian community and then being specifically in the Samoan community. So in talking with that, the first person I thought about when they asked me to facilitate a group where we can gather other individuals who identified as being black and Pacific Islander, the first person I thought about co-facilitating this group with was my cousin Courtney-Savali Andrews. Just given the fact that she has done so much in research and education and understanding about PI cultures, with the work that she's done here in the States, as well as out in the Pacific, out in New Zealand and Samoa, and I'll let her talk more about that, but this is another part of the reasons why I thought about her instantly, and also because she and I have had these conversations about what it means to be black and Samoan, and to identify as both, and to sometimes have to navigate being one over the other in spaces, and even in spaces where It's a white space and having to figure out like which one are we like code switching between. So in thinking about this group and in thinking about this space, you know, one of the larger conversations that came out of those who engage in this group, that we have every second Tuesday of the month is that representation of seeing other folks who are also black and Pacific Islander who aren't related to us. And so these are the conversations that Courtney and I have had. I've had the same conversations with other first cousins who also happened to be black and Samoan, but I've never actually have met like one hand I can count on how many times I've met another person who identified as black and Pacific Islander. And so being able to host this space and to focus it, to start off that focus on anti-blackness and to talk about how we're all working to deal with what it means to say Black Lives Matter when someone who visually presents as Samoan or someone who visually presents as Tongan or any other of the Pacific Islands. Like, what does it mean for them to say Black Lives Matter, when those of us who identify as both black and Pacific Islanders aren't really feeling how that message is as substantial as they may be trying to, to come across. Being able to gather in a space where we see other folks who look like us, who shared experiences that were so similar to what we have shared and what we have gone but also very different. And looking at how, you know, some folks grew up identifying primarily with the Samoan culture, whereas other folks grew up primarily identifying with the black culture and not being able to reconcile either one. So seeing that spectrum of experiences was able to provide us with an opportunity to grow for each other, to support each other, and to learn from each other. I was very thankful and grateful for having, for EPIC being able to step in and seeing that as an organization that does focus on empowering Pacific Island communities that they understood that when we look at the micro communities within that larger macro level of a PI community, looking at that individual black and PI cohort and understanding that that experience is different than the general experience. And so they wanted to make sure that we're facilitating those conversations, that we're holding safe spaces for those conversations, and that we're encouraging those conversations. So I really do appreciate them so much for that, and not taking it upon themselves to tell us how we should be engaging in these conversations, how we should be feeling, and asking us what we should be doing to get PIs to understand the impact of anti-blackness, within the, in the PI community for us personally. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:09:29] And as you were talking, I was laughing at myself thinking, yeah, I can count on one hand too, aside from my brothers, the other black Samoans or Polys I know, and I had an experience in college as a freshman, Cal State Northridge, in my EOP cohort. I met another Leilani, Leilani is my middle name, I met another Leilani who happened to be half black, half Samoan, also from South LA. And we saw each other and ran to each other like we were long lost siblings or something [laughs] and we just knew, and it was the first time I had seen someone who looked like me that was not The Rock. [Jason laughs] Like, the only person to look to, that was yeah. I don't know, it wasn't enough to have, you know, The Rock as my only representation. I appreciate him, but definitely wasn't enough. And shout out to EPIC and Tavae, because I think I mentioned earlier, being in Black + Blue was, it was like the second time in my life. I can say that I felt seen and one of the first times I felt seen as Samoan was at 30. I happen to be in a workshop led by Tavae on organizing PI communities. That was the first time I met her, but I left her session like in tears because I felt a whole part of whatever was happening in the conversation, the festivities, I could be like my full self. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:11:00] And those spaces are so important for us, right? To have that community, to be able to connect. So Jason, I appreciate you sharing that origin story of Black + Blue. And my question for Courtney actually, to bring in some of your experience into the space. Why was it important to create or forge a space such as this one with Black + Blue? Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:11:22] Well, I will say that I've had the privilege of a different experience having met several African American and African Pacific Islanders in Seattle through my experience in the US. And I mean, this goes all the way back to my childhood. I went to a predominantly, and this is going to sound pretty interesting, but in the 70s, I went to a predominantly Filipino-Italian parish that was budding a Samoan congregation and that particular congregation was connected to the Samoan congregational church that my mother was affiliated with. So, of course, this is family based, right? But growing up in that particular setting, I was affiliated with many cultural dance groups, particularly Polynesian dance troupes and such, and through those various communities I would run into many particularly Samoan and African American children. So that was something that was pretty normalized in my upbringing. On the other side of that, my father's family was very instrumental in various liberation movements, affiliations with the Black Panthers. And so I also grew up in a very black nationalist leaning family. So, I mean, I couldn't run away from just anything that had to do with considering identity politics and what it meant to be “both and” so the wrestle started really early with me. I also want to say that because I was indoctrinated in so many questions of what it meant to be whatever it is that I was at the time. Cause you know these issues are fluid and the questions are fluid. So that extended all the way throughout even my educational journey having pursued not just a musical degree, but also degrees in cultural studies. It was the only place that I could really wrestle and engage with literature that I was already introduced to as a child, but to, you know, have opportunities to deep dive into that literature, highlighting certain figures, engaging with the writers of these literature. So by the time I got to college, it was piano performance and Africana studies for me. In the arts, through my music through musical theater performance, my Polynesian dance background, it all just kind of jumbled up into this journey of always seeking spaces that allow for that type of inquiry. So, after undergrad, this turns into a Fullbright study and then eventually a PHD in Music and Pacific and Samoan studies. In that journey, I did not think that the outcome would be as rich as it became. I did seek out one of my supervisors, who was Teresia Teaiwa. A very prominent poet, spoken word artist and scholar, and she was the founder of the Pacific Studies program at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. So I went to study underneath her. She actually is African American Banaban so from the Kiribati islands and amongst her like astounding output of work, she reached out to me and four other African American Pacific women historian artists, like we all share the same general identities to start an organization, or at least an affinity conversationalist group, called Black Atlantic, Blue Pacific. This was back in 2014 when she started the conversation with us again, I had an opportunity to now, across the world, connect with other African American Pacific peoples that were rooted in other spaces. So I was the one who was, you know, born and raised in the US But then we had Joy Enomoto an African American Hawaiian who's based in Hawaii. Ojeya Cruz, African American [?] and LV McKay, who is African American Maori based in Aotearoa. So we got together and started having very specific conversations around our responses to Black Lives Matter as it was gaining much momentum in 2015. And it was my supervisor Teresia, that said, “You have to open up about how you feel,” and particularly because I was so far away from what home was for me, she offered up a space for me to not only explore further what my response to the movement was, but also just my identity in tandem with the rest of them. So we actually began to create performance pieces along with scholarly writing about that particular moment and went to this festival of Pacific arts in 2016 which was in Guam and pretty much had a very ritualistic talk. It wasn'tinteractive, it was our space to share what our experience and stories were with an audience who did not have a chance to engage with us on it. It was us just claiming our space to say that we exist in the first place. And that was a very powerful moment for me and for the others. So to connect this back to four years later, when Jason reaches out about Black + Blue in the Pacific, the name of this group actually came from the publication that we put together for that 2016 FESPAC presentation. It really was a moment that I actually didn't think would extend out in the ways that it has, but it also felt like a duty to extend that conversation and Teresia Teaiwa has since passed, but it felt like, you know, this is what, this is the work that, that I've given you to do. So it just felt very natural to join with my cousin in this work and realize what this conversation could be across the water again, back home in the US. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:18:09] Listening to you I was I don't want to say envious, but I didn't have that same experience growing up. And, you know, oftentimes I wonder where I would be in my identity crisis, which seems like it has lasted for so long, if I had shared in similar experience as a child. I grew up in predominantly black communities and all black apostolic school and I just, I didn't have other, I mean I ran up to the one girl I saw as a college freshman and squeezed her. So that tells you a lot, but I shared similar experiences as an undergrad or in college in majoring in black studies, majoring in theater, musical theater and that being the space where I got to at least express some of who I am or who I want it to be, but definitely trying to create what you experienced or had for my daughter now, trying to make sure that she gets to be as pro black and black and proud as she wants to be rocking her Angela Davis fro while also wearing her Puletasi, trying really hard to make sure that she has all of that. Growing up, I never felt like I was welcomed in Samoan or Poly spaces or fully in black spaces either. I felt like folks had to make a point to other me or erase part of my identity for their convenience. And it's only now that I am learning who my Samoan relatives are, what are our namesake or the villages that my family comes from and reconnecting with aunts and uncles and my grandparents through the powers of Facebook. But over the years, it's been a long like push and pull. And it's because our last names are, our names are very distinctive. And so when you put that name in there suddenly like, “Oh, I found all these relatives.” Like I didn't have to do the ancestry thing because you put the name in on Facebook and all of a sudden you find all your cousins and you're seeing childhood pictures where like your own kid can't tell who's who so I know we're related. You know what I mean? But anyway, like over the years it's been this like back and forth of me deleting relatives and then, you know, letting them come back because I don't know how to broach the conversation about their anti-blackness. I don't know what to tell them when they post something that is very racist and absolutely not okay. And I don't know what to do other than, you know, I'm just going to delete you and then maybe 2 years from now, I'll, as you as a friend, again, we could try this one more time. And I have one aunt in particular, a great aunt who there was just a misunderstanding. I didn't respond to a message right away after not seeing her since I was maybe 5 or 6. I can't remember. But in my 20s, I'm getting married, she's sending me messages and I didn't respond right away. And the response I got included her calling me the N word. And so then I'm like, “Oh, okay.” I was like, trying to open up and let you all back into my life. And here we are again. So I'm done. And so I spent a lot of time, like picking and choosing who I was going to let in or not and so I've started this journey at 30. I want to learn my language. I want to figure out who is in my family tree. Who are my people? Where do I come from? And be selective about who I choose to actually grow relationships with. Like I can still know who they are, where they come from, where I come from, what my roots are, and also make choices about who gets to be in my life. And I'm only just now realizing that at 32, as I try to learn my language and reclaim what is mine, what belongs to me. All of that aside, can you relate to any of that? And if so, is there an experience that you feel comfortable sharing? Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:22:00] I absolutely relate to that, to the extent, I mean, I had to go and try to get a PhD just to expand conversation with my family and I had to do it across the water. I got to a point where, just asking questions, about, you know, cultural matters, or even trying to navigate my way through a family event, while I've had many wonderful experiences, just trying to, again dig deep to understand why are we who we are, why are our family issues what they are those kinds of things, I would always hit a particular wall that was met with either like, “Why do you even care?” Or “Oh, that's not important.” But it was, this is not important for you. And I, you know, took that with a lot of like, “Well, what's that mean? I can learn anything.” And then again, that, that comes from this, like I said, black nationalist attitude of I am wholly wonderful, just in my skin as I am. Therefore, I'm smart. I'm, you know, all of those kinds of things. So it became a learning quest for me to say, not only am I going to go after learning as much as I can. I'm going to get the highest degree you could possibly get in it only to now reach a point. I mean, I'm 10 years into this program and it's been the one-two punch all the way through. And now I'm on the other side of this journey, realizing that even in that quest, this really doesn't change many of my conversations if I go back into my family, nor is it really looked upon as a notable achievement, which is to be questioned because it's like, I've done everything that I possibly can. But at the same time, it really does feel like this is the black experience as it connects to respectability politics. On another side of thing I suppose, try to aspire to be a race woman for the Pacific and specifically the Samoan identity. And that's just a really, really tall order. Right. All that to say, yes, I absolutely identify and realize that my conversation can only be had with those who are open to have it. I think that right now in this particular moment, we have more Pacific peoples and more people in our families that are willing to at least sit at the table and have conversation because they have new language around what they are wanting to know and what they would like to see for their own community. So that's really, really refreshing and inspiring. Jason Finau: [00:24:46] I agree. I definitely [have] a lot of experience and feeling in feeling othered and feeling that my black identity was conveniently left out in a lot of conversations and a lot of learning lessons, I think, growing up. In contrast to Courtney's upbringing, I was born and raised on the Samoan side. It was everything Samoan related. My first language was Samoan. My mom stopped speaking Samoan to me at home because she recognized that I was struggling in school early on like in pre- k, kindergarten, first grade, because I couldn't keep up with the other students and they didn't have ESL for Samoan speaking kids. So, I think as a protective factor, my mother just started to distance me from the Samoan language in order to excel in school. And I think that a lot of having been able to grow up in a very large Samoan family and engaging in a lot of the traditional activities and cultural practices and doing the dances and going to a local [?] church. Having that has always been great but I think that seeing the way or listening to the way that other Samoans would refer to their own family members who were black and Pacific Islander or black and Samoan in those families, a lot of the times the language is just so derogatory, but they, that language never used to, or was never directed at me. And I think that part of that was because that people knew who my mother was and they knew who my grandparents were and I think I was insulated from a lot of that negative talk, negative behaviors against those who identified as black and then like the children that were products of those Samoan and black relationships. I reflect on that quite often because I think that when listening to a lot of the stories that I've been able to bear witness to in our black and PI group. You know, like I mentioned before that we are seeing like two different, two different upbringings, two different ways that people experience their lives as being black and Samoan. And for me, it was like, because I was wrapped in that Samoan culture, that black identity of mine was never really addressed or talked about. That then it made me feel like I just, I'm a Samoan boy. I don't identify as someone who was black. I didn't identify as someone who was black or was comfortable with identifying as someone who was black until my 20s. Late 20s, early 30s, you know when I introduced myself, it was always Samoan first black second, everything that I did, instead of joining the Black Student Union group, I joined all the Asian and Pacific Island groups at any school that I went to again, as I said, being a military brat, I went to a lot of schools growing up before college. And then in college a lot of different universities. And when I went to those programs, like in high school and junior high, I'd always be, I would always join the Asian Pacific Island groups because I didn't feel comfortable being a part of the black, any of the Black Student Unions or any black affinity groups, because again like I said my for me internally, I was Samoan and that's where I wanted to be. I didn't recognize for myself because I could see it in the mirror that I presented as someone like a black male and I think that part of the reason why I also steered more towards Asian and Pacific Island groups was because I wanted people to see me as this black guy walking into your Asian and Pacific Island group, who also is Samoan but you don't know that until I tell you. And that was for me to share and for me to just sit there for them to stare at me until I made that truth known. And that was my way of addressing that issue within the PI community. But it was also a way for me to run away from that black identity to hide from that black identity because I wasn't, I didn't want to be identified that way when I was in the API group. It's because I wanted to be identified as Samoan and not black, even though I presented. So in thinking about how a lot of those conversations went, I think one situation in particular really stuck out for me. And that's when I did a study abroad in New Zealand during undergrad and, you know, there's this whole thing about the term mea uli in Samoan to describe someone who is black and Samoan and that was the term that I remember using and being told. As a kid, growing up, my mom used it, didn't seem like there was an issue. All family members, everyone in the community is using it. So I just assumed that is exactly how it was. I never had the wherewithal to think about how to break down that word, mea uli, and think of it as like a black thing. So I was in New Zealand studying abroad and I met some students, some Samoan students in one of my classes. They invited me to their church, the local [?] church. I was like, oh great, I'll go to church while I'm here. Satisfy my mom. She's back home in Oceanside, California, telling me that I need to go to church, that I need to focus on my studies. So I do this. I go with them. And as they're introducing me to folks at their church, when I describe myself as mea uli I mean, you can hear a pin drop. It was like, these people were I don't know, embarrassed for me, embarrassed for themselves to hear me use that word to describe myself. It was just, I was, I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed about my identity than I was in that one moment, because then my friend had to pull me off to the side, just like “Oh, we don't use that word here.” Like she's like, schooling me on how derogatory that term was for those Samoans in New Zealand who identify as black and Samoan. And mind you, the friends that I was with, they were, they're both sides of the family are Samoan, and so this is a conversation that they're having with me as people who aren't, who don't identify as black and Samoan. And so then when I, I brought that back to my mom and I was just like, “Did you know this? Like, how could you let me go through life thinking this, saying this, using this word, only to come to this point in my adult life where now I'm being told that it's something derogatory.” That was a conversation that my mom and I had that we were forced to have. And I think for her, very apologetic on her end, I think she understood where I was coming from as far as like the embarrassment piece. But from her, from her perspective and her side of it, she didn't speak English when she first got to the United States either. She graduated from nursing school in American Samoa, had been in American Samoa that whole time, born and raised, came to the United States, California, didn't speak a lick of English, and was just trying to figure out her way through the whole navigating a prominently white society and trying to figure out English. And so I think language was one of the least of her worries, as far as that might have been because it's just like coupled on with a bunch of things. I mean, this is a Samoan woman who doesn't speak very much English, who is now in the military, in the Navy. So, in an occupation that is predominantly male, predominantly white and predominantly English speaking. And so, for her, there was a lot of things going on for herself that she had to protect herself from. And I think she tried to use some of those same tactics to protect me. But not understanding that there is now this added piece of blackness, this black identity that her child has to navigate along with that Samoan identity. And so, we've had some really great conversations around the choices that she had to make that she felt like in the moment were the right choices to keep me safe, to get me what I needed in order to graduate high school on time unlike a lot of our other family members, to go to college, you know, again, being the first one to have a bachelor's degree and the first one to have a master's degree, within our family tree. And so, a lot of the successes that I've had in life to be able to get to this point and have these conversations and to facilitate a group like black and PI, Black + Blue in the Pacific and to be on a podcast with all of you, were the sacrifices and choices that my mom had to make back. I say all that because those, the choices that she had to make, she wasn't able to make them in an informed way that would have promoted my black identity along with my Samoan identity. And so having to navigate that on my own. I didn't grow up with my dad, so I don't have any connection. I didn't have any connection to the black side of my family. And so I didn't have, and then growing up in Hawaii and in Southern California, primary like San Diego, in the education piece, like the majority of my teachers were white, or in San Diego, a lot of them were Latin, Latinx, and then in Hawaii, a lot of them, they were either white or they were some type of Asian background like a lot of Chinese, a lot of Japanese teachers, but I didn't have any, I never had a Polynesian teacher, Pacific Islander teacher, and I never had a black teacher until I got to college, and then seeing that representation also had an impact on me. I think one of my most favorite sociology professors at California State University in San Marcos. Dr. Sharon Elise was just this most phenomenal, eye opening, unapologetically black woman. And it was just like the first time I was ever able to like be in the company of that type of presence and it was glorious. And I think it was part of the reason why I switched from pre med to social work. In thinking about, and going back to your original question about an experience of being othered or feeling like your black identity is erased in that company. Like I said, I walk confidently amongst and within Samoan communities, but not nearly as confidently as I do in black spaces. And even when I'm in those Samoan spaces, I'll walk into it, but then the first thing I'll do is share my last name. And then the moment I say my last name, then it's like, okay, now we can all breathe. I've been accepted. They know who I am because of who my family is based on the name that I provide. When I go into a black space, I don't have that. I don't have that convenience. I don't have that luxury. And so I think that's another reason why I was okay with allowing that black identity, my black identity to be ignored, to be silenced, to be othered because it was just easier. I think I had a lot more luxuries being on the Samoan side, than being on the black side. And now where I am today, both personally and professionally, a much, much more confident conversation can be had for myself, with myself about my identity. And then having those same conversations with my family and with my friends and in thinking about hard conversations with family members around anti-blackness, around the use of derogatory language, or around just the fact like, because we are half Samoan that we could never fully appreciate the Samoan culture and tradition. But I look at my cousins who are full Samoan, who barely speak the language, who barely graduated from high school or like are in situations where they aren't able to fully utilize an identity that can bring them the fullness or richness of their background. I'm like, all right, well, if you want to have conversations about someone who was half versus full, and then looking at those folks who are back on the island and what their perception of full Samoans are on the continental US and all of those things, like, there's so many layers between the thought processes of those who consider themselves Samoan or even just Pacific Islander, and what does that mean to them based on where they're from. And then you add that biological piece, then it's like, okay, well those who are on the continental US or outside of American Samoa or the independent nation of Samoa, what does that mean for them to be Samoan [unintelligible]. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:35:15] One of the things that you said that really resonated with me was when you were sharing the story of how your mother had, as you said, tactics to protect you as she navigated in these predominantly white spaces. That reminds me of a quote by Dr. Cornel West, who talked about having our cultural armor on. And when Courtney was sharing her story, I was thinking about how there's also educational armor and linguistic armor, and we put on layers of armor to protect ourselves in these white supremacist institutions and spaces. So both of you sharing your story and journey really was powerful for me, and also grounding it in the formative years of your educational journey and your race consciousness journey. One of the pivotal factors in my evolution and my race consciousness was being a part of the Black Student Union in my undergraduate school. And I'm Filipino, my mother's from Manila, my father's from Pampanga province. And it was actually the black community that embraced and raised my consciousness around my own liberation as an Asian person, as a Filipino person. So I'm a student in many ways, and my intellectual and spiritual evolution was really informed by the black liberation movement. Swati Rayasam: [00:36:43] You are tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online at kpfa.org. Coming up is “March 4 Education” on the Anakbayan Long Beach May Day mixtape. SONG Swati Rayasam: [00:37:03] That was “Find my Way” by Rocky Rivera on her Nom de Guerre album. And before that was “March 4 Education” on the Anakbayan Long Beach May Day mixtape. And now back to the ConShifts podcast. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:44:12] So this is all very powerful and grounds us back in the topic that we're trying to unpack. So I have a question for both of you on how do we begin to interrogate anti-blackness in Asian and Pacific Island communities, specifically among Polynesians, Asians, Micronesians. How might we uproot anti-blackness in the spaces that we find ourselves? Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:44:36] I think we need to start with identifying what blackness is in these conversations before we get to the anti part. Are we talking about skin? Are we talking about, you know, cultural expression? Are we talking about communities, black communities within our own respective nations? So one of the things that in thinking through this, today's conversation, you know, I was thinking that, you know, starting with identifying our indigenous black communities at home, you know, in pre-colonial times. And even as we have the development of the nation state, just seeing where people are in their understandings of those communities would be a wonderful place to start before we even get to the drama that is white supremacy in the US and how that monster manifests here and then spreads like a rash to the the rest of the colonial world. I would really start with like, what are we talking about in terms of black and blackness before we go into how people are responding in a way to be against it. Jason Finau: [00:45:52] Yeah, that was solid Court. Definitely providing that definition of what blackness is in order to figure out exactly what anti-blackness is. Kind of adding to that is looking around at the various organizations that are out there. When we go back to the earlier examples of being in API spaces, but primarily seeing more Asian faces or Asian presenting faces, thinking about, and I'm just thinking about like our Black + Blue group, like, there are so many of us who identify as black and Pacific Islander or black and Asian. And yet the representation of those folks in spaces where nonprofit organizations, community organizations are trying to do more to advance the API agenda items to make sure that we get more access to resources for our specific communities, whether that's education, healthcare, employment resources, all of that. When we look at those organizations who are pushing that for our community, you just see such a lack of black and brown faces who are part of those conversations. And I would have to say that for those organizations and for the people who will participate in any of those activities that they promote. To look around and not see one person who presents as black and may identify as black and PI seems kind of problematic to me because, you know, I used to think that growing up in the 80s and 90s that outside of my cousins, there were no other black and PI people. I'm learning now as I get older and again with our Black + Blue group, that there are so many of us, I mean, there are folks who are older than I am. There are a number of people around the same age. And then there's so many young kids. And so for none of those folks to feel, and that is another, that was a common theme, from our group was that a lot of the folks just didn't feel comfortable in PI spaces to be if they were black in and Hawaiians might be comfortable in the Hawaiian space to speak up and say anything or in whatever Pacific Island space that they also belong to is that they just didn't feel comfortable or seen enough to be a part of those. I think you know, once we identify what blackness is within our within the broader API community, we can also look at well, you know, why aren't there more people like us, those of us who do identify as black and PI, why aren't more of us involved in these conversations, being asked to be a part of these conversations, and helping to drive a lot of the messages and a lot of the agendas around garnering resources for our community. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:48:18] One of the pieces that's really present for me, when you started asking the question on how we define blackness before we begin the conversation around anti-blackness reminded me of Steve Biko learning about the black consciousness movement in South Africa and the anti apartheid movement. I had the opportunity to travel to South Africa for global learning fellowship and started to learn more about the anti apartheid movement. But when Steve Biko discussed black consciousness as an attitude of mind and a way of life, it got me thinking in one direction while at the same time in this conversation that we're having here, when we talk about colorism with post colonial society, the Philippines being one of them, how does colorism show up? I'm wrestling that. So I just appreciate you bringing that question into the space. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:49:05] So Black + Blue, it's an affinity space for black Polys and I need to just say thank you for providing the space. It has been therapeutic and healing and again, everything I knew I needed and had no idea where to find. So I appreciate it so much. So I'm wondering, I guess, how do we create similar spaces for other folks? Or is there a need to like, does Black + Blue just exist for us? And is that enough? Or do we need to start thinking about doing more to create similar spaces for other folks? And I'll leave that to whoever wants to respond before my final question. Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:49:45] I'll just jump in and say that I think that, you know, any opportunity for folks to gather to create and wrestle through dialogue is absolutely necessary at this particular point in time with social media and a fairly new cancel culture that exists. It's really a detriment to having people understand how to connect and even connect through disagreement. So I think that there should always be space made for people to have tough conversations, along with the celebratory ones. So I'm always all for it. Jason Finau: [00:50:23] Yeah, I would agree. I think if I've learned anything out of being able to facilitate the Black + Blue group that there is just such a desire for it and unknown and even an unknown desire. I think people, you know, didn't realize they needed it until they had it. And I think it feels unique now it being a black and Blue space, Black + Blue Pacific space. But I can see that need kind of going outside of us. How do we take the conversations that we're having with each other, the learning and the unlearning, the unpacking of experiences, the unpacking of feelings and emotions and thoughts about what we've all been through to share that with the broader Pacific Island community in a way that can steer some people away from some of the negative, behaviors that we find that can be associated in speaking of people who identify as black or African American? But I can see that as not just for those who identify as black and Pacific Islander, but also for parents of children who are black and Pacific Islander, and for the youth. So like right now our Black + Blue group is geared towards the adult population of those who identify as black and PI. But then also thinking about like the younger generation, those who are in high school or in middle school or junior high school, who are also maybe going through the same things that we all went through at that point and needing a safe space to have those conversations and kind of process those things. Because they may have a parent who may not understand, you know, if they only have their Pacific Island parent, or they're primarily identifying with their black side because they don't feel comfortable with the Pacific Island side, whatever their journey is being able to provide that for them, but then also providing a space for parents to understand where their kids may be coming from, to hear from experiences and learn and potentially provide their kids with the resources to navigate very complex ideas. One's identity journey is not simple. It is not easy. It is not quick. And so it's hard. And that is not something, I mean, and I don't expect every parent, regardless of what their children's ethnic background is, to understand what that means like for their kids. But to be able to have a space where they can talk it out with other parents. But I also see that for our Latinx and PI community. I see that for our Asian and PI community, those who identify as both being Asian and Pacific Islander. For me, that just comes from a personal experience because my mom is one of nine. And I think out of the nine, three of the kids had children with other Samoan partners, and the rest had either a black partner, has a Mexican partner, has a partner who identifies as Chinese and Japanese, and has another partner who is white. But I have cousins who are in this space, and so we can all share in the fact that, although we may not all physically identify or people may not be able to physically recognize us as Samoans, that is what we all share in common. So having that for them as well. And then, you know, right now we're in COVID. So it's been a blessing and a curse to be in this pandemic, but I think the blessing part was that we were able to connect with so many people in our group who are from across the states and even across the waters. Once we're able to move past this pandemic and go back to congregating in person, being able to have groups within your respective cities to be able to go and talk in person, whether it's in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, you know, folks out in Hawaii and like in Aotearoa. Who wants to continue engaging with other folks that they feel comfortable identifying or who they also identify with. Do I think that there is a need? Absolutely. And I can see it just across the board whether people know it or not, I think once we put it in front of them, that is where they'll see like, “Yeah, we need that.” Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:53:57] I just wanted to also highlight, you know, a point of significance for me with this group and hopefully one that would serve as a model for other organizations and groups that may develop after this, is modeled off of cultural studies, which is the process of actually remembering and relearning things that we've things and peoples that we've forgotten and with Black + Blue in the Pacific, it's really important to me to also include, and keep the Melanesian, the black Pacific voice in that conversation to model for other peoples of color to reach out to black peoples at home, or regionally to understand and again, remember those particular cultural networks that existed in pre colonial times and even sometimes well into colonial times, as current as you know, the 1970s black liberation movements to highlight Asian and Pacific and, and, and, and other peoples that were non black, but very instrumental in that fight for liberation as a whole, but starting with black liberation first. So, I think this is a really good time in an effort towards uprooting anti-blackness to highlight just how old our relationships with black peoples and black peoples in relationship with Asians and Pacific peoples, South Asians, Southeast Asians, it just goes on and on, to say that we've been in community positively before, so we can do it again. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:55:52] That is the most perfect way to wrap up the episode in reminding us to remember, and reminding us that all of our liberation is definitely tied to black liberation that they're inextricably linked together. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Jason. Fa'a fatai te le lava thank you for listening. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:13] Salamat thank you for listening. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:14] We want to thank our special guests, Jason and Courtney, one more time for rapping with us tonight. We appreciate you both for being here and really helping us continue to build the groundwork for Continental Shifts Podcast. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:24] Continental Shift Podcast can be found on Podbean, Apple, Spotify, Google, and Stitcher. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:30] Be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube for archive footage and grab some merch on our website. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:36] Join our mailing list for updates at conshiftspodcast.com. That's C-O-N-S-H-I-F-T-S podcast dot com and follow us at con underscore shifts on all social media platforms. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:52] Dope educators wayfinding the past, present, and future. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:56] Keep rocking with us fam, we're gonna make continental shifts through dialogue, with love, all together. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:57:02] Fa'fetai, thanks again. Tōfā, deuces. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:57:04] Peace, one love. Swati Rayasam: [00:57:07] 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 Axpress is produced by Miko Lee, along with Paige Chung, Jalena Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Kiki Rivera, Nate Tan, Hien Ngyuen, Cheryl Truong, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support and have a great night. The post APEX Express – 1.30.25 Continental Shifts: Anti Blackness in the PI Community appeared first on KPFA.

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The Turnbuckle Debate #214

The Turnbuckle Tavern

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2025 58:46

It's Monday morning, and you know what that means! The week is just getting started here at The Tavern, and we are kicking it off with a brand new Turnbuckle Debate as The Two Bad Chads and Freemz are joined by Travis from Wicked Bitter! We have three brand new debate topics where we ask did Hulk Hogan deserve the boos on the WWE Raw Netflix debut; when the Bloodline story ends, what happens to all the Samoans; and what is a better WrestleMania match- Rock VS Cody or John Cena VS Cody for the title? It's going to be a fun week here at The Tavern, so to make sure you do not miss anything, go to theturnbuckletavern.com for all your Tavern needs!

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Group of elderly Samoans granted NZ citizenship

new zealand pacific citizenship granted elderly samoans

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2024 4:00

A group of elderly Western Samoans born between 1924 and 1949 can now finally obtain New Zealand citizenship after being stripped of it decades ago. Grace Fiavaai has more.

Tagata o te Moana for 23 November 2024

RNZ: Tagata o te Moana

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2024 32:05

Talofa lava first up in Tagata o te Moana this week Samoans who had their New Zealand citizenship stripped by the Muldoon government get the opportunity to have it restored, the Australian seasonal worker scheme is in trouble with participant numbers declining and thousands making bogus asylum claims. All this and more Pacific stories from RNZ Pacific.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

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Pacific Waves for 22 November 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2024 18:40

In Pacific Waves today: Next host country for COP meeting to be revealed; Group of Samoans now eligible for NZ citizenship; New report sheds light on Pacific health systems; New Zealand looking at foreign aid spending.

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Samoans born between 1924-49 granted citizenship

new zealand national pacific citizenship granted samoans

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2024 4:07

A group of elderly Western Samoans born between 1924 and 1949 can now finally get New Zealand citizenship after being stripped of it decades ago. Grace Fiavaai reports.

"It's good to be on the right side of history": Restoring Citizenship Bill passes second reading

RNZ: The House

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2024 5:50

After a robust select committee process, all parties now support a Members bill that would restore New Zealand citizenship to a select group of Samoans who lost it 4 decades ago.

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"Being humble" & Reviving Tongan Tātatau (Tattooing) with Su'a Suluape Aisea Toetu'u

The Moanan

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2024 56:26

What does it mean to wear the tattoos/markings of your culture? What, if any, are the responsibilities to these markings? Why was Tongan tattooing lost?In this episode we talanoa (talk) with Tongan tufunga tātatau (tattoo artist) Su'a Suluape Aisea Toetu'u about the history of the Tongan tātatau, its significance in pre-Chrisitan Tongan society and his efforts in reviving this art of tattooing amongst Tongans. Additionally, we give our thoughts on a recent reel that has gone viral calling for New Zealand born Samoans to "be humble". Send us a textThe Moanan is not just an educational platform but an online community — connecting diasporas all over the world. We'd love to connect!Find us on all podcast streaming and social media platforms — including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.Email: hello@themoanan.com

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Samoan citizenship bill set to pass second reading

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2024 3:35

A bill that aims to restore New Zealand citizenship to a group of Samoans born between 1924 and 1949 is set to pass its second reading later this morning, this time with support from the National Party. Our political reporter Lillian Hanly has been talking to those involved.

ROMAN REIGNS ACKNOWLEDGES SOLO SIKOA?! AS THE BLOODLINE TURNS!

The Wrestling Wrealm

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2024 11:00

Welcome back to Break It Down with Brian H! Brian H. Waters takes a look at how the Bloodline story continues to be the best soap opera on television. From Jey Uso calling out little brother Solo, to Roman saying he will acknowledge Solo, while not acknowledging Jey Uso and Jimmy saying they need help! Brian H. Waters looks at how the Samoans have put over Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Jacob Fatu with their words!

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Samoans advised not to eat fish caught near Manawanui

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2024 4:11

Samoa's Marine Pollution Advisory Committee has warned people not to eat fish caught near where the HMNZS ran aground. RNZ's Louise Ternouth is in Samoa and spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

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The Patrick Madrid Show: September 12, 2024 - Hour 2

The Patrick Madrid Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2024 49:02

We hear from Cynthia who shares her family's distressing experience with a serious threat to her grandchildren's Catholic school in Texas. Patrick Madrid offers compassionate advice, discussing the unsettling state of school safety and suggesting viable solutions such as increasing law enforcement presence and considering homeschooling. Cynthia - My son has 4 children and the 2 oldest go to Catholic school. Right before labor day, a former student posted something on Facebook about killing all of the students at the school. He is now out on bail and the school is closed. How can we protect our kids? (03:12) Audio: Springfield, Ohio woman says homeless Haitians are trying to camp out on her front yard, says she “wants out of this town. I have men that cannot speak English in my front yard, screaming at me, throwing mattresses in my front yard.” (15:23) Audio: Heartbreaking testimony from a Springfield, Ohio resident reflects on how the city she knew as a little girl has changed, now feeling overrun by Haitian immigrants who, she says, show little respect for American customs or culture (17:33) Christine - Catholic Charities contibutes to the migration surge. Minnesota had issues with Samoans who moved to the area. They are trying to make us assimilate to their culture. (41:42)

SoS 219: Transcendental Medication and Coping with Awareness

Sausage of Science

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2024 48:55

The SoS Team puts one of their own in the hot seat as Courtney and Cristina interview Dr. Christopher Lynn about his book Transcendental Medication: The Evolution of Mind, Culture, and Healing. His book offers a unique perspective on why human brains evolved to have consciousness, yet we spend much of our time trying to reduce our awareness. It outlines how limiting consciousness—rather than expanding it—is more functional and satisfying for most people, most of the time. He suggests that our brains evolved mechanisms to deal with the stress of awareness in concert with awareness itself—otherwise, it is too costly to handle. Defining dissociation as “partitioning of awareness,” Dr. Lynn touches on disparate cultural and psychological practices such as religion, drug use, 12-step programs, and dancing. The chapters draw on biological and cultural studies of Pentecostal speaking in tongues and stress, the results of our 800,000+ years watching hearth and campfires, and unconscious uses of self-deception as a mating strategy, providing practical insights into our daily lives. As a professor of Anthropology at the University of Alabama, Dr. Lynn's research explores critical intersections between culture and health. His work also includes investigating the relationship between tattooing practices, known as tatau, and immune response among Samoans to understand how cultural practices may influence physiological responses. Dr. Lynn is also the executive producer and co-host of the Inking of Immunity podcast. ------------------------------ Find the book discussed in this episode: Transcendental Medication Lynn, C. D. (2022). Transcendental Medication: The Evolution of Mind, Culture, and Healing. Routledge. ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Lynn:Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Cristina Gildee, Guest Co-Host, HBA Junior Fellow, SoS Producer Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu, Twitter:@CristinaGildee Courtney Manthey, Guest-Co-Host, Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli

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Anger Through the Lens of Young Samoans w/ Leueta Mulipola from the University of Auckland: 4 September, 2024

95bFM

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2024

A new study was published by Leueta Mulipola, a masters graduate in Public Health at the University of Auckland, which was published in the Australian and New Zealand Health Journal of Public Health. The study, incorporating the Samoan concept of Talanoa in it's methodology, explored feelings of anger among the lens of New Zealand-born, Samoan youth, partially motivated by the transition from Fa'aSamoa, the Samoan way of life, to westernised contemporary society here in New Zealand. Oto spoke to Leueta to talk about her study, and how anger is expressed amongst Samoan youth in Aotearoa.

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Frisco Philly B Beef With Boolu, Getting Sh*t, Bay Area Gang Life & More

No Jumper

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2024 114:05

Frisco Philly B on beefing with Boolu, issues with Samoans, Bricc Baby, and more. / frisco_phillyb4x ----- Promote Your Music with No Jumper - https://nojumper.com/pages/promo CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! https://nojumper.com NO JUMPER PATREON / nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... Follow us on SNAPCHAT / 4874336901 Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4z4yCTj... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: / 4874336901 / nojumper / nojumper / nojumper / nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: / discord Follow Adam22: / adam22 / adam22 / adam22 adam22bro on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode 323: Merely An Advisor

Stick To Wrestling with John McAdam and Sean Goodwin

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2024 97:49

This week on STICK TO WRESTLING we continue our review of the WWF during the month of August 1984! We talk Captain Lou Albano, Magnificent Muraco, Chief Jay Strongbow, Jimmy Snuka, Bob Backlund, Iron Sheik, Roddy Piper, Fabulous Mooolah, Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, The Fabulous Freebirds, Nikolai Volkoff, The Samoans, Big John Studd, Adrian … Continue reading Episode 323: Merely An Advisor → The post Episode 323: Merely An Advisor appeared first on Stick To Wrestling with John McAdam.

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Climate forced relocation underway in Tonga and Samoa

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2024 3:41

New research finds more Tongans and Samoans seeking work overseas to build more climate resilient homes.

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Pacific Waves for 14 August 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2024 15:56

The Marshalls call for an independent assessment Fukushima treated nuclear wastewater release; Human rights advocates warn of grim plight for people evicted from PNG squatter settlements; New research finds more Tongans and Samoans seeking work overseas to build more climate resilient homes.

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APEX Express – 8.1.24 – Continental Shifts Organizing & More

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2024 59:57

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 we present our sister podcast Continental Shifts. Hosts Gabriel and Estella speak with Tavae Samuelu. Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express. Swati Rayasam: [00:00:35] Good evening, everyone. You're listening to APEX Express Thursday nights at 7 PM. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm the special editor for this episode. Tonight, we're wrapping up the podcast continental shifts created by bi-coastal educators, Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owoimaha-Church who embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. Last time we featured the concept's podcast, Gabe and Estella, talked with union leader and educator Yan Yii about creating culturally relevant classrooms, the importance and emotional toll of teachers being a social safety net for marginalized students, and the ever-growing union presence in education. Tonight. They're talking to Tavae Samuelu about what it will take to organize across ethnic groups, specifically Pacific Islander and Asian communities, beyond ethnic or national lines. And what future we're visioning for when the US empire falls. If this is your first touch into the conshifts podcast, I strongly recommend diving into the apex archives on kpfa.org. Backslash programs, backslash apex express to check out the previous episodes. And also to check out the podcast on ConShift's site at continentalshifts.podbean.com or anywhere podcasts are found. But for now, let's get to the show. Tavae Samuelu: [00:02:05] When Toni Morrison talks about Invisible Man and asked this question of like invisible to who? Like, what do I care if whiteness sees me? Also know I come across folks who are like, I say API cause I was taught that that was inclusive. And I was like, I bet you a PI didn't tell you that [laughs]. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:02:27] What will it take to organize across ethnic groups, specifically Pacific Islander and Asian communities. In this episode, we rap with the amazing Tavae Samuelu to strategize ways we might organize AAPI folks across and beyond ethnic or national lines. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:02:48] What up, what up? Tālofa lava, o lo'u igoa o Estella. My pronouns are she/her/hers, sis, uso. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:02:53] What's good, family? This is Gabriel, kumusta? Pronouns he/him. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:02:56] Tavae Samuelu is the daughter of a pastor from Leo Lumoenga and a nurse from Salemoa in Samoa as the executive director of Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, she's a passionate advocate for Pacific Islanders and is committed to liberation for all. Tavae was born, raised, and currently resides on Tongva territory. She credits her time on unceded Ohlone land for her political consciousness. During the pandemic, she has learned that her most important title is Auntie Vae. I had the pleasure of meeting Tavae at the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Conference in Vegas a couple of years ago when I sat in on her workshop related to organizing Pacific Islander communities. It was, and I'm sure I've told her this by now, one of the first times in my life I have ever felt seen as a Samoan woman. Uso, thank you so much for joining us today. Please go ahead and take a few minutes to further introduce yourself to our listeners. Tavae Samuelu: [00:03:57] Thank you, Stella. I've heard you say that before and it always makes me tear up [laughs]. That's also probably the most rewarding aspect of this job, of this community work, to be able to hear from people that they feel seen and validated. By, you know, by what we do and what, by what we put out there in the world. As I said, you know, currently residing on Tongva territory, what is momentarily known as Long Beach, California, until we get this land back to who it rightfully belongs to. You know I'm really clear and really intentional in this pro indigenous approach of naming the original stewards of this land because it's important to me that we know who to return the land to when this empire falls and that we're really clear, right? Not to just be in solidarity as a performative aspect, but naming our indigenous siblings who continue to exist, who are incredibly resilient and are still the experts on the best way to take care of this land and each other and how to be good relatives. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:05:13] She said, “when the empire fall,” I went [laughs]. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:05:16] When the empire, when the empire falls. When…so. Tavae Samuelu: [00:05:19] I mean, let me credit to Dakota Camacho, who taught me to say “momentarily known as” I was like, yeah, that is a manifestation, if ever. I like that. I'm gonna, I'm gonna borrow that. Let me also cite Dakota Camacho for that. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:05:33] Tavae I would love to know just a little more about your backstory. What brought you to this work in particular, organizing in the Pacific Island community and spaces. Tavae Samuelu: [00:05:43] My path was circuitous. I think there are a couple of milestones that are important to be explicit about. I've been Pacific Islander my entire life, right? Whatever that means to be born into racism and understand that race is a social construct. And so what it means to be Pacific Islander has also changed every single moment of my life. I would say that the way that I language and articulate my Pacific Islander identity most definitely needs to be credited to black feminist thought and that despite being Pacific Islander my entire life [laughs], it wasn't really until, you know, I was an undergrad at Cal and an ethnic studies major and introduced to Audre Lorde and bell H=hooks and Angela Davis and especially Kimberlé Crenshaw, right? The person who so often is not credited enough for coining intersectionality. But I want to be really clear, I didn't understand Pacific Islander until I got language from these black feminist thought leaders. Folks who were so so brilliant about naming what it means to walk around in a world that is both racist and sexist. And then, through an ethnic studies class that was on time on American History, right? I'm a first year Cal and it also meant I went kindergarten through 12th grade not hearing a single thing about Samoans. And had to get to my freshman year of college to see anything about us and having a lot of critical questions about why that is right. And everything leading to one thing or another. I was like, oh, well, there's not enough of us in higher education. So, well, why aren't there enough of us in higher education? I know. Brilliant smart, talented Pacific Islanders. So you start getting into like the systemic and institutional barriers around. So there was a lot of critical race theory consumption that happened for me really in gaining an elitist language for things that I experienced my entire life, right? And then after getting black feminist thought, then being able to read about Pacific Islanders through Epeli Hau'ofa and Sia Fiegel and Haunani Kay Trask and so many ancestors and elders who really blazed a trail around things, who became definite, and more recently, Teresia Teaiwa. So I say that, and there's also a piece of it where I would love to say that there was like this drive that came from this really positive place, but a lot of it was just anger. Like that initial phase of building your political consciousness where you wake up and realize how up is, oh, man like, what can I do? And then sort of moving throughout these other phases of political consciousness building where then I'm like, oh, but there are ways that I participate in the systems that disenfranchise us, but also that internal work and still being there. And so even most of my organizing and like even professional career has actually been in multicultural spaces outside of the Pacific Islander community. And it's really only with EPIC that I've been able to deeply engage in that. And the irony of being called Palangi or the Samoan word for white my entire life and then never feeling Pacific Islander enough and now being charged as the leader of a national Pacific Islander organization that is frequently asked to define PI, so, you know, that is the irony of the universe for me. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:09:07] There was so much, so much there. Our listeners cannot hear me like banging on the table and snapping and, but, again, you are another guest who has affirmed the absolute importance of ethnic studies in our education, in our process, and you are another guest who has affirmed the absolute necessity of black feminist thought, like in all of our upbringing and conscious awareness rising. And like maybe there's a case study here in season one [laughs] that's formulating on how we became the educators and organizers that we are. Gabriel, you were a social studies classroom teacher, and then moved into taking on union labor work like heavily, what was some of your motivation or inspiration to make the move from the classroom and step heavy into union labor organizing? Gabriel Tanglao: [00:10:16] If I'm keeping it 100 percent real, I didn't want to leave the classroom. I loved the classroom. I still love the classroom. It was the foundation of just my passion in specifically the Bergenfield community, which we've talked about in the past episodes has a larger Filipino population. So not only was education, just a pathway to be able to help uplift, engage my people, young folks in my community. But the union organizing space in Bergenfield was also formative in allowing me to engage on a broader scale. So that said, when making the transition out of the classroom, which was a difficult decision, to step into the union organizing space on a statewide level, it was really just with the possibility of being able to support educators on a larger scale and have a broader impact and specifically in my role in professional development, I consider this the only type of full time union work that I would leave the classroom for because it's the closest to the classroom. And in professional development, I think there's this old school perception on PD that's really sit and receive canned PowerPoints. And I feel like this conversation around organizing, there's actually a really fascinating exploration between facilitation, education, and organizing. They all pull from the similar skill sets, right? Sharing resources, bringing people together in shared learning, collective understanding, trying to figure out how the collective wisdom can allow us to just transform the community spaces, the up society in which we live. All of the things, Tavae set it off so we can do that she established some new rules. But to keep it relatively brief, I would say the professional development role and the opportunity to organize on a larger scale is the only reason that I considered leaving the classroom. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:12:30] I know you, you touched on this already, but I'll go ahead and ask it and I'll ask both of you and I'll toss it to Tavae first. In what ways does your culture and your identity inform the work or vice versa? Tavae Samuelu: [00:12:46] I think that it always has. There was a point at which I thought I needed to come to EPIC and sometimes that's still true. That I needed to come to EPIC in order to give primacy to my Pacific Islander identity, I had spoken earlier about most of my professional career and even like, as a student organizing was done in multicultural spaces that were, you know, in, in this sort of umbrella way identified as black and brown. But they weren't spaces where I was PI, I was like, you know, most often a woman of color, more broadly, a person of color, but there was never really an understanding of Pacific Islander. Whether people knew it or not, everything I was doing was in a very Pacific Islander way. From the way I speak to things that people would have identified as very humble. I was like, oh, that's just how PIs do it, right? That there's a protocol to things. The deference to elders, the, I love my best friends says, all I do is quote people [laughs]. But there's this part to me where it's like, everybody quotes people I just cite my sources. But there's a part to it too where even citing your sources is very Pacific Islander in that you are naming the genealogy of something, of a thought, of a practice, of a story, right? That you are always going back to the roots of where you came from and that conclusion. And also like a lot of ways where things that I was recognized for was in storytelling. It's like, oh, that's a really good. And folks not realizing like, oh, that's, that comes from me being Pacific Islander. Like that comes from me being Samoan. Not in spite of, but because of it. And so now there's a lot of ways where the work is defining Pacific Islander. And this other really interesting piece that EPIC does leadership development. That means we work with a lot of young people and the vast majority of our young people are second, third, fourth generation, right? Fairly removed from their indigeneity. And because of that, growing up in diaspora, in particular, growing up in the U. S., that there's always this thirst for Pacific Islander culture, and that's what they come to us for but also this notion and kind of this living conversation about what is PI, right? And that we ask them, and then many of them not feeling Pacific Islander enough, like that being the through line. But when you ask, like, what is Pacific Islander, is advocacy Pacific Islander, is education Pacific Islander? And oftentimes hearing from them, really troubling narratives that they've internalized about what PI is, and then having to untether and tease out, like, where did you get that from? Where did that story come from? Did it come from PIs? Very often, not, right? That, that what it means to have to constantly interrogate the ways that white supremacy controls how you understand yourself, controls your story, right? And so, you know, what does it mean that to our young people, that being PI means automatically and inherently means being part of the military, because that's what it means to be a warrior culture. Or that being PI is playing football or that being like that many of the narratives that they had taken to be factual were also grounded in the consumption of their bodies and wanting to trouble that notion. Right? And then also empower them to participate in the creation of a new narrative. So we sort of sit at this place where our work is to both remember culture, spread that remembering, and also watch it evolve and empower our young people to participate in that evolution and feel ownership of it. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:17:05] I'm just gonna have a real moment right now on this episode and just say I wish I had a rewind button right now just to run that back because I'm trying to process some of the knowledge you just dropped and thinking about the ways that our culture and identity inform the ways we show up in spaces, specifically the ways that our perception is grounded through the lens of white supremacy culture and the consumption of our bodies is the way that you framed it, but how do we transform those narratives to be grounded in our own indigenous authentic cultural lens. So just Tavae, thank you for jumping in there. I was thinking about this question in what ways does my culture and identity inform my work? And I'm going to keep it real with you that I'm still exploring that right now. I recognize that the knowledge of self, the knowledge of Filipino history is something that I am becoming more familiar with and drawing more connections with in my adult life. Of course, being Filipino, having the cultural roots be present in my life, but also being a first generation person in a predominantly white suburban area, assimilation is something that is very much the reality for first generation folks. It wasn't until college, it was an educator, a professor Osei, on the literature of African peoples that started to help spark that critical race consciousness and sent me down a journey to become more race conscious and explore that. So to respond in short, the cultural identity, I'm still exploring that now, but I will say this. that the more that I learn, the more connections that I'm starting to realize. Being that I'm now heavily involved in the union spaces, and that's been a big part of my journey recently, I've come to learn about the farm workers and the Filipino organizers across Hawaii and the West Coast that have been pivotal in American history, labor organizing that I wasn't aware of. It was actually a moment of pride as I learned about that through APALA so APALA was one of the places where I was educated about this history and I'm realizing a lot of the connections that I'm making in my people, cultural roots.There's something there that I'm still unpacking right now, still exploring right now, and that's part of this Continental Shifts podcast. It's a real time exploration of how our culture and identity inform the ways we show up now. So that's, that's how I think about it in this moment. Tavae Samuelu: [00:19:56] I love that and I think even as you were saying that what comes up for me is a lot of stuff too. That's also what's unique about EPIC is because I know our young people everywhere else they go will tell them that culture is a deficit. Right. It's the thing that you need to put away in order to succeed. And that we're also really clear of like, well, we are asking them to define success. It's not about aspiring to whiteness. Right. That I'm not trying to replace American exceptionalism with PI exceptionalism. And this other piece around culture is like, culture is not a costume. But it's most definitely a uniform for me, right? Like that when I go to the Capitol, if I'm lobbying in Sacramento, if I'm in D. C., I'm wearing my mom's fulakasi so that everybody can see, right? So to bring her with me as like a physical reminder. But also so my people see me there, right? Like a pulakasi, you wear it for ceremony. You also wear it to do faius or work when you're in service, right? So if I'm wearing a pulakasi, you know that I'm there for teltua. You know that I'm there to be in service, and that signaling to our young people, and then like the ceremony part of it, right? There's a sacredness to it. So if I'm in it, you also know, like, that you know what I'm there for. You know I'm about that business if we're, if we're in it. And you know, it tells other people, like, yo, this is how much we belong in the capital that I didn't put on, you know, I didn't put on some pantsuit or a blazer or whatever the case so that white people will recognize me. I put on a fulakasi so you all could see me. Right? And I think, and I've talked to this to a couple of folks about it, right? Like when Toni Morrison talks about Invisible Man and asked this question of like invisible to who? Like, what do I care if whiteness sees me? Like, the first time white people saw us, they decided, like, we were savage and they needed to take our land from us. It's actually not safe for white people to see me. Like, I just need our folks to see each other, right? And this other piece too, around narratives and story and culture, right? Like, that's the importance of APALA, of EPIC, of, of Ethnic Studies, is like, it'll give you the stories white supremacy never wanted you to know about yourself, right? That, like, white supremacy will tell people about the Aloha spirit, and that, like, Kanaka are just so grateful for tourism to have you on their land. It's like, yo, my favorite stories about Native Hawaiians are when they killed Captain Cook, cause that just like stepped out of line and tried to take too much right. Like, those are my favorite stories. And so, you know, they'll tell you about us being warriors to recruit our young people for empire, like, yo, if you're gonna talk about words, talk about the Polynesian Panthers who stood toe to toe, inspired by the Black Panther Party to surveil the cops who were harassing, deporting and doing all of this up to our community. Or like tell the stories about our healers, right? Big Pharma will copyright things that we've been using to treat and heal our people for years so that it's not accessible on our lands. Like those are the stories where I'm just like, yo, I need all of our folks to know more of this. And I think even to that note Estella and I got to, after that APALA workshop got to reconnect through LE GaFa. And LE GaFa is also really important, like all of these language revitalization programs that are coming up, because even in a Fa'a Samoa or like a Samoan context, the three pillars of identity are land, family, and language, right? And so many of our young people come to us, you know, if you're in diaspora, that means you, you're divorced from your land. Many have lost language and then family is complicated. Family is real complicated [laughs]. And so how did we also become that space of redefining Samoa? Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:23:36] Oh, sis. So much has been said, but when you were speaking earlier, I thought back to how I felt when I first met you. And for the first time I was seen by my sister. You know what I mean? Like, I have never been in space with other Samoan women and felt at home until then. And then in thinking about LE GaFa and why I chose to take the class at 30, trying to learn a language is hard at 30, trying to learn Samoan at 30 oof! It is one of the biggest challenges I've ever accepted in my life. But every time we are in class, things just feel like they were already in my bones. And I didn't have a name for it or I didn't know what it was. So folks are always telling me, Stella, you're a storyteller. And you know, obviously I'm a theater major. Ended up in storytelling. And it's definitely a part of my practice as an educator. But like, now I know, well, that was in my bones, that is my lineage, that's my heritage, that's my ancestry. From both sides, you know, you know what I mean? I'm Nigerian and Samoan, I get it strong from both sides of who I am. I just love holding on to that thought that all of these things that someone tried to rip away from me, tell me was not okay, they couldn't because it is deeply innate. It is literally in… in me and it cannot be taken. And so my journey throughout my life to it was just that. It was something that was misplaced and I just had to find it again and I'm happy that I am there and to what Gabriel said earlier, that was definitely a reason why we chose to start this podcast because I can see it on my social media feeds, that there is a thirst, especially among young Samoans, to find out more about what's going on, I now have so many, oh, Samoan daily words and Samoan proverb, you know what I mean? Like so many folks I'm following and people are also trying to learn the language, I'm meeting and making connection with random Samoan artists on Instagram who now are in the LE GaFa class. And like everyone is now connected through social media. Because all of us, like you said, we are living in diaspora and those three parts of ourselves, we are now having to find. They're misplaced and we're in search of them and are lucky and blessed to be able to find each other so that we can rediscover those pieces of ourselves. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:26:09] Tavae, when you were talking about the different stories that aren't told that should be told, you got me thinking about Lapu Lapu in the Philippine Islands, the chieftain that defeated, Magellan and stemmed off the first wave of colonizers coming through to the Philippines. I didn't learn about that in my, in my fourth grade class when I had to do a history research project. I learned about Magellan discovering the Philippine islands and that's not the story. Tell me the story about Gabriela Silang and all of the Filipino revolutionaries. So I was feeling what you were saying earlier. And also, with the deficit narratives that are placed on us, Dr. Tara Yasso, who introduced the Community Cultural Wealth Framework, the idea to challenge the dominant culture's narrative, the deficit thinking around us, and recognize the value-based, asset-based, capital-based thinking of cultural wealth that we're bringing to spaces, that's real. Swati Rayasam: [00:27:07] You are tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online at kpfa.org. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:27:22] Tavae, I do have a question about your organizing work with EPIC. That's a dope name, by the way just got to shout that out. But what success have you and EPIC had in organizing across PI communities? Tavae Samuelu: [00:27:37] Credit for the name goes to Ono Waifale. You know, so EPIC started in 2009 by a group of young Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander leaders, mostly in higher ed, Ono, and a lot of it's sort of like the seeds of it planted, in the Pacific Islander leadership pipeline. So there's like a lot of hands that went into building it. Ono Waifale was one of the young people who went through that. And so the name EPIC comes from him. You know, something about the word success gives me trepidation. Like I have a thing about it, and maybe this is also me having a hard time just discerning between, humility and insecurity of like when you call something a success that people come and like want to hold you accountable to that. There are things that I feel good about, things that I feel proud about and. You know, it's my own recovering perfectionism that has me hesitant about it. That has me like, Oh, if I call that a success, there are so many things that I would have nitpicked about it, that I would done differently. You know, I'm always going to say the young people are my favorite part of this work of EPIC as an organization. On like that Huey P Newton, like, the revolution is always in the hands of young people. There's also a way that they are the best compass and litmus test, right? In that audacity that young people have of it could be better. And I'm just like, Oh, that's dope. Like, cause I think there's also a lot of ways where you know, I'm always an aspiring radical elder and trying to figure out how I can be that radical elder right now. But recognizing, a lot of the markers for adulthood and maturity are about sometimes, like, how much closer you get it to status quo, to like being more served by existing systems. And so there's a way in which I'm going to age out of this role. And I'm always looking for the young person who's going to take it on and keep up that mantle of demanding more, right. Of keeping us accountable to that. And so I think it's always the young people who are like over inspiring and also so brilliant and have so much heart around this and are such a good reminder because there's also ways in which they're closer to the problem because of their youth, right? And so because they're closer to the problem, they have more solutions and they're also a better way of vetting the viability of something that I might think is so great, but I'm doing all this grass top of what do I know if I'm spending all my time talking to funders and elected officials? Like, I need the young people who tell me stories about I couldn't do homework because I had to do files for my mom and my grandma. And then I also had to take care of my little siblings and like, that's the kind of where I'm like, Oh, that's actually what should be dictating our policy agenda, right? Of like, how young people are thriving in this world, right? Because they're always going to be the marker of a healthy society, right? And that because they are part of that most vulnerable group, because they inherit so much . And then also the ways that we're developing young people into adult allies. Like, how are these young people also then looking at themselves of like, oh, let me be that, like, that OG that all the younger folks can come to as well. Like that they're preparing themselves also to take up the mantle and they feel good about it. Like that they feel ready and maybe if not ready, that they feel supported like, when they take that on, all the adults aren't going to disappear. And then there's also like a relativity to it, right? Like, in many spaces, I'm the youngest ED, or I'm the youngest “leader” whatever that means. And so there's me kind of also feeling young in that way, but then sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm the adult in the room [laughs]. Lamenting that ugh I gotta be the grownup. So I think that piece too is a weird in between that, that I'm in, but like I I think those are the parts of EPIC that feel good. And I think this speaks to the API aspect of this episode and where we're going to be diving deeper in. It's always a success to me when I've got more accomplices and allies for the Pacific Islander community. Right. When I have more people beyond PI's that are asking about us, that are fighting for us. Right. And that's a solidarity and then, you know, this is also an inspiration and something I like feel good about the direction that we're moving in is being really explicit about our organization being pro black and pro Indigenous and anti racist. Not because it's trending, because Imma be in this, [laughs] like even after it stops trending, but because it also signals to folks that we're a safe place to land. That if we say it out loud, you can hold us accountable to it, but you also know that you can come here and talk about and go there with us. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:32:48] What you said about young people, I think, is my favorite part about being a classroom teacher. It is, I think, exactly for that reason. And I can sit and sit and lesson plan, lesson plan, lesson plan, get to class, and kids are like, nah. Now you, that's corny. You thought it was, you thought it was great, but Miss, let me tell you, but then I love that they feel absolutely comfortable telling me that it's not as dope as I thought it was [laughs]. And then we, you know, I just let them take over the lesson at that point. What are the critical issues that you foresee us needing to mobilize around? Maybe it's right now or in the immediate future. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:33:28] Yeah, I guess what's present for me based on this conversation has me thinking about education, thinking about the stories and the narratives that are out there, and thinking about decolonizing curriculum as a primary frontline issue, but I actually need to shout out Kai, who was one of our guests, that decolonizing curriculum, if we flip that framing to indigenizing curriculum, is perhaps a better approach in terms of how we are more historically and culturally responsive in our approach. Why is that important? I think it's important to mobilize because I'm starting to recognize that the narratives that are being shared throughout public education in this country really do have a major impact on perpetuating white supremacy culture and continuing the violence that we're seeing. So, the obvious physical violence, but the forms of emotional violence and trauma that are just part of the mythology of the ways this nation state perpetuates white supremacy, patriarchal culture, capitalist system at large. So, I feel like part of my educator roots always calls me to that. But I think because Tavae and Estella, you're making sure we're grounded in understanding the youth perspectives that's present on my right now as a critical issue. And that's also going to be now and forever, perhaps, right? Oh wait, no, actually, Tavae, I'm gonna take some learning from what you shared at the beginning. The empire, when it falls, right? We're preparing for when it falls. So I'll just, I'll leave it there. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:35:17] I think right now, like, educators across the nation, an immediate charge is to pass ethnic, like, ethnic studies has to be it everywhere, across the board, preschool to 14, like, mandatory, we've got to make sure that ethnic studies, um, so whatever state association across all of our unions. When ethnic studies ends up on your legislative body on the floor, yes on ethnic studies and push it and make sure that, it is what it's supposed to be and not some watered down, BS where you've taken out words like anti blackness and white supremacy. Let's make sure that. Every child has access to that, and it is what it's supposed to be because, like you said, I'm not trying to hear about Magellan discovering some he didn't discover in the first place. I'm trying to learn my whole truth, and it'd be great if I could get it, you know, starting at preschool instead of having to go, like Tavae put it earlier, I had to get that elite language in order to name the stuff. Like, I shouldn't have to go all the way to Graduate school, undergrad to figure out who the hell I am and then do something with that. So ethnic studies, I think, is the thing that needs to happen like right now. Tavae Samuelu: [00:36:43] Well, I guess I'm also thinking about this ethnic studies piece too, because I fully support it and I know there's like a save PI studies coalition full of brilliant, like PI educators, also like very much Manawahine which folks should definitely follow. I think there's this piece too, where if you're going to mandate ethnic studies, I also need a pipeline for teachers of color and not just a pipeline, but Right, to support and retain teachers of color. Because there's this concern that I have too of what does it mean that most teachers are white? Like that's the other part, right? I was like, oh, white people are, I've never met a white person who teaches ethnic studies well. Never. I don't even know if it's possible, but you'd have to break yourself to do that, right? And also to think back of, like, the origins of ethnic studies in the 1969, the Third World Liberation Front. What it was created to respond to, the fact that it was also meant to be a college, not a department of, what does it mean to do ethnic studies in biology, right? Like, what does it mean to do ethnic studies as a lens through which we observe everything, right? Because if you have ethnic studies, you actually don't need US history anymore. Like, if you have ethnic studies, you don't need European history anymore, because ethnic studies is all of that, right? It's all of that. It also, you know, I agree, Ethnic studies it taught me a set of values and a way to look at the world and not just stories, right? It made me question all the things of like, what is essentially like the propaganda that our young people receive in formal education spaces [laughs]. And so I say this too, of like, yes, absolutely, all of that, it should be accessible, it should be invested in, it should be from us, there should be a naming of the fact that the US and education systems are, traditional education systems are invested in and fans of revisionist white supremacist history and that there's simultaneous campaigns that need to happen. And I defer to you all in your expertise and brilliance as educators. Right. Every issue is a critical issue right now. Everything. You know, especially like COVID-19 and Pacific Islanders, I think in the context of this episode, in this podcast, this conversation, I'm at an impasse with Asian Pacific Islander or API, the terminology as an aggregate has been around since, you know, 1970s ish, and for me, because it's been around that long, it means that, API spaces and organizations have had since the 1970s to figure it out. So we're in 2021 right now and I'm having conversations with folks about what about PI and like there's a request for patience that just frankly is not fair. There's also just, like, this dynamic that doesn't get investigated. So when I talk about being at an impasse, it's that PIs already don't do API, that data disaggregation is actually just a request for data to catch up to the ways we already organize ourselves as communities API is a false promise and a site of erasure for many communities, not just Pacific Islanders, right? That Southeast Asian, South Asians, Filipinos as well get erased in these things, right? That even under API, we were still actually just being held responsible for a majority East Asian representation. And that it doesn't investigate the inequitable dynamic that exists between and AA and PI so this impasse is that the work that we do in advocacy is in recognition of the fact that power and resources are still distributed and disseminated through API. So we have a critical conversation to have as a community because PIs are already not using PI, and it's actually Asian Americans that use API and that it doesn't feel very good, these accountability conversations of calling folks in of like, how can we be good relatives? How can we talk about, because there's also like, you know, Asian American spaces aren't talking about colonization, like the PI as a colonized people, all the forms of racism that we experience being facilitated through that means, and, you know, if we're real, that some of our PI nations are colonized by Asian Americans, like not American, but like Asian nations, right? That there's like some healing that needs to happen. And so this, I don't know that it's a critical issue so much as like a critical conversation that needs to occur in our communities that is inclusive of PIs. Cause I also know I come across folks who are like, I say API cause I was taught that that was inclusive. And I was like, I bet you a PI didn't tell you that. So, yeah, you know, I think about that in the context of this episode, but there's this other piece too of like, You know, my family and I had COVID back in August, and so that was its own, I don't know that I say wake up call, because I, like, what's the humble way to say, like, I've been awake? It was asking this question of, like, what facilitated our survival, right? And a lot of actually what came to me was around labor. Was around union organizing and those wins of like we survived because I got a livable wage. I have paid sick leave I have like health insurance I have all of these things that I'm really clear were won by unions were made possible by labor and they're treated as privileges right or even like speaking English Like, all of these things that I was just like sitting with, like, oh, those are actually now shaping our demands of how we are going to move our advocacy work, or, you know, that we're housed, all of these things where I was like, oh, these are actually, there's not one critical issue, because the insidious nature of racism and poverty is that it could manifest itself in so many ways in our community that lead to premature death, and in that, like, Ruthie Wilson Gilmore way where she defines racism as the set of systems that lead to premature death. So that being like, oh, those are all the critical issues for me. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:43:12] We need to, we, we're going to have to like come up with a syllabus for this episode, like to drop this [laughs] episode next week that has everyone cited all the articles and all the things listed so that we can like, yeah, I'm disseminating a syllabus with this episode. And I think that you were, you were right in that. First of all the disaggregation of data is something that is a theme that has come up on nearly every episode too in this podcast. It was another reason why, when Gabriel and I met, that was one of the first conversations we had because I have been very vocal in our caucus that there is some healing and reconciliation needs to happen. There is a reckoning that needs to happen. We need to deal with the anti blackness and et cetera, et cetera. In our caucus, right? And the fact that this caucus is meant to represent too many dang people and you try to squeeze us all together and make, like, all of our issues one issue, and it just does not work like that for all of the reasons that you said, but it doesn't mean you said, how can we be good relatives? It doesn't mean that moving forward, we can't be good relatives and figure this out. I think you're right. We've got to stop and have the conversation, before we can really move forward. And it's probably gonna be a long conversation. It's going to be a long conversation and one that happens continuously and in various spaces, but it definitely needs to happen moving forward aside from what you've already shared with us, what do you think it will take to increase the visibility of our communities and mobilize PI people around some of the critical issues that you've already talked about. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:45:08] So Estella, your question has me thinking, and the energy from this episode in particular has me fired up, if I'm keeping it real, that if we're talking about visibility for our communities, obviously organizing is at the core of that, making sure that we lift up and create spaces for our people to come together and discover that collective wisdom within our own respective communities. But the fire that you all lit right now has me thinking that just being unapologetically and fearlessly courageous in the face of white supremacy culture within our own spaces, whether that's in the organizations, institutions, businesses, all of the places that we exist. I'm recognizing actually in this moment that one of the things that Tavae said earlier about not being seen by white supremacy institutions is actually safer, which is also very true in the way that things manifest. But what I'm feeling right now is increasing visibility. We're in a moment where, we're in this moment where our ancestors have prepared us to do battle in the ways that we are in our generation to try to disrupt the colonizers in our own respective ways. So those are my thoughts. Tavae Samuelu: [00:46:34] Well, you know, I think the part of your question that I'm grappling with is this visibility piece, right? Because there are a lot of ways where I feel like our community is actually hyper visible, right? Like we've got The Rock, we've got Jason Momoa, we've got like all of these like really visible figures in our community who are also like very loud about our culture. And so there's this piece where I sit with is it that we need to be visible or is it like in this, man, I don't want to cite Chimamanda Adichie because she's like super TERFsy uh, and she had this Ted talk about like the danger of a single story and that actually, what, what troubles our visibility is the community is the singularity of our story here in the US, how there's like one thing that people get to know about. And I think, and maybe it's better to think about Stuart Hall and how he talks about there's no such thing as good or bad representation, because good and bad is constantly changing, right? Even the word bad in some contexts means good. In that sense, that actually what you're looking for as a community is a multitude of representation so that nothing becomes the single story of your visibility. Of how you're seen and understood, right? That that's also like, what white supremacy gets that white people get to be poor and wealthy. They get to be teachers and doctors and criminals, right? And even when they're criminal, we make it Godfather and like, glorify that criminality and so I think that's the part of our community is of wanting that to of, like, how do we get to see ourselves everywhere so that there isn't a limitation around how we mobilize. I also think, and I think this is always the conversation around representation of, like, how do I feel represented? Like you know, I never felt, Tulsi Gabbard is a Samoan woman, and I never felt represented by her like, that's not my people. And so, even that representation piece of, and I've stated this before, of like, yo, if it's not pro Black and pro Indigenous and anti racist, it doesn't represent me. Like, those are not my people. Like, I'm not throwing down with people who aren't trying to get free. And so if I'm thinking about representation to invisibility, like I want our folks to be exposed and see as many examples of freedom as possible. That the other thing about young people and like language and all this stuff is young people already, really anyone like has a sense of what is not fair or doesn't feel right. That our young people actually, and many of us as marginalized communities, are experts in oppression. Like, you don't need to teach us what up looks like, because we've experienced it our whole lives. And so what does it mean to develop and invest in and build a whole pipeline and lineage of folks who are experts in liberation, who have so deeply exercised that muscle that they don't know anything else, that they only know how to be free. Like, I think that's the part where I'm thinking about, like, that's the kind of visibility I want to see. That's the kind of that I hope that our young people, that I, like, not just our young people, that I also need. And that I also am seeking so much, especially during this pandemic and always as somebody who struggles with anxiety and depression is, you know, on that Miriam Kaba, like hope is a discipline. I am internalizing more and more what that means. You to have to exercise hope as a discipline, as a muscle that needs to grow. I mean, I'll share this with you all, like, thank you Stella for saying happy birthday. It is, just probably one of the most difficult birthdays I've ever had. It is hard to age during a pandemic. In particular, like, because it's so macabre right now. But also because I've been wading through a lot of survivor's guilt. For the last couple of months, I'm just kind of like wondering why other people didn't make it and I did and so I have like a systemic analysis of all the privileges that kept me alive, but I'm still sitting here feeling guilty about making it or about surviving COVID thus far. And then sitting on a birthday, then having, like, every wish just felt really warm, but also sharp. And having to, like, say thank you to every single one to, like, exercise a muscle of gratitude. Like, try to replace some of that guilt with gratitude. But all that to say that I think this is also the direction that EPIC is going in, that like, when I think about these critical issues that it's like translating this thought experiment into tangible action around stuff. I'm sorry, I turned it off, I just completely lost you all. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:51:53] No, I'm, I am with you, I was, y'all, like, I'm. dizzy from just shaking my head. Yes, I legit got lightheaded a second ago. Like, I was just shaking my head. What you just said, I was just like, isn't that the dream? Like, isn't that what we were supposed to be fighting for all those years ago and still today? A whole generation of people who don't know what it is to experience oppression. Like, that's the dream. Like, that's the dream. That, that is what we want and so what you were saying about visibility, you know, I'm, I constantly am struggling, like, with, I think, yeah, The Rock is there, but like, he's a wrestler, he's a movie star, you know what I mean? Like, it's always that same story. And while I appreciate him, I do, because being Black and being someone I always felt like a damn unicorn and The Rock was the only one who was there, who existed other than me and my brothers. And so I do appreciate him and the other celebrities or stars that we have to look to. But like you said, I want where we get to be. Any and everything and all of those things all at the same time. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:53:19] I'm not sure if this makes it to the episode, but I have to express my gratitude for you just coming through and blazing this whole conversation. And really, I feel like there's just so much that I can't wait to. process and think through. I feel like the impact in this conversation alone is just gonna reverberate not only in my experience, but also our listeners that are tuning in. So Tavae, thank you so much. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:53:47] Recovering perfectionist, that phrase. I'm walking away with it. Actually, it just posted something on like characteristics of white supremacy and the ways in which I was thinking about the ways in which as a theater educator, I have been guilty of perpetuating characteristics of white supremacy because it's so much a part of the way theater folk we do things. And so I was thinking like, but no wait, theater folk and artists, we also have the skills to dismantle white supremacy. It's also in the way that we do things so we do know better and when we know better we should do better so that recovering perfectionist is like in me and it also speaks to something that Gabriel has shared earlier about, you know, assimilation and being a first gen and that very typical immigrant story or child of immigrants like you're going to go to school get straight A's and essay like that show. And then your only options are doctor and lawyer. And don't come talk to me about anything else. So, you know, that that's definitely always been a part of. Me too, is it being in the diaspora and first gen American born, and always feeling like whatever I've done is not good enough. And, but then I'm like, but in whose eyes, whose eyes is it not good enough? And if it's in mine, then I need to sit with that and work past that. So recovering perfectionist, that's where I'm at. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:55:14] My favorite line from today was aspiring radical elder. I'm holding on to that one. I was feeling that. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:55:22] I wrote that one down too. Fa'a fatai te le lava. Thank you for listening. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:55:28] Salamat. Thank you for listening. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:55:29] We want to thank our special guest Tavae, one more time for rapping with us tonight. We really appreciate you. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:55:36] Continental Shifts Podcast can be found on Podbean, Apple, Spotify, Google, and Stitcher. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:55:43] Be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube for archived footage and grab some merch on our site. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:55:48] Join our mailing list for updates at CONSHIFTSPodcast.com That's C O N S H I F T S podcast dot com. Follow us at con underscore shifts on all social media platforms. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:06] Dope educators wayfinding the past, present, and future. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:56:10] Keep rocking with us, fam. We're gonna make continental shifts through dialogue, with love, and together. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:16] Fa'afetai. Thanks again. Deuces. Gabriel Tanglao: [00:56:19] Peace. One love. Swati Rayasam: [00:56:20] Thanks so much for tuning into apex express and an extra special thank you to Gabe and Estella for allowing us to feature your incredible podcast. Like I said at the top, you can find other episodes of the ConShifts podcast on our site at kpfa dot org backslash programs, backslash apex express. Or even better, you can go to the ConShifts site to listen on Podbean or wherever podcasts can be found. And make sure to follow them to keep up with where they go next. Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We think 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 Paige Chung, Jalena Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Kiki Rivera, Nate Tan, Hien Nguyen, Cheryl Truong, and me, Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support and have a great night. The post APEX Express – 8.1.24 – Continental Shifts Organizing & More appeared first on KPFA.

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'Understanding of sailing' key to better representation for Samoans

representation nz sailing samoans

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2024 4:43

NZ-born Samoan Olympian says 'understanding of sailing' key to better representation.

Submissions on restoring Samoan's citizenship rights

RNZ: The House

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2024 7:52

Parliament is hearing submissions on a bill that would create a route to restore NZ citizenship for those Samoans who had that right removed in 1982.

politics rights restoring parliament citizenship nz submissions samoan samoans

Pacific Waves for 26 June 2024

public new zealand fresh governor pacific waves guam new caledonia samoans

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2024 18:56

Fresh violence has erupted in several parts of New Caledonia following mass arrests of pro-independence leaders; The Governor of Guam says military activity on the island is ramping up at an unprecented rate and he wants assurances from the U.S. that disruptions will be minimal; Public hearings have started for a bill that will restore New Zealand citizenship for Samoans born between 1924 and 1949.

Public hearings begin for Samoa Citizenship bill

public new zealand pacific citizenship hearings samoa samoans

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2024 2:28

Public hearings have started for a bill that will restore New Zealand citizenship for Samoans born between 1924 and 1949.

APEX Express – 6.6.24 Continental Shift-API Educator Pipeline

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Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2024 59:59

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, we're going to continue to highlight the podcast Continental Shifts created by bi-coastal educators Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owoimaha-Church who embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. TRANSCRIPT Episode 4 with Yan Yii Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express. Swati Rayasam: [00:00:35] Good evening, everyone. You're listening to Apex Express Thursday nights at 7 PM. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm the special editor for this episode. Tonight, we're going to continue to highlight the podcast Continental Shifts created by bi-coastal educators Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owoimaha-Church who embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. Last time we featured the ConShifts podcast, gabriel and Estella talked about anti-blackness in the PI community. And tonight they're talking to union leader and educator Yan Yii about creating culturally relevant classrooms, the importance and emotional toll of teachers being a social safety net for marginalized students, and the ever-growing union presence in education. If this is your first touch into the ConShifts podcast, I strongly recommend diving into the apex archives on kpfa.org, backslash programs, backslash apex express. But for now, let's get to the show. Yan Yii: [00:01:38] But what about the other 179 days? We can't just celebrate them for one day a year. Or one month a year. We can't just say, okay, Black History Month and we're done. We have to celebrate our students all year long. Because, and we need to change the curriculum. You know, we talked about decolonizing curriculum. I am purposeful in the books that I choose to use in my classroom because, yes, I can teach “Number the Stars” for the 600th time, or maybe I can decide to use a book that reflects my students. Gabriel: [00:02:10] How do we attract API educators into the workforce and support them throughout their professional journey? In this episode, we rap with Yan Yii on increasing the number of API educators that are coming through our teacher pipeline and emerging as union leaders. Estella: [00:02:26] What up, what up? Tālofa lava, o lo'u igoa o Estella. My pronouns are she/her/hers, sis, and uso. Gabriel: [00:02:32] What's good, family? This is Gabriel. Kumusta? Pronouns, he/him. Estella: [00:02:36] I have the pleasure of introducing our guest today, Yan Yii. Yan is a fifth grade teacher in Canton, Massachusetts, local board president of the Canton Teachers Association. NEA Board of Director for Massachusetts and serves as the Northeast Regional Director for the NEA Asian and Pacific Islanders Caucus. We want to be intentional, though, about not centering our professions above who we are. So Yan, could you please share with us who you are, how do you identify, and who are your people? Yan Yii: [00:03:05] Hi, as you said, I'm a fifth grade teacher. I'm in my 14th year of teaching. In Massachusetts public schools and I am one of six or seven Asian Pacific Islander NEA board of directors. And I think that number has doubled since last year, which is pretty exciting. I would say that I am a proud daughter of two immigrant Chinese parents. My dad grew up in Malaysia and my mom grew up in Hong Kong and you know being Chinese has always been a huge part of who I am, but it's also been an interesting divide growing up in America because, I've always been split between speaking English and speaking Chinese, you know, even an elementary level, my life was so split in two having my Chinese school on Sundays while all my friends went to church and then going to American school during the week. And that was a huge part of my life separating out, you know, who I was at school and who I was at home, what I spoke at school and what I spoke at home. And, you know, it's funny being bilingual. My friends have always asked like, “When did you learn how to speak English?” And I'm like, “I don't remember.” I know I went to school speaking English. I know that my brothers have always only spoken to me in English, but my parents only speak Cantonese to me. You know, Boston is a huge Cantonese community or it used to be anyways, it's a little more mixed now in our Chinatown, but it's an interesting divide because I remember being in college and having friends who made fun of the way I talked my English was spoken weirdly from my American friends and my Chinese was off for my Chinese friends. It was this difficulty finding a place where you really belong but I would say a huge part of why I became an educator was because of learning about my identity and being that kid who always loved school. I mean, I'm the kind of kid who didn't mind homework because I loved school so much. I was going home and playing school with my little brother and I remember, you know being 10 or 11 and my brother convincing me there was school in the middle of a snowstorm and I walked all the way to school because I wanted to be there and then I promplty went home because there was no school but it, you know, it's, it's some of those interesting things. Like growing up, aside from going to Chinese school, I really didn't see a teacher who looked like me. Now, I've loved each and every single teacher I ever had. I loved making that connection with them, but I think it was really disappointing to not see anybody who looked like me, except when I went to Chinese school where everybody looked like me. So it was this place where I never really felt like I belonged. I grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts, which is pretty diverse. And in eighth grade, we moved to Stoneham, which is 98 percent white and all of a sudden it felt like I had even less of an identity. Like I didn't know who I was supposed to be. And there was no one really who looks like me. And the few that did look like me were either adopted or didn't speak the language or they didn't share the same culture as me. I think that's the reason why when I went to college, I went to Simmons University, and the minute I got in there I signed up for Chinese classes. I became an East Asian studies major, even though I am not a history person at all. Because I felt like I needed to find my identity and I joined the Asian Students Association like, it was literally grasping at anything that could help me feel like I had some sort of identity. Gabriel: [00:06:40] That's such a powerful point in thinking about how much seeing your culture and identity reflected throughout your educational experience would matter. Even though it was absent, it causes us to want to explore and like you said, grasp for spaces where we can connect with people who share that identity and share that culture. So, part of our conversation here today is really to unpack the landscape of public education and thinking about how API educators aren't largely represented, depending on what state or local or part of the country you're from. But, Yan, I wanted to ask you, from your perspective as an API educator and a union leader with perspective across the state, but also nationally, why do you think there are so few API educators in the workforce? Yan Yii: [00:07:35] Well, I think part of that, especially in the East Asian culture, is built into our culture, right? It's this idea of is being a teacher a good enough job? I mean, I know when I came home from college and said i'm going into education that was my junior year of college I had already said that I was going to be a psychologist and all of a sudden I came home and I said I'm gonna be a teacher. And no one was upset that I wanted to be a teacher, but they were like, “Are you sure that's the journey for you? Are you sure that's where you want to be? Do you know how much a teacher makes? Is that a good enough job for you?” But like I said, I've always loved education. I think it's the perfect job for me. I think these, it's one of those professions that you're kind of born into. But I don't think it's celebrated among many cultures. Particularly like my Chinese parents, they didn't deter me from being a teacher, but they did say, “Is this the right path for you? Because we don't want to have to worry about you.” But I think also when you don't see yourself reflected in the field when you don't see other AAPI teachers or people working in education, that it makes you feel like there's not a place for you. And it's always about that sense of belonging. Even when I've seen other educators come into the field, if they don't feel like they have someone they can connect with, or, you know. You're facing microaggressions every single day and believe me, I have seen microaggressions in my community where I work, and I have been there for 14 years. And they're never, I would like to believe they're not, they don't come from malintent, but it feels that way sometimes. And I think that when you feel like an island, it becomes very difficult for people to stay in the profession. Gabriel: [00:09:15] Can definitely relate to that portion. Just again, that whole idea that we need to have representation in part so we can see ourselves in those roles. And the question that you ask, is being a teacher a quote, good enough job? And that narrative playing out in perhaps immigrant family experiences with the whole idea of migrating to the United States is to try to climb this ladder of socioeconomic elevation in some way. I wanted to also ask Estella, since you know, our co host here is a classroom educator out in California. Do you feel like there's a strong representation of API educators throughout the West Coast in California? Or how is the perception of API representation out there in your spaces? Estella: [00:10:10] In my observations I would say definitely not enough, especially as a PI educator, as a Samoan educator, definitely not enough. Part of the reason why I chose to become an educator, and I feel like there's a list of reasons why I chose education as my profession, and I agree with Yan it is definitely like a calling, right? Like folks who choose this, this is a lifestyle. And it's far more than just a job or a career and so there are so many reasons why I chose to be a teacher. But one reason why I chose specifically to make sure that I came back home to teach aside from my great aunt saying to me right before she passed away, I was the first in my family to go to college. First to finish and my aunt before she passed, she said, “You know, all of that will do no good if you stay in your ivory tower.” After hearing her say that and then losing her, I was very much committed to making sure that I came back home to teach. Early on in my career when I was younger or still in school, I was always feeling like, you know, I want to, I want to travel and teach. I'm going to go, I want to go to Japan. I want to go to Switzerland. I want to go to all these places and teach. And after my aunt said that, I was like, why? Why would I, why would I do that? I need to go home and teach. I need to go back to South Central to South LA and teach and so I ended up coming back to the South Bay to teach because I had assumed that this was going to be a place where I could teach Black and Samoan kids just like me. Because I had never had a Samoan teacher. I had never had a PI teacher ever in my life and I did have Black teachers and that's only because my parents were very deliberate in sending me to a Black school in South LA, for elementary school. But the experience changed in public high school and so I was committed to coming back home to be in a space where I knew I would see Tongan kids, Samoan kids, Fijian kids and then when I got here, my second year teaching and I was like, where, where are my peoples? Where is everybody? Like, I know that when I was a kid, this was because my mom went to Gardena High School. I just knew like growing up, I saw Samoans all over the place and suddenly there were none at the school that I was teaching at. And in my years teaching in the South Bay, I taught in the South Bay for six, nearly seven years. It was a continuous decline of enrollment of PI students. There's a whole host of reasons. One reason, right off the bat, and it goes to everything that Yan has already said, there was no sense of belonging. Or cultural understanding of any of those students in addition, or similarly, there's a continual decline of Black families in our schools in this area. And I'm not saying that the decline has anything to do with, like, the influx or rise of other populations. I think it needs to be pinned squarely on the fact that PI Students are not receiving the support, academic supports they need, or the social emotional supports they need. There is research to show that there is a push out of PI girls and Black girls. They are more likely to be suspended or expelled and pushed out of our schools. In addition, if the boys are not playing football, there's not a lot of support or welcoming or belonging created for those students and definitely no teachers who can connect to them on, on a cultural level or literally speak the language and there's probably a great deal of linguistic needs that aren't being met. They might speak English, but if their first language was Samoan they probably need a lot more EL supports that we don't have programs built for. And so students are leaving, parents are opting for private education or other places where they should go. So I think, I don't know how to name it, but there has to be a correlation with the student population and the number of educators that are also in the space. I'm here to teach students who, you know, I assume or imagine probably going through very similar things I went through as a kid, and there's no one here for me to teach. You know what I mean? Like, like what I set out to accomplish, I don't know that I will be able to. Gabriel: [00:14:47] Stella, there were two things from what you just shared that are resonating for me. First, the push out of PI and Black students in schools. I think it's important to note that when we think about API: Asian and Pacific Islanders that we perceive this group of people or group of students as a monolith. And when you disaggregate the data, Even though the perception is that API as an aggregate is more highly educated, has higher socioeconomic status, et cetera, et cetera, that when you disaggregate the data, it's important to understand what the impact is on the various communities that exist within that umbrella of API. The other thing you said Estella, about coming back and it being a calling to connect with students that you reflect and reflect you and your cultural identity. That resonated with me when I was teaching in the classroom in Bergenfield, New Jersey. It was one of the largest Filipino populations in New Jersey. Jersey City, I think is the highest Filipino population, but part of my experience there and being able to connect with Filipino students and families. It made that passion grow even more. So part of what I wanted to ask Yan and Estella both is. If we have listeners listening to this podcast right now, say young API folks that are thinking about their calling and exploring their direction in their future, what about teaching inspires passion for you that would make it attractive for API folks listening to this podcast, be inspired to consider choosing this as a direction in their life's path. Yan Yii: [00:16:40] I think one of the things that really resonates with me as an educator and the reason why I love it so much, you know, I've been back and forth with my involvement in my local union and the fact that it takes me away from my classroom, it's the connections that I make with my students. That, I think that's the most important thing to me, like, how I connect with my students, how I can support them, whether it's through, you know, a few years ago I started a fifth grade, like, show choir. Might have been a little bit Glee inspired, but, you know, it's the fact that my students were willing to give up their recess once a week to come sing with me and dance with me. And, art club after school, they're willing to give up their time, but it's that making those connections with the students and then having those students come back and say, you really changed my life. When I first started teaching, I had a student who was probably the most happy go lucky child I'd ever seen. And she wrote to me years later and said, “You saved my life. Like I was in such a hard place,” and this is, I'm talking about a nine year old child, when she was in my class and she said, “I was in such a bad place and my home life was not good. And, and you made me feel loved.” And that's what we're supposed to do as educators. We're supposed to make our students feel loved. And I think especially when I talk about this in terms of Asian Pacific Islander identity, when you don't feel that connection to your classroom and you don't feel like your teacher sees that part of you, because you know, I hear educators say a lot, “Oh, I, I don't see color.” And I'm always like, but when you don't see color, it's the danger of a single story, right? You're only seeing one part of your student, you're seeing the academics of that student. But, you know, I remember a few years ago, one of the big things I've always done in my classroom is celebrate Lunar New Year, because it's a huge celebration for my family. I wanted to share that with my students, and you know, two boys in one of my coworker's class had said, they were so excited to share about their culture and what they do at home. And she's like, well, then that was great. And I said, yes, it was. But what about the other 179 days? We can't just celebrate them for one day a year, or one month a year. We can't just say, okay, Black History Month and we're done. We have to celebrate our students all year long. And we need to change the curriculum. You know, we talk about decolonizing curriculum. I am purposeful in the books that I choose to use in my classroom because yes, I can teach Number the Stars for the 600th time, or maybe I can decide to use a book that reflects my students. And, you know, that's why I started my year off with Seedfolk, because I wanted to talk about what cultures coming together looked like, and you know, one of my students immediately said, he's like, “Wow, I could see myself in that book.” And that's what I want to hear from my students. I can see myself in that book. And it's not the same whitewashed characters over and over and over again, because my students are gaining nothing from that. And it's, it's trying to make that relevant throughout the entire school and not just my classroom. But making that connection with my students I would say is what makes my job worth getting up for every single day. Estella: [00:19:37] It is not lost on me that this is what episode four and nearly every guest we have had on this show, every single one of us have said that an important part of our journey was cultural or ethnic studies. At some point in our life, probably undergrad, graduate school, we made a very conscious choice to seek it out and go after it. And it was crucial to our becoming who we are, right? We've had professors, educators, social workers on the show, and every single person has stated that cultural studies was somewhere in their journey. So that's not lost on me that you said earlier that, you know, that was an important part also of your journey. Even though you're not, you're like history [blows a raspberry], but [laughs] it was still an important part of becoming who you are as an educator and a leader. And I wanted to just call that out. You also mentioned how important it was to find a place of belonging, and I guess I struggle with actually encouraging young people to become educators, in part because I don't know that the profession itself serves us the way it should. Right? Like, as a union leader, as a educator, as a Black woman, as a PI woman, I don't know that our field has figured out how to take care of us the way it should and I don't, I feel guilty, I guess, pushing young people to move into education. And that bothers me, right? Because the other, the flip side of that is we're having this conversation: How do we get more educators in classrooms? And I'm struggling because I know we need more API representation in the field. But then I'm like, do I want to do that to people I care about? Because this profession does not lend itself to self care. We are not taught in our training programs how to create collectives or community you know, to survive our field. We don't have open and honest conversations through that credentialing program about how we survive in this field you know. How do we deal with a lot of us are empaths, right? Like we are in this and we lead with our hearts. And when you're dealing with your trauma and then a whole host of secondhand trauma. I didn't take a class on that. You know [laughs] how to deal with your own emotions and carrying the weight of everything your kids are going through and you're trying to, you know, help them as best as you can, while also dealing with your own. There was nothing to prepare me for that part of this, this industry. And I think that those of us who this is our calling we just put our heads down and we fight through and we push as hard as we can to show up, to continue to show up for our kids. But oftentimes it is absolutely at our detriment. We are self sacrificing martyrs more times than I think we should be. I'm just being honest, I'm not saying I plan on walking away from my classroom anytime soon, but I just wanted to, to state that. I definitely agree that the biggest thing that keeps me inspired or in the classroom is the relationships with students. The amount of times they, I mean, I teach high school, I'm secondary, so I've got ninth through twelfth graders, and every single grade level is its own special brand of hilarious. And I just love, I love those moments in between the lesson. I love the moment where they absolutely take charge of the lesson. I love moments where students are, you know, correcting and calling me out because I know learning is happening. I know that they, something has been ignited and lit and they're questioning and they're being curious and they're pushing back and they're thinking critically. So I welcome all of those moments and those are the best moments that keep me in the classroom and similar stories when kids come back or write me messages like miss, you know, I just, you know, thank you or I can't wait for my younger sibling to be in your class or, you know, whatever the case may be, those are definitely the things that keep you in the classroom or keep you willing to keep coming back. Even though the profession does not look out for us or protect us or take care of us. Virtual teaching, if nothing else, has pointed out how bad these silos have gotten. Because during this virtual teaching, and I don't know about other folks, but my experience has been I feel absolutely disconnected from colleagues. I could go a whole week without ever talking to another colleague. And it's just me and students logging into Zoom and logging out. And so this has sort of made those silos even worse in some cases. But what I was thinking about when you were talking is there's an added layer of culture. Like, if we're having conversations about intersectionality that I think teachers of color deal with, that API teachers deal with, that other teachers may not fully understand and those microaggressions that you talk about, sometimes I don't even like using the word microaggression because I, like you said, I feel like nah that was just aggressive, bro like you, you didn't have to say what you said, the way you said it. It wasn't, there was nothing micro about that. That was just straight up aggression. Cause like you, just unnecessary. And so there's this added layer of like cultural and I guess this and I feel like I'm talking to circles now, but this goes back to feeling like the profession doesn't take care of us. And there's an added layer to that for Black teachers for Latinx teachers for API teachers. And so not only do we then burden the responsibility or we shoulder the burden of having to show up for every single kid who looks like us and sharing those experiences as first generation Americans and immigrant students, but we also then have the extra task of showing up for all the educators across the field who also share in, you know, why I had to go all the way to college just to figure out who I am and what my calling is and find a place where I could be and exist and belong. Yan Yii: [00:26:17] I just wanted to say, you know, I think that the demand of educators because I'm mentoring a brand new teacher this year. She's literally a one year teacher And she was made for this, right? Like, she was made to be an educator, but there are times where I'm like, you probably shouldn't do this. Like, if there's still time for you to get out, I've already put too many years into this. You know, I think back, you know, when the Boston Marathon bombing happened, and then the next day when my students came to school, they said, “What are you going to do to protect me?” So, so all of a sudden, and my fifth graders are 10 years old. All of a sudden, I'm not just your teacher now. Now I'm your protector. That is my job to sacrifice myself, and I would willingly do it for any of my students. To protect them. And then on top of it, now we're in a pandemic and we're learning in person. So, you know, I'm, I'm going to be 100 percent honest. I was exposed at school and I'm under isolation right now. Thankfully tested negative, but this is another layer that students have to deal with. And as students that now they're worried that they're going to one get us sick. And if we get sick, you know, there's another layer of trauma and I feel like everywhere I turn, there's more trauma and more administrators telling us, you should take care of yourself, but also I'm going to give you new curriculum. I'm going to give you this, this and this to do, but I'm not gonna take anything off your plate, but also take care of yourself. And I want to be able to tell new teachers it will change because let's be honest, public education has been a pendulum. It goes to the extreme, and then it comes back because someone goes, Whoa, what are we doing? But I think there's a lot of pressure on educators constantly to do the right thing and then to always put their students first. And you're right, we end up sacrificing ourselves and our, our mental health and our well being for our students. How many teachers, you know, who probably have taken home like a student who doesn't have a home or is spending their own money to buy students lunches or, or buy students clothes or whatever else they need to do, whatever else they need to do for their students. And we give and we give and we give, especially, you know, anytime we can, and I don't ever want to not do that. But when you think about a brand new educator coming in, you go, you still have time, like, and it's a terrible, terrible way to feel. But, one of the things that, you know, we started an Asian mentorship program this, last year, and honestly, it's been a breath of fresh air to not be alone and we went from 12 people last year to 40 people this year. And it's been like, wow, there are other people who are going through the same thing I'm going through and there are other people seeing what I'm seeing and on top of it being an educator of color, you have people, especially in your first three years of education that will doubt your abilities in the job because you probably got it because of the color of your skin, at least in their opinion. Right? And you're fighting, like, if I didn't have a super ethnic sounding name, if I could, if I could have hidden that, I would have, because I wanted people to know that I did it on my merit and not because of the color of my skin. That I didn't get this job because I'm Asian, but I got this job because I'm a good educator and I got to keep this job because I'm a good educator, not because of affirmative action. And there are so many different layers that we have to deal with as educators of color on top of everything else we're already dealing with. Estella: [00:29:45] After the shooting in Florida at… Yan Yii: [00:29:48] Stoneman Douglas. Estella: [00:29:50] Yes. Yeah, there you go. Stoneman Douglas. Thank you. After that shooting, I remember at our school, it was my 10th graders were doing, you know, school shooter drills or having conversations about what to do if there's a school shooter on campus. And my students, I remember their response was very similar. Like, what do we do, miss? And them being very vocal about like, I don't trust teachers, miss. Like who's going to take a bullet for me, miss? And when I thought about it, I was like, hold up. There's not one teacher on campus. And then students stopped and thought, and they're like, well, I mean, I guess I'm coming to this room and we can figure it out together. And I had to have an conversation with students about like, now that I'm a mother and a wife. My perspective has changed, right? Like my first year of teaching, maybe it would have been, you know, and I can't say what I would do in a terrible moment like that, but you know, I know that my first year teaching my attitude was probably more like I will do whatever to protect my students. I took an oath, right? I'm going to protect my students. And after having my daughter, I had a conversation with another educator, you know, we're talking about. What do we do in, in events like a school shooting? And she said to me, “I know that you are willing to take care of your students. We, we know that no one is questioning that you are a good educator, but your responsibility now is different because you have a child to make it home to.” And that cut real deep and hit different. And I, [long pause, tearing up] I questioned whether or not I could stay in the profession and how much longer I could stay in the profession. If what we had to deal with was going to continue to bombings, shootings, pandemics, I have a child to make it home to and a husband to take care of. And I don't know how much more, you know, folks expect. For us to be willing to sacrifice and watching the conversations online about open up schools, go back to schools. Teachers are whining. Teachers are this, that, and the other. When just nine months ago, it was, “Oh my God, I never knew how much you guys do in the classroom every day.” And then to suddenly like this quick shift to just go back to the classroom. It doesn't instill me with a whole lot of faith. And I honestly don't know where I was going. I was just thinking about what you said about, you know, the bombing and having that conversation with kids. And while I know that students need to feel and know that we're going to take care of them, I definitely had a conversation with students. An honest conversation. And I said, I don't, I don't know. I know that I'm, I will do everything that I can. And if this is the room that you feel safe coming to, this is the room you need to be at. And I've practiced with students, like, you know, we've had large fights where the school gets shut down and we go under lockdown and I've gone outside and just yanked kids into my room as quickly as I can. As soon as that lockdown sound goes on. And we've practiced, like we've had conversations like, “Miss, we gon bust that window out. We'll make a rope ladder,” like whatever it is, like we've had those conversations and I just hate that we have to have those conversations. Like, I really hate that that's normal now. Gabriel: [00:33:49] The amount of pressure that educators are feeling, especially in this moment, being the nurturers, caregivers, and now being asked to be the protectors. The overwhelming workload, the self sacrifice physically, mentally, emotionally, and as Yan mentioned, in some cases, financially, even dealing with the Eurocentric curriculum, in some ways is a form of emotional violence. That we as educators are expected to perpetuate onto our students and that it takes its own toll. In addition to the quote, microaggressions that are really aggressions, there's a lot and what I also heard from you both is that it's really the relationships with the students, with some colleagues, with creating communities of affinity spaces, where you can share some experiences, cultural identity, and as Yan was describing that mentorship program, building those relationships internally. Those are the things that keep the weight on this scale as even as it can be to keep you connected and committed, at least in this moment. Swati Rayasam: [00:35:14] You're tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and online at kpfa.org. Coming up is the song “Depressure” by Nu Nasa, off of the Khamsa music project. MUSIC That was the song “Depressure” by Nu Nasa, off of the Khamsa music project. And now back to the ConShifts podcast. Gabriel: [00:38:52] So, Yan, just a question I had for you, being involved in union leadership in your local, state, and national level, specifically in the spaces that lean into cultural affinity. And address racial inequity within the union spaces, having that space, platform, experience network in what ways, what drew you to that for what reason do you now serve in leadership roles in that way? And, what would you say to folks that are currently API educators, but not as involved in their union at the current moment? What would you say to those folks? Yan Yii: [00:39:32] So I took a class a few years ago, maybe like two years ago on how to not burn out. And I was like, wouldn't there be irony if I burned out while taking this class on how to not burn out. But it's things that you're passionate about will never burn you out. They'll, they'll energize you to do more work. Right. You know, I have a painting here and I think it's a Gabriel Tanglao quote. We rise by lifting others. I painted it a few years ago. And it's always, I'm always searching because basically how I got involved was somebody said, “Hey, you'd be really good as a building rep.” And then a few years later, they were like, “You should step into the role of secretary.” And then it was, “You should consider running for union president.” And I became the NEAA pick because you Gabe you told me “You should try this out.” And I said, well, okay, I'll give it a shot, right? Because part of union work is about identifying other leaders and we rise by lifting others, right? It's not about the power grab. It's not about staying in power. You know, one of the big things I pushed in my local is we need term limits because a healthy union has turnover. There's a reason why we only have eight years allowed for a president, right? You can, you can serve a total of two terms because if someone has more than two terms, they tend to go, you know, like, what is it? Absolute power corrupts. And, you know, we want to avoid that and, I'm less concerned about, um, corruption in teacher unions than I am about complacency. If the same person is in charge for 20 years, great, because then they will always do the work. But guess what? That person is going to retire at some point. You know, I've been union president for four years now, and I'm stepping down at the end of this year, because I think it's time for someone else to step up. And I think that, you know, this is not a top down, it's a bottom up. Like, we have to all work together. And we are all part of the union. So it drives me absolutely insane when someone says, “But what is the union doing for me?” And I turn around and say, “You're the union. We are all the union.” Like it can't, you can't just look at me and think that I'm going to do things for you because I am your spokesperson as your president, not your dictator. It's not my job to make these decisions. In fact, I try to step back as much as possible to allow decisions to be made by the membership versus made by me. And I think, you know, I remember being in Dallas, I want to say four or five years ago, and we were in a very, very large room for a very small group of people. I want to say there were maybe four people and one of them was a friend who was not Asian that I dragged into the room with me so that she could also be there. And then my first RA at the, for NEA, we had a small room of people. And when we were in Minnesota. And even when we were in Houston, we didn't have enough chairs. It was the most exciting thing in the world to me. Our group has gotten so large. They put us in a small room and we didn't have enough chairs. And you feel comfortable. Like, I love the term we use in APIC, Ohana, like family. We're family together. Like it is our APIC family. Like we're small, but, but we're mighty, right? Like we want to have that voice and we want to fight for what's right for not just us, but for, for everyone. And I think, you know, I've, I've managed to do that in my role serving 6 years on EMAC and it was, you know, like most recently we had conversations about how to decolonize curriculum throughout Massachusetts and, you know, like the idea that I'm one person what can I do? I can change what I'm choosing to teach in my classroom with a little teacher autonomy. I can choose to not only read whitewashed curriculum. I can find a paired text of this is what happened during this time in history. I can focus my readings during Black history month on different people instead of just Martin Luther King. Not that that's not important, but why are we only getting one perspective? There are so many historical Black figures. And if we're not pushing that, are we waiting for our students to push for it? Because they might not know too, because they've never been exposed to it. And I do think we live in a time where kids are pushing more and more and more against whitewashed curriculum, but we as educators have to do our job too. And it's making that connection with each other and not feeling so alone in that journey. Gabriel: [00:43:57] Yeah, nah, we definitely started the conversation around how union leadership creates spaces. And part of what you kind of illustrated through that is it's an opportunity to lift up more people, more educators, specifically more API educators into spaces to learn with each other and grow with each other. Specifically with the decolonizing curriculum conversation, I remember that you and I had a chance to collaborate in some spaces around decolonizing curriculum, and it was through the union space that we connected even Estella and I connected through the union spaces. So that's a place to find the community of folks. That you know, are doing that critical work. So I loved your response. I wanted to also just talk more broadly about the educator pipeline for API folks. Do you have any thoughts on ways that we can expand this API educator pipeline? And if you wanted to integrate some of the work that you're doing with your mentorship program into that conversation. So part one, how do we attract more educators into the profession and workforce? Part two, how do we continue to support those educators throughout their professional journey? Yan Yii: [00:45:18] So I'm going to start with part two, because I feel like part two has to happen in order for part one to happen, right? I think we need to work on retaining educators, particularly AAPI educators, because coming into the profession, and then we don't feel supported and people will leave. And I think part of this is helping people to not feel like an island, but also making people feel like there's a sense of belonging in the field. Because if everyone is constantly looking at you like you don't belong, then you're not going to stay. Unless you have a lot of fight in you, which many of us do [laughs] but when everything is working against you and there's so much pressure on you already. Not having a sense of belonging is really going to drive you from the profession. Now, once we build up that, you know, like, and what I love about this mentorship program, and I know you're using the word pipeline, and we started with that term, and we pulled away from it because we feel like it tends to have a negative connotation. When I hear the word pipeline, I think school to prison pipeline. Right? So we had changed it to a mentorship program because really, you know, especially this year we've talked about it. It's not just the veterans mentoring newer teachers or even aspiring educators. It's that we all have so much to learn from each other, regardless of where we are. My mentee at my school, she and I talk every single day, and she's constantly showing me new things, and I've been an educator for 14 more years than she has. And it's this idea that it's a group of, like, this is a learning experience for everybody, not just the person who is brand new, and it's not just me as a veteran who has something to offer. Now, in terms of getting more people to come into the profession, particularly more AAPI educators, one, it's seeing us in the field. Seeing themselves reflected in the field. Two, I think it's changing the narrative about the respect this job deserves. You know, Estella said it before we live in a time where 6 months ago you said everybody loves teachers. Right? And then all of a sudden we became enemy number one. And that was really hard for me to stomach as a union leader and as an educator. I know, you know, I was personally attacked on my personal Facebook because of some of the union work I was doing and trying to advocate for the safety of my educators. And someone has said, it sounds like you don't really want to be in the classroom. Maybe you should consider a change of profession. And I was like, first of all, this is my personal Facebook. Second of all, I had your child in fifth grade, so I know you know what a good educator I am. And if you remembered what a good educator I was, you would know that I care more about these students than I do about my own safety sometimes. So maybe we should take a step back and think about what we're saying before we start attacking educators. But it's having that connection and being able to support them and changing that narrative. But I also think it's not, it's not like, you know, right now we were like, okay, we're going to find AAPI students in college who are already in education. Well, guess what? There aren't very many of them. Like, we need to get to you before that. We need to get to them in high school. We need to get to them in middle school and elementary school, we need to dig as deep as we can. And part of that digging is going to be reflecting ourselves in the education field. I think if you don't see yourself there and you don't see that as a possibility and if people are constantly telling you, don't be a teacher, it's not worth it, or you won't make enough money or those who can do, and those who can't teach. Like all of those feelings, that's what prevents people from being, becoming educators. And I will say this as, as much as my Chinese mom complained about me becoming a teacher when she talks to my aunties she's always like, “And my daughter is doing this in her classroom and you should see the pictures of her classroom. And then she's always saying to my nieces and nephews, you should listen to your auntie, she's a teacher. She knows what she's doing.” Right. So like that always makes me feel a little bit better because for years I was like, did I choose the right profession? I think when I turned 30, I was like, okay, this is it. Am I going to stay here? Because I'm investing in my retirement now. Or am I going to consider changing my career and honestly, I can't see myself doing anything else. Estella: [00:49:40] I had the same thought at 30. [Laughs] Am I in it or, or am I going somewhere else? And my dad was the same way with, you know, “Are you sure? Teaching?” Also, I was a double major in theater. It was Black studies and theater. And I knew I was going into education and I don't know what it is about Nigerian parents, but it's “Theater? You're going to be a clown for the rest of your life?” Like that's, that was the thought process. Like excuse m?. But, I wonder how much of that, because it's come up in previous episodes and, and Gabe, you mentioned too about, you know, the need of immigrant children to push and push and push and do great in school and speak, you know, in Nigerian family “speak the King's English” is what we say. And I wonder how much of that. is just a product of assimilation or trying to align with whiteness. And so, I mean, I hate it. Kind of makes my skin crawl. And you know, and then of course that imposter syndrome, it just looms. It just like nags and looms. And I don't know what to do with those, those feelings or thoughts because I know first gen kids are gonna deal with that I don't, like, I don't know how to help kids move past that, honestly, because it's not something I've ever learned to fully cope with, move past, or deal with. Every time I think I'm in my stride and I've dealt with those emotions, again, I'm still feeling like, did I do enough? Is this good enough? But then, like you said, then I hear my dad go, “Oh, well, my daughter, blah, blah, blah.” And I'm like, really dad? Cause when I told you I switched my major, you, you show that that is not what you said. But anyway, you mentioned like our API spaces is like Ohana. And one thought that I'm having. You know, and thinking about how we make sure that we've got safe affinity spaces for API educators and our union is definitely one of those spaces with our ethnic caucuses at the state level and the national level. There definitely is still some area for growth within our affinity spaces along the lines of generational issues, but also in the ways in which anti- blackness or racism creeps in, right? Like I think that there is, and I don't know how to define it, segment it, weed it out, but there's definitely a generational difference between, I'd say, you know, teachers who are currently within their, like, first 10 years to our educators who, you know, they're 20 plus year veterans. We don't necessarily see eye to eye when it comes to cultural ethnic issues. And part of that might be because our education, once we found those cultural spaces of belonging in college, I imagine probably looked very different for some of our elders in the profession. And so I think our level of race or critical race consciousness is not in the same place and so I think there needs to be a level of some just personal reflective work on the individual level, but also as a collective, like as an Ohana, like we need to have some of these really hard conversations together and continuously, so that we can move forward towards solidifying some sort of collective identity. I think that there's probably far more API educators out there in the field that may not yet identify as API because they may be in a different place in their cultural identity work. They might be in a very different place. Because whoever named us API, right, like they fit a whole bunch of nationalities and cultures into one category. Whole different groups of people, islands, like nation states, bunched up into this API term. And so there might be a whole bunch of folks out there that's like “API. What's an API?” when that's probably technically where they would belong if they knew what box to click on, you know what I mean? And so I think part of our work is defining who we are and then like [laughs] doing the marketing work to make sure educators in the field know. Hey, this is your affinity space over here. We've got your back. Your Ohana is right here. If you, you know, come on over, join us, take a seat. And, and then we can continue to do that reflective work, transformation work. Gabriel: [00:54:24] As we close today, I'd love to ask you, what is one thing that gives you hope in this moment where hope may be hard to find? Yan Yii: [00:54:34] I think one of the things that makes me hopeful is that at my very last class of 2020, it was December 22nd, I asked my students, what is one thing you are thankful for, from this past year? And they were like, “The fact that I can come to your class,” like come to school. Like I had kids who wanted to be in school, whatever capacity we were going to do this, they wanted to be there. And that meant the world to me, the connections we've made. And you know, one of the things, even, even being in hybrid, You know, I worry every day about the impact of that. But I see how close my cohort A is to themselves, like, and I see how close my cohort B is, and I do a lot of work where, you know, the students, like, I teach synchronously all day long, so the student, they, they are constantly working with each other and the bond that they have as a class. I think that's what makes me really hopeful. And, you know, in terms of being a API educator, the thing that makes me the most hopeful is that we tripled in size in our mentorship program that we're out there. And we just have to find, like you, you have to dig a lot, because especially in Massachusetts, many of our AAPI educators are actually not, in the same union. They're part of the AFT and not the NEA because they're part of Boston Public, which is the largest local we have. And some of us are literally islands alone in Western, in a small, small rural town in Western Massachusetts, but the fact that they found us and they said, this is, this is, this is where I feel like I'm connecting. Like it's the connections that we're making that I think allow me to be hopeful. Estella: [00:56:11] Fa'afetai Tleilava. Thank you for listening. Gabriel: [00:56:13] Salamat. Thank you for listening. Estella: [00:56:14] We want to thank our special guest, Yan one more time for rapping with us tonight. We appreciate you. Gabriel: [00:56:19] Continental Shifts Podcast can be found on Pod Beam, apple, Spotify, Google, and Stitcher. Estella: [00:56:26] Be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube for archived footage and grab some merch on our site Gabriel: [00:56:31] and join our mailing list for updates at conshiftspodcast.com. That's C-O-N-S-H-I-F-T S podcast. com and follow us at con underscore shifts on all social media platforms. Estella: [00:56:49] Dope educators wayfinding the past, present, and future. Gabriel: [00:56:53] Keep rocking with us fam. We're going to make continental shifts through dialogue, with love, all together. Estella: [00:56:58] Fa'afetai Thanks again. Tōfā, deuces. Gabriel: [00:57:02] Peace. One love. Swati Rayasam: [00:57:08] 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, along with Paige Chung, Jalena Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Kiki Rivera, Nate Tan, Hien Ngyuen, Cheryl Truong, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support and have a great night. The post APEX Express – 6.6.24 Continental Shift-API Educator Pipeline appeared first on KPFA.

The A Show: Episode 343 (The Samoans Are The Saiyans)

The A Show on RNC RADIO

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2024 93:54

Meelz is joined this week by LJ (@onlyatlj) of The Lookout Podcast to discuss everything that happened this week in wrestling including:Sexxy Red's NXT appearanceContract season coming upWho killed AEW?Ricky Starks WatchWhy can't we find anything good for Andrade?Can Austin Theory actually be a good face?Paul Heyman's masterclass promoAJ Styles' Pastel SuitBron Breakker. PeriodAlpha AcademyDrew/Damianand more.

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Restoring citizenship 'the right thing to do' - Christchurch Samoan leader

leader new zealand pacific restoring citizenship right thing christchurch samoan samoans 'the right

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2024 4:03

The Samoan community met in Christchurch to discuss Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono's Bill that if passed will restore entitlement to New Zealand citizenship to some Samoans.

Pacific Waves for 21 May 2024

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Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2024 47:49

Liberation for New Cal's kanaky must come now - media educator; Restoring citizenship 'the right thing to do' - Samoans in Christchurch; Pacific touted as the 'big winner' in Australia's budget; A new exhibition exploring the plight of Girmit women in Fiji has just launched in Wellington, New Zealand.

Episode 118: Lou Kipilman

Shut Up and Wrestle with Brian Solomon

Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2024 83:16

Hello, wrestling fans! It's time for Episode #118 of Shut Up and Wrestle, with Brian R. Solomon! This week, Brian is joined by Arcadian Vanguard's very own Lou Kipilman! Join Brian and Lou for a conversation that wanders everywhere. Hollywood voiceover legends! San Francisco wrestling history! NWA World Champion Harley Race in the WWF! Samoans! … Continue reading Episode 118: Lou Kipilman → The post Episode 118: Lou Kipilman appeared first on Shut Up And Wrestle with Brian Solomon.

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APEX Express – 4.11.24 – ConShifts Anti-blackness in the PI Community

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2024 59:58

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. Host editor Swati Rayasam continues to highlight the podcast Continental Shifts created by bi-coastal educators Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owemma Church. They embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. Last time we featured the ConShifts podcast, Gabriel and Estella gave a quick introduction and talked about wayfinding in the context of their work. Tonight on the podcast they're talking about anti-blackness in the PI community with Courtney Savali Andrews and Jason Fennel. Just a quick note that both Courtney and Jason's audio quality isn't the best on this podcast. So it might get a little bumpy. Enjoy the show. Episode Transcripts – Anti-blackness in the PI Community with Courtney-Savali Andrews and Jason Finau Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express. Swati Rayasam: [00:00:35] Good evening everyone. You're listening to APEX express Thursday nights at 7:00 PM. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm the special editor for this episode. Tonight, we're going to continue to highlight the podcast continental shifts created by bi-coastal educators Gabriel Anthony Tanglao and Estella Owemma Church who embark on a voyage in search of self, culture and the ancestors. Last time we featured the ConShifts podcast, Gabriel and Estella gave a quick introduction and talked about wayfinding in the context of their work. Tonight on the podcast they're talking about anti-blackness in the PI community with Courtney Savali Andrews and Jason Fennel. Just a quick note that both Courtney and Jason's audio quality isn't the best on this podcast. So it might get a little bumpy. Enjoy the show. Courtney-Savali Andrews & intro music: [00:01:32] These issues are fluid, these questions are fluid. So I mean, I had to go and try get a PHD just to expand conversation with my family . Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:01:51] How do we uproot anti-blackness in API spaces? On today's episode, we explore this critical question with two incredible guests. Courtney and Jason share their stories, experiences, and reflections on ways our API communities can be more affirming of black identity and black humanity. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:02:13] What up, what up? Tālofa lava, o lo'u igoa o Estella. My pronouns are she/her/hers, sis, and uso. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:02:23] What's good, family? This is Gabriel, kumusta? Pronouns he/him. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:02:29] I have the great pleasure tonight of introducing our guest today, Jason Finau and Courtney-Savali Andrews. Jason is a social worker with a focus on mental health and substance abuse based in San Francisco. Courtney is an assistant professor of musicology at Oberlin College in Ohio. But I also want to be very intentional about not centering professions above who we are and who we come from. So I'm going to go to Jason first. Jason, please share with us who you are, how you identify and who are your people. Jason Finau: [00:02:58] Hi everyone. Estella, Gabriel, again, thank you so much for hosting us in this space. My name is Jason. I identify as black and Samoan. My father is a black American from Mississippi and my mother is from American Samoa, specifically in the village of Nua and Sektonga. As a military, brat kind of grew up back and forth between Hawaii and Southern California. So I have a very strong love for the ocean and where my peoples come from. So, very excited to be on your podcast. Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:03:27] [Speaking Samoan] Tālofa lava I am Courtney-Savali Andrews from Seattle, Washington. I identify as an African American Samoan. My father is from Seattle, born and raised in Seattle, from Opelika, Alabama. That's where his roots are, and my mother is from American Samoa from the villages of Nwoma Sitsona and Aminawe. And Jason and I are maternal cousins. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:03:59] I did not know that. [Laughs] Good to know. Actually, just for some context, Jason and Courtney, you were one of my blessings in 2020. I received an email message about a space called Black + Blue in the Pacific, and it was a flier for a Zoom gathering with other black Pacifica peoples and I jumped on the call, not knowing what to expect, but it was only one of two times I can remember in my entire life feeling truly seen as black Samoan, and not having to separate those two or shrink any part of myself or who I am. So Jason, can you please share what the space is about and how it came to be? Jason Finau: [00:04:42] Sure. That warms my heart that that was your reaction to participating in that space. So this was kind of born out of all of the protests against racial injustices across the country, especially with George Floyd and the other countless, unfortunately, countless deaths of black men and women at the hands of police brutality. And EPIC, which is the Empowering Pacific Island Communities, a nonprofit organization out in Long Beach reached out to me to kind of talk about how we can address anti-blackness within the Pacific Island communities in speaking with Tavae Samuelu, who is the executive director of EPIC and Teresa Siagatonu who is an amazing creative poet, artist, everything. We got together, started talking about like, well what was the real purpose for this group? Why are they reaching out to me specifically in the work that I do? And I think that part of that came from the fact that I am a licensed clinical social worker and that I do have a background in mental health and working in trauma, generational trauma and looking at how we as human beings look to take care of ourselves in a community that we as black human beings look to take care of ourselves in a community that doesn't value who we are and what that looks like for those of us who belongs to two different communities, one being the black and then the other being the Pacific Island community. And then even, you know, bringing that down even further to the, within the Pacific Island community, being in the Polynesian community and then being specifically in the Samoan community. So in talking with that, the first person I thought about when they asked me to facilitate a group where we can gather other individuals who identified as being black and Pacific Islander, the first person I thought about co-facilitating this group with was my cousin Courtney-Savali Andrews. Just given the fact that she has done so much in research and education and understanding about PI cultures, with the work that she's done here in the States, as well as out in the Pacific, out in New Zealand and Samoa, and I'll let her talk more about that, but this is another part of the reasons why I thought about her instantly, and also because she and I have had these conversations about what it means to be black and Samoan, and to identify as both, and to sometimes have to navigate being one over the other in spaces, and even in spaces where It's a white space and having to figure out like which one are we like code switching between. So in thinking about this group and in thinking about this space, you know, one of the larger conversations that came out of those who engage in this group, that we have every second Tuesday of the month is that representation of seeing other folks who are also black and Pacific Islander who aren't related to us. And so these are the conversations that Courtney and I have had. I've had the same conversations with other first cousins who also happened to be black and Samoan, but I've never actually have met like one hand I can count on how many times I've met another person who identified as black and Pacific Islander. And so being able to host this space and to focus it, to start off that focus on anti-blackness and to talk about how we're all working to deal with what it means to say Black Lives Matter when someone who visually presents as Samoan or someone who visually presents as Tongan or any other of the Pacific Islands. Like, what does it mean for them to say Black Lives Matter, when those of us who identify as both black and Pacific Islanders aren't really feeling how that message is as substantial as they may be trying to, to come across. Being able to gather in a space where we see other folks who look like us, who shared experiences that were so similar to what we have shared and what we have gone but also very different. And looking at how, you know, some folks grew up identifying primarily with the Samoan culture, whereas other folks grew up primarily identifying with the black culture and not being able to reconcile either one. So seeing that spectrum of experiences was able to provide us with an opportunity to grow for each other, to support each other, and to learn from each other. I was very thankful and grateful for having, for EPIC being able to step in and seeing that as an organization that does focus on empowering Pacific Island communities that they understood that when we look at the micro communities within that larger macro level of a PI community, looking at that individual black and PI cohort and understanding that that experience is different than the general experience. And so they wanted to make sure that we're facilitating those conversations, that we're holding safe spaces for those conversations, and that we're encouraging those conversations. So I really do appreciate them so much for that, and not taking it upon themselves to tell us how we should be engaging in these conversations, how we should be feeling, and asking us what we should be doing to get PIs to understand the impact of anti-blackness, within the, in the PI community for us personally. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:09:29] And as you were talking, I was laughing at myself thinking, yeah, I can count on one hand too, aside from my brothers, the other black Samoans or Polys I know, and I had an experience in college as a freshman, Cal State Northridge, in my EOP cohort. I met another Leilani, Leilani is my middle name, I met another Leilani who happened to be half black, half Samoan, also from South LA. And we saw each other and ran to each other like we were long lost siblings or something [laughs] and we just knew, and it was the first time I had seen someone who looked like me that was not The Rock. [Jason laughs] Like, the only person to look to, that was yeah. I don't know, it wasn't enough to have, you know, The Rock as my only representation. I appreciate him, but definitely wasn't enough. And shout out to EPIC and Tavae, because I think I mentioned earlier, being in Black + Blue was, it was like the second time in my life. I can say that I felt seen and one of the first times I felt seen as Samoan was at 30. I happen to be in a workshop led by Tavae on organizing PI communities. That was the first time I met her, but I left her session like in tears because I felt a whole part of whatever was happening in the conversation, the festivities, I could be like my full self. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:11:00] And those spaces are so important for us, right? To have that community, to be able to connect. So Jason, I appreciate you sharing that origin story of Black + Blue. And my question for Courtney actually, to bring in some of your experience into the space. Why was it important to create or forge a space such as this one with Black + Blue? Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:11:22] Well, I will say that I've had the privilege of a different experience having met several African American and African Pacific Islanders in Seattle through my experience in the US. And I mean, this goes all the way back to my childhood. I went to a predominantly, and this is going to sound pretty interesting, but in the 70s, I went to a predominantly Filipino-Italian parish that was budding a Samoan congregation and that particular congregation was connected to the Samoan congregational church that my mother was affiliated with. So, of course, this is family based, right? But growing up in that particular setting, I was affiliated with many cultural dance groups, particularly Polynesian dance troupes and such, and through those various communities I would run into many particularly Samoan and African American children. So that was something that was pretty normalized in my upbringing. On the other side of that, my father's family was very instrumental in various liberation movements, affiliations with the Black Panthers. And so I also grew up in a very black nationalist leaning family. So, I mean, I couldn't run away from just anything that had to do with considering identity politics and what it meant to be “both and” so the wrestle started really early with me. I also want to say that because I was indoctrinated in so many questions of what it meant to be whatever it is that I was at the time. Cause you know these issues are fluid and the questions are fluid. So that extended all the way throughout even my educational journey having pursued not just a musical degree, but also degrees in cultural studies. It was the only place that I could really wrestle and engage with literature that I was already introduced to as a child, but to, you know, have opportunities to deep dive into that literature, highlighting certain figures, engaging with the writers of these literature. So by the time I got to college, it was piano performance and Africana studies for me. In the arts, through my music through musical theater performance, my Polynesian dance background, it all just kind of jumbled up into this journey of always seeking spaces that allow for that type of inquiry. So, after undergrad, this turns into a Fullbright study and then eventually a PHD in Music and Pacific and Samoan studies. In that journey, I did not think that the outcome would be as rich as it became. I did seek out one of my supervisors, who was Teresia Teaiwa. A very prominent poet, spoken word artist and scholar, and she was the founder of the Pacific Studies program at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. So I went to study underneath her. She actually is African American Banaban so from the Kiribati islands and amongst her like astounding output of work, she reached out to me and four other African American Pacific women historian artists, like we all share the same general identities to start an organization, or at least an affinity conversationalist group, called Black Atlantic, Blue Pacific. This was back in 2014 when she started the conversation with us again, I had an opportunity to now, across the world, connect with other African American Pacific peoples that were rooted in other spaces. So I was the one who was, you know, born and raised in the US But then we had Joy Enomoto an African American Hawaiian who's based in Hawaii. Ojeya Cruz, African American [?] and LV McKay, who is African American Maori based in Aotearoa. So we got together and started having very specific conversations around our responses to Black Lives Matter as it was gaining much momentum in 2015. And it was my supervisor Teresia, that said, “You have to open up about how you feel,” and particularly because I was so far away from what home was for me, she offered up a space for me to not only explore further what my response to the movement was, but also just my identity in tandem with the rest of them. So we actually began to create performance pieces along with scholarly writing about that particular moment and went to this festival of Pacific arts in 2016 which was in Guam and pretty much had a very ritualistic talk. It wasn'tinteractive, it was our space to share what our experience and stories were with an audience who did not have a chance to engage with us on it. It was us just claiming our space to say that we exist in the first place. And that was a very powerful moment for me and for the others. So to connect this back to four years later, when Jason reaches out about Black + Blue in the Pacific, the name of this group actually came from the publication that we put together for that 2016 FESPAC presentation. It really was a moment that I actually didn't think would extend out in the ways that it has, but it also felt like a duty to extend that conversation and Teresia Teaiwa has since passed, but it felt like, you know, this is what, this is the work that, that I've given you to do. So it just felt very natural to join with my cousin in this work and realize what this conversation could be across the water again, back home in the US. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:18:09] Listening to you I was I don't want to say envious, but I didn't have that same experience growing up. And, you know, oftentimes I wonder where I would be in my identity crisis, which seems like it has lasted for so long, if I had shared in similar experience as a child. I grew up in predominantly black communities and all black apostolic school and I just, I didn't have other, I mean I ran up to the one girl I saw as a college freshman and squeezed her. So that tells you a lot, but I shared similar experiences as an undergrad or in college in majoring in black studies, majoring in theater, musical theater and that being the space where I got to at least express some of who I am or who I want it to be, but definitely trying to create what you experienced or had for my daughter now, trying to make sure that she gets to be as pro black and black and proud as she wants to be rocking her Angela Davis fro while also wearing her Puletasi, trying really hard to make sure that she has all of that. Growing up, I never felt like I was welcomed in Samoan or Poly spaces or fully in black spaces either. I felt like folks had to make a point to other me or erase part of my identity for their convenience. And it's only now that I am learning who my Samoan relatives are, what are our namesake or the villages that my family comes from and reconnecting with aunts and uncles and my grandparents through the powers of Facebook. But over the years, it's been a long like push and pull. And it's because our last names are, our names are very distinctive. And so when you put that name in there suddenly like, “Oh, I found all these relatives.” Like I didn't have to do the ancestry thing because you put the name in on Facebook and all of a sudden you find all your cousins and you're seeing childhood pictures where like your own kid can't tell who's who so I know we're related. You know what I mean? But anyway, like over the years it's been this like back and forth of me deleting relatives and then, you know, letting them come back because I don't know how to broach the conversation about their anti-blackness. I don't know what to tell them when they post something that is very racist and absolutely not okay. And I don't know what to do other than, you know, I'm just going to delete you and then maybe 2 years from now, I'll, as you as a friend, again, we could try this one more time. And I have one aunt in particular, a great aunt who there was just a misunderstanding. I didn't respond to a message right away after not seeing her since I was maybe 5 or 6. I can't remember. But in my 20s, I'm getting married, she's sending me messages and I didn't respond right away. And the response I got included her calling me the N word. And so then I'm like, “Oh, okay.” I was like, trying to open up and let you all back into my life. And here we are again. So I'm done. And so I spent a lot of time, like picking and choosing who I was going to let in or not and so I've started this journey at 30. I want to learn my language. I want to figure out who is in my family tree. Who are my people? Where do I come from? And be selective about who I choose to actually grow relationships with. Like I can still know who they are, where they come from, where I come from, what my roots are, and also make choices about who gets to be in my life. And I'm only just now realizing that at 32, as I try to learn my language and reclaim what is mine, what belongs to me. All of that aside, can you relate to any of that? And if so, is there an experience that you feel comfortable sharing? Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:22:00] I absolutely relate to that, to the extent, I mean, I had to go and try to get a PhD just to expand conversation with my family and I had to do it across the water. I got to a point where, just asking questions, about, you know, cultural matters, or even trying to navigate my way through a family event, while I've had many wonderful experiences, just trying to, again dig deep to understand why are we who we are, why are our family issues what they are those kinds of things, I would always hit a particular wall that was met with either like, “Why do you even care?” Or “Oh, that's not important.” But it was, this is not important for you. And I, you know, took that with a lot of like, “Well, what's that mean? I can learn anything.” And then again, that, that comes from this, like I said, black nationalist attitude of I am wholly wonderful, just in my skin as I am. Therefore, I'm smart. I'm, you know, all of those kinds of things. So it became a learning quest for me to say, not only am I going to go after learning as much as I can. I'm going to get the highest degree you could possibly get in it only to now reach a point. I mean, I'm 10 years into this program and it's been the one-two punch all the way through. And now I'm on the other side of this journey, realizing that even in that quest, this really doesn't change many of my conversations if I go back into my family, nor is it really looked upon as a notable achievement, which is to be questioned because it's like, I've done everything that I possibly can. But at the same time, it really does feel like this is the black experience as it connects to respectability politics. On another side of thing I suppose, try to aspire to be a race woman for the Pacific and specifically the Samoan identity. And that's just a really, really tall order. Right. All that to say, yes, I absolutely identify and realize that my conversation can only be had with those who are open to have it. I think that right now in this particular moment, we have more Pacific peoples and more people in our families that are willing to at least sit at the table and have conversation because they have new language around what they are wanting to know and what they would like to see for their own community. So that's really, really refreshing and inspiring. Jason Finau: [00:24:46] I agree. I definitely [have] a lot of experience and feeling in feeling othered and feeling that my black identity was conveniently left out in a lot of conversations and a lot of learning lessons, I think, growing up. In contrast to Courtney's upbringing, I was born and raised on the Samoan side. It was everything Samoan related. My first language was Samoan. My mom stopped speaking Samoan to me at home because she recognized that I was struggling in school early on like in pre- k, kindergarten, first grade, because I couldn't keep up with the other students and they didn't have ESL for Samoan speaking kids. So, I think as a protective factor, my mother just started to distance me from the Samoan language in order to excel in school. And I think that a lot of having been able to grow up in a very large Samoan family and engaging in a lot of the traditional activities and cultural practices and doing the dances and going to a local [?] church. Having that has always been great but I think that seeing the way or listening to the way that other Samoans would refer to their own family members who were black and Pacific Islander or black and Samoan in those families, a lot of the times the language is just so derogatory, but they, that language never used to, or was never directed at me. And I think that part of that was because that people knew who my mother was and they knew who my grandparents were and I think I was insulated from a lot of that negative talk, negative behaviors against those who identified as black and then like the children that were products of those Samoan and black relationships. I reflect on that quite often because I think that when listening to a lot of the stories that I've been able to bear witness to in our black and PI group. You know, like I mentioned before that we are seeing like two different, two different upbringings, two different ways that people experience their lives as being black and Samoan. And for me, it was like, because I was wrapped in that Samoan culture, that black identity of mine was never really addressed or talked about. That then it made me feel like I just, I'm a Samoan boy. I don't identify as someone who was black. I didn't identify as someone who was black or was comfortable with identifying as someone who was black until my 20s. Late 20s, early 30s, you know when I introduced myself, it was always Samoan first black second, everything that I did, instead of joining the Black Student Union group, I joined all the Asian and Pacific Island groups at any school that I went to again, as I said, being a military brat, I went to a lot of schools growing up before college. And then in college a lot of different universities. And when I went to those programs, like in high school and junior high, I'd always be, I would always join the Asian Pacific Island groups because I didn't feel comfortable being a part of the black, any of the Black Student Unions or any black affinity groups, because again like I said my for me internally, I was Samoan and that's where I wanted to be. I didn't recognize for myself because I could see it in the mirror that I presented as someone like a black male and I think that part of the reason why I also steered more towards Asian and Pacific Island groups was because I wanted people to see me as this black guy walking into your Asian and Pacific Island group, who also is Samoan but you don't know that until I tell you. And that was for me to share and for me to just sit there for them to stare at me until I made that truth known. And that was my way of addressing that issue within the PI community. But it was also a way for me to run away from that black identity to hide from that black identity because I wasn't, I didn't want to be identified that way when I was in the API group. It's because I wanted to be identified as Samoan and not black, even though I presented. So in thinking about how a lot of those conversations went, I think one situation in particular really stuck out for me. And that's when I did a study abroad in New Zealand during undergrad and, you know, there's this whole thing about the term mea uli in Samoan to describe someone who is black and Samoan and that was the term that I remember using and being told. As a kid, growing up, my mom used it, didn't seem like there was an issue. All family members, everyone in the community is using it. So I just assumed that is exactly how it was. I never had the wherewithal to think about how to break down that word, mea uli, and think of it as like a black thing. So I was in New Zealand studying abroad and I met some students, some Samoan students in one of my classes. They invited me to their church, the local [?] church. I was like, oh great, I'll go to church while I'm here. Satisfy my mom. She's back home in Oceanside, California, telling me that I need to go to church, that I need to focus on my studies. So I do this. I go with them. And as they're introducing me to folks at their church, when I describe myself as mea uli I mean, you can hear a pin drop. It was like, these people were I don't know, embarrassed for me, embarrassed for themselves to hear me use that word to describe myself. It was just, I was, I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed about my identity than I was in that one moment, because then my friend had to pull me off to the side, just like “Oh, we don't use that word here.” Like she's like, schooling me on how derogatory that term was for those Samoans in New Zealand who identify as black and Samoan. And mind you, the friends that I was with, they were, they're both sides of the family are Samoan, and so this is a conversation that they're having with me as people who aren't, who don't identify as black and Samoan. And so then when I, I brought that back to my mom and I was just like, “Did you know this? Like, how could you let me go through life thinking this, saying this, using this word, only to come to this point in my adult life where now I'm being told that it's something derogatory.” That was a conversation that my mom and I had that we were forced to have. And I think for her, very apologetic on her end, I think she understood where I was coming from as far as like the embarrassment piece. But from her, from her perspective and her side of it, she didn't speak English when she first got to the United States either. She graduated from nursing school in American Samoa, had been in American Samoa that whole time, born and raised, came to the United States, California, didn't speak a lick of English, and was just trying to figure out her way through the whole navigating a prominently white society and trying to figure out English. And so I think language was one of the least of her worries, as far as that might have been because it's just like coupled on with a bunch of things. I mean, this is a Samoan woman who doesn't speak very much English, who is now in the military, in the Navy. So, in an occupation that is predominantly male, predominantly white and predominantly English speaking. And so, for her, there was a lot of things going on for herself that she had to protect herself from. And I think she tried to use some of those same tactics to protect me. But not understanding that there is now this added piece of blackness, this black identity that her child has to navigate along with that Samoan identity. And so, we've had some really great conversations around the choices that she had to make that she felt like in the moment were the right choices to keep me safe, to get me what I needed in order to graduate high school on time unlike a lot of our other family members, to go to college, you know, again, being the first one to have a bachelor's degree and the first one to have a master's degree, within our family tree. And so, a lot of the successes that I've had in life to be able to get to this point and have these conversations and to facilitate a group like black and PI, Black + Blue in the Pacific and to be on a podcast with all of you, were the sacrifices and choices that my mom had to make back. I say all that because those, the choices that she had to make, she wasn't able to make them in an informed way that would have promoted my black identity along with my Samoan identity. And so having to navigate that on my own. I didn't grow up with my dad, so I don't have any connection. I didn't have any connection to the black side of my family. And so I didn't have, and then growing up in Hawaii and in Southern California, primary like San Diego, in the education piece, like the majority of my teachers were white, or in San Diego, a lot of them were Latin, Latinx, and then in Hawaii, a lot of them, they were either white or they were some type of Asian background like a lot of Chinese, a lot of Japanese teachers, but I didn't have any, I never had a Polynesian teacher, Pacific Islander teacher, and I never had a black teacher until I got to college, and then seeing that representation also had an impact on me. I think one of my most favorite sociology professors at California State University in San Marcos. Dr. Sharon Elise was just this most phenomenal, eye opening, unapologetically black woman. And it was just like the first time I was ever able to like be in the company of that type of presence and it was glorious. And I think it was part of the reason why I switched from pre med to social work. In thinking about, and going back to your original question about an experience of being othered or feeling like your black identity is erased in that company. Like I said, I walk confidently amongst and within Samoan communities, but not nearly as confidently as I do in black spaces. And even when I'm in those Samoan spaces, I'll walk into it, but then the first thing I'll do is share my last name. And then the moment I say my last name, then it's like, okay, now we can all breathe. I've been accepted. They know who I am because of who my family is based on the name that I provide. When I go into a black space, I don't have that. I don't have that convenience. I don't have that luxury. And so I think that's another reason why I was okay with allowing that black identity, my black identity to be ignored, to be silenced, to be othered because it was just easier. I think I had a lot more luxuries being on the Samoan side, than being on the black side. And now where I am today, both personally and professionally, a much, much more confident conversation can be had for myself, with myself about my identity. And then having those same conversations with my family and with my friends and in thinking about hard conversations with family members around anti-blackness, around the use of derogatory language, or around just the fact like, because we are half Samoan that we could never fully appreciate the Samoan culture and tradition. But I look at my cousins who are full Samoan, who barely speak the language, who barely graduated from high school or like are in situations where they aren't able to fully utilize an identity that can bring them the fullness or richness of their background. I'm like, all right, well, if you want to have conversations about someone who was half versus full, and then looking at those folks who are back on the island and what their perception of full Samoans are on the continental US and all of those things, like, there's so many layers between the thought processes of those who consider themselves Samoan or even just Pacific Islander, and what does that mean to them based on where they're from. And then you add that biological piece, then it's like, okay, well those who are on the continental US or outside of American Samoa or the independent nation of Samoa, what does that mean for them to be Samoan [unintelligible]. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:35:15] One of the things that you said that really resonated with me was when you were sharing the story of how your mother had, as you said, tactics to protect you as she navigated in these predominantly white spaces. That reminds me of a quote by Dr. Cornel West, who talked about having our cultural armor on. And when Courtney was sharing her story, I was thinking about how there's also educational armor and linguistic armor, and we put on layers of armor to protect ourselves in these white supremacist institutions and spaces. So both of you sharing your story and journey really was powerful for me, and also grounding it in the formative years of your educational journey and your race consciousness journey. One of the pivotal factors in my evolution and my race consciousness was being a part of the Black Student Union in my undergraduate school. And I'm Filipino, my mother's from Manila, my father's from Pampanga province. And it was actually the black community that embraced and raised my consciousness around my own liberation as an Asian person, as a Filipino person. So I'm a student in many ways, and my intellectual and spiritual evolution was really informed by the black liberation movement. Swati Rayasam: [00:36:43] You are tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online at kpfa.org. Coming up is “March 4 Education” on the Anakbayan Long Beach May Day mixtape. SONG Swati Rayasam: [00:37:03] That was “Find my Way” by Rocky Rivera on her Nom de Guerre album. And before that was “March 4 Education” on the Anakbayan Long Beach May Day mixtape. And now back to the ConShifts podcast. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:44:12] So this is all very powerful and grounds us back in the topic that we're trying to unpack. So I have a question for both of you on how do we begin to interrogate anti-blackness in Asian and Pacific Island communities, specifically among Polynesians, Asians, Micronesians. How might we uproot anti-blackness in the spaces that we find ourselves? Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:44:36] I think we need to start with identifying what blackness is in these conversations before we get to the anti part. Are we talking about skin? Are we talking about, you know, cultural expression? Are we talking about communities, black communities within our own respective nations? So one of the things that in thinking through this, today's conversation, you know, I was thinking that, you know, starting with identifying our indigenous black communities at home, you know, in pre-colonial times. And even as we have the development of the nation state, just seeing where people are in their understandings of those communities would be a wonderful place to start before we even get to the drama that is white supremacy in the US and how that monster manifests here and then spreads like a rash to the the rest of the colonial world. I would really start with like, what are we talking about in terms of black and blackness before we go into how people are responding in a way to be against it. Jason Finau: [00:45:52] Yeah, that was solid Court. Definitely providing that definition of what blackness is in order to figure out exactly what anti-blackness is. Kind of adding to that is looking around at the various organizations that are out there. When we go back to the earlier examples of being in API spaces, but primarily seeing more Asian faces or Asian presenting faces, thinking about, and I'm just thinking about like our Black + Blue group, like, there are so many of us who identify as black and Pacific Islander or black and Asian. And yet the representation of those folks in spaces where nonprofit organizations, community organizations are trying to do more to advance the API agenda items to make sure that we get more access to resources for our specific communities, whether that's education, healthcare, employment resources, all of that. When we look at those organizations who are pushing that for our community, you just see such a lack of black and brown faces who are part of those conversations. And I would have to say that for those organizations and for the people who will participate in any of those activities that they promote. To look around and not see one person who presents as black and may identify as black and PI seems kind of problematic to me because, you know, I used to think that growing up in the 80s and 90s that outside of my cousins, there were no other black and PI people. I'm learning now as I get older and again with our Black + Blue group, that there are so many of us, I mean, there are folks who are older than I am. There are a number of people around the same age. And then there's so many young kids. And so for none of those folks to feel, and that is another, that was a common theme, from our group was that a lot of the folks just didn't feel comfortable in PI spaces to be if they were black in and Hawaiians might be comfortable in the Hawaiian space to speak up and say anything or in whatever Pacific Island space that they also belong to is that they just didn't feel comfortable or seen enough to be a part of those. I think you know, once we identify what blackness is within our within the broader API community, we can also look at well, you know, why aren't there more people like us, those of us who do identify as black and PI, why aren't more of us involved in these conversations, being asked to be a part of these conversations, and helping to drive a lot of the messages and a lot of the agendas around garnering resources for our community. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:48:18] One of the pieces that's really present for me, when you started asking the question on how we define blackness before we begin the conversation around anti-blackness reminded me of Steve Biko learning about the black consciousness movement in South Africa and the anti apartheid movement. I had the opportunity to travel to South Africa for global learning fellowship and started to learn more about the anti apartheid movement. But when Steve Biko discussed black consciousness as an attitude of mind and a way of life, it got me thinking in one direction while at the same time in this conversation that we're having here, when we talk about colorism with post colonial society, the Philippines being one of them, how does colorism show up? I'm wrestling that. So I just appreciate you bringing that question into the space. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:49:05] So Black + Blue, it's an affinity space for black Polys and I need to just say thank you for providing the space. It has been therapeutic and healing and again, everything I knew I needed and had no idea where to find. So I appreciate it so much. So I'm wondering, I guess, how do we create similar spaces for other folks? Or is there a need to like, does Black + Blue just exist for us? And is that enough? Or do we need to start thinking about doing more to create similar spaces for other folks? And I'll leave that to whoever wants to respond before my final question. Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:49:45] I'll just jump in and say that I think that, you know, any opportunity for folks to gather to create and wrestle through dialogue is absolutely necessary at this particular point in time with social media and a fairly new cancel culture that exists. It's really a detriment to having people understand how to connect and even connect through disagreement. So I think that there should always be space made for people to have tough conversations, along with the celebratory ones. So I'm always all for it. Jason Finau: [00:50:23] Yeah, I would agree. I think if I've learned anything out of being able to facilitate the Black + Blue group that there is just such a desire for it and unknown and even an unknown desire. I think people, you know, didn't realize they needed it until they had it. And I think it feels unique now it being a black and Blue space, Black + Blue Pacific space. But I can see that need kind of going outside of us. How do we take the conversations that we're having with each other, the learning and the unlearning, the unpacking of experiences, the unpacking of feelings and emotions and thoughts about what we've all been through to share that with the broader Pacific Island community in a way that can steer some people away from some of the negative, behaviors that we find that can be associated in speaking of people who identify as black or African American? But I can see that as not just for those who identify as black and Pacific Islander, but also for parents of children who are black and Pacific Islander, and for the youth. So like right now our Black + Blue group is geared towards the adult population of those who identify as black and PI. But then also thinking about like the younger generation, those who are in high school or in middle school or junior high school, who are also maybe going through the same things that we all went through at that point and needing a safe space to have those conversations and kind of process those things. Because they may have a parent who may not understand, you know, if they only have their Pacific Island parent, or they're primarily identifying with their black side because they don't feel comfortable with the Pacific Island side, whatever their journey is being able to provide that for them, but then also providing a space for parents to understand where their kids may be coming from, to hear from experiences and learn and potentially provide their kids with the resources to navigate very complex ideas. One's identity journey is not simple. It is not easy. It is not quick. And so it's hard. And that is not something, I mean, and I don't expect every parent, regardless of what their children's ethnic background is, to understand what that means like for their kids. But to be able to have a space where they can talk it out with other parents. But I also see that for our Latinx and PI community. I see that for our Asian and PI community, those who identify as both being Asian and Pacific Islander. For me, that just comes from a personal experience because my mom is one of nine. And I think out of the nine, three of the kids had children with other Samoan partners, and the rest had either a black partner, has a Mexican partner, has a partner who identifies as Chinese and Japanese, and has another partner who is white. But I have cousins who are in this space, and so we can all share in the fact that, although we may not all physically identify or people may not be able to physically recognize us as Samoans, that is what we all share in common. So having that for them as well. And then, you know, right now we're in COVID. So it's been a blessing and a curse to be in this pandemic, but I think the blessing part was that we were able to connect with so many people in our group who are from across the states and even across the waters. Once we're able to move past this pandemic and go back to congregating in person, being able to have groups within your respective cities to be able to go and talk in person, whether it's in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, you know, folks out in Hawaii and like in Aotearoa. Who wants to continue engaging with other folks that they feel comfortable identifying or who they also identify with. Do I think that there is a need? Absolutely. And I can see it just across the board whether people know it or not, I think once we put it in front of them, that is where they'll see like, “Yeah, we need that.” Courtney-Savali Andrews: [00:53:57] I just wanted to also highlight, you know, a point of significance for me with this group and hopefully one that would serve as a model for other organizations and groups that may develop after this, is modeled off of cultural studies, which is the process of actually remembering and relearning things that we've things and peoples that we've forgotten and with Black + Blue in the Pacific, it's really important to me to also include, and keep the Melanesian, the black Pacific voice in that conversation to model for other peoples of color to reach out to black peoples at home, or regionally to understand and again, remember those particular cultural networks that existed in pre colonial times and even sometimes well into colonial times, as current as you know, the 1970s black liberation movements to highlight Asian and Pacific and, and, and, and other peoples that were non black, but very instrumental in that fight for liberation as a whole, but starting with black liberation first. So, I think this is a really good time in an effort towards uprooting anti-blackness to highlight just how old our relationships with black peoples and black peoples in relationship with Asians and Pacific peoples, South Asians, Southeast Asians, it just goes on and on, to say that we've been in community positively before, so we can do it again. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:55:52] That is the most perfect way to wrap up the episode in reminding us to remember, and reminding us that all of our liberation is definitely tied to black liberation that they're inextricably linked together. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Jason. Fa'a fatai te le lava thank you for listening. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:13] Salamat thank you for listening. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:14] We want to thank our special guests, Jason and Courtney, one more time for rapping with us tonight. We appreciate you both for being here and really helping us continue to build the groundwork for Continental Shifts Podcast. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:24] Continental Shift Podcast can be found on Podbean, Apple, Spotify, Google, and Stitcher. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:30] Be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube for archive footage and grab some merch on our website. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:36] Join our mailing list for updates at conshiftspodcast.com. That's C-O-N-S-H-I-F-T-S podcast dot com and follow us at con underscore shifts on all social media platforms. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:56:52] Dope educators wayfinding the past, present, and future. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:56:56] Keep rocking with us fam, we're gonna make continental shifts through dialogue, with love, all together. Estella Owoimaha-Church: [00:57:02] Fa'fetai, thanks again. Tōfā, deuces. Gabriel A. Tanglao: [00:57:04] Peace, one love. Swati Rayasam: [00:57:07] 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 Axpress is produced by Miko Lee, along with Paige Chung, Jalena Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Kiki Rivera, Nate Tan, Hien Ngyuen, Cheryl Truong, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support and have a great night. The post APEX Express – 4.11.24 – ConShifts Anti-blackness in the PI Community appeared first on KPFA.

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The Wire w/ Caeden: 11 April, 2024

95bFM

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2024

For our weekly catch-up with Labour's Carmel Sepuloni Wire Host Caeden asks about job losses in media, cuts at MSD, and Teanau Tuiono's restoring Samoan Citizenship members bill. For City Counselling they speak to Cr Lotu Fuli about a proposal to merge the Ōtara-Papatoetoe and Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local boards and a new report on quality of living in Tāmaki Makaurau. They also speak to AUT Lecturer Laumua Tunufa'i about the bill to repeal the 1982 bill which stripped Samoans of New Zealand Citizenship. And they speak to Paul Thistoll from Countering Hate Speech Aotearoa, as well as Rainbow Spokesperson for the Human Rights Commission Prudence Walker about Hate Speech Law protections for LGBTQIA+ communities. Today Jasmine speaks with lawyer Alexandra Allen-Franks about a landmark European climate action human rights lawsuit And she speaks to Greenpeace Spokesperson Amanda Larsson about the dire state of Aotearoa's freshwater protectionshat have you got for us today?

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NZ citizenship bill for some Samoans goes through first reading

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Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2024 5:07

NZ citizenship bill for some Samoans goes through its first reading.

Pacific Waves for 10 April 2024