Podcasts about Yuri Kochiyama

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's Host Miko Lee speaks with authors who have used their personal lives to tell their stories. They both talk and write about trauma, joy and resilience but in two very different ways. First up she chats with Chanel Miller. Many folx might know of Chanel's best selling first book Know My Name which expands on the powerful victim impact letter she wrote to Brock Turner who brutally sexually assaulted her on the Stanford Campus. We talk about her latest work – two delightful books for young people. Then Miko talks with Kazu Haga who weaves his spiritual practice and trauma healing with a deep lineage of nonviolent social change.  In his books, Fierce Vulnerability and Healing Resistance he shares with us his personal journey and offers some insightful visions for our current tumultuous world.  Links to the Author's work: Kazu Haga  Fierce Vulnerability Kinship Lab,  Chanel Miller Chanel Miller The Moon Without Stars Purchase Chanel's books at East Wind Books and Kazu's books at Parallax Press  SHOW TRANSCRIPT APEX Opening: 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. Miko Lee: Good evening. Welcome to apex express. This is your host, Miko Lee. Join us as you hop along the apex express. Tonight I speak with authors who have used their personal lives to tell their stories. They both talk and write about trauma, joy, and resilience, but in two very different and distinct ways. First up, I chat with Chanel Miller. Many folks might know of Chanel's bestselling first book Know My Name, which expands on the powerful victim impact letter she wrote to Brock Turner, who brutally sexually assaulted her on the Stanford campus. But tonight we talk about her latest work, two delightful books for young people. And then I talk with Kazu Haga, who weaves his spiritual practice and trauma healing with a deep lineage of nonviolent social change. In his books Fierce vulnerability and Healing Resistance, he shares with us his personal journey and offers some insightful visions for our current tumultuous world. First off, listen to my conversation with Chanel Miller. Welcome, author Chanel Miller to Apex Express. Chanel Miller: Thank you so much for having me. It's a delight to be here with you. Miko Lee: I'm really excited to talk to you, and I wanna start with my first question, which I ask all of my guests, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Chanel Miller: Oh, I have so many people. Today, you're my people who continue to help guide me forward. I grew up in the Bay Area and I feel like honestly all of my books are attempts at saying thank you to the people who raised me, the English teachers in my public schools. For helping me stay aligned with myself and never letting me drift too far. And so even though I tell very different stories for different demographics, I think if you look at the root of everything that I write, it's gratitude because they are the people who protected my voice in the first place. Miko Lee: Thank you so much. So we're talking about your third book. Your first book was amazing. Know my name, which is really powerful memoir about surviving sexual assault at Stanford, and this incredible public reclamation of your voice. And then you move from that very personal, internal, very adult work to your second book, which was so lovely and sweet. Magnolia Woo unfolds it all, which was an illustrated book set New York about a little girl and her friend who reunite people with their lost socks. From this all the way to this young person's book and your latest book, the Moon Without Stars, your second, YA novel is based in middle school. So talk to me a little bit about this journey from personal memoir to elementary school to middle school books. Chanel Miller: Yeah, so like you said, the first book was so internal and gutting to write. I knew I needed. Something that would help me breathe a little easier and get in touch with playfulness again. I wrote Magnolia Woo Unfolds it all. It's perfect for kids ages seven to 12. My goal was just to enjoy the process of writing and story making. And it was confusing because I thought if I'm not, you know, during the memoir, I would be like crying while I was writing and it was just taking everything out of me. And I was like, if I'm not actively upset. Is the writing even good? Like, like, you know, does it count? And it turns out, yes, you can still create successful stories and have a good time. So I did that book for myself really. And the kid in me who always wanted to, who was always, writing stories unprompted. Like you said, it was a book about a sock detective and pursuing socks makes no sense. It's almost impossible to return a missing sock in New York City. But I loved the idea of these. This little girl in pursuit of something, even if she doesn't know what the outcome will be. Right. It's just trying even if you're not promised a reward, I love this. And for me it's like I keep attempting to love my reality, right? Attempting to go out into the world with an exploratory lens rather than a fearful one. And so that was very healing for me. After I finished that book, I spent the next year writing this new book, the Moon Without Stars. It's for slightly older kids, like you said in middle school. So my protagonist Luna, is 12 years old and she's biracial like me, goes to middle school in Northern California like I did in Palo Alto. I was just reflecting on my. Upbringing, I would say, and really sitting back and letting memories come to the surface. Trying to see how much, was just unexplored. And then sitting down to, to figure out what it all meant that I remembered all of these things. Miko Lee: So how much of Luna is inspired by Chanel? Chanel Miller: A fair amount, I'd say. And it's not always an intentional, I think fiction deals a lot with the subconscious and you end up writing about yourself on accent luna in the book. She is the campus book doctor, is what I call it. Because when kids are going through something, they'll come to her and she'll prescribe them a book that'll help them for whatever phase of life they're going through. And I know for me from a very young age, I loved reading, writing, and drawing. It's all that I ever wanted to do and I was so mad in school that we had six different subjects and you know, the Bay Area was very tech. Centered, STEM centered. And so I felt all this pressure even through high school to take AP Science classes. In retrospect, I thought, why was I trying so hard to be good at it? Everything. This is impossible. And so for Luna, I own her gifts early. And understand that they were gifts at all. The fact that she loves to read and then she shares her gifts and she takes pride in the things that she's passionate about. She's not ashamed that she's not so hot about math. Miko Lee: So the hating math part is a little Chanel inspired also. Chanel Miller: The hating math part is fully me. I'm sorry to say. Miko Lee: No worries. I think that stereotype about Asians and math is so highly overrated. I'm wondering if there was a Scott for you, a bestie that was also an outcast, if there was someone like that for you when you were growing up. Chanel Miller: Yeah, so in the book, Luna is best friends with Scott. They've been friends since childhood, and as Luna starts to get more attention, their relationship is threatened and it begins to dissolve. I was really interested in how, Luna obviously loves Scott as a friend and she would never. Mean to hurt him, right? It's not inflicting intentional emotional pain, but Scott gets very hurt. I think about how sometimes when we're growing up, we get drawn to certain crowds or paid a kind of attention and we have this longing to be desired to fit in. we sometimes make choices that we're not very proud of, but this is a part of it, right? And so I wanted Luna to reckon with maybe some of the emotional harm she's causing and not run away from it. But also think about like, why am I making these choices and what is important to me? We're all kind of constantly reevaluating our value systems, trying to keep our relationships alive, like this is, starts at a very young age and I wanted her to learn some of the self gifts that maybe I didn't give myself when I was that age. Miko Lee: So in a way, she's a little bit of a remedy for your young self or a gift to your young self. Do you think? Chanel Miller: Oh, that's a nice way of putting it. Yeah, I would definitely say so. I think all writing is, is remedy in some form, at least for me, but I like the, it being a gift to little Chanel. Miko Lee: It's been compared to the classic. Are you there god, it's me, Margaret? What is it like for you to hear that? Chanel Miller: It's an honor, obviously. I think what's most stunning is a lot of the themes that were contested in that book. You know, talking about bodily changes, menstruation like. A lot of that is still kind of hush hush, and I'm surprised by the things that haven't changed , or how our society hasn't completely evolved. I really wanted middle school so hard physically, emotionally, and. It can feel so humiliating that you're trying to solve a lot of your issues in private, and I wanted to take the shame out of it as quickly as possible and just say, this is a universal experience. Everyone goes through these things. It's totally okay to talk about it, even if books get banned. Find a way, find your people. Find a way to have these conversations. Miko Lee: For me, it's so much better than, are you there? God, it's me, Margaret, because it's set in a contemporary. There's a young biracial Asian American girl who's a outcast and really it's about belonging and getting your first period and all the things you have to go through in middle school. That seems really. Relatable for a young woman in our society. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. I read it really quick one night, easily read 'cause it's so lovely. I'm wondering about your process because you illustrated, your last book and then also the cover of this book. And on the cover it's sweet because it has all these cute little zines that she writes about are encapsulated on the cover of the book, which you only realize after you read it. I'm wondering for you as an artist, what comes first in the story, the image or the words? Chanel Miller: That's a great question. Yeah. I like to illustrate my books. Sometimes I'll think of a, something I do wanna draw and then think, how can I build a story around that, or like a visually rich scene. Then I come up with writing to allow myself to draw the thing. Other times I will just write, but I, I will say that when I'm writing, I never have a plot. I'm not an outliner. I am very much an explorer. I'm okay with not knowing for long periods of time where the book is gonna go, what it's about , and how it's gonna end. I don't know any of these things. And luckily I have a very gracious, agent and editor and my editor. I had two editors, Jill and Juan, and they let me just submit chunks of writing for six months. Scenes that didn't go together, that were completely out of order , to show them I'm attempting to build this world and this school full of kids, but I don't know how it's all gonna play out yet. And then after six months, we had enough material to, to begin to identify like who the primary characters were gonna be, what the essential conflict was gonna be. I'm saying this because I want people to know that you don't have to know much before you sit down to write. And the knowing comes with the practice of doing every day, and then slowly things start to reveal themselves. Miko Lee: Oh, I appreciate that. So you don't have a linear timeframe. You kind of just let things come to you. Sometimes they're in images, sometimes they're in words. Chanel Miller: Yes. And then your job is to capture them and be curious about them and then make more until you have enough. Then you can edit, but you edit too early, you're gonna , kill the spirit of the thing. Miko Lee: When do you know you have enough? Chanel Miller: When you fulfill the word count in your contract? No, no, I think it's, it's like you can. Sort of start to feel things click into place or a voice is emerging that's very strong. Even Scott know, Luna's best friend, I didn't have him at the very beginning, I don't think originally. Originally, I think Luna had a sister. It was gonna be a sister book, and then it became a friend. You're just open to it evolving, and then suddenly you're like, oh, I can, I can see this relationship. Can see them existing within the structure. It feels more real to you and at that point you can just go in and start revising Miko Lee: Did you create images for know my name? Chanel Miller: I actually tried to, at the very end, I made a bunch of drawings and I said, can we put these at the start of each chapter? And my editor, who's incredible, she said, you know, when I look at your drawings, they have a different voice than your writing voice. And I was like, that is true. Like, that's a great critique. So instead I went to New York, they were like about to send the book to print and I was like, okay, but I need like one drawing. They said, okay, if you can do it at lunch, like have it done by the end of lunch, we'll put it in the acknowledgement. So I dedicated the book to my family and. I sat at the desk and just did this little, these four little creatures that represented my immediate family and cut it outta my notebook. They scanned it in and sent it off to print with a book. So I did get, I did get it. Miko Lee: And how is the illustrator's voice different from the author's voice? Chanel Miller: The illustrator's voice can be very loose, whimsical, playful, whereas the writing, you know, was so measured and heavy and intentional, and so. I liked that edit, and I also, my editor was confident that I would have more opportunities in the future to write and draw, whereas I felt so vulnerable. It's my first book, it's my only chance to say or do anything, but that's not true. Now I understand like I have time to make all kinds of things. You don't have to shove it all into one project. Miko Lee: And are these, more youth-focused books? Do you feel like that's more a combination of your illustrator and your author voice? Chanel Miller: Totally. The medium like allows you to do both. It kind of asks for images also. Who knows, maybe, I still wanna write, contemporary fiction for adults and maybe I'll adults like visuals too. Absolutely. Miko Lee: Absolutely. Yeah. I'm wondering what you want young readers to walk away with after reading the, your latest book. Chanel Miller: Things smooth out in really unexpected ways. And that you can never truly mess up. Like I messed up so many times growing up or would get a really bad grade. I really would think like, this is the end. Like my future just disappeared. I just can't recover from this, and I always would, and I'm here now, like there, there are so many times I guess, that I thought my life was totally and completely over and, it was never the case. Sure, life could be sour for a bit, or you could be really stressed out, but it's not the end. Different things will change. People will be introduced to help you. Like you just keep showing up in whatever way you can. You won't be stuck in that place. It's been a nice thing to learn, as you get older. I just remember when I felt young, it felt so impossible sometimes, and I promise it's not, Miko Lee: I imagine that with Know my name. Many people came up with you, survivors came up and shared their stories with you, and I'm wondering if that was the same with your second book, if people came up and just told stories about, being a kid detective or what their, if it brought things up for them in a totally different realm. Chanel Miller: Oh yeah, absolutely. In the book, Magnolia's parents are Chinese and, , they're working at a laundromat and a customer comes in and there's, microaggressions happen and, I think with microaggressions you can always. Justify them in your head and say, it's not as bad as explicit violence or something, where it's not a truly a crime. And so you kind of push them to the side, push them to the side, but over time, like they do really stick with you and they're so hurtful and they accumulate and they're not okay to begin with. And I wanted my little character, Magnolia to. Just feel that anger that I often suppress and be like, it's not okay for people to talk to you like that. Like we are allowed to say something about it. It's dehumanizing and it's unacceptable. I wanted to give her the opportunity to confront that emotion and really express what, how it made her feel. Miko Lee: You're just starting your book tour right now. Is that right? For the Moon Without Stars. Chanel Miller: My book comes out January 13th. I'll go on a two week book tour. I'll have two stops in the Bay area. One at, book passage in Cord Madera. One in Los Altos at a church. It's sponsored by Linden Tree Books. We're just doing the event offsite, so if you're in the bay and wanna come say hello, please do that. Miko Lee: Yay. Excited to hear about that. I'm curious, I'm really curious what kind of stories people will tell you about their kind of middle school bully experience or their standing up to bullies and wanting to be in the popular crowd and what's that like? It's such a common middle school experience. Chanel Miller: I'm just really happy that people like have the opportunity to remember, 'cause it's not what we talk about every day. I just love that things are coming up for people and you're like, wow, I never would've thought about that or. I, I, that's why writing is so fun. You get to remember. Miko Lee: It's definitely not what we talk about every day, but definitely that middle school time really, helps shape who we are as adults. That's a really tough time because there's so many hormones going crazy in your body. So many changes that I think a lot of people have big feelings about middle school. Tell us what's next for you. Chanel Miller: I still love writing middle grade like this age is so sweet. It's so rich, emotionally rich. I would like to do something that's, you know, this one was more contemporary realism and I would love to do something that, not pure fantasy, but like breaks the rules of reality a little bit. Just really see where my imagination can go. A little magical realism perhaps. Yeah, absolutely. Miko Lee: I would just encourage you, I really love the Scott and Luna characters and seeing them patch their relationship up in high school as friends and how they can grow. Oh, I think would be a really sweet story also, and how they could explore maybe through magical realism. Some of the, book Doctors Zine World would be fun. Yeah. Yeah. I like those characters, is what I'm saying. I think there's more to come outta those characters and their friendship. Chanel Miller: Oh, that's really sweet. You don't wanna say goodbye to them yet. Miko Lee: Yeah, that's right. Well, it has been a delight chatting with you. Thank you so much for sharing your stories and your work and it's very powerful. Appreciate chatting with you. Chanel Miller: I really appreciate the platform you provide and how you're making room for these genuine conversations. So thank you so much. Jalena Keane-Lee: Next up, listen to blues scholars ode to Yuri Kochiyama. That was Blue Scholars, Ode to Yuri Kochiyama. Miko Lee: Yuri Koyama said, we are all part of one another, and that relates so well to my conversation with author, organizer and teacher Kazu Haga. Welcome, Kazu Haga to Apex Express. I'm so glad to have you with us. Kazu Haga: Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Miko Lee: I'm gonna start with a question that I ask all of my guests because I'm a curious person, and my question is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Kazu Haga: Oh, wow. Well, when you ask the second question, the immediate response is that I am Japanese. There's a lot of important legacies that come with that. Of course there's so much of my Japanese ancestry that I'm proud of and want to continue to deepen in and understand better. But I'm also aware that, you know, being Japanese, I come from colonizer people, right? And I'm so aware of the. Harm that my ancestors caused to so many people, whether dating back all the way to indigenous. I knew people in Japan, or a lot of the violence that my ancestors committed during the war to Zan Korean communities and Chinese communities and Filipino communities. I feel like in addition to all the beauty and the amazing things that I love about Japanese culture, that's a legacy that I carry with me and a lot of my work has to do with trying to understand what it means to carry that legacy and what it means to try to heal from that legacy and how I take that approach into my own personal life as well as into my activist work. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for recognizing that history and sharing a little bit about your path. I can see so much of how that turns up in your work. So I've had the pleasure of reading your two latest two books. I'm sure there'll be many more to come, I hope. Can you speak a little bit about what inspired you to create healing resistance? Kazu Haga: Yeah, so healing resistance is my interpretation of a set of teachings called kingian non-violence, and it's a philosophy that was based on the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King. And I have the great privilege to have been mentored by a lot of elders who work very closely with Dr. King and were some of the most instrumental leaders in the civil Rights movement. I started my kind of activist career back in 1999 or something like that when I was 18, 19 years old. And for the longest time, the word non-violence didn't have a lot of meaning to me. But when I was 28 years old, I think I took this two-day workshop on this philosophy called King Non-Violence, and that two-day workshop just completely changed my life forever. I thought after 10 years of doing nothing but social justice movement building work, that I had some idea of what the word non-violence meant and some idea of who Dr. King was. But that two day workshop taught me that I knew nothing about what the word non-violence meant. Since I took that workshop, I feel like I've been on this never ending journey to better understand what it means to practice non-violence and incorporate that as a value into my life. And so healing resistance is, yeah, just my spin on the teachings of Dr. King told through the stories of my life experiences. Miko Lee: I really appreciated how you wove together your personal journey with your, understanding of movement building and how you incorporated that in. I'm wondering, I think it was in this book, but I read both of your books close to back to back, so I might be mixing them up, but I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the salt protestors that happened in India and the two years of training that it took them to be able to stand up and for our listeners, just like really back up and explain what that protest was about, and then the kind of training that it took to get there. Kazu Haga: It was actually more than two years. So, you know, everyone, or a lot of people know about the Salt March. It's the thing that I think a lot of people look to as the thing that really sparked the Indian Independence Movement, similar to the Montgomery Bus boycott in the US Civil Rights Movement. It's when a group of people marched across India all the way to the ocean. Engaged in an act of civil disobedience was, which was to go into the water and make their own salt. Salt is something that had been heavily controlled and taxed by the British Empire, and so the people who lived even on the coast of the ocean were not allowed to make their own salt. And so it was an act of civil disobedience to break a British colonial law saying that we are reclaiming this ancestral cottage industry for ourselves. And one of the reasons why it was so powerful and drew so many millions of people out into the street was because when Gandhi envisioned it. He didn't just put out an open call and said, anyone who wants to join the March can join. Ultimately, that's where they landed. But when the March started, he selected, I think it was about 76 of his followers, and he chose these 76 people and said, you all are gonna start the Salt March. And he chose those 76 people because they had lived in Astrom. And did spiritual practice and engaged in creative nonviolent direct action together for 16 years before they embarked on the salt march. So it was 16 years of kinda like dedicated residential spiritual training , and nonviolent direct action training that allowed these people to become the type of leaders that could draw out millions and millions of people into the street. And so it's one of the things that I really learned about the legacy of nonviolence is the importance of training and understanding that preparing ourselves spiritually to lead a movement that can transform nations is a lifetime of work. And to not underestimate the importance of that training and that rigor. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for correcting me. Not two but 16 years and a really a lifetime to, that's right. To develop the skills. I wonder if you've been following the Buddhist monks that are walking across the US right now. Kazu Haga: Yeah. And the dog, right? Miko Lee: Yeah. Whose dog and that dog. And I wonder what your thoughts are on that. Kazu Haga: I've really come to this place where I understand injustice and state violence, not as a political issue, but as a manifestation of our collective trauma. Like all the forms of state violence and injustice that we see, they happen because collectively as nation states and as communities and as a species, we have unresolved trauma that we haven't been able to heal from. And I think if we can see injustice less as a political issue and more as a manifestation of collective trauma, then perhaps we can build movements that have the sensitivity to understand that we can't just shut down injustice that when you're responding to a trauma response, what you need to do is to try to open things up. Things like spiritual practice and spiritual worldviews, like what, however that word spiritual lands on people. I think that there's a broad understanding of spirituality that doesn't have to include any sort of religious stigma. But when we ground ourselves in spiritual practice, when we ground ourselves in this larger reality that we belong to something so much larger than ourselves as individuals, then a lot more is possible and we're able to open things up and we're able to slow things down in response to the urgency of this moment, which I think is so necessary. When I look at these Buddhist monks spending however months it's gonna take for them to reach Washington dc the patience. The rigor and the slowness. How every step is a prayer for them. And so all of those steps, all of that effort is I think adding to something that has the possibility to open something up in a way that a one day protest cannot. So I'm really inspired by that work. Miko Lee: And it's amazing to see how many people are turning out to walk with them or to watch them. And then on the same hand, or the other hand, is seeing some folks that are protesting against them saying, that this is not the right religion, which is just. Kind of shocking to me. Grew up in a seminary environment. My dad was a professor of social ethics and we were really taught that Jesus is a son of God and Kuan is a daughter of God. And Muhammad, all these different people are sons and daughters of God and we're all under the same sky. So it seems strange that to me, that so many folks are using religion as a tool for. Pain and suffering and injustice and using it as a justification. Kazu Haga: Yeah. It's sad to hear people say that this is the wrong religion to try to create change in the world because I think it's that worldview that is at the heart of what is destroying this planet. Right. It's, it's not this way. It has to be that way and this binary right. Wrong way of thinking. Miko Lee: Yeah. Kazu Haga: But yeah. The first spiritual book I ever read when I was 16 years old was a book by Thích Nhất Hanh called Living Buddha, living Christ. Yes. And in that book he was saying that the teachings of the Buddha and the teachings of Jesus Christ, if you really look at the essence of it, is the same thing. Miko Lee: That's right. Yeah. This brings us to your book, fierce Vulnerability, healing from Trauma Emerging Through Collapse. And we are living in that time right now. We're living in a time of utter collapse where every day it seems like there's a new calamity. We are seeing our government try to take over Venezuela right now and put police forces into Minnesota. It's just crazy what's going on. I wonder if you can just talk a little bit about this book. Clearly it's the Times that has influenced your title and [00:34:00] in influenced you to write this book can be, share a little bit more about what you're aiming to do. Kazu Haga: Yeah, and you know, it's also Greenland and Cuba and Colombia and Panama, and it's also the climate crisis and it's also all of these other authoritarian regimes that are rising to power around the co, around the world. And it's also pandemics and the next pandemics. And we are living in a time of the poly crisis. A time that our recent ancestor, Joanna Macy calls the great turning or the great unraveling so we can get to the great turning where all of these systems are in a state of collapse and the things that we have come to, to be able to rely on are all unraveling. And I think if we are not grounded in. Again, I use this word spirituality very broadly speaking, but if we are not grounded in a sense that we are connected to something so much larger than ourselves as individuals, I think it's so easy to just collapse and get into this trauma response state in response to all of the crises that we are facing, and so fierce vulnerability. It's at the intersection of spiritual practice, trauma healing, and nonviolent action, and understanding that in response to all of these crises that we are facing, we need powerful forms of action. To harness the power necessary to create the transformations that we need to see. And at the same time, can we see even forms of nonviolent resistance as a form of, as a modality of collective trauma healing? And what are the practices that we need to be doing internally within our own movements to stay grounded enough to remember that we are interdependent with all people and with all life. What does it take for us to be so deeply grounded that even as we face a possible mass extinction event that we can remember to breathe and that we can remember that we are trying to create beauty, not just to destroy what we don't like, but we are trying to affirm life. What does that look like? And so if fierce vulnerability is an experiment, like we don't have all the answers, but if I could just put in a plug, we're about to launch this three month. Experiment called the Fierce Vulnerability Kinship Lab, where we'll be gathering across the world. Participants will be placed in small teams, that are regionally based, so you can meet with people in person, hopefully, and to really try to run a bunch of experiments of what is it gonna take to respond to state violence, to respond to these crises in a way that continues to affirm life and reminds us that we belong to each other. Miko Lee: That sounds amazingly powerful. Can you share how people can get involved in these labs? Kazu Haga: People can check it out on my website, kazu haga.com, and it'll link to the actual website, which is convene.community. It's K-I-N-V-E-N-E. It's a combination of the idea of kinship and community. It's gonna be a really cool program. We just announced it publicly and France Weller and Ma Muse and Kairo Jewel Lingo, and it's gonna be a lot of great teach. And we're trying to just give people, I know so many people are yearning for a way to respond to state violence in a way that feels deeply aligned with their most sacred beliefs and their value systems around interdependence, and peacemaking and reconciliation, but also recognizes that we need to harness power that we need to. Step out of the comfort of our meditation cushions and yoga centers and actually hit the streets. But to do so in a way that brings about healing. It's our way of creating some communities where we can experiment with that in supportive ways. Miko Lee: What is giving you hope these days? Kazu Haga: My daughter and the community that I live in. Like when I look up at the world, things are in a state of collapse. Like when I watch the news, there's a lot of things that are happening that can take away my hope. But I think if we stop looking up all the time and just start looking around, if I start looking around in, not at the vertical plane, but at the horizontal plane, what I see are so many. Amazing communities that are being birthed, land-based communities, mutual aid networks, communities, where people are living together in relationship and trying to recreate village like structures. There are so many incredible, like healing collaboratives. And even the ways that we have brought song culture and spirit back into social movement spaces more and more in the last 10, 15 years, there are so many things that are happening that are giving birth to new life sustaining systems. We're so used to thinking that because the crisis is so big, the response that we need is equally big. When we're looking for like big things, we're not seeing movements with millions of millions of people into the in, in the streets. We're not seeing a new nonprofit organizations with billions of dollars that have the capacity to transform the world because I think we keep looking for big in response to big. But I think if we look at a lot of wisdom traditions, particularly Eastern Traditions, Daoism and things like that, they'll tell us that. Perhaps the best way to respond to the bigness of the crises of our times is to stay small. And so if we look for small signs of new life, new systems, new ways of being in relationship to each other and to the earth, I think we see signs of that all over the place. You know, small spiritual communities that are starting up. And so I see so much of that in my life, and I'm really blessed to be surrounded by a lot of that. Miko Lee: I really appreciate how you walk the walk and talk, the talk in terms of teaching and living in a collective space and even how you live your life in terms of speaking engagements and things. Can you share a little bit about the gift economy that you practice and what's that about? Share with our audience what that even means. Kazu Haga: Yeah. I love this question. Thank you. So the gift economy to me is our attempts at building economic structures that learn from how natural ecosystems share and distribute its resources, right? It's an alternative model to the market system of economics where everything is transac. If you look out into nature, nothing is transactional. Right? All of the gifts that a mycelial network gives to the forest, that it's a part of the ecology that it's a part of. It's given freely, but it's also given freely because it knows that it is part of a deeply interdependent ecosystem where it will also receive everything it needs to be nourished. And so there's a lot that I can say about that. I actually working on, my next book will be on the Gift Economy. But one of the main manifestations of that is all of the work that I do, I try to offer as a gift. So I don't charge anything for the work that I do. The workshops that I organize, you know, the Convene three month program that I told you about, it's a three month long program with world renowned leaders and we are asking people to pay a $25 registration fee that'll support the platform that, that we're building, the program on. And. There's no kind of set fee for the teachers, myself, Francis Weller, mam, all these people. And people have an opportunity to give back to the ecosystem if they feel called and if they're able to try to sustain, to help sustain our work. But we really want to be able to offer this as a gift. And I think in the market economy, a three month virtual training with well-known teachers for $25 is unheard of. Of course $25 doesn't sustain me. It doesn't sustain all of the teachers that are gonna be part of this, but I have so much faith that if we give our work freely and have faith that we are doing the work that we're meant to be doing, that the universe will come together to sustain us. And so I am sustained with the generosity of a lot of [00:42:00] people, a lot of donors, a lot of people who come to my workshop and feel called to give, not out of a sense of obligation, but because they want to support me in my work. Miko Lee: Thank you for sharing and I was so impressed on your website where you break down your family's whole annual budget and everything that you spent funds on. Everybody talks about transparency, but nobody really does it. But you're actually doing it. And for reals, just showing something that's an antidote to the capitalist system to be able to say, okay, this is us. This is our family, this is how we travel, this is what we do, and. I found it really charming and impressive in our, it's hard to rebel against a system where everything has been built up so that we're supposed to act a certain way. So appreciate you. Absolutely. Yeah. Showing some alternatives and I didn't know that's gonna be your next book. So exciting. Kazu Haga: Yeah, I just started it. I'm really grateful that I have a partner that is okay with sharing all of our family's finances transparently. That helps because it is a big thing, you know? Yeah. But one of the things that I really learned. But the gift economy is that if there isn't information, if there isn't transparency about what the system's needs are, then it becomes dependent on every individual to figure out. How much they want to give to that system. And I think the gift economy is trying to break outta that the model of individualism and understand that we are interdependent and we live in this rich ecosystem of interdependence. And so if people's needs aren't transparent, then it's hard for people to figure out how they want to engage in that relationship. Miko Lee: Can you share a little bit more the example of Buddhist monks and how they have the basket and. Share that story a bit for our audience. Kazu Haga: Yeah. So historically, in a lot of, particularly south and southeastern, Asian countries, Buddhist monks, they go around, they walk their community every morning, begging, quote unquote for alms. They ask for donations, and the people in that village in that town will offer them bread or rice or whatever it is. That's kind of the food that, that monks and monastics eat. And so if a Buddhist monk is walking around with a bowl and you see that their bowl is already full, you have a sense, oh, this monastic might not need any more food, but the next monastic that comes along might. And so it's this transparent way of saying, oh, this person's needs are met, so let me hold on to the one piece of bread that I have that I can donate today and see if the next person will need it. And so in that way. If I share my finance transparently, you know, if my financial needs for the month or for the quarter are met, then maybe people who attend my workshops will feel like, oh, I don't have a lot of money to give. Maybe I don't need to give to support Kazu Haga, but maybe I can support, the facilitator for the next workshop that I attend. And so, in that way, I'm hoping that me being transparent about where my finances are will help people gauge how they want to be in relationship with me. Miko Lee: Thank you. I appreciate it. You talk a lot about in your work about ancestral technology or the wisdom, our ancestral wisdoms and how powerful that is. It made me think about the day after the election when Trump was elected. I happened to be in this gathering of progressive artists in the Bay Area and everybody was. Incredibly depressed. There was even, should we cancel that day or not? But we pulled together, it was at the Parkway Theater in Oakland and there was an aone leader and she talked about the eighth fire and how we are in the time of the eighth fire and you write about the fires in your book, and I'm wondering if you can talk about the seven fires and the prophecy belt. Kazu Haga: Yeah. So through a strange course of events, I had the incredible privilege early on in my life when I was in my early teens, 11, 12, 13, 14 years old, to spend every summer going to the Algonquin Reservation, Anishnabe Nation, way up in Northern Quebec, and spend my evenings sleeping in the basement of Chief William Commander, who was the holder of the seven Fire Prophecies Wampum Belt. This is a prophecy that told the story of the seventh fire that we are in the time of the seventh fire. And this is a moment in the history of our species where we can remember what it means to be human and to go backwards and to reclaim our spiritual path. If we are able to do that, then we can rebuild a new world, the eighth fire and build a world of lasting peace. But if we are unable to do that and continue down this material journey, that will lead to a world of destruction. And this is, prophecies like this one and similar indigenous prophecies that speak the same exact things are the things that were. Just surrounded, that I was surrounded by when I was younger, and I'm so grateful that even though I didn't really believe this kind of stuff when I was younger, it was like the, you know, crazy hippie newey stuff that my mom was into. I'm so grateful to have been surrounded by these teachings and hearing these teachings directly from the elders whose lives purpose. It was to share these teachings with us because when I look out at the world now, it really feels like we are in a choice point as a species. Like we can continue to walk down one journey, one path, and I could very easily see how it would lead to a world of destruction. But we have an opportunity to remember who we are and how we're meant to live in relationship with each other and to the earth. And I have a lot of faith that if we're able to do that, we can build such a beautiful future for our children. And so I think this is the moment that we're in. Miko Lee: Yeah. Thank you so much. Can you share a little bit about your mom? It seems like she was a rule breaker and she introduced you to so many things and you're appreciating it later as an adult, but at the time you're like, what is this? Kazu Haga: Yeah. You know, she was. She grew up in Japan. We were all born in Japan, but she spent a year overseas in the United States as ex as an exchange student in high school. And she always tells me when she went back to Japan, she was listening to the Beatles, and she shaved her legs and she was this like rebellious person in Japan. But yeah, my mom is never been a political activist in the same way that, that I've become. But she's always been deeply, deeply grounded in spiritual practice. Miko Lee: Mm-hmm. Kazu Haga: And for various reasons have always had deep relationships with indigenous elders in North America and Turtle Island. And so I'm always grateful. I feel like she sowed a lot of seeds that when I was young, I made fun of meditation and I was not into spiritual practice at all. 45 years into my life, I find myself doing all the same things that, that she was doing when I was young, and really seeing that as the foundation of the work that I do in the world today. Miko Lee: And have you, have you talked with her about this? Kazu Haga: Oh yeah. I live with her, so we regularly Oh, I Miko Lee: didn't realize Kazu Haga: that.Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's read the book and Yeah. We have a lot of opportunities to, to yeah, just talk and, and reminisce and, and wonder at. How life has a tendency to always come back full circle. Miko Lee: Mm. The paths we lead and how they intertwine in some ways. Definitely. Mm, I love that. I let you know before we went on air is that I'm also interviewing the author Chanel Miller in this episode. You shared with me that you are familiar with her work. Can you talk about that? Kazu Haga: Yeah, so, you know, I talk quite a bit in both of my books about how one of the great privileges that I have is to do restorative justice and trauma healing work with incarcerated people, mostly through the prisons in California. And one of the programs that I've had the privilege to be a part of is with the Ahimsa Collective, where we work with a lot of men who have an experience with sexual violence specifically, both as survivors of sexual harm and as perpetrators oftentimes. And in that program we actually used the letter that she wrote and published as an example of the power of what it could mean to be a survivor speaking their truth. And we used to read this letter in the groups with incarcerated people. And I remember the first time I ever read it, I was the one that was reading it out loud. I broke down into tears reading that, that letter, and it was so powerful. And it's one of those written statements that I think has helped a lot of people, incarcerated people, and survivors, oftentimes, they're both the same people, really heal from the scars that they've experienced in life. So yeah, I have a really deep connection to specifically that statement and her work. Miko Lee: Yeah, it's really powerful. I'm wondering, given that how you use art as a tool to heal for yourself. Kazu Haga: You know, I always wished I was a better poet or a better painter or something like that, but I do really feel like there are certain deep truths that cannot be expressed in just regular linear language. It can only be spoken in song or in dance or in poetry. There's something mystical. There's something that, that is beyond the intellect capacity to understand that I think can be powerfully and beautifully expressed through art. I think art and spiritual practice and prayer and things like that are very like closely aligned. And so in that way I, I try to touch the sacred, I try to touch spirit. I try to touch mystery in the things that I can't quite articulate. Just through conversation and giving in a lecture or a PowerPoint presentation, to, yeah, to touch into something more, more important. Miko Lee: And is your spiritual practice built into your every day? Kazu Haga: To the extent possible. One of the traditions that I have really learned a lot from and love is the Plum Village tradition founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. And they're so good at really reminding us that when we wash our dishes, that can be a spiritual practice, right? I'm the father of a young child. And so it's hard to actually sit down and meditate and to find time for that. And so, how can I use. My moments with my daughter when I'm reading her a book as a spiritual practice, how can I, use the time that I'm picking up the toys that's thrown all around the house as spiritual practice. So in that way, I really try to incorporate that sort of awareness and that reminder that I belong to something larger and everything that we do. Miko Lee: After hearing Ty speak one time, I tried to practice the chewing your food 45 times. I could not do it. Like, how does he do Kazu Haga: that? Some food is easier than others. If you eat oatmeal, it's a little harder, but Miko Lee: like that is some kind of practice I cannot do. Kazu Haga: But, you know, I have, a meditation teacher that years ago taught me every time you get inside your car. The moment that you turn the keys and turn on the ignition in your car, just take that moment and see if you can notice the texture of the keys and see if you can really feel your muscles turning to turn the key. And it's in these little moments that if we bring that intention to it, we can really turn what is like a, you know, a mindless moment into something with deep, deep awareness. Hmm. Miko Lee: Thank you for that. That's an interesting one. I have not heard that one before. Kazu Haga: Nowadays I just like push a button so it's even more mind less. Miko Lee: That's right. There's just a button Now. Keys, there's not even the time anymore to do that. That's right. What is it that you'd love folks to walk away with from being familiar with your work? You, there's so many aspects. You have different books that are out, you lead workshops, you're speaking, you are everyday walking through the world, sharing different things. What is one thing you'd love people to understand? Kazu Haga: Between both of my books and all the work that I do, so much of the essence is to try to help us remember. We belong to each other. I think the fear of isolation, the fear that we do not belong, is one of the most common fears that every human being has. Right? At some point in our lives, we felt like we don't belong. And while that is such a real fear, it's also a delusion. Like in an interdependent world, there is nothing outside of belonging, right? And so we already belong. We are already whole, we are already part of the vastness of the cosmos. There is so much power in remembering that we are part of the infinite universe, and I think the delusion that we do not belong to each other is like is the seed that creates the us versus them worldview, and it's that us versus them worldview that is at the heart of what is destroying our planet. In our efforts to create social change, how can we do so in a way that reminds us that even the people that are causing harm is a deeply critical interwoven web of relationships. That we are all in this web of relationship, that there's nobody outside of that, and how can we go about trying to create change in a way that reminds us of that? Miko Lee: Thank you. And my last question is, I'm wondering if there's something that you're learning from your child these days. Kazu Haga: Yeah, the, just the, the pure presence, right? That each moment is so deeply, deeply real, and each moment is to be honored. Like I am amazed at, we were eating asparagus the other day, and she was eating a whole bowl of asparagus, and she desperately needed me to get her the one piece of asparagus that she wanted. She was so frustrated that I couldn't find the one asparagus that she wanted, and so she was crying and screaming and throwing asparagus across the room, and then the moment I was able to find the one asparagus that she wanted, everything is fine. Everything is beautiful. She's smiling, she's laughing, and so just to. Not that we should be like throwing things around if we're not getting exactly what we want, but how can we honor our emotions every moment in a way that in that moment there is nothing outside of that moment. That sort of presence, is something that I really try to embody and try to learn from her. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for sharing with me. I really appreciate reading your books and being in community with you and, we'll put links to your website so that people Awesome. Thank you. Can find out more. And also, I really appreciate that you're having your books published by a small Buddhist press as and encouraging people to buy from that. Kazu Haga: Yeah. Shout out to ax. Miko Lee: Yes, we will absolutely put those links in our show notes. And thank you so much for joining us on Apex Today. Kazu Haga: Thank you so much for having me. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining me on this evening conversation with two different authors, Chanel Miller and Kazu Haga, and my little pitch is just to keep reading. Reading is such a critical and important way we learn about the world. I was just reading this thing that said the average Americans read 12 to 13 books a year. And when I checked in with friends and family, they said that could not be true. That they think they know many people who don't read any books. And I am just encouraging you all to pick up a book, especially by an Asian American Pacific Islander author, hear our perspectives, hear our stories. This is how we expand and understand our knowledge around the world. Grow closer to the people in both our lives and people around the world. So yea to reading, yea to Chanel Miller and Kazu Haga. And check out a local bookstore near you. If you wanna find out more information, please check out our website, kpfa.org, black slash programs, apex Express, where I will link both of these authors and how you can purchase their books at your local independent bookstore. Thank you very much. Goodnight. Please check out our website, kpfa.org. To find out more about our show tonight. We think all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Nina Phillips, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam Tonight's show was produced by me, your host, Miko Lee. Thank you so much for joining us. The post APEX Express – 1.15.26 – Chat with Authors appeared first on KPFA.

Yuri Kochiyama was an American civil rights activist born in San Pedro, California. Yuri's life and advocacy are extraordinary and I will only touch on some aspects of her life. I encourage you to learn more about Yuri and her incredible contributions to social justice and equity.

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 two-part series of Oakland Asian Cultural Center's “Let's Talk” podcast Eastside Arts Alliance is featured. Elena Serrano and Susanne Takehara, two of the founders of Eastside Arts Alliance, and staff member Aubrey Pandori will discuss the history that led to the formation of Eastside and their deep work around multi-racial solidarity.   Transcript: Let's Talk podcast episode 9  [00:00:00] Emma: My name is Emma Grover, and I am the program and communications coordinator at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, known also as OACC. Today we are sharing the ninth episode of our Let's Talk Audio Series. Let's Talk is part of OACC'S Open Ears for Change Initiative, which was established in 2020. With this series, our goals are to address anti-Blackness in the APIA communities, discuss the effects of colorism and racism in a safe space, and highlight Black and Asian solidarity and community efforts specifically in the Oakland Chinatown area. Today's episode is a round table discussion with Elena Serrano, Susanne Takahara, and Aubrey Pandori of Eastside Arts Alliance.  [00:00:53] Aubrey: Hello everybody. This is Aubrey from Eastside Arts Alliance, and I am back here for the second part of our Let's Talk with Suzanne and Elena. We're gonna be talking about what else Eastside is doing right now in the community. The importance of art in activism, and the importance of Black and Asian solidarity in Oakland and beyond.  So I am the community archivist here at Eastside Arts Alliances. I run CARP, which stands for Community Archival Resource Project. It is a project brought on by one of our co-founders, Greg Morozumi. And it is primarily a large chunk of his own collection from over the years, but it is a Third World archive with many artifacts, journals, pens, newspapers from social movements in the Bay Area and beyond, international social movements from the 1960s forward. We do a few different programs through CARP. I sometimes have archival exhibitions. We do public engagement through panels, community archiving days. We collaborate with other community archives like the Bay Area Lesbian Archives and Freedom Archives here in Oakland and the Bay Area. And we are also working on opening up our Greg Morozumi Reading Room in May. So that is an opportunity for people to come in and relax, read books, host reading groups, or discussions with their community. We're also gonna be opening a lending system so people are able to check out books to take home and read. There'll be library cards coming soon for that and other fun things to come.  [00:02:44] So Suzanne, what are you working on at Eastside right now? [00:02:48] Susanne: Well, for the past like eight or nine years I've been working with Jose Ome Navarrete and Debbie Kajiyama of NAKA Dance Theater to produce Live Arts and Resistance (LAIR), which is a Dance Theater Performance series. We've included many artists who, some of them started out here at Eastside and then grew to international fame, such as Dohee Lee, and then Amara Tabor-Smith has graced our stages for several years with House Full of Black Women. This year we're working with Joti Singh on Ghadar Geet: Blood and Ink, a piece she choreographed, and shot in film and it's a multimedia kind of experience. We've worked with Cat Brooks and many emerging other artists who are emerging or from all over, mostly Oakland, but beyond. It's a place where people can just experiment and not worry about a lot of the regulations that bigger theaters have. Using the outside, the inside, the walls, the ceiling sometimes. It's been an exciting experience to work with so many different artists in our space.  [00:04:03] Elena: And I have been trying to just get the word out to as many different folks who can help sustain the organization as possible about the importance of the work we do here. So my main job with Eastside has been raising money. But what we're doing now is looking at cultural centers like Eastside, like Oakland Asian Cultural Center, like the Malonga Casquelord Center, like Black Cultural Zone, like the Fruitvale Plaza and CURJ's work. These really integral cultural hubs. In neighborhoods and how important those spaces are.  [00:04:42] So looking at, you know, what we bring to the table with the archives, which serve the artistic community, the organizing community. There's a big emphasis, and we had mentioned some of this in the first episode around knowing the history and context of how we got here so we can kind of maneuver our way out. And that's where books and movies and posters and artists who have been doing this work for so long before us come into play in the archives and then having it all manifest on the stage through programs like LAIR, where theater artists and dancers and musicians, and it's totally multimedia, and there's so much information like how to keep those types of places going is really critical.  [00:05:28] And especially now when public dollars have mostly been cut, like the City of Oakland hardly gave money to the arts anyway, and they tried to eliminate the entire thing. Then they're coming back with tiny bits of money. But we're trying to take the approach like, please, let's look at where our tax dollars go. What's important in a neighborhood? What has to stay and how can we all work together to make that happen?  [00:05:52] Susanne: And I want to say that our Cultural Center theater is a space that is rented out very affordably to not just artists, but also many organizations that are doing Movement work, such as Palestinian Youth Movement, Bala, Mujeres Unidas Y Activas, QT at Cafe Duo Refugees, United Haiti Action Committee, Freedom Archives, Oakland Sin Fronteras, Center for CPE, and many artists connected groups.  [00:06:22] Aubrey: Yeah, I mean, we do so much more than what's in the theater and Archive too, we do a lot of different youth programs such as Girl Project, Neighborhood Arts, where we do public murals. One of our collective members, Angie and Leslie, worked on Paint the Town this past year. We also have our gallery in between the Cultural Center and Bandung Books, our bookstore, which houses our archive. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary exhibition.  [00:06:54] Susanne: And one of the other exhibits we just wrapped up was Style Messengers, an exhibit of graffiti work from Dime, Spy and Surge, Bay Area artists and Surge is from New York City, kind of illustrating the history of graffiti and social commentary.  [00:07:30] Elena: We are in this studio here recording and this is the studio of our youth music program Beats Flows, and I love we're sitting here with this portrait of Amiri Baraka, who had a lot to say to us all the time. So it's so appropriate that when the young people are in the studio, they have this elder, magician, poet activist looking at him, and then when you look out the window, you see Sister Souljah, Public Enemy, and then a poster we did during, when Black Lives Matter came out, we produced these posters that said Black Power Matters, and we sent them all over the country to different sister cultural centers and I see them pop up somewhere sometimes and people's zooms when they're home all over the country. It's really amazing and it just really shows when you have a bunch of artists and poets and radical imagination, people sitting around, you know, what kind of things come out of it. [00:08:31] Aubrey: I had one of those Black Power Matters posters in my kitchen window when I lived in Chinatown before I worked here, or visited here actually. I don't even know how I acquired it, but it just ended up in my house somehow.  [00:08:45] Elena: That's perfect. I remember when we did, I mean we still do, Malcolm X Jazz Festival and it was a young Chicana student who put the Jazz Festival poster up and she was like, her parents were like, why is Malcolm X? What has that got to do with anything? And she was able to just tell the whole story about Malcolm believing that people, communities of color coming together  is a good thing. It's a powerful thing. And it was amazing how the festival and the youth and the posters can start those kind of conversations.  [00:09:15] Aubrey: Malcolm X has his famous quote that says “Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle.” And Elena, we think a lot about Malcolm X and his message here at Eastside about culture, but also about the importance of art. Can we speak more about the importance of art in our activism?  [00:09:35] Elena: Well, that was some of the things we were touching on around radical imagination and the power of the arts. But where I am going again, is around this power of the art spaces, like the power of spaces like this, and to be sure that it's not just a community center, it's a cultural center, which means we invested in sound good, sound good lighting, sprung floors. You know, just like the dignity and respect that the artists and our audiences have, and that those things are expensive but critical. So I feel like that's, it's like to advocate for this type of space where, again, all those groups that we listed off that have come in here and there's countless more. They needed a space to reach constituencies, you know, and how important that is. It's like back in the civil rights organizing the Black church was that kind of space, very important space where those kind of things came together. People still go to church and there's still churches, but there's a space for cultural centers and to have that type of space where artists and activists can come together and be more powerful together.  [00:10:50] Aubrey: I think art is a really powerful way of reaching people. [00:10:54] Elena: You know, we're looking at this just because I, being in the development end, we put together a proposal for the Environmental Protection Agency before Donald (Trump) took it over. We were writing about how important popular education is, so working with an environmental justice organization who has tons of data about how impacted communities like East Oakland and West Oakland are suffering from all of this, lots of science. But what can we, as an arts group, how can we produce a popular education around those things? And you know, how can we say some of those same messages in murals and zines, in short films, in theater productions, you know, but kind of embracing that concept of popular education. So we're, you know, trying to counter some of the disinformation that's being put out there too with some real facts, but in a way that, you know, folks can grasp onto and, and get.  [00:11:53] Aubrey: We recently had a LAIR production called Sky Watchers, and it was a beautiful musical opera from people living in the Tenderloin, and it was very personal. You were able to hear about people's experiences with poverty, homelessness, and addiction in a way that was very powerful. How they were able to express what they were going through and what they've lost, what they've won, everything that has happened in their lives in a very moving way. So I think art, it's, it's also a way for people to tell their stories and we need to be hearing those stories. We don't need to be hearing, I think what a lot of Hollywood is kind of throwing out, which is very white, Eurocentric beauty standards and a lot of other things that doesn't reflect our neighborhood and doesn't reflect our community. So yeah, art is a good way for us to not only tell our stories, but to get the word out there, what we want to see changed.  So our last point that we wanna talk about today is the importance of Black and Asian solidarity in Oakland. How has that been a history in Eastside, Suzanne?  [00:13:09] Susanne: I feel like Eastside is all about Third World solidarity from the very beginning. And Yuri Kochiyama is one of our mentors through Greg Morozumi and she was all about that. So I feel like everything we do brings together Black, Asian and brown folks. [00:13:27] Aubrey: Black and Asian solidarity is especially important here at Eastside Arts Alliance. It is a part of our history. We have our bookstore called Bandung Books for a very specific reason, to give some history there. So the Bandung Conference happened in 1955 in Indonesia, and it was the first large-scale meeting of Asian and African countries. Most of which were newly independent from colonialism. They aimed to promote Afro-Asian cooperation and rejection of colonialism and imperialism in all nations. And it really set the stage for revolutionary solidarity between colonized and oppressed people, letting way for many Third Worlds movements internationally and within the United States.  [00:14:14] Eastside had an exhibition called Bandung to the Bay: Black and Asian Solidarity at Oakland Asian Cultural Center the past two years in 2022 and 2023 for their Lunar New Year and Black History Month celebrations. It highlighted the significance of that conference and also brought to light what was happening in the United States from the 1960s to present time that were creating and building solidarity between Black and Asian communities. The exhibition highlighted a number of pins, posters, and newspapers from the Black Liberation Movement and Asian American movement, as well as the broader Third World movement. The Black Panthers were important points of inspiration in Oakland, in the Bay Area in getting Asian and Pacific Islanders in the diaspora, and in their homelands organized.  [00:15:07] We had the adoption of the Black Panthers 10-point program to help shape revolutionary demands and principles for people's own communities like the Red Guard in San Francisco's Chinatown, IWK in New York's Chinatown and even the Polynesian Panthers in New Zealand. There were so many different organizations that came out of the Black Panther party right here in Oakland. And we honor that by having so many different 10-point programs up in our theater too. We have the Brown Berets, Red Guard Party, Black Panthers, of course, the American Indian Movement as well. So we're always thinking about that kind of organizing and movement building that has been tied here for many decades now.  [00:15:53] Elena: I heard that the term Third World came from the Bandung conference. [00:15:58] Aubrey: Yes, I believe that's true.  [00:16:01] Elena: I wanted to say particularly right now, the need for specifically Black Asian solidarity is just, there's so much misinformation around China coming up now, especially as China takes on a role of a superpower in the world. And it's really up to us to provide some background, some other information, some truth telling, so folks don't become susceptible to that kind of misinformation. And whatever happens when it comes from up high and we hate China, it reflects in Chinatown. And that's the kind of stereotyping that because we have been committed to Third World solidarity and truth telling for so long, that that's where we can step in and really, you know, make a difference, we hope. I think the main point is that we need to really listen to each other, know what folks are going through, know that we have more in common than we have separating us, especially in impacted Black, brown, Asian communities in Oakland. We have a lot to do.  [00:17:07] Aubrey: To keep in contact with Eastside Arts Alliance, you can find us at our website: eastside arts alliance.org, and our Instagrams at Eastside Cultural and at Bandung Books to stay connected with our bookstore and CArP, our archive, please come down to Eastside Arts Alliance and check out our many events coming up in the new year. We are always looking for donations and volunteers and just to meet new friends and family.  [00:17:36] Susanne: And with that, we're gonna go out with Jon Jang's “The Pledge of Black Asian Alliance,” produced in 2018.  [00:18:29] Emma: This was a round table discussion at the Eastside Arts Alliance Cultural Center with staff and guests: Elena, Suzanne and Aubrey.  Let's Talk Audio series is one of OACC'S Open Ears for Change projects and as part of the Stop the Hate Initiative with funds provided by the California Department of Social Services in consultation with the commission of Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs to administer $110 million allocated over three years to community organizations. These organizations provide direct services to victims of hate and their families and offer prevention and intervention services to tackle hate in our communities. This episode is a production of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center with engineering, editing, and sound design by Thick Skin Media.  [00:19:18] A special thanks to Jon Jang for permission to use his original music. And thank you for listening.  [00:19:32] Music: Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another. Don't become too narrow, live fully, meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart. OACC Podcast [00:00:00] Emma: My name is Emma Grover, and I am the program and communications coordinator at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, known also as OACC. Today we are sharing the eighth episode of our Let's Talk audio series. Let's talk as part of OACC's Open Ears for Change Initiative, which was established in 2020. With this series, our goals are to address anti-blackness in the APIA communities, discuss the effects of colorism and racism in a safe space, and highlight black and Asian solidarity and community efforts specifically in the Oakland Chinatown area.   [00:00:43] Today's guests are Elena Serrano and Suzanne Takahara, co-founders of Eastside Arts Alliance. Welcome Elena and Suzanne, thank you so much for joining today's episode. And so just to kick things off, wanna hear about how was Eastside Arts Alliance started?   [00:01:01] Susanne: Well, it was really Greg Morozumi who had a longstanding vision of creating a cultural center in East Oakland, raised in Oakland, an organizer in the Bay Area, LA, and then in New York City where he met Yuri Kochiyama, who became a lifelong mentor.   [00:01:17] Greg was planning with one of Yuri's daughters, Ichi Kochiyama to move her family to Oakland and help him open a cultural center here. I met Greg in the early nineties and got to know him during the January, 1993 “No Justice, No Peace” show at Pro Arts in Oakland. The first Bay Graffiti exhibition in the gallery. Greg organized what became a massive anti-police brutality graffiti installation created by the TDDK crew. Graffiti images and messages covered the walls and ceiling complete with police barricades. It was a response to the Rodney King protests. The power of street art busted indoors and blew apart the gallery with political messaging. After that, Greg recruited Mike Dream, Spy, and other TDK writers to help teach the free art classes for youth that Taller Sin Fronteras was running at the time.   [00:02:11] There were four artist groups that came together to start Eastside. Taller Sin Fronteras was an ad hoc group of printmakers and visual artists activists based in the East Bay. Their roots came out of the free community printmaking, actually poster making workshops that artists like Malaquias Montoya and David Bradford organized in Oakland in the early 70s and 80s.   [00:02:34] The Black Dot Collective of poets, writers, musicians, and visual artists started a popup version of the Black Dot Cafe. Marcel Diallo and Leticia Utafalo were instrumental and leaders of this project. 10 12 were young digital artists and activists led by Favianna Rodriguez and Jesus Barraza in Oakland. TDK is an Oakland based graffiti crew that includes Dream, Spie, Krash, Mute, Done Amend, Pak and many others evolving over time and still holding it down.   [00:03:07] Elena: That is a good history there. And I just wanted to say that me coming in and meeting Greg and knowing all those groups and coming into this particular neighborhood, the San Antonio district of Oakland, the third world aspect of who we all were and what communities we were all representing and being in this geographic location where those communities were all residing. So this neighborhood, San Antonio and East Oakland is very third world, Black, Asian, Latinx, indigenous, and it's one of those neighborhoods, like many neighborhoods of color that has been disinvested in for years. But rich, super rich in culture.   [00:03:50] So the idea of a cultural center was…let's draw on where our strengths are and all of those groups, TDKT, Taller Sin Fronters, Black artists, 10 – 12, these were all artists who were also very engaged in what was going on in the neighborhoods. So artists, organizers, activists, and how to use the arts as a way to lift up those stories tell them in different ways. Find some inspiration, ways to get out, ways to build solidarity between the groups, looking at our common struggles, our common victories, and building that strength in numbers.   [00:04:27] Emma: Thank you so much for sharing. Elena and Suzanne, what a rich and beautiful history for Eastside Arts Alliance.   [00:04:34] Were there any specific political and or artistic movements happening at that time that were integral to Eastside's start?   [00:04:41] Elena: You know, one of the movements that we took inspiration from, and this was not happening when Eastside got started, but for real was the Black Panther Party. So much so that the Panthers 10-point program was something that Greg xeroxed and made posters and put 'em up on the wall, showing how the 10-point program for the Panthers influenced that of the Young Lords and the Brown Berets and I Wor Kuen (IWK).   [00:05:07] So once again, it was that Third world solidarity. Looking at these different groups that were working towards similar things, it still hangs these four posters still hang in our cultural, in our theater space to show that we were all working on those same things. So even though we came in at the tail end of those movements, when we started Eastside, it was very much our inspiration and what we strove to still address; all of those points are still relevant right now.   [00:05:36] Susanne: So that was a time of Fight The Power, Kaos One and Public Enemy setting. The tone for public art murals, graphics, posters. So that was kind of the context for which art was being made and protests happened.   [00:05:54] Elena: There was a lot that needed to be done and still needs to be done. You know what? What the other thing we were coming on the tail end of and still having massive repercussions was crack. And crack came into East Oakland really hard, devastated generations, communities, everything, you know, so the arts were a way for some folks to still feel power and feel strong and feel like they have agency in the world, especially hip hop and, spray can, and being out there and having a voice and having a say, it was really important, especially in neighborhoods where things had just been so messed up for so long.   [00:06:31] Emma: I would love to know also what were the community needs Eastside was created to address, you know, in this environment where there's so many community needs, what was Eastside really honing in on at this time?   [00:06:41] Elena: It's interesting telling our story because we end up having to tell so many other stories before us, so things like the, Black Arts movement and the Chicano Arts Movement. Examples of artists like Amiri Baraka, Malaguias Montoya, Sonya Sanchez. Artists who had committed themselves to the struggles of their people and linking those two works. So we always wanted to have that. So the young people that we would have come into the studio and wanna be rappers, you know, it's like, what is your responsibility?   [00:07:15] You have a microphone, you amplify. What are some of the things you're saying? So it was on us. To provide that education and that backstory and where they came from and the footsteps we felt like they were in and that they needed to keep moving it forward. So a big part of the cultural center in the space are the archives and all of that information and history and context.   [00:07:37] Susanne: And we started the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival for that same reason coming out of the Bandung Conference. And then the Tri Continental, all of this is solidarity between people's movements.   [00:07:51] Emma: You've already talked about this a little bit, the role of the arts in Eastside's foundation and the work that you're doing, and I'd love to hear also maybe how the role of the arts continues to be important in the work that you're doing today as a cultural center.   [00:08:04] And so my next question to pose to you both is what is the role of the arts at Eastside?   [00:08:10] Elena: So a couple different things. One, I feel like, and I said a little bit of this before, but the arts can transmit messages so much more powerfully than other mediums. So if you see something acted out in a theater production or a song or a painting, you get that information transmitted in a different way.   [00:08:30] Then also this idea of the artists being able to tap into imagination and produce images and visions and dreams of the future. This kind of imagination I just recently read or heard because folks aren't reading anymore or hardly reading that they're losing their imagination. What happens when you cannot even imagine a way out of things?   [00:08:54] And then lastly, I just wanted to quote something that Favianna Rodriguez, one of our founders always says “cultural shift precedes political shift.” So if you're trying to shift things politically on any kind of policy, you know how much money goes to support the police or any of these issues. It's the cultural shift that needs to happen first. And that's where the cultural workers, the artists come in.   [00:09:22] Susanne: And another role of Eastside in supporting the arts to do just that is honoring the artists, providing a space where they can have affordable rehearsal space or space to create, or a place to come safely and just discuss things that's what we hope and have created for the Eastside Cultural Center and now the bookstore and the gallery. A place for them to see themselves and it's all um, LGBTA, BIPOC artists that we serve and honor in our cultural center. To that end, we, in the last, I don't know, 8, 9 years, we've worked with Jose Navarrete and Debbie Kajiyama of Naka Dance Theater to produce live arts and resistance, which gives a stage to emerging and experienced performance artists, mostly dancers, but also poets, writers, theater and actors and musicians.   [00:10:17] Emma: The last question I have for you both today is what is happening in the world that continues to call us to action as artists?   [00:10:27] Elena: Everything, everything is happening, you know, and I know things have always been happening, but it seems really particularly crazy right now on global issues to domestic issues. For a long time, Eastside was um, really focusing in on police stuff and immigration stuff because it was a way to bring Black and brown communities together because they were the same kind of police state force, different ways.   [00:10:54] Now we have it so many different ways, you know, and strategies need to be developed. Radical imagination needs to be deployed. Everyone needs to be on hand. A big part of our success and our strength is organizations that are not artistic organizations but are organizing around particular issues globally, locally come into our space and the artists get that information. The community gets that information. It's shared information, and it gives us all a way, hopefully, to navigate our way out of it.   [00:11:29] Susanne: The Cultural Center provides a venue for political education for our communities and our artists on Palestine, Haiti, Sudan, immigrant rights, prison abolition, police abolition, sex trafficking, and houselessness among other things.   [00:11:46] Elena: I wanted to say too, a big part of what's going on is this idea of public disinvestment. So housing, no such thing as public housing, hardly anymore. Healthcare, education, we're trying to say access to cultural centers. We're calling that the cultural infrastructure of neighborhoods. All of that must be continued to be supported and we can't have everything be privatized and run by corporations. So that idea of these are essential things in a neighborhood, schools, libraries, cultural spaces, and you know, and to make sure cultural spaces gets on those lists.   [00:12:26] Emma: I hear you. And you know, I think every category you brought up, actually just now I can think of one headline or one piece of news recently that is really showing how critically these are being challenged, these basic rights and needs of the community. And so thank you again for the work that you're doing and keeping people informed as well. I think sometimes with all the news, both globally and, and in our more local communities in the Bay Area or in Oakland. It can be so hard to know what actions to take, what tools are available. But again, that's the importance of having space for this type of education, for this type of activism. And so I am so grateful that Eastside exists and is continuing to serve our community in this way.   What is Eastside Arts Alliance up to today? Are there any ways we can support your collective, your organization, what's coming up?   [00:13:18] Elena: Well, this is our 25th anniversary. So the thing that got us really started by demonstrating to the community what a cultural center was, was the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival, and that this year will be our 25th anniversary festival happening on May 17th.   [00:13:34] It's always free. It's in San Antonio Park. It's an amazing day of organizing and art and music, multi-generational. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful day. Folks can find out. We have stuff going on every week. Every week at the cultural center on our website through our socials. Our website is Eastside Arts alliance.org, and all the socials are there and there's a lot of information from our archives that you can look up there. There's just just great information on our website, and we also send out a newsletter.   [00:14:07] Emma: Thank you both so much for sharing, and I love you bringing this idea, but I hear a lot of arts and activism organizations using this term radical imagination and how it's so needed for bringing forth the future that we want for ourselves and our future generations.   [00:14:24] And so I just think that's so beautiful that Eastside creates that space, cultivates a space where that radical imagination can take place through the arts, but also through community connections. Thank you so much Elena and Suzanne for joining us today.   [00:14:40] Susanne: Thank you for having us.   [00:15:32] Emma: Let's Talk Audio series is one of OACC'S Open Ears for Change projects and is part of the Stop the Hate Initiative with funds provided by the California Department of Social Services. In consultation with the commission of Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs to administer $110 million allocated over three years to community organizations. These organizations provide direct services to victims of hate and their families, and offer prevention and intervention services to tackle hate in our communities.   This episode is a production of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center with engineering, editing, and sound design by Thick Skin Media. A special thanks to Jon Jang for permission to use his original music, and thank you for listening.   [00:16:34] Music: Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another. Don't become too narrow. Live fully, meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart. The post APEX Express – August 14, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

In this episode, we are live and in-person at The Broad Center at Yale School of Management Forum 2025, with special guest, Akemi Kochiyama. Akemi is a scholar-activist, community builder, and Co-Director of the Yuri Kochiyama Solidarity Project, whose mission is to carry on the work and legacy of her grandmother, Yuri Kochiyama.  We soak in the moment of doing our first recording in front of a live audience and for a community that is near and dear to us (0:50)Akemi shares her thoughts on Yuri's work, approach to solidarity and community building, and this idea about radical hospitality (4:50)How we move from relationships to solidarity and the weight and expectations of having a famous last name, and how Bill and Yuri Kochiyama met (19:00)We share our thoughts on how to navigate today and launching the Kochiyama Archives at Columbia University (39:30)Special shoutout to Feedspot and their 70 Best Asian American Podcasts list (we're #17!).

Send us a text Special guest Analysis joins us as we discuss the state of the US under Trump, the value of art, the forgotten legacy of Yuri Kochiyama, and the Luka/AD trade plus much moreSupport the show

Guest Preacher, Erna Kim Hackett, shares a special Mother's Day and AANHPI Month reflection on Yuri Kochiyama's legacy of radical solidarity and radical mothering. How might Yuri's life and witness point us to a God of justice, and teach us how to live in these days?

Yuri Kochiyama was a revolutionary! The legacy of her life's work as a civil rights activist has been beautifully documented in a children's picture book written by Kai Naima Williams, Harlem-born poet, artist, and Yuri's great-granddaughter. The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements walks readers through her origin story of becoming one of the country's most important advocators for Asian American rights. In our interview with Kai, she pinpoints the early beginnings of Kochiyama's life when her family was imprisoned in the Japanese-American Concentration camps during World World II. This horrific moment in America's history set in motion Kochiyama's push to live a life committed to ensuring the freedom of all minorities through social change. We also talk about Kochiyama's friendship with Malcolm X, and how that relationship encouraged her to become a freedom fighter. 

We have a special episode of #NessaOFFAir where we celebrate the legacy of the incredible freedom fighter, Yuri Kochiyama. Kaepernick Publishing has released a children's book on Yuri titled, “The Bridges Yuri Built”. Go behind the scenes with us as we talk about the book with the author @kainaima, who is Yuri's great granddaughter. Kai shares stories of Yuri growing up and how important it was or her to celebrate her great grandmother's legacy. Tune in to learn about Yuri's incredible life. Get the book, “The Bridges Yuri Built” available now everywhere books are sold. #yuri #malcolmx #books #childrensbook #kaepernick #publishing #civilrights #protest #reading #freedom #freedomfighter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mayo es el mes de la Herencia Asiática-Estadounidense y de las islas del Pacífico (AAPI, por sus siglas en inglés) dedicado a celebrar los logros y las contribuciones de los asiáticos y los isleños del Pacífico que residen en Estados Unidos. Esta conmemoración, que se originó después de la acción del Congreso de EE. UU. en 1997, sirve para resaltar la magnitud de las comunidades asiáticas y de las islas del Pacífico, la cual abarca más de 30 países donde se hablan más de 100 idiomas diferentes y donde las experiencias son igualmente variadas. Desde las historias de migración hasta sus historias de resistencia durante la época colonial, el trabajo de figuras prominentes como la Dra. Haunani Kay Trask, Carlos Bulosan, Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Pauline Park y Justice Mary I. Yu refleja la resiliencia continua de estas comunidades e identidades. 

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, dedicated to celebrating the achievements and contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders of the United States. Originating after U.S. Congress action in 1997, this commemoration serves to highlight the vastness of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, which spans more than 30 countries where over 100 different languages are spoken, and where the experiences are equally as varied. From the migration stories to their stories of colonial resistance, the work of prominent figures such as Dr. Haunani Kay Trask, Carols Bulosan, Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Pauline Park and Justice Mary I. Yu reflects the continued resilience of these communities and identities.  More at www.hsd.k12.or.us

Explore the life and enduring legacy of Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American woman whose experiences during WWII in concentration camps ignited her transformation into a civil rights icon. In this podcast episode, hosts Koji Steven Sakai and Michelle Malizaki delve into the intimate thoughts and profound adversities captured in Yuri's diary. From tales of community resilience within the camps to discussions on identity and patriotism, this episode honors Kochiyama's empathetic activism and challenges us to reflect on the true meaning of citizenship. Join us in paying tribute to a beacon of the civil rights movement and the resilient spirit that defines the Japanese American experience. ABOUT OUR PERFORMERSierra is a standup comic, writer, and actor. She recently shot her first hourlong standup special with Comedy Dynamics and can be seen playing Evangeline on Mindy Kaling's The Sex Lives of College Girls on Max. In the past, she was part of the main cast of The G Word with Adam Conover on Netflix and voiced characters for Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon. She has also written for shows like Exploding Kittens (Netflix), Close Enough (Max), Earth To Ned (Disney+), and Eureka! (Disney+).LINKShttps://www.nps.gov/people/yuri-kochiyama.htm JANM Online collection link for Yuri Kochiyama:https://janm.emuseum.com/groups/yuri-kochiyama--mary-nakahara--collection/resultsABOUT USWelcome to "Japanese America," where the Japanese American National Museum unveils captivating stories that add a Nikkei slant to the American narrative. In each episode, we explore the unique experiences, challenges, and triumphs of Japanese Americans, illuminating their rich contributions to the mosaic of American life. From historical milestones to contemporary perspectives, join us for an insightful journey through the curated collection of the Japanese American National Museum, showcasing the diverse tapestry of a community that has shaped the American story in extraordinary ways.  Welcome to "Japanese America," where each story unfolds like a chapter in a living history book.For more information about the Japanese American National Museum, please visit our website at www.janm.org. CREDITSThe music was created by  Jalen BlankWritten by Koji Steven SakaiHosts: Michelle Malizaki and Koji Steven SakaiEdited and Produced by Koji Steven Sakai in Conjunction with the Japanese American National Musem

“I'll just remind you that the only way that we will see light in this world is if you bring it. The only way that we will see change in this world is if you speak it. And the only way that people will know that God is still alive and moving in these streets is if you walk in these streets…” Sermon by the Rev. Eddie Anderson from worship at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 11, 2024 at All Saints Church, Pasadena. Readings: Psalm 102:12, 15, 17-21, from Yuri Kochiyama on Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass on Anti-Chinese Legislation, and Mark 9:1-13. Watch the sermon on YouTube.  Please consider pledging to All Saints Church at https://allsaints-pas.org/pledge/, or donate to support the mission and ministries of All Saints at https://allsaints-pas.org/donate/donate-now/. Any donation, big or small, is appreciated! Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AllSaintsPasadena/. Follow us on Instagram at #allsaintspas. Check out the rest of our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/allsaintspasadena1/videos. Subscribe, like, get notifications every time we post! Enjoy our extensive archive of stimulating and inspiring content!

This episode, which is co-hosted with Michael Nishimura, features a conversation with Dr. Diane C. Fujino, the author of Nisei Radicals: The Feminist Poetics and Transformative Ministry of Mitsuye Yamada and Reverend Michael Yasutake (University of Washington Press, 2020).  The book traces the activism of two siblings who charted their own paths for what it meant to be Nisei. Reverend Mike was an Episcopal minister whose politics changed with the historical contexts and circumstances surrounding his life, whereas Mitsuye is one of the most widely known Nisei feminists and writers and was among the first writers to discuss the experience of incarceration. Through detailing their half-century of dedication to global movements, including multicultural feminism, Puerto Rican independence, Japanese American redress, and Indigenous sovereignty, Reverend Mike and Mitsuye's lives complicate the dominant narrative that depicts Japanese Americans moving toward conservatism in the later part of the 20th century. Their lives present, in the words of Fujino, “a song of hope that transforms the ruptures and displacement of incarceration and atomic bombs, that moves from invisibility to insurgent mobilizations, and that rejects the projected polite politics of the Nisei to build, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ‘a world transcending citizenship' that demands in/sight for the blind, food for all those who hunger, and liberation for the captive, for all of us bound by colonial, racial, and patriarchal structures” (p.190). Dr. Fujino is a professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Broadly, her research examines Japanese and Asian American activist history within an Asian American Radical Tradition and shaped by Black Power and Third World decolonization. Nisei Radicals joins her other political biographies including Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama (University of Minnesota Press, 2005), Samurai among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life (University of Minnesota Press, 2012). She is also co-editor of Contemporary Asia American Activism: Building Movements for Liberation (University of Washington Press, 2022). Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) is a PhD candidate in History and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Michael Nishimura (he/him) is a graduate student in Sociology and Asian American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Story time with Katie & Allie. Grab a glass and pour a drink. Let's talk about Elenore Abbott, Rose O'Neill, & Yuri Kochiyama

Author Ed Lin stopped by to chat with me in the Talking Taiwan podcasting booth at Passport to Taiwan. This is the first of several live interviews we recorded at our outdoor on-location podcasting booth. We touched upon a broad range of topics, many that we've covered here in the past on Talking Taiwan. In fact, this gives us a good excuse to share some of our past episodes in the related links section for this episode on our website. On the other hand, my conversation with Ed brought up a few good ideas for future topics and guests that we should have on Talking Taiwan.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/ed-lin-our-interview-live-at-passport-to-taiwan-ep-242/   As Ed and I were talking, you'll hear us talking to some of the people who walked by and stopped by to say hello, among them were of some of our supporters, mutual friends and a previous Talking Taiwan guest another Lin, Peter Lin who's band the Asian American Jazz Collective performed at Passport to Taiwan that day. That's the thing about Passport to Taiwan, when you're there you never know who you'll run into. We were also thrilled to meet and talk to some of our listeners who stopped by our booth.  For those of you in New York City, you can catch Ed Lin performing in Short Stack 2 at the Ma-Yi Theatre from June 15-18. We'll include a link to purchase tickets online on the Talking Taiwan website.   CORRECTION: The restaurant that Ed refers to in the interview as 688 is actually the 886 Restaurant. The film that Ed mentions as Taipei Au Revoir is Au Revoir Taipei.   This episode of Talking Taiwan has been sponsored by NATWA, the North America Taiwanese Women's Association.    NATWA was founded in 1988, and its mission is:   1. to evoke a sense of self-esteem and enhance women's dignity, 2. to oppose gender discrimination and promote gender equality, 3. to fully develop women's potential and encourage their participation in public affairs, 4. to contribute to the advancement of human rights and democratic development in Taiwan, 5. to reach out and work with women's organizations worldwide to promote peace for all.   To learn more about NATWA visit their website: www.natwa.com    Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·       What Ed's been working on lately ·       How Ed will be performing in Short Stack 2 at the Ma-Yi Theater from June 15-18 to benefit Heart of Dinner, a community organization aiding and feeding working-class AAPI seniors throughout the city ·       Ed will be speaking at the TANG (Taiwanese American Next Generation)/TAC (Taiwanese American Conference), which will be at West Chester University from July 1-4 ·       Taiwanese soft power and how it compares to that of other island nations like Ireland or Jamaica's ·       People who will be stopping by to be interviewed in the Talking Taiwan podcasting booth at Passport to Taiwan ·       The upcoming movie adaptation of the novel Loveboat Taipei ·       Things to do in the first 24 hours upon arriving in Taiwan ·       Ximending Red House in Taipei ·       The bells of Kaohsiung Harbor public art project (Echo Across the Harbor) ·       The band Chthonic and how their song Supreme Pain for the Tyrant makes reference to Peter Huang, who tried to assassinate Chiang ·       How activist Yuri Kochiyama encouraged Ed when he was a student at Columbia University working on bringing Asian studies to the campus ·       How the Taiwanese and Taiwanese diaspora are becoming more outspoken and proud of their identity ·       How the Famous Porkchop House on Doyers Street in New York City's Chinatown was renamed Taiwan's Porkchop House ·       Cannabis use in Taiwan Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/ed-lin-our-interview-live-at-passport-to-taiwan-ep-242/

Andrew Szeto makes food and zines. Their most recent zine is “Heartbeat of Struggle," part of Kearny Street Workshop's "Dreaming People's History" (www.kearnystreet.org/dreaming-peoples-history). Anti-Eviction Mapping Project: antievictionmap.com | Andrew at Truthout: truthout.org/authors/andrew-szeto | "Fall of the I-Hotel" by Curtis Choy: youtube.com/watch?v=lzrWwvI8JpI | “San Francisco's International Hotel” by Estella Habal: tupress.temple.edu/books/san-francisco-s-international-hotel-2 | “The Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy” by Linda Evans and Eve Goldberg: www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Prison_Labor/510.prison.complex.global.economy.1998.pdf

Yuri Kochiyama (1921-2014) channeled her rage into decades of activism for a diverse set of causes. She built community across ethnic, racial and generational lines. This month, we're highlighting Ragers: women who used their anger— often righteous, though not always— to accomplish extraordinary things. History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should. Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more.  Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.  Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Abbey Delk. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. Original theme music composed by Miles Moran. Follow Wonder Media Network: Website Instagram Twitter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Powerleegirl hosts Miko Lee & Jalena Keane-Lee, a mother daughter duo Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage month with another special episode of APEX Express. To celebrate the month we're going to be hearing from some incredible activists that we featured in our, “We Are the Leaders” series. We are the leaders was inspired by the famous Grace Lee Boggs quote. “We are the leaders we've been looking for.” Today's show features the following artists, activists and thinkers including: Helen Zia, Anirvan Chatterjee, Sammie Ablaza Wills, Hawane Rios, Yuri Kochiyama, Julia Putnam, Gail Romasanta & Saru Jayaraman.   May 8th Show Transcripts [00:00:00] Opening: Asian Pacific expression. Unity and cultural coverage, music and calendar revisions influences Asian Pacific Islander. It's time to get on board. The Apex Express. Good evening. You're tuned in to Apex Express. [00:00:18] Jalena Keane-Lee: We're bringing you an Asian American Pacific Islander view from the Bay and around the world. We are your hosts, Miko Lee and Jalena Keane-lee the powerleegirls, a mother daughter team. Happy Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage month. And welcome to another special episode of apex express. This is the powerleegirls. I'm Jalena Keane-Lee, and I'm Miko Lee. We're a mother-daughter duo talking today about Asian American native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage month, To celebrate the month we're going to be hearing from some incredible activists that we featured in our, we are the leaders series. We are, the leaders was inspired by the famous Grace Lee Boggs quote. We are the leaders we've been looking for. First up we hear from a claimed activist and lawyer helen Zia. [00:01:12] Helen Zia: I call it M I H that we are at so often missing in history. And the only thing that's going to change, that is our voices. We have to restore that history. We have to reclaim that involvement and we have to know that we have nothing to be ashamed about We were not missing it You know we were there and It's just that other people don't know that And so that part we have to do We love this phrase missing in history from Helen Zia. And that's a big part of what we think this month is all about. It's rewriting us into the dominant narratives of history. And of course it's a big mission of our show to make sure that our voices and stories are heard. Not just things from the past from ancestors from movements in the past but also things that are happening in the present and the interconnectedness and connections between The two Next up Anirvan Chatterjee, storyteller, an activist and founder of the Berkeley south Asian radical history. Walking tour tells us about a little bit of history that has long been missing from history. As Helen Zia would say. He talks about interconnectedness between the south Asian and African-American communities. And the importance of knowing about this history and knowing about these solidarities and that this kind of solidarity has existed throughout Time [00:02:36] Anirvan: There's been a lot written about, Points of intersection between South Asian and African American movements for justice. I knew from my immigrant community, that Ghandi influenced Dr. King and through the ways that, Ghandi and nonviolence kind of spread. as part of the civil rights movement, but I think that was pretty much the end of it. those points of intersection kind of stopped and ended there. it wasn't until I started doing a lot more reading, that I realized how little I knew. one of my favorite stories of African American and South Asian solidarities is the story of Bayard Rustin, who a lot of us know as the black gay civil rights activist, who was the architect of the 1963 March on Washington. What I didn't know was, in the 1940's, he was a Quaker, he was a pacifist. He was actually in prison for awhile because he was a pacifist during world war two. while he was in prison, he was thinking and reading about, Solidarity with colonized India and the work of de-colonizing India. And he gets involved with a free India committee in the mid 1940s. he gets out of prison and, he gets involved with things like sit down, protest outside of the British embassy in Washington, D C. just the idea that this skinny black gay activist in the 1940s was part of the global movement for the liberation of my people. it's really different from the sense of what an Indian freedom fighter looks like. I love the idea of being able to claim Bayard Rustin as one of my Indian freedom fighters. On the flip side, in 1964 in, Jackson, Mississippi, Tougaloo college who a historically black college , there was a Pakistani professor named Hamid Kizilbashand an Indian professor Savitri Chattopadhyay. They're teaching on this black college during the height of the civil rights movement, they could use their kind of. Asian immigrant in between kind of a status really interesting ways. for example , they were able to, support their student's work to desegregate a movie theaters by going into the movie theater buying tickets. Cause they were allowed to buy movie tickets. And hand those tickets over to their black students. So when the black students show up, they're like, well, you know, we actually have these tickets and it's just like a small act of every day allyship or being co-conspirator, it's something that actually made a difference for the students. They're able to kind of use their position in ways that are, that are strategically helpful. Now, at one point in time, Hamid Kizilbashand actually gets physically attacked by white racists. he gets pulled out of his car. He's chased down. There was somebody with him who basically calls out to these white racists going, “hang on, hang on. He's international. He's, he's Brown. He's, he's not black.” And he's not beaten up nearly as badly as somebody who's black and his position might have been. for a lot of South Asians, we know we're racist. We know we have deep, complicated anti-blackness in our communities, but I don't think we necessarily know what it looks like to be anti-racist. the story of these two, faculty members at Tougaloo college in 1964, it's a really great story. of what it actually looks like to be anti-racist, we have these stories to also build on that. It's not enough to just critique, and call out, but to also do uplift, just to kind of celebrate more of what it is that we want to see. Jalena: Thanks for sharing that story. And, you know, there's so many Asian American stories, Asian American Pacific Islander stories that are left out of history and even more so queer Asian American Pacific Islander stories. And we really want to make sure that we're uplifting our queer stories and queer ancestors. Next up. We hear from Sammy Ablaza Wills who is a queer organizer and activists and death doula. They tell us about a local bay area story of queer activism that proceeded the Stonewall riots and is a lot less known. So we're so grateful that Sammy Cahn. Bring up this piece that is missing in history Sorry. [00:06:45] Sammie Ablaza Wills: One thing that I will talk about, cause there, there truly is so many examples. is the contents cafeteria rights in San Francisco? many people at least nowadays, familiar or have heard of the Stonewall riots in New York, which happened at the Stonewall Inn. And was a rebellion against police brutality led by Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. A few years prior to the Stonewall riots was, the incident at the conference cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin and conference was a place where many trans people drag Queens and sex workers hung out late night, got food and spent time with one another. And, all of the places where trans folks and drag Queens and sex workers hung out were places where police raids would regularly happen, arresting people for the crime of impersonating a woman or arresting people for the crime of prostitution or arresting people for whatever reason they could think of because they thought of all of these folks as sexual deviance, right. that history has almost been forgotten, but one day at Constance cafeteria, the police came to raid and the patrons of conference cafeteria got fed up and said, we're not going to allow for another raid to happen. And a rebellion broke out in the streets between the trans folks and the drag Queens and the sex workers and the police officers in the Tenderloin. it was from that day that trans folks, drag Queens and sex workers really started a movement for trans liberation and trans justice against police brutality in the city of San Francisco. one of the folks who was active in the Tenderloin at that time is Tamara Ching, a trans API elder who is still alive and living in San Francisco today. She's somewhat of a local legend in trans communities because of all of the work she did in the Tenderloin even though she wasn't immediately present at the moment of competence cafeteria, she continued the legacy of what was started that day for many, many decades for trans people and for sex workers, for people living in the Tenderloin for low income folks. But the work that she did is not seen in textbooks it's not seen in Asian American history courses. the thing that really feels important for me to just state out right, is that LGBTQ history is Asian American, Pacific Islander history and Asian American Pacific Islander history is LGBTQ history because there is no way that either of those movements would have happened without each other. And these movements have not even always agreed. But agreement is not the precipice of history. history shows. What agreements and disagreements have been made to create the present conditions that we're in. When I think the importance of understanding our history, this phrase always comes to my mind and, It's like a, I feel like pretty popular in ethnic studies, but it's, no history, no self. Right. And if we don't know where we were, it's really, really hard to determine where we're going to be going. When I think about all of the history that has existed, that allows me to be alive. I don't see one clear lineage. Right? I see many, many stories. People, people in the United States, people outside of the United States. I see trans people. I see CIS people. I see many people that have worked and had success and built relationships and also people that have made mistakes, like deep, deep mistakes that have set us back or put us in different directions. And. I'm thinking it is incredibly important to know all of that history so we can understand ourselves as part of a larger lineage and also so that we can make new mistakes. Our ancestors and our elders have made mistakes so that we don't have to anymore. We can make new ones. We can try new experiments. We contend continue the best things that worked out. And try new things that can fail in different ways. but we don't need to be recreating the same failures and same mistakes and same hurt every five years or so. I think it's incredibly important as people invested in justice to know our histories so that we can have a more clear idea of where we can go in the future. And then we can look back at our histories, right. Our present. And write our future into existence with all of that context in mind Jalena: Huge. Thank you to Sammy for sharing about tomorrow. Ching has such an incredible trans Asian American activists that we should really all know about and also pointing out the differences throughout history and queer history, Asian American, Pacific Islander history, and that. They are one in the same and both inform where we are today. And they're truly one thing. And I love what Sammy said about, you know, we look back at our histories, right? Our present. And that's what allows us to write our future into existence. And that's what the show, and I dare say this month is all about. Next up we hear from Havana Rios, who is a NATO, Hawaiian activist and protector of the sacred mountain Mona Kath. She talks about. Genealogy ancestral knowledge. And just really builds on this idea of deep sacred knowing and how important that is in our communities These. [00:12:31] Jalena Keane-Lee: do you have any advice for people that don't have you know that history recorded for them or have been cut off from in various ways from their own history and their own ancestral power [00:12:42] Hawane Rios: Somebody always remembered something. It's not that lost and you can remember inside of you. You in your DNA can unlock much wisdom from your own ancestors if you believe it. Call upon your own Kapuna. If you even know the names of your grandparents and your great-grandparents that's a start. Just know where you come from. Find that out. I ask the questions. As the eldest person in your ohana, “What do you remember?” Spend time, even if it's on zoom or facetime right now, because that's what it has to be. Use your time wisely. Talk to anyone in your family that remembers. And if they don't go to the lens you remember. You remember where you come from. Find out the name of your mountain, the mountain that raised you and your ancestors. If you were in living somewhere that is not your original homelands bind that mountain unless you were born on there It's because you were still a part of it that air has fed you that water has fed you know What to think of who the bank have gratitude every single day By learning something new everyday challenge yourself Learn the story of the land that you're on whether you're from there or not And then honor it because that's how we learn how to honor things It's a way bigger out for one second That we're not the center of everything That there's so much around us that gave us like every single day And so Know that your life force It's not for nothing I really hope that she find her way home So yourself it's your lens and see your people into your power You know someday we're going to be the ancestors people seven generations from now they're going to say look at what they did With what they had And then whatever they're going to have is going to probably be 10 times more efficient and amazing than what we had But hopefully we pass out enough For them to not Take advantage of the beauty and the sacredness of this clinic Hopefully we did enough to switch The tides And change the tie ins for the next seven generations to come because the way that we're going We're not going to have anything to leave behind And again we're not here just for ourselves Women especially we are the vessels of the next seven generations even if we don't Bring children into this world And even if we can't bring children into this world we still have the kuleana to do whatever we can to make sure that any person coming into this realm Have a safe place to land That's what we do Jalena: Thank you Havana. It's a great reminder. That history is something that is always in the making and also something that can always be reclaimed. If you have people that you can talk to that you can ask, do that. And if you don't, as Havana said, you can connect with the land. You can know about the waters and the mountains that raised you. And then from there, maybe you can trace back to your ancestral places as well, but there's always a place to start and it helps us think about what are we going to leave? For the next seven generations as she said too. In addition to being a water protector and protector of the sacred mountain Monica. Havana is also a recording artist and release the album together. We rise in 2019. Next up listen to one of her songs from her album together we rise called free the streams. Music Welcome back. You're tuned in to an apex express special for a N H P I heritage month on 94.1 KPFA and 89.3 KPF. Be in Berkeley 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and 97.5 K 2 4 8. BR in Santa Cruz. And online@kpfa.org. You just listened to free the streams by Havana Rios from her album. Together we rise Next up, we hear more from Helen Zia, legendary Asian American lawyer, and activists and women who coined the term missing in history. We hear from her about the importance of solidarity and intersectionality [00:18:50] Helen Zia: The Lowest part of the human experience can you know I get triggered by a crisis but actually crisis also brings people together and and history shows that people can overcome quite a lot when they are United When they see the importance of standing together and that you know we are all in this together There's no question We cannot overcome the covert crisis or the pandemic of racism unless we come together And so in the 1980s what happened was Vincent chin was killed We're looking Japanese He was a Chinese American And what made even that racist Attack and hate crime even worse was that his killers who were two white auto workers got off Scott free basically they got probation and fines And the judge said in a city of Detroit he said These are not the kind of men you sent to jail You fit the punishment to the criminal not to the crime In other words well these two white guys don't have to go to jail for beating somebody to death And then what does that mean about who should be punished in a in a city like Detroit which was even then you know about 70% African American So there was a large uproar throughout the city People were just just appalled you know all people of conscience you know said what do you mean You're going to let murderers killers off scott free you know And so so I think it's important to remember in these times when we are in a a very fractured time when you know it's almost like we get the message every day that people can't come together people are just to two divided Well in fact people do come together and we had had many historical periods where people of very different backgrounds came together and in the Vincent chin case you know it was not only Asian Americans and that came together and and remembering that time And then I actually knew the eighties Asian Americans were not together Vincent chin was a Chinese American Chinese community had to come together with the Japanese community which was being targeted and You know the the Southeast Asian and Filipino and South Asian communities I mean they were all separate So the Asian American community came together in a pan Asian movement And so did the allies all around us We knew that we were Too small a community to do this on our own And you know the the various African American civil rights organizations and churches know came out So all of that just like any organizing really took taking time To reach out to each other to sit down and talk and there would be leaders in different communities who would open that door for us And so it was a very very broad based multiracial multicultural United effort to try to do something that helped launch an Asian American civil rights movement And we need that today [00:22:13] Miko Lee: There have been times in our American history where we have fought back, the third world movement in this building of the ethnic studies programs at San Francisco state. And there's been so many others where people have come together. What do you think about like this time right now, of different people of color coming together and helping to reshape the American story, do you feel that's happening? Is that something you can kind of read in the, in the tea leaves based on your experience? [00:22:44] Helen Zia: I do. I believe not only can that happen, but it must happen everybody is under siege and it's very clear that , none of us can solve this alone, no group, whether that's political, racial, you know, sexual orientation. Gender, or political party, none of us can do it alone. It really is going to take everybody working together and to, to kind of, you know, tune out all of the noise, that are aimed to keep us divided. Looking at American society, people of color in California, for example, are already in the majority. if we could unite, we would be in the majority. And then you layer on that, that people of conscience from every color and walk of life are vastly and majority yet we haven't yet come together and this crisis has to be a wake up call for all of us. and you know, California is one of about a dozen States that have already crossed that milestone. within the next 10 years, the entire country is going to be majority people of color. And what does that mean? That means if we just. tune out the messages that keep saying, Oh, you're too divided. You know, the, anti-black views within the Asian community anti-Asian views within the black community, black and Brown versus yellow and white, and dividing, you know, having that narrative divide us continually is just. Serving that purpose to keep us divided. if we came together in what we have in common, we really are the majority and we could really make some change and we have to make change because people are getting sick and dying within our communities. That's the vision, we have to hold on to, I, I do think we'll get there. We have done it before many, many times in, in our history, so, that's, those are the lessons we need to draw from and seek out the unity that we really do have. I would love for the API younger activists today to know that we have such a rich history of activism that goes back to our first days on this continent. they should be proud of that. And to know that they're carrying on a very rich and strong legacy. Forward. when, Martin Luther King and the other civil rights activists were crossing the Pettus bridge, that famous March through Selma, Alabama, they were all wearing leis. I was very sad to see that the movie that just got made about that, show them without the leis. Where did the leis come from? They came from, activists in Hawaii who were supporting that March and many. People many Asian people were also there. That moment in all of our psyches is missing a historical piece, because any photograph of that time, you see , the involvement of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders that were there. So we get erased. I want young activists today to know that yes, we have been marginalized erased. We've done a lot to, affect the lives of every American. That was true for the Vincent chin case. That was true after 9/11, the “me too” movement. Women who have survived, sexual harassment or sexual assault standing up at a trial, basing their accuser and saying, this is what that harm did, to me, part of that victim impact statement momentum for that also came from the Vincent Chin the fact that we can, be born in America and be citizens that's because. Of a Chinese American back in the 1800's who took that all the way to the Supreme court. Brown versus board of education, the legal justification for that came from, a Chinese American laundry who objected to be taxed as separate. so that was a Supreme court case to that then was the underpaid underpinnings for, Brown vs board of education. The great grape boycott that was initiated by Filipino American farm workers and then involved Cesar Chavez and the , Chicano farm workers that was initiated by Asian-Americans. We have so many things that we should, we can be proud of, but are MIH missing in history. The only people who are going to have to point that out is us because we've been systematically removed from, from this history. And that's part of the racism that we have to fight too. Asian American activists can be proud of the things that our forebears have done for us and for the whole country. I hope that all of our listeners out there can really take Helen Zia's. He has words to heart. Yes, we've been erased and yes, it's part of our job to write ourselves back into the history of this country and to take pride in the ancestral lineage that we come from and all that. Our ancestors have done to make this country a better place and to give us the freedoms and the protections that we do have today. And of course, there's so much more work to be done. And speaking of incredible ancestors and this lineage of activism that we inherit next up we hear from legendary activists URI coach Yama. [00:28:32] Yuri Kochiyama: That's the year that the us government launched a Chinese exclusion act this act or law rule that Chinese will not be allowed to come into this country again And yet this act went into effect just after the Chinese spent years building the railroad tracks from the police Pacific coast to the Midwest There was only one lone voice that oppose this order the Chinese Exclusion Act this courageous person was a black man The first black then became centered the Senator in Mississippi Senator blanche K Bruce Bruce felt an Exclusion act was an outright show racism There were no other exclusion acts before this was he felt there would surely be more people who would be excluded and send away from him I think the sensitivity to the Chinese was because he was himself black and had experienced many such situations He fought against the bill that himself of course the bill for years and years Chinese were not allowed to come in but we as Asians we must never forget those Trying to assist us in our journey as this lone black Senator did you will not find everything in school textbooks we must dig them and find them ourselves Asian Americans must be more vocal, visible, and take stands on crucial issues. Hopefully Asians will side with the most dispossessed, oppressed and marginalized, remembering our own history. We Asians need to reshape our image from the rather quiet, ambiguous, accommodating uncomplaining, palitable people to a more resolute, sensitive advocate for human worth, human rights and human dignity. Jalena: Thank you. Ancestor activist, Yuri Kochiyama. For those fiery words that are so important to really. Remember, especially this month, not only like we've been saying throughout this episode that we have these pieces of history that are so important that we need to dig up. And remember and talk about and bring to light, but also that we need to take a stand on these issues. We are faced with so many issues today and it's our responsibility to take a stand and to stand inside with those who are the most marginalized and oppressed. Yuri Kochiyama passed away June 1st, 2014, but she was such an incredible bay area. Figure that her whole life always showing up at events and being in community even well into her nineties. And of course she's famous for. Her political views and her close relationship With Malcolm. Some ex. Another incredibly fierce Asian American ancestor, activists who was showing up and extremely active in community well into her eighties. His Grace Lee Boggs. Grace Lee Boggs is a Chinese American activist, philosopher and author who among many other things believe fervently and the power of education and community Next up. We hear from Julia Putnam who studied under grace for a long time in Detroit. And currently runs the James and Grace Lee Boggs school. Where she puts many of james and Grace's activism principles into action in the classroom [00:32:34] Julia Putnam: I was 19 or so I was her intern for a summer. My role is I saw it was helping grace to organize her, study she would have these, cardboard folders that would contain articles that she read over the years or newspapers. And she would label topics and put these articles in newspapers, in those folders. And a lot of the newspapers were yellowing a lot. a lot of the papers were kind of just jammed in there. and I would say, you know, grace, you've written an article on this already, or the newspaper that exists here digitally, we should get rid of these or we can throw these away. And she was very resistant to that. and it was really frustrating because I thought, well, what am I supposed to be doing here? And I came to her one time, really troubled. And I said to her, you know, it feels like we're arguing a lot. And she grinned me and she said, “I know it's great, isn't it we're struggling.” And she said it was such joy. And it helped me understand that for her arguing conflict struggling was not a negative thing. she was saying, as we're learning from one another, we are frustrating one another, which is moving us toward forward. and it helped me to not be so afraid to be in conflict with people that I cared about to be in conflict with people that I trusted. I can have an opinion that is different from hers. And she sees that as okay. Because it means that we're struggling through something. that was really helpful and continues to help me in my work today. [00:34:13] Miko Lee: I love that story. Can you also talk about how she signed her letters? How she did her sign off? [00:34:20] Julia Putnam: She would sign off ” in love and struggle, grace,” that love doesn't come without struggle. and that when we communicate with one another, we are communicating out of love and we are also communicating out of the struggle we have with one another. What do I know There's so many things but what do you feel is the legacy that she leaves behind And obviously with her husband Jimmy too [00:34:42] Julia Putnam: I know that a legacy that she's left to our school Two very important things is when we asked for permission to name the school after her the James and Grace Lee Boggs school she said yes but with the challenge that we would have to as the school founders think beyond what we even believe is possible I am one of the cofounders along with Amanda Rossman and Marisol Teachworth and the three of us together As three women three women of different ethnicities very much love and struggle together and also take it very seriously This idea that we've been indoctrinated as to what school is and when things get hard we will deflect to what we know.as opposed to continue to imagine something different And so we often challenge ourselves with that and challenge our staff and we all challenge one another to are we thinking beyond what we believe it's possible What is the what is beyond the binary that we're being stuck in right now Wo that's the legacy that grace leaves to us that is very important And the other thing is that again the idea of her taking young people seriously and she saw young people as solutionaries she called them people who are able to problem solve to see a challenge and come up with solutions for it And she saw young people as especially creative in their ability to do that And so even on the school t-shirts that kids get there's the the Boggs school logo but on the back it says Solutionary and the kids really take on that identity They take it very seriously They take it very personally often when they come up with a solution to a problem they'll just kind of put their fingers up and just I'm a Solutionary you know I figured it out and and having that identity as young people is has been really important to our school for all of us And I'm wondering if there are thoughts that you feel grace would be teaching right now in this time [00:36:48] Julia Putnam: I think Grace would be highlighting that fact of the young people in the movement their leadership in this movement and their leadership in this time I think she would be encouraging us to listen to young people I think she would be listening to young people And I think that she would say I actually think she'd be very excited by this time heartbroken in the ways that we all are but also excited that we are being forced in this moment to realize that things need to be reimagined We are being forced to use our imaginations for how We stay connected in this time how we educate in this time how we organize in this time how we govern ourselves and how we think about governance in a completely different way than we've ever had to before And I think that's a lot of what she would be excited about that this is That this is the moment where not only do we have to reimagine but we also have to realize that we're the leaders that we're looking for She would often say when we were thinking about the school is that we don't have a lot of leadership around education and certainly not around the education We know that our communities need And so she would say Julia Amanda Mani you all have to imagine this differently yourself You are the leaders that you've been looking for No one's coming to figure this out for you And so we feel as the founders that we with our community of parents and students and community members are beginning to think about how to do this differently and to look to the leadership of young people Thank you so much, Julia, for sharing about how Grace Lee Boggs legacy lives on through the James and Grace Lee Boggs school. And also just about the importance of struggle about love and struggle being one in the same and how. Being able to struggle with love and, you know, to disagree and to have conflict without canceling someone or hating them, but still, you know, in a, in a relationship that is full of a lot of love and not being part of being in community. I think that's really beautiful and that's something that we can all learn from, from Grace Lee Boggs and from Julia and from how they implement that. At their school Jalena Next up, let's listen to another song from Havana. Rio says album together. We rise. This song is called USI and it's focused on the importance of healing. Next up you see by havana rios Song That was UC by native Hawaiian singer and songwriter Havana. Rios from her album together. We rise. Next up we speak with Gail Romasanta who is a Filipina organizer author and community activists This She wrote journey for justice the life of Larry which is a children's book that tells the story of labor activists, Larry Itliong. You could keep going. We have all this information. We have all this history and we need to learn from it. And this isn't the first time at the rodeo. This is not the first time that we've held a picket sign. This is not the first time that we fought for our lives, literally. And we can do it if undocumented. If all of these workers who are migrant workers that no one even thought of that farm workers were even supposed to create unions. And they were supposed to be absolutely expendable. When the Filipinos came here, they were told that the United States was absolutely modern, was the best country in the whole, in the world, just because they were at the time. During this time, the United States was the colony of the United States and when Larry was growing up and so all the instruction he got was English and all the teachers were saying that there's a wonderful country. He comes here. And he's living in these deplorable conditions when it's really hot. They're working outside from light to dark. When they're drinking water, they're all sharing a tin cup. Is that modern? Is that the best country in the world to them? They didn't see that. And for them to be. Seeing kind of the worst of the United States the worst of its conditions and for them to fight and say, I'm going to stay me United States because I love the United States. I love this country and there is hope within us as a community who have decided to stay here, that we can continue to fight and say that we met. That we that we need to our needs get to be met. We need to get, we need to have dignity. We need to have pride in our work. We need to be able to work without pesticides, killing us. We need to have bathroom breaks. We need to have medical insurance. And they asked for all of this and they asked for a raise on top of it. And. And, there's lots of photos. We actually have a photo in the second edition of a riot and you can see, Filipinos aren't getting hit. We don't show the whole picture, but there's some pictures of Filipinos getting hits, hit by the police by batons and things like that. So violence against us is. It's not, unfortunately not new policy is against us, unfortunately is not new. Us being seen as cheap labor and not treated as fully human is not new. And despite that these generations before us were able to find justice. Able to speak to the world. Now this was a global campaign. This was just not the United States. People from all over the world. For instance, during Christmas would give Christmas presents to the farm workers, children. If they were able to. To create this change on a global scale, which is what is happening now. And they can sign those documents for that level that living wage, they can sign those documents to get medical insurance they have, and they're able to. And negotiate for the pesticides that can be used, where they're working. If we can negotiate that if our history was able to negotiate in the face of all that violence and the policies and the judges and the police were on the side of the growers. In fact, when they went on strike, if you look at Marissa or Roy's. Documentary, you can see when the Filipinos went on strike, there's about 2000 Filipinos who went on strike. After they voted the following day, they went on strike. They walked off, they went to work and they walked out the fields. And guess who was waiting for them? Was the police. All the police and you can see the growers just waiting. And they S they try to do this peacefully at first. So they asked at meeting for the growers first, before, and they weren't doing it peaceably, when they were protesting to begin with. But of course the police were waiting for them when they protested. But before that, they invited the growers so that they could negotiate. Rationally and without having to protest and not having to pick it for so long. But the growers never showed up. And what we've been going through as a country has only lasted, we've been going through this a long time. Many people have been doing this have been activists for decades now, or for most of their lives. They know what we're seeing now is oh my God, this is to me. I want to cry. This is something that I could not have imagined. And But it's something that has years and years in history behind it. And for us not to just create from zero, but to continue the arc that has been laid before us of what, the, what the generations before did Specifically during these times. And if you look at all the different movements what can we, what look, what can we learn from them? And a lot of it is you've got to sustain, we've got to strategize and it can't be. It absolutely can be done. . Jalena: Thank you so much, Gail Romasanta for sharing all of that history and all of that knowledge with us. And as she says, we have the knowledge, we have the history, we can do this. It's not necessarily going to be easy, but it is something that we can do. And. It is really important for us to figure out ways to make activism sustainable for ourselves and for future generations to come.While we're on the topic of labor and labor activism. Next up we hear from Saru Jayaraman. Who is an attorney and author and an activist. And. The president of one fair wage and director of the food and labor research center at UC Berkeley. She speaks with us about the campaign she's working on to make sure that restaurant workers are paid a fair and living wage. And the things that keep her hopeful even in times of despair There. I have been organizing in the restaurants many years and prior to the pandemic we had been working for many years on the issue of the sub minimum wage for tipped workers which is a Legacy of slavery It is $2 and 13 cents at the federal level That is the wage for six or 7 million tipped workers in America 70% of whom are women 40% of whom are single mothers struggling to make ends meet to feed their children on mostly on tips Now Was there prior to the pandemic it was a real problem with the pandemic About 10 million restaurant workers have lost their jobs They are in large majority are unable to access unemployment insurance at 60% of them unable to access unemployment insurance because they're being told by state unemployment insurance offices that there are some minimum wage plus tips is too little to meet the minimum threshold to qualify For benefits which means they're being penalized for being paid too little and it's opening up both workers and consumers and even employers to the fact that if the state is telling you you earn too little to qualify for benefits that by the way you paid taxes to get Then probably they were paid too little prior to the pandemic period And so that is an example of how the moment has really revealed that these were untenable unsustainable systems of inequity structural systems of inequity that never should have existed And now are going to create a catastrophe in some ways I think greater than the scale of the great difference Workers are telling us I am terrified and I'm having to choose between my life and my livelihood because the way that unemployment insurance has set up if they have access to unemployment insurance is that you lose unemployment insurance If you don't Take the job You have to be willing to take whatever comes your way If you get offered a job you must take it Otherwise you lose your benefits And so workers are terrified because they're going back to situations where there is no protective equipment Obviously there's still no testing or there's there's no healthcare There's very little con there's no contract tracing I mean it's it's a mess and people are terrified Workers are saying even if my boss did provide me with PP the customers are not wearing it when they come in Certainly they're not wearing it when they're eating so workers are in a really tough situation right now having to choose between their life and their livelihood On the other hand I think it is becoming a lot more obvious to consumers that this is not a tenable situation It's not fair to the workers It's not safe It's not healthy for anybody And so there is a lot of opportunity for change because employers know how Precarious The situation is consumers are wary of employers who don't take care of their workers Suddenly all the things we'd been fighting for a fair livable wage being able to take care of yourself as a worker getting the time off If you need it if you get sick suddenly all of those things have come to the forefront and honestly changes that we never in a million years thought could happen or are happening in our industry because of the pandemic we can reimagine every aspect of our world from the restaurant industry and the way it pays and treats people to our planet and the way that we choose to travel or not travel and the amount of footprint that we each have on our planet. To took the criminal justice system and whether people ever really needed to be locked up in the first place to education. And now the various ways that education can happen. Everything is changing. And it must because both for those young people and for lots of other people, what was normal prior to the pandemic was never normal, never worked. And so rather than going back to normal, I think what I would say to young people right now is join us in. Re-imagining every aspect of our lives and how this pandemic could be the portal that our, that the Roy has said that it is this moment of opportunity to walk into an entirely new world, a re-imagined world in which everything that we've needed all along we can finally achieve. And what are the main things that you'd like to see come out of a new day? Yeah we definitely need our organization is called one fair wage for a reason. We need a livable minimum wage for everybody in the United States who works tipped workers. Who get us some minimum wage right now, incarcerated workers who don't have to be paid the minimum wage because of the exception to the 13th amendment that allows for slavery in the case of incarceration, youth who often don't get the full minimum wage people with disabilities, who often don't get the minimum wage. Fundamentally, no workers should be left behind. Everybody who works in this country deserves to be paid a full, livable, minimum wage by their employer with tips on top of that. Not instead of that that's one piece we obviously need universal health care. That is a given of the moment. We need benefits for workers like hazard pay and sick pay and paid time off. We need a society. Actually thinks of public safety, not in terms of locking people up, but in terms of providing good jobs and good schools for communities that have been long devastated by racial inequities. So those are just some of the things I can rattle off the top of my head that we need in a new deal, but really what we need is a new world. And I, what I really want, I, what I really hope young people can hear is that is totally possible right now. In this moment, there is that opportunity to make everything different and better. And re-imagined Jalena: Thank you so much Saru for sharing your brilliance and these words that are so powerful and impactful. And I hope we can all think about what we can do to make our world better for all of us. , we've had so much incredible activists, thought leaders, ancestors speaking on the show today. These are interviews taken from our series called we are the leaders from Grace Lee Boggs, famous quote. But let's end. Celebrating this month with a little bit of joy. Yes. We have a lot of important issues to tackle. Yes. There are a lot of big problems ahead of us. But we won't be able to do any of it unless we have fun and have some pleasure along the. the way. So lastly, let's talk about some of our, rapid-fire a NHPI question. Okay. What's your favorite food? I think today it is, , kimchi fried rice. Mine is chashu about and strawberry mochi. And favorite fruit. Mango mango. Yeah, no question mango. Whatever book. I, my favorite book of all time is actually not Asian American. , but it's a Mallory book and it's called the bone people. But then recently my favorite book that is by an Asian-American is crying and H Bart, what about you? Oh, crying and HR is really good. woman warrior is one of my favorites. Oh, gee book. Yeah, for sure. Musician. Mine is her or Ruby Abara. Ooh, I think those are mine too. I really love her and Ruby Obara and then also shout out to my friends, raise our Goza, who is a phenomenal musician who is native American and Japanese and Hollis long-wear who is Chinese American and white. Oh, And Rena Rena. Oh, Rena saw. Yama. Yes, Rena. So yeah, I really liked. She's amazing. Film or TV show minds, everything everywhere. All at once. I can't think of a TV show, but movie is definitely everything everywhere. All was. Mine changes day-to-day but I did really like Menotti and parasite. What about artist? , I recently went to now Shima island in Japan. So right now, favorite Asian artists I can think of is Yaya. Kusama. Oh, I do love her work. For me, my favorite, a N H P I artists changes every day and today it would be Ruth Asawa because I'm thinking a lot about weaving and how she weaved these beautiful baskets out of wire. And she really transformed how we think about sculpture. So I love her, the SOA. Who's your favorite ancestor activist. , this changes every day too, but I really feel like I always, always most often think of quotes from Grace Lee Boggs. I was thinking Gracely Boggs too, but I also one. But also Yuri Kochiyama, and just thinking about how radical she was up until the very end and how she would be in her nineties coming to all these community events and still being just as sharp and just as radical and refusing to take anything from anyone. And I really admire that. I feel like a gift that we have of doing this show is so many of the elder activists that we've been able to interview that are still out there making changes. , really utilizing their voice to invigorate the next generation. So I'm thankful that we get to talk to those people and learn from them constantly. Me too. And what a great time, what a great month to celebrate. So happy Asian American native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander month. And thank you so much for joining us. Please check out our website, kpfa.org to find out more about these events and our guests. We thank all you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex expresses a proud member of acre Asian Americans for civil rights and equality. A network of progressive AAPI groups. Find out more@aker.org. APEX express is produced by Miko Lee that's me, Paige Chung, Swati Rayasam, Preeti Mangala Shakar, Nate Tan, Hien Nguyen and Jalena Keane-Lee. Have a great day The post APEX Express – AAPI Special Programming – We Are the Leaders 5.8.23 appeared first on KPFA.

Mayo es el mes de la herencia asiática-estadounidense y de las islas del Pacífico dedicado a celebrar los logros y las contribuciones de los asiáticos y los isleños del Pacífico de Estados Unidos. Esta conmemoración, que se originó después de la acción del Congreso de EE. UU. en 1997, sirve para resaltar la magnitud de las comunidades asiáticas y de las islas del Pacífico, la cual abarca más de 30 países donde se hablan más de 100 idiomas diferentes y donde las experiencias son igualmente variadas. Desde las historias de migración hasta sus historias de resistencia durante la época colonial, el trabajo de figuras prominentes como la Dra. Haunani Kay Trask, Carlos Bulosan, Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Pauline Park y Justice Mary I. Yu refleja la resiliencia continua de estas comunidades e identidades.  Los estudiantes de la Escuela Primaria Free Orchards estuvieron muy contentos este abril, gracias a una propuesta de subvención de Hillsboro School Fundation que fue escrita por el maestro de Educación Física Dan Waterman y otorgada en mayo de 2019. La subvención fue solicitada para que los estudiantes de cuarto grado recibieran lecciones de natación y de medidas de seguridad en el agua durante el mes de abril de 2020. Sin embargo, debido a la pandemia, la implementación de la subvención debió ser suspendida hasta este año. Finalmente, el lunes, 10 de abril de 2023, se llevó a cabo la primera de las nueve lecciones que se brindarán a los 46 estudiantes de 4.º grado de Free Orchards en el Centro Acuático y Recreativo de Shute Park. Los estudiantes son trasladados en autobús escolar al club los lunes, martes y jueves, donde se ponen sus trajes de baño y participan en una lección de natación de 30 minutos dirigida por un instructor certificado. Muchas gracias al Sr. Waterman por su gran iniciativa, a Hillsboro School Foundation por su generoso apoyo, incluidos los trajes de baño para los estudiantes que los necesitaban, y a Nike School Innovation Fund por proporcionar las toallas de baño para los estudiantes. Nuestra actualización del bono es sobre la eficiencia energética. Como resultado de las inversiones del bono en equipos que promueven la eficiencia energética, el distrito celebró el Día de la Tierra recaudando hasta ahora $5 millones en incentivos de programas estatales (que se destinan al fondo general) y ahorros continuos de energía en nuestras instalaciones. Lea más en la última edición del boletín de primavera de Una Mirada al Interior de las Escuelas de Hillsboro. La publicación de Noticias de la Semana se elabora y se envía por correo electrónico a las familias y a los miembros del personal de HSD cada semana durante el año escolar. Por favor, agregue esta dirección de correo electrónico a su lista de «remitentes seguros» para asegurarse de recibir siempre la publicación más reciente. Además, por favor no deje de agregar a sus enlaces favoritos el sitio web de nuestro distrito (hsd.k12.or.us) y la página del año escolar 2022-23 (hsd.k12.or.us/202223schoolyear) para mantenerse informado sobre lo que está sucediendo en nuestro distrito y en las escuelas.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, dedicated to celebrating the achievements and contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders of the United States. Originating after U.S. Congress action in 1997, this commemoration serves to highlight the vastness of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, which spans more than 30 countries where over 100 different languages are spoken, and where the experiences are equally as varied. From the migration stories to their stories of colonial resistance, the work of prominent figures such as Dr. Haunani Kay Trask, Carlos Bulosan, Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Pauline Park and Justice Mary Yu reflect the continued resilience of these communities and identities.  During the month of May and integrated into the curriculum throughout the school year, we celebrate our AAPI community intentionally and honor their gifts, cultures, diverse histories, and continued contributions to the Hillsboro School District and our nation. In our schools and classrooms, we take time to explore the rich history and culture of people who are AAPI. We continue to teach, learn and unlearn, reflect on and even condemn the violence and hatred that has been directed at the AAPI community. We work to rebuild our classroom communities as we elevate the stories, contributions, and experiences of the AAPI communities with love, empathy, and inclusivity. Our featured students are Free Orchards swimmers! Students at Free Orchards Elementary School were in for a treat this April, thanks to a Hillsboro Schools Foundation grant proposal that was written by P.E. teacher Dan Waterman and awarded in May of 2019. The grant called for fourth grade students to receive swimming and water safety lessons in the month of April 2020; due to the pandemic, however, implementation of the grant was on hold until this year. Finally, on Monday, Apr. 10th, 2023, the first of nine lessons for Free Orchards' 46 fourth graders took place at the Shute Park Aquatic and Recreation Center. Students are bussed to the Center on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays where they change into swimwear and participate in a 30-minute swimming lesson led by a certified instructor. Many thanks to Mr. Waterman for his great idea, to the Hillsboro Schools Foundation for their generous support - including swimsuits for students in need - and to the Nike School Innovation Fund for providing towels.  Our bond update is on energy efficiency. As a result of bond investments in energy-efficient equipment, the District celebrated Earth Day by garnering $5 million so far in state program incentives, which go to the general fund, and continuing energy savings in our facilities. Read more in the latest issue of our District newsletter: A Look Inside Hillsboro Schools. Hot News is produced and emailed to HSD families and staff each week school is in session. Please add the address to your “safe sender” list to make sure you always receive the latest issue. Please also bookmark our district website: hsd.k12.or.us and the 2022-23 School Year page: hsd.k12.or.us/202223schoolyear to stay informed about what's happening in our district and schools.

On this week's episode, Nikki Toyama-Szeto and David de Leon share their insights from a project on Asian American histories of civic engagement and activism. Discussing the stories of Larry Itliong and Yuri Kochiyama, they discuss how identity, solidarity, and partnership are key to helping Christians think about how to engage faithfully in their contexts, even amidst histories of disenfranchisement and oppression. This project was presented at the Stott Bediako Forum put on by INFEMIT.David de Leon produces 20 Minute Takes, studies theology, and is co-author of the recent book: Learning Our Names: Asian American Christians on Identity, Relationships, and Vocation20 Minute Takes is a production of Christians for Social Action.Host: Nikki Toyama-SzetoProducer/Editor: David de LeonMusic: Andre Henry

Situated within the current context of police brutality, for-profit prisons, and excessive incarceration rates, Am Johal sits down with educator, writer, and public scholar, Walidah Imarisha. Walidah describes her creative works involving ideas and futures of police and prison abolition, including her book Angels with Dirty Faces, and her current work developing Space to Breathe – a film that looks back on our present moment of the abolitionist movement from a future where police and prisons have been abolished. She also shares her collaboration with adrienne maree brown in the creating the Octavia's Brood, an anthology inspired out of their desire to push movement organizers beyond ideas if “realistic” change. Throughout the interview Walidah also speaks about science fiction as an avenue to inspire greater imaginings for social change, and discusses white supremacy, imperial colonialism, and white “progressiveness” within the past and present histories of Oregon and The United States. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/185-walidah-imarisha.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/185-walidah-imarisha.html Resources: Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements: https://www.akpress.org/octavia-s-brood.html Walida's website: https://www.walidah.com/ Below the Radar with adrienne maree brown: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/166-adrienne-maree-brown/ Space to Breath film: https://www.walidah.com/blog/2021/3/24/grant-recipient-for-sci-fi-documentary-film Angels with Dirty Faces: https://www.akpress.org/angelswithdirtyfaces.html What a City Is For by Matt Hern: https://www.akpress.org/angelswithdirtyfaces.html Bio: Walidah Imarisha is an educator, writer, public scholar and spoken word artist. She has co-edited two anthologies, Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements and Another World is Possible. Imarisha's nonfiction book Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption won a 2017 Oregon Book Award. She is also the author of the poetry collection Scars/Stars, and in 2015, she received a Tiptree Fellowship for her science fiction writing. Imarisha is currently an Assistant Professor in the Black Studies Department and Director of the Center for Black Studies at Portland State University. In the past, she has taught at Stanford University, Pacific Northwest College of the Arts and Oregon State University. For six years, she presented statewide as a public scholar with Oregon Humanities' Conversation Project on several topics, including Oregon Black history. She was one of the founders and first editor of the political hip hop magazine AWOL. She has toured the country many times performing, lecturing and challenging, and has shared the stage with folks as different as Angela Davis, Cornel West, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Kenny Muhammad of the Roots, Chuck D, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Robin D.G. Kelley, Umar bin Hassan from The Last Poets, Boots Riley, Saul Williams, Ani DiFranco, John Irving, dead prez, Rebecca Solnit, and Yuri Kochiyama. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Science Fiction & Social Justice — with Walidah Imarisha.” Below the Radar, SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, September 13, 2022. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/185-walidah-imarisha.html.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, dedicated to celebrating the achievements and contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders of the United States. Originating after U.S. Congress action in 1997, this commemoration serves to highlight the vastness of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, which spans more than 30 countries where over 100 different languages are spoken, and where the experiences are equally as varied. From the migration stories to their stories of colonial resistance, the work of prominent figures such as Dr. Haunani Kay Trask, Carlos Bulosan, Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Pauline Park and Justice Mary I. Yu reflects the continued resilience of these communities and identities. Our featured event is Bringing Mooberry Families Together Again. On Wednesday, April 27th, Mooberry Elementary School held four events in one evening: Día de los Niños, Student Culture Fair, Art Gallery & Projects, and Mooberry Community Corral Raffle Tables. HiIghlights included a performance by HSD's Una Voz mariachi band, performances by 3rd and 4th graders, games & activities, free pizza for kids, and more! The Mooberry community greatly appreciated this opportunity to be together in person and celebrate their amazing students! www.hsd.k12.or.us

Episode 120 Notes and Links to traci kato-kiriyama's Work         On Episode 120 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes traci kato-kiriyama, and the two discuss, among other topics, traci's upbringing with her thoughtful and well-read curators of history and art-her parents-her life as a creative, both as an individual and in collective spaces, themes from her work that are inspired by various muses within and without her family and her local communities, racism against Japanese and Japanese-American and other marginalized communities, and her creative and thought-provoking Navigating With(out) Instruments.      traci kato-kiriyama (they+she), author of Navigating With(out) Instruments--based on unceded Tongva land in the south bay of Los Angeles-- is an award-winning multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as a writer/performer, theatre deviser, cultural producer, and community organizer. As a storyteller and Artivist, tkk is grounded in collaborative process, collective self-determination, and art+community as intrinsically tied and a critical means toward connection and healing. She is a performer & principal writer for PULLproject Ensemble, two-time NET recipient; NEFA 2021-22 finalist for their show TALES OF CLAMOR.  tkk —presented for over 25 years in hundreds of venues throughout North America as a writer, actor, poet, speaker, guest lecturer, facilitator, Artist-in-Residence, and organizing / arts & culture consultant— has come to appreciate a wildly hybrid career (w/ presenters incl. LaMaMa Cabaret; Enwave Theatre; The Smithsonian; The Getty; Skirball Cultural Center; and Hammer Museum, to Zero Gravity; Grand Park; Whisky a Go Go; Hotel Cafe; House Of Blues Foundation Room; and countless universities, arts spaces, and community centers across the country).  Their work is also featured in a wide swath of media and print publications (incl. NPR; PBS; Elle.com; Entropy; Chapparal Canyon Press; Tia Chucha Press; Bamboo Ridge Press; Heyday Books; Regent Press). tkk is a core artist of Vigilant Love, member of the H.R. 40 Coalition and organizer with the Nikkei Progressives & NCRR joint Reparations Committee, and Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project (presenter of the Tea & Letterwriting initiative and Tuesday Night Cafe series in Little Tokyo).     traci kato kiriyama's website   Buy Navigating with(out) Instruments   traci's profile on DiscoverNikkei.org   traci's bio for Tuesday Night Project   traci reads "Remember All the Children Who Were Never Born to Me" for Poetry Lab At about 4:00, Pete asks traci about notions of the “writer as speaker,” including a profound quote from Zora Satchell   At about 6:20, traci's cat makes an appearance!   At about 6:30, traci talks about her background and her parents' focus on education and intellectual and historical curiosity, including how The Japanese American Historical Society was founded by her parents    At about 8:30, traci discusses what stories drew her interest in adolescence, including song lyrics, theater, and art of all types   At about 11:30, Pete and traci freak out over their collective love and admiration for Tori Amos   At about 12:25, traci describes the artists and writers-often playwrights-who thrilled her through high school into college and beyond, such as Wakako Yamauchi, Rumi, Yusuf, Adrienne Rich, Nikki Giovanni, and Janice Mirikitani    At about 15:30, Pete wonders about the connection between natural sociability and performance for traci   At about 17:30, traci responds to Pete's question about which artists and creatives inspires her Nancy Keystone and Kennedy Kabasares, Howard Ho, and LA and West Coast standouts Writ Large Press, Not a Cult, Kaia Press, The Accomplices   At about 21:20, traci discusses ideas of “representation,” especially with regard to her childhood and the Japanese-American communities of which she was part   At about 23:15, traci recounts her experience in seeing Sixteen Candles and the thought process that followed the viewing-regarding racist representations in Hollywood and beyond   At about 27:45, traci gives background knowledge on a poem from her collection that references her mother and Dec. 7; it is instructive about the ways in which memory works   At about 30:35, traci talks about the aforementioned incident in the school and connections to Michi Weglyn's book/if and how the story was a microcosm   At about 33:35, traci gives background on the book, includiing an impetus from Ed Lin that didn't exactly bring immediate publication   At about 34:40, traci discusses inspiration for the book's title   At about 38:00, traci discusses the idea of the “muse,” including inspiration from her grandfather, Taz Ahmed, her mom, and others   At about 40:00, traci responds to Pete's questions about the rationale for the many different forms used in her collection   At about 45:50, Pete and traci discuss “Where We Would Have Gone” and the ideas of “what if” and “predicting the past”   At about 48:10, the two talk about the spectrum of sexuality as a theme in traci's collection, as well as meanings of “queer” and pronoun usage and comfortability with names   At about 51:20, traci references her longest acronym and ideas of a “collective coming out” that comes from real life and a poem of hers   At about 53:20, traci explains some background on “Death Notes” that are featured in the collection, as well as ideas/themes associated with being close to death; she highlights editor Chiwan Choi's great help in sharing difficult and “heavy and important” moments   At about 58:00, traci discusses her use of “bury” throughout her work   At about 59:25, the two explore ideas of racism, family, and resistance in traci's family; traci shows the photo of her bearded grandfather and talks of discovering his rebellion, which is instructive in many ways   At about 1:02:55, traci talks about her mother's political awareness and Yuri Kochiyama's “massive impact”; she talks about how traci spoke at a Los Angeles memorial   At about 1:06:00, traci connects the “collectivity” of art with artists and the “continuum” of the world's people and the world's artists and activists; traci cites WorldMeter as an addictive and important website    At about 1:07:45, traci talks about the poems/letters in the collection that serve as conversations between her and Taz Ahmed, including conversations where the subject matter evolved   At about 1:09:45, traci and Pete discuss ideas of “eminent domain” that populate her work   At about 1:10:50, traci reads a poem about her grandfather/reparations after reminding listeners about the annual visits/pilgrimages to Manzanar   At about 1:14:25, traci reads “Remember All the Children who were Never Born to Me”    You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.    Please tune in for Episode 121 with Michael Torres, a VONA distinguished alum and CantoMundo fellow. His first collection of poems, AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF NAMES, (Beacon Press, 2020) was selected by Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series, named one of NPR's Best Books of 2020, and was featured on the podcast Code Switch. He teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.    The episode will air on May 3. 

Prof. Takashi Fujitani is the Dr. David Chu Professor and Director in Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on modern and contemporary Japanese history, East Asian history, Asian American history, and transnational history (primarily U.S./Japan and Asia Pacific). Much of his past and current research has centered on the intersections of nationalism, colonialism, war, memory, racism, ethnicity, and gender, as well as the disciplinary and area studies boundaries that have figured our ways of studying these issues. He is the author of Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan and Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Koreans in WWII; co-editor of Perilous Memories: The Asia Pacific War(s) and editor of the series Asia Pacific Modern. Prof. Fujitani is joined in conversation with JSAP contributors Harrison Watson, Sophie Hasuo, Rachel Willis, and Prof. Reginald Jackson. Topics of discussion include: the possibilities and politics of naming; growing up in Berkeley; segregation; ties between Black people and Asian / Asian American people; jazz; James Brown; W.E.B. DuBois; disidentifications with whiteness; Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama; solidarity politics; the model minority myth; race and racism in the Japanese empire; learning from professors of color; Asian American Studies; responses in Japanese Studies to discrimination about Buraku people and Korean-Japanese people; Clint Eastwood; Asia in the American political unconscious; Indigenous theory; palliative monarchy; the demise of Japanese Studies.To learn more about Professor Fujitani's research, please watch his JSAP webinar, "Challenges and Opportunities for a Historian of Japan Teaching about Race and Imperialism." In this conversation, Prof. Fujitani mentions his article, "Minshūshi As Critique of Orientalist Knowledges."This podcast is created with generous support from the University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies.  Recording, editing, and transcription support came from Reginald Jackson, Justin Schell, Sophie Hasuo, Rachel Willis, Harrison Watson, Robin Griffin, and Allison Alexy. Please see the Japanese Studies and Antiracist Pedagogy homepage for more information. 

Join Haymarket and the University of Washington Press for a critical discussion on Asian American activism and movement building today. Bringing together grassroots organizers and scholar-activists, Contemporary Asian American Activism presents lived experiences of the fight for transformative justice and offers lessons to ensure the longevity and sustainability of organizing. In the face of imperialism, white supremacy, racial capitalism, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and more, the contributors celebrate victories and assess failures, reflect on the trials of activist life, critically examine long-term movement building, and inspire continued mobilization for coming generations. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Speakers: Diane C. Fujino is a Professor of Asian American Studies at UC Santa Barbara and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Asian American Studies. She is author or co-editor of several books on Asian American or Black activism, including Black Power Afterlives: The Enduring Significance of the Black Panther Party (with Haymarket Books); Contemporary Asian American Activism: Building Movements for Liberation; Nisei Radicals: The Feminist Poetics and Transformative Ministry of Mitsuye Yamada and Michael Yasutake; and Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama. She works with the UCLA Asian American Studies digital textbook project, the UCSB ÉXITO ethnic studies teacher training project, Cooperation Santa Barbara, and the Fund for Santa Barbara. Javaid Tariq is a cofounder and senior staff member of New York Taxi Workers Alliance and treasurer of the National Taxi Workers' Alliance. He was born in Pakpattan, in Punjab, Pakistan. As a college student, he was active in the student movement against the military dictatorship. He migrated to Germany and later to the United States in 1990. Over the years he has organized numerous successful strikes, campaigns, and actions to promote economic and social justice for taxi drivers, a workforce that is 94 percent immigrant and primarily people of color. Alex T. Tom is the Executive Director of the Center For Empowered Politics, a new project that trains and develops new leaders of color and grows movement building infrastructure at the intersection of racial justice, organizing and power building. He is the former Executive Director of the Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco and co-founder of Seeding Change. In 2019, Alex received the Open Society Foundation Racial Justice Fellowship to develop a toolkit to counter the rise of the new Chinese American Right Wing in the US. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez is a scholar-activist who has organized around issues impacting the Asian American community for nearly 30 years. Most recently, she helped to build the Asian American Liberation Network in the greater Sacramento region. Rodriguez also teaches in and publishes on Asian American Studies as a faculty member of the Asian American Studies Department at UC Davis. She is also the founding director of the Bulosan Center for Filipinx Studies. This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and the University of Washington Press. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/4SAsJ5mYv6A Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

In this episode we speak to Akemi Kochiyama, granddaughter of American civil rights activist,  Yuri Kochiyama, the lifelong champion of civil rights causes in the black, Latino, Native American and Asian-American communities Influenced by her Japanese-American family's experience in an American internment camp, her association with Malcolm X, and her Maoist beliefs, she advocated for many causes, including black separatism, the anti-war movement, reparations for Japanese-American internees, and the rights of political prisoners.

These are the stories of leaders of color who carry the legacies of those who built the movement to end gender-based violence. They carry on the fighting spirit of giants who have moved on from this work like Sojourner Truth, Grace Lee Boggs, bell hooks, Ida B. Wells, Audre Lorde, and Yuri Kochiyama. We talk about the ways they have been harmed by this world while trying their hardest to keep their passion for the movement alive. Consider this our love letter to them and to aspiring leaders of color looking for belonging, inspiration, and affirmation.This series is supported by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). [This podcast tile uses modified images of: Alice Walker from The American Library Association, Angela Davis from Columbia GSAPP, Audre Lorde from Esla Dorfman, bell hooks from Alex Lozupone (Tduk), Grace Lee Boggs from Kyle McDonald, Ida B Wells: Public Domain, Patricia Hill Collins from Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil, Sojourner Truth: Public Domain, Yuri Kochiyama from Kochiyama family/UCLA Asian American Studies Center.]

Today's episode is about race relations--specifically between Asian Americans and African Americans. Our guest, Leezah Sun is a politician of Chinese descent who is passionate about building stronger community ties between these groups. In our discussions, we broach the subject of the Model Minority Myth, factors that contributed to the degradation of these two communities, and things we can all do regardless of race that will ultimately support and empower our AAPI brothers and sisters. Our Way Black History Fact is the story of Yuri Kochiyama, the activist that was photographed cradling the head of Malcolm X immediately after he was shot. Our Ebony Excellence goes out to Michael LaFitte who started a program called Dads on Duty to help secure a safe educational environment for Louisiana school children.

(S6, EP 3) Akemi Kochiyama joined in for this week's episode. Akemi is the granddaughter of late Japanese-American activist icon Yuri Kochiyama. In this interview, we talk about Yuri's activism that began when she and her family were forcibly sent to the Japanese incarceration camps during WWII. In her activism work, Yuri connected with Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, and other Black activists to support the Black liberation movement while also speaking out against the Vietnam War, the US military industrial complex, and western imperialism. Akemi speaks about her grandma's legacy along with her family's long rich history with Black and Asian movements, her current movement work, and what this all means in today's current civil rights movements. Please check out this episode to learn more about Akemi's work. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bio Akemi Kochiyama is a scholar-activist, community builder who currently serves as the Director of Advancement at Manhattan Country School. She is also Co-Director of the Yuri Kochiyama Archives Project and co-editor of Passing It On: A Memoir by Yuri Kochiyama. As a graduate of Spelman College, Akemi is also a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. Program in Cultural Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and serves on the Board of The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This episode is sponsored by Red Scarf Revolution (RSR). RSR is a merchandise line that honors and celebrates the Cambodian diaspora identity and experience. Feel free to check out their merchandise line and get yourself a t-shirt, hat, or other gifts. Be sure to visit www.redscarfrevolution.com or their IG at red_scarf_revolution to learn more about their work(s). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/banhmichronicles/support

This week, David sits down to talk with actor and content creator, Ryan Alexander Holmes to examine and go deeper into how content creation can help you tell your truth, the systemic colorism issues that plague the Asian American community, and the cultural significance of Rush Hour on his Black and Asian identity growing up. Podcast Show Notes Guest Title: Ryan Alexander Holmes Recording Date: 2021-06-15 Episode Title: On Being Blasian w/ Ryan Alexander Holmes Topics Discussed In This Episode: Topic 1 - Learning how to make new friendships and the audition process during the pandemic Topic 2 - Ryan and his identity Topic 3 - Creating digital content throughout 2020 and 2021 Topic 4 - Breaking down what others see vs. how Ryan sees himself Topic 5 - Strength in numbers Topic 6 - Acting and navigating the industry as a multi-ethnic person Topic 7 - Blasian representation in media Topic 8 - Colorism in the Asian community Topic 9 - Representation/role models growing up or lack thereof Topic 10 - The cultural significance of Rush Hour Topic 11 - The broken education system Topic 12 - Closing thoughts Links: Handles: Ryan's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ryanalexh/ Ryan's TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanalexh?lang=en Emi's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/defiant.changemaker/ David's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/davidmoriya/ Mentioned Notes: Marlon Wayans & A Haunted House 2 (Film, 2014) Kim's Convenience Backlash - https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-06-11/kims-convenience-simu-liu-jean-yoon-asian-representation Adele Lim & Crazy Rich Asians Dave Chapelle Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher (Guy Aoki vs. Sarah Silverman) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsNoO8xMs04 It Started With Words - https://itstartedwithwords.org/ Rush Hour (Film, 1998) Yuri Kochiyama & Malcolm X Black Lawyers Who Fought for Japanese Incarcerated Individuals 13th (Film, Ava DuVernay) Amend: The Fight for America (Film, Will Smith) SAL Links: https://strongasianlead.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/strongasianlead_ / Crowdfunding - https://strongasianlead.com/crowdfunding SAL's Feature in Feedspot's Top 20 Asian Film Podcasts - https://blog.feedspot.com/asian_movies_podcasts/ SAL Podcast Team: Project Manager - Sanjana DeSilva (www.theangryelephantproductions.com) Audio Editor - Ravi Lad (www.itsravilad.com and @itsravilad on Instagram) Podcast Producer - Kenna Tanouye (Connect with her on LinkedIn) Podcast Volunteer Intern - Sadia Hussain Episode Transcript: Transcript of the episode's audio. Calls to Action: Join the movement, stay tuned and follow us on Instagram!

This week the ladies are sucking on liquid candy and getting REAL fired up! First, Kelley covers Yuri Kochiyama, a survivor of the Japanese Internment Camps turned fierce activist! She was a fierce civil activist who was more than a little bit controversial. Then, Emily shares the story of actress Charlotte Cushman who turned to acting when her Opera career didn't pan out. She was known for playing masculine roles, one of the only acceptable forms of cross-dressing at the time, and had open relationships with women. Learn your U.S. territories and grab your jean jackets, because we're wining about herstory!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/winingaboutherstory/overview)

This week, I am sharing the audio from a Livestream I participated in, hosted by the Blasian March and in association with Mixed Present and Militantly Mixed. We discussed the importance of Black Asian solidarity and the legacy of Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X in honor of their shared birthday, May 19th. Please click on the links below to follow.. Blasian March | Rohan Zhou-Lee & Mixed Present | Asian Soph *** In light of these murders and the recent increase in violence towards people of Asian descent, I have created a Mixed & Hella Asian fundraising t-shirt. 100% of the profits will be donated to various organizations that are doing work to stop violence in the AAPI community. https://www.militantlymixed.com/merch/p/mixed-hella-asian-fundraiser-t-shirt For the months of May & June, proceeds will be donated to the Blasian March. * * * If you are interested in supporting Sharmane's comic book shop Gulf Coast Cosmos fundraiser please go to http://patreon.com/GulfCoastCosmos * * * #GetMaskedByMane by shopping at Masks By Mane for all your reuseable cloth mask needs. https://MasksByMane.com * * * Also, if you would like to visit my virtual comic book store, head on over to Gulf Coast Cosmos for all your comic book needs. * * * You can continue the conversation on our private Facebook group after you listen to this episode at http://facebook.com/groups/militantlymixed * * * Produced and Edited by Sharmane Fury Music by: David Bogan, the One - https://www.dbtheone.com/ * * * Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or send me a voice memo over email at Sharmane@militantlymixed.com. * * * Militantly Mixed is a fan-sponsored podcast, if you are enjoying the show please consider sponsoring us on Patreon or Paypal today! Thank you. This is a ManeHustle Media Podcast. Turn your side hustle into your ManeHustle.

This week, I am sharing the audio from a Livestream I participated in, hosted by the Blasian March and in association with Mixed Present and Militantly Mixed. We discussed the importance of Black Asian solidarity and the legacy of Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X in honor of their shared birthday, May 19th.  Please click on the links below to follow.. Blasian March | Rohan Zhou-Lee & Mixed Present | Asian Soph *** In light of these murders and the recent increase in violence towards people of Asian descent, I have created a Mixed & Hella Asian fundraising t-shirt. 100% of the profits will be donated to various organizations that are doing work to stop violence in the AAPI community.  https://www.militantlymixed.com/merch/p/mixed-hella-asian-fundraiser-t-shirt For the months of May & June, proceeds will be donated to the Blasian March.  * * * If you are interested in supporting Sharmane's comic book shop Gulf Coast Cosmos fundraiser please go to http://patreon.com/GulfCoastCosmos * * * #GetMaskedByMane by shopping at Masks By Mane for all your reuseable cloth mask needs.    https://MasksByMane.com * * * Also, if you would like to visit my virtual comic book store, head on over to Gulf Coast Cosmos for all your comic book needs.  * * * You can continue the conversation on our private Facebook group after you listen to this episode at http://facebook.com/groups/militantlymixed * * * Produced and Edited by Sharmane Fury  Music by: David Bogan, the One - https://www.dbtheone.com/ * * * Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or send me a voice memo over email at Sharmane@militantlymixed.com. * * * Militantly Mixed is a fan-sponsored podcast, if you are enjoying the show please consider sponsoring us on Patreon or Paypal today! Thank you. This is a ManeHustle Media Podcast. Turn your side hustle into your ManeHustle.

Yuri Kochiyama foi uma militante aguerrida por justiça social e direitos humanos. Enxergou a luta por libertação total de negros e negras estadunidense como essencial, mas não apenas. Ela viveu a luta anti imperialista em sua completude por 93 anos. E deixou o recado: o maior inimigo do mundo é o governo dos EUA.

Dr. Greg Carr (@africanacarr on Twitter) discusses #MalcolmX, Yuri Kochiyama as well the connection to including events in #YuriKochiyama #WestBank #Gaza #Israel #Palestine

Shannon’s guest this week on the Bruce Lee Podcast has too many accolades, titles and projects to name them all, but we’ll start by describing him as author, historian, music critic, activist, journalist, academic, record label director, and social justice warrior, Jeff Chang! Jeff is the author of a number of award winning books on the subjects of hip hop and race in America, which include Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation, We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, Who We Be: The Colorization of America, and Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip Hop. Jeff has won the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award as well as being named to the Frederick Douglass 200 list of 200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Douglass and he has been a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts + Committee on Black Performing Arts at Stanford University and now is the vice president of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward. We told you the list was long. Born and raised in Honolulu Hawaii, Jeff proudly claims the titles of writer and social justice warrior as you’ll hear. He is also working on a book about Bruce Lee right now and he is launching a series of 14 videos on Black and Asian Solidarity starting May 19th (Malcom X and Yuri Kochiyama’s birthday) with The Asian American Foundation so please check those out and help spread the message of solidarity and love! Jeff is a gentleman and a scholar and a genuine soul that Shannon can’t believe she gets to call her friend. Listen in as they talk about his dad, Shannon’s dad, what it means to be a warrior and Jeff’s Hawaiian name on this episode of the Bruce Lee podcast with Jeff Chang! Find this episode's show notes and other episodes on Brucelee.com/Podcast

In this episode Keegan and Madigan discuss lesser known feminists, political activist Yuri Kochiyama and the first female detective, Kate Warne.Do you have a news story or topic that you want our take on?     Email us at neighborhoodfeminist@gmail.comFind us on social media:      Instagram: @angryneighborhoodfeminist      Twitter: @YANFPodcast      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angryneighborhoodfeminist **Don't forget to REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE on iTunes!** Music: Lee Rosevere

"Build bridges, not walls." Solidarity was at the heart of Yuri Kochiyama's work. A Japanese-American activist whose early political awakenings came while incarcerated in the concentration camps of World War II America, Kochiyama dedicated her life to social justice and liberation movements. As hate crimes against AAPI people surge in this country, we reflect on Yuri Kochiyama's ideas around the Asian American struggle, and what solidarity and intersectionality can mean for all struggles.

This week on NobodyAskd U- Lauren gives the LoDown on Lil Nas X. His music video for “MONTERO( Call Me By Your Name) ”included a devilish lap dance that upset many Christians. Are most people upset because of the content? Or because of homophobia? In other news, Deshaun Watson has 19 accusers, The Nets added one more All-Star, and ten people were murdered at a grocery store in Boulder, CO. During LIT, Aprille does a Lost In History where she discusses Japanese-American activist Yuri Kochiyama, the woman pictured cradling Malcolm X’s head after he was assassinated. We also give other opinions Nobody Askd for. Listen to them on SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and probably wherever else you get your podcasts. PS- Stay tuned for our relaunch!!

Vignette Ching is here and It's off to a quick trip to the land of imagination before we jump into the recent rise in Asian American hate crimes and the Atalanta attack. What does this tell us about our country? What does allyship really look like? Will this strengthen and heal the relationship between the Black and AAPI community?  Well as just two friends who are part of the communities James and Vignette share their personal perspectives, callouts, and hopes for the future. Then our acupuncturist healer helps to unpack the effects of generational trauma and how it might be time to look to the east for our healing, and other benefits of Chinese medicine. Then in honor of Women’s History Month James is going to give you 4 bad ass Asian American Pacific Islander Women you probably didn’t learn about in because our school system sucks and dictated by white supremacy. From the political arena, to activism, to the laboratory, to Hollywood: these inspirational trailblazers in the face of America’s nature deserve all the praise and snaps. Let's heal our trauma so we can begin imagining a better place and have the heart space and strength to turn that into reality. GUEST CO-HOST: Vignette Ching –acupuncturist, proud single mama, podcast host of The Star Tulip Podcast, lover of human ingenuity, and upcoming children’s book author. You can support her podcast by heading to:  https://anchor.fm/thestartulip/supportREFERENCE LINKS: Remembering the victims of the Atalanta shooting: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978742409/what-we-know-about-the-victims-of-the-atlanta-area-shootingsAssault Weapons Ban/Gun Reform by Biden: https://www.themarysue.com/biden-calls-for-assault-weapons-ban-gun-reform-after-colorado-massacre/4 Bad Ass AAPI Women You Need To Know:https://www.teenvogue.com/story/4-asian-american-women-who-changed-historyhttps://womenshistory.si.edu/news/2020/05/twelve-women-know-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-heritage-monthhttps://www.womenshistory.org/articles/celebrating-asian-american-womenThe Page Act Excluding Chinese Immigration of Women:  https://www.history.com/news/chinese-immigration-page-act-womenHow to Help Asian American Community: Donations, Resources, Education, and More:https://www.playbill.com/article/stop-aapi-hate-a-resource-guide-to-support-the-asian-american-communityhttps://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a35866266/how-to-support-asian-american-community-organizations/https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-help-the-asian-american-community-donations-educational-resources-and-more/Minority Korner on YouTube:  https://bit.ly/2JsXEuuCONTACT USTwitter: @minoritykornerEmail: minoritykorner@gmail.comIG: @minoritykornerJames Arthur M: TW: @JamesArthur_M, IG: @JamesArthurM

Deuxième partie de notre épisode sur le Black Panther Party. Comme vous l'entendrez, les idées et actions de ce parti révolutionnaire lui ont valu la guerre totale des Etats-Unis. Et jusqu'à aujourd'hui puisque Mumia Abu-Jamal risque actuellement de mourir en prison tandis qu'une récompense de 2 millions de dollars est offerte pour la capture d'Assata Shakur. Références :Musique: Revolutionary warfare, Nas; Can you see the pride in the panther, Tupac feat Mos DefPodcasts: "Assata: une autobiographie" par Apres La Première page; "Emory Douglas, l'artiste combattant du Black Panther Party" par Cases Rebelles; "The murder of George Jackson" par The freedom archives, "The Attica rebellion" par The freedom archives; Parler d'Assata Shakur avec Cases Rebelles par La revanche des ZherissonsLivres:Black Panthers (photos), Stephen Shames, éditions La Martiniere, 2006We want freedom, une vie dans le parti des Black Panthers, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Le temps des cerises, 2006All power to the people, textes et discours des Black Panthers, Philip S. Foner, éditions Syllepse, 2016 (première édition anglaise 1970)Assata: une autobiographie, Assata Shakur, éditions Premiers Matins de Novembre, 2018 (première publication en anglais en 1988)Films:Judas and the black messiah, Shaka King, 2021Black Panthers: vanguard of the revolution, Stanley Nelson, 2015. VF disponible sur Arte en streaming gratuit jusqu'en octobre 2021The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, Göran Olsson, 2011. VO en streaming gratuit disponible (anglais) et VOST en français ici.Black Panthers, Agnes Varda, 1968Travail du collectif Cases Rebelles (que nous remercions): Entretien avec Emory Douglas (2014), Lowndes County Freedom Party: a l'origine de la panthère (2016), Une conversation entre Ericka Huggins et Yuri Kochiyama (traduction 2017, interview 2009), San Francisco 504: a l'intersection des luttes handies et noires (2014), George Jackson et Les Frères de Soledad (2014), Une brève histoire des Polynesian Panthers (2015), Mon enfance dans le Black Panther Party (2016) Voir Acast.com/privacy pour les informations sur la vie privée et l'opt-out.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecityvoice.org/2021/01/28/y-is-for-yuri-kochiyama/

#22 Black Panthers: une révolution noire pour la justiceNouvel épisode de notre rubrique révolution. Nous renversons ici les clichés qui montrent que les Black Panthers comme des hommes noirs glamour mais violents, idéalistes et qui ont mal fini, pendant une époque révolutionnaire romantique mais bien révolue. Composé en majorité de femmes, ce parti a réussi à révolter la majorité noire pauvre des ghettos Etats-Uniens et la jeunesse blanche contre le pouvoir du pays le plus puissant du monde. Et comme vous l'entendrez, c'est pour cela qu'il reste une menace aujourd'hui. Bonne écoute!Références :Musique: (For God's sake) Give more power to the people!, The Chi-Lites, The ghetto, Donny Hathaway, Panther power, Paris Livres: Black Panthers (photos), Stephen Shames, éditions La Martiniere, 2006We want freedom, une vie dans le parti des Black Panthers, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Le temps des cerises, 2006All power to the people, textes et discours des Black Panthers, Philip S. Foner, éditions Syllepse, 2016 (première édition anglaise 1970)Films:Judas and the black messiah, Shaka King, 2021Black Panthers: vanguard of the revolution, Stanley Nelson, 2015. VF disponible sur Arte en streaming gratuit jusqu'en octobre 2021The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, Göran Olsson, 2011. VO en streaming gratuit disponible (anglais) et VOST en français ici.Black Panthers, Agnes Varda, 1968Travail du collectif Cases Rebelles (que nous remercions): Entretien avec Emory Douglas (2014), Lowndes County Freedom Party: a l'origine de la panthère (2016), Une conversation entre Ericka Huggins et Yuri Kochiyama (traduction 2017, interview 2009), San Francisco 504: a l'intersection des luttes handies et noires (2014), George Jackson et Les Frères de Soledad (2014), Une brève histoire des Polynesian Panthers (2015), Mon enfance dans le Black Panther Party (2016) Voir Acast.com/privacy pour les informations sur la vie privée et l'opt-out.

This week we hear from Human Rights Pen Pals speaking on their deep friendships with Hunger Strike Elders still caged; Nube reads an excerpt of a letter from Richard Johnson, the next Liberate Our Caged Elders focus and a letter written to him by famed activist Yuri Kochiyama; finally we hear from our beloved Zah in his own words.

In our society at large, women's histories are too often erased, forgotten, or misremembered in ways in ways which strip women of their agency, complexity and intelligence. Nikkei history is no exception. In this episode Michelle and Yoko are joined by guests Nina Wallace and Miya Sommers to learn about the vital, but often overlooked, contributions of women in the redress movement, share stories about our Nikkei foremothers, and talk about the Nikkei women who inspire us from Yuri Kochiyama to our extraordinary grandmothers.

Greetings from our USB microphones!  In this episode, we discuss ICE’s recent rule prohibiting international students from staying in the U.S. if their colleges go fully online. We also dig into questions of cross-race solidarity in the Black Lives Matter movement, especially regarding Latinx/brown communities. Finally, we answer our first sampling of listener questions. As always, thank you for listening and subscribing. Please spread the word and continue to send feedback via Twitter (@ttsgpod) or email (timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com)! 5:09 – How would the ICE crackdown on international students work? Who is the real target (psst China), and what are the broader economic implications for universities and college towns? (i.e., Whither Stonybrook, NY’s glorious Chinese food?)  28:22 – Jennifer Medina wrote a provocative story in the New York Times on Latinx participation in the BLM movement and questions of fit: “Latinos Back Black Lives Matter Protests. They Want Change for Themselves, Too.” Can a focused movement be inclusive? How do we stand up for one another? Do we need to complicate the Black-white paradigm of race in America?53:39 – We attempt to answer very smart questions about our episode on tankie-ism and alternatives to American and Chinese imperialism, how we should actually address anti-black racism in the Asian diaspora (see our post from a few weeks ago), and what a rewriting of Asian-American history (from Chinese Exclusion to Grace Lee Boggs, Yuri Kochiyama, and Vincent Chin) might entail. Thanks to listeners Carlo, Michelle, Chung-chieh, and Sam for their questions. And apols to everyone whose messages we didn’t get to tackle.Please share and subscribe to support us! Get on the email list at goodbye.substack.com

Volume V of Audio Evidence honors freedom fighters Malcolm X & Yuri Kochiyama who were both born on the auspicious date of May 19th. This episode aims to highlight the audio evidence of Malcolm X after his travels abroad during the mid-1960’s, including to the holy city of Mecca. Many people seem to forget how impactful those travels were on Malcolm as he was becoming a burgeoning internationalist who was sought after by many other world leaders of his era. Yuri Kochiyama helps to contextualize what the impact of that time meant to Malcolm and his developing consciousness, both religiously and politically.

Today is the legendary activist Yuri Kochiyama’s birthday! We’re celebrating by revisiting one of our favorite episodes of AAWW Radio, You Don’t Say No to Yuri Kochiyama.    In 2005, scholar and activist Diane C. Fujino released the biography Heartbeat of Struggle: the Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama. An in-depth examination of Kochiyama's life, the book follows her early years in a concentration camp in Arkansas during World War II, to her friendship with Malcolm X in New York City, and her years of radical political activism.    We hosted an event celebrating the release of this text in November 2005. Co-sponsored by the NYU A/P/A Institute, the event was curated by activist and musician Fred Ho. Fred Ho invited activists and political organizers Baba Herman Ferguson, Esperanza Martell, and Laura Whitehorn, all of whom had known and worked with Yuri over the years years, to discuss and celebrate her legacy. You’ll hear about how Yuri’s Harlem apartment was a social hub for activists in the 60s, the tireless work she did with the Jericho Movement to liberate political prisoners, fight for Puerto Rican independence, her prolific note taking, and more. Finally, Diane. C. Fujino will share the story of Yuri’s political awakening, and how she transformed from a budding activist to a symbol of revolutionary change.

Volume I of Audio Evidence features excerpts of dialogue by Angela Davis speaking live at The Sanctuary Auditorium, First Corinthian Baptist Church of Harlem in New York City on September 26, 2018. Professor Davis highlights her relationship with freedom fighter Yuri Kochiyama and she goes on to discuss the insight and potential of women of color. The role of movements along with issues we face today, including the gender division of labor are topics Professor Davis notes. Angela Davis focuses on the need for intersectional analysis and contrasts movement eras and lessons of the past with contemporary ones. The rest of this episode is sprinkled with rhythmic contributions by musicians on the New York City Subways as well as a beat called, “Being Human” as recorded in Khartoum, Sudan. This inaugural show is dedicated to the life and memory of Toni Morrison.

In this episode, we recorded a live episode at ProlesCon 2019 in Englewood, Colorado with Breht from RevLeftRadio and a bunch of wonderful comrades who hung out with us all weekend. We discussed left media in general, took a handful of audience questions, and then wrapped it up with a "We Could Do a Whole Episode On That" about the true story of "The Hunt for Red October." Please subscribe on your favorite podcast app. All episodes and a bunch of resources are available on prolespod.com.  Suggested Resources: Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama, Diane Carol Fujino   Intro music: Proles intro by Ransom Notes    Outro music: Full Proles intro by Ransom Notes 

Yuri Kochiyama was a Japanese-American human rights activist, and is notable as one of the few prominent non-black Black separatists. A few years before her death in 2014, she sat down with Megan Asaka in Oakland to speak about her life and work. Produced by Densho, an organization dedicated to preserving the story of the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans in WWII. 

Grace Y. Kao reflects on Yuri Kochiyama, an activist known for her cross-racial solidarity work on causes such as reparations, Puerto Rican independence, and black nationalism. Grace emphasizes two areas that Kochiyama’s biographers have often overlooked: her central passion for … Read More The post Setting the Captives Free: Yuri Kochiyama and Her Lifelong Fight Against Unjust Imprisonment appeared first on The Project on Lived Theology.

Grace Y. Kao reflects on Yuri Kochiyama, an activist known for her cross-racial solidarity work on causes such as reparations, Puerto Rican independence, and black nationalism. Grace emphasizes two areas that Kochiyama’s biographers have often overlooked: her central passion for fighting against unjust imprisonment, … Read More The post Setting the Captives Free: Yuri Kochiyama and Her Lifelong Fight Against Unjust Imprisonment appeared first on The Project on Lived Theology.

We’re reaching back over a decade into our archives to 2005, when Diane C. Fujino released Yuri Kochiyama's biography Heartbeat of Struggle. To celebrate the book's release, activist and saxophonist Fred Ho invited Yuri's friends & contemporaries Baba Herman Ferguson, Esperanza Martell, & Laura Whitehorn to our space to speak on Yuri Kochiyama's legacy as a radical Asian American political activist. Afterwards Diane C. Fujino talks about Yuri Kochiyama's political awakening from her early years in a concentration camp in Arkansas during World War II, to her friendship with Malcolm X in New York City, and her years after as a tireless advocate for political prisoners and countless struggles around the world. Cosponsored by the NYU A/P/A/ Institute

In a remote location north of the Bay Area we didnt so much escape reality as re-create it. The landscape — the fog, the tall trees, the fields dotted with craters and other land art — was a canvas that we played with projecting onto. For two weeks (the length of our residency) we got to live inside of our own imaginations. (Whose imagination are we living in normally? What are we subtly taught to fear? To worship?) In our utopic visions art and queers and femmes have power. Our utopia is creative and collaborative and fun. On the sun porch, we listened to BUFU — our interviews with Kat, Jazmine, Tsige, and Sonia last summer — and heard more signs of utopic scheming & also signs of emergence, the theory of political organizing popularized by the writer and activist adrienne maree brown. Actually, it was BUFU who first told us about Emergent Strategy, when we were just starting to make our own forays into collective organizing and programming. adrienne says imagination is a battle. So whose imagination are you living in? And whose will win? >>>>> Alllll the things we talk about in this episode: This Will Take Time: www.thiswilltaketime.org/index.html BUFU: By Us For Us: www.bufubyusforus.com/mission/ Scamming the Patriarchy: www.newmuseum.org/calendar/view/1111/scamming-the-patriarchy-a-youth-summit Mountains that Take Wing (Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama doc): www.filmsforaction.org/watch/mountains-that-take-wing-angela-davis-and-yuri-kochiyama-trailer/ "It G Ma” x Keith Ape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPC9erC5WqU The History Behind Kendrick Lamar's New 'Kung Fu Kenny' Nickname (Complex): www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXeBfJSDi6Q Yellow Jackets Collective: http://yellowjacketscollective.com/ Emergent Strategy: www.akpress.org/emergentstrategy.html adrienne maree brown on transformative media: www.democracynow.org/2008/6/6/adrienne_maree_brown_of_the_ruckus adrienne maree brown on the imagination battle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4nf6PG6pZI&t=519s How To Survive the End of the World: www.endoftheworldshow.org/ + + + beats provided by Kitty Crimes: https://soundcloud.com/kittycrimes outro music is "The Twilight Zone” x The Uhuruverse ft. Jupiter Black: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIw32zNn9As Snatch Power Collective: snatchpower.com

We were overwhelmed with the responses for the Bruce Lee Podcast Challenge and found it impossible to pick just one winner, so we’ll be having several winners join us as guests on the podcast. This week we welcome our first Podcast Challenge winner, Kyoko @Jinjabrew! She lives in LA so Kyoko was able to join us in the studio for this special episode. Kyoko didn’t grow up watching Bruce Lee films, but discovered him through activism and research in Asian-American history and politics. While studying the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s, Kyoko wondered where the Asian Americans were in the movement. She started doing her own research by reading books by Fred Ho and learning about activist Yuri Kochiyama. It was a chapter in the book “Everybody was kung-fu fighting” by Vijay Prashad that introduced her to Bruce Lee’s influence on the Afro-Asian cultural connection and this made her want to find out more about Bruce Lee. At the time she was reading this book, she was moving from Boston to LA, driving solo and looking for a good podcast to listen to on the long drive. Kyoko’s main affirmation: “I am the master of my fate, captain of my soul. I can manifest all of my dreams and deepest sincere desires, but only through hard work and dedication – and the commitment to let go of fear on a daily basis – for it does not serve me. My path is unique to me, therefore, I will not compare or judge my intuition with others’. I will treasure my inner child, and ask it daily what it’s needs are and how I can be of service and infuse the pathway for it to flourish. I will respect its need to create daily, and will carve out space for it to express daily. I am a creator, a creative person. If I don’t allow it space to create, I can not flourish into my best self.” For the second challenge, Kyoko’s “I would feel better in my body if…” were: -I drank a glass of water when I woke up -Ate fresh fruit every morning -Meditated for 10 minutes daily -Commit to Wushu training for four hours a week During the challenge Kyoko worked on releasing her first song. Kyoko wrote the song “Prince," performed the music, and directed and edited the music video herself. This is the first project where Kyoko really felt in the flow. #AAHA Kyoko’s AAHA is Angelia Trinidad, she’s a Filipina entrepreneur and created a planner called “The Passion Planner.” At first she studied to be a doctor and then decided to pursue art. After college, she felt stuck and lost on how to pursue her passions. Angelia realized that her passion and what’s helped her so much is planning her time around her passions and she wanted to help other people plan their passions and implement it into their daily schedule. Kyoko has this planner and it’s really helped her work on all her passion projects. Thanks Angelia for creating this great tool for passion projects—you’re awesome! #BruceLeeMoment “There’s so much negativity on the media and social media about whitewashing in media and really trying to figure out a way in the audition room where everyone can win and that is a possibility. You can appeal to the producers, and you can also try and add depth and authenticity to your character so it resonates with other Asian Americans as well. Throughout both the audition room and downstairs in the waiting room, remembering Bruce Lee’s philosophy has really helped me be present in the moment.” Kyoko helped us close out the podcast episode by performing her song “Prince” live in the studio. https://youtu.be/YTnD66dOqPo Thank you for joining us Kyoko. It was a joy to have you on the podcast and to hear how you use Bruce Lee’s philosophy in your daily life. Congratulations on releasing your song and thank you for sharing your gifts with the world. Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at hello@brucelee.com Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!   Guest: Danielle Wright, is a Visual Artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work investigates the language of materials and the delineation between artist and viewer/participant. In addition to her studio practice, she teaches art at Creativity Explored, a not-for-profit art gallery and studio in the Mission District of San Francisco. She joins us to talk about her work and the exhibit she is a part of honoring the life of Yuri Kochiyama at SOMarts through next Thursday, May 25.  2. Cherilyn Parsons, Founder & Executive Director, Bay Area Book Festival,June 3-4, 2017.                                                              

1. Safiya Fredericks, a Richmond native, most known for her work in IndepenDeandre Evans, playwright and Safiya Fredericks, director, join us to talk about a new play opening this weekend, May 6-7, 6-8 p.m., Richmond Renaissance at El Cerrito High School. Evans acted in four theatrical productions over the last three years: “Te's Harmony,” “Po'Boys Kitchen,” “The Adventure of Grief,” and “Bag Ladies' Butterfly Blues.” His poetry and raps have been featured in The Bigger Picture Campaign and the Off/Page Project's “This Is Home”—he is emerging as a well-respected voice in the important dialogue around food justice, low-income housing rights, mental health and other social justice issues in Richmond. Deandre teaches weekly spoken word workshops and helps to coordinate open mics at the RYSE Center, creating safe spaces for Richmond youth to express themselves. 2. Shifting Movement:Art Inspired by the Life &Work of Yuri Kochiyama (1921-2014) artists: Susan Almazol, Jocelyn Jackson, Lenore Chinn.  3. Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director, LSPWC, joins us to speak about Quest for Democracy Advocacy Day at the state capital,  Monday May 8. 4. George Spencer, Musician & Composer, Piano & Trumpet is being featured at City College of San Francisco Advanced Band Workshop, Tuesday, May 9, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. with Professor David Hardiman Jr. at Diego Rivera Auditorium, City College Ocean Campus, 50 Phelan Avenue, SF.   

Rajeshree Roy, a Yuri Kochiyama Fellow Tonight on APEX Express, we have two guests hosts: Melissa Hung and Vida Huang. We'll learn about Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus's new Yuri Kochiyama Fellowship for formerly incarcerated Asian Pacific Islanders. We talk with young, radical, community members who have spoken about anti-black racism with their families and tried to move them towards solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives. And we hear from Justin Lin, director of Star Trek Beyond, from back when he was just starting out and taking his film Better Luck Tomorrow on the festival circuit. Justin Lin at the Chicago Asian American Showcase in 2002 Community Calendar On Saturday in San Bruno, Halau o Keikiali'i perform their Songs of Hilo and Tribute to Hawaii's songbird, Lena Machado. This takes place at Capuchino High School. Doors open at 4 p.m. with Hawaiian arts, crafts, and food for sale. Performance is at 6 p.m.  Also on Saturday night is the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Foundation's Runway with 11 contestants vying for the title of Mister and Miss GAPA. The contest starts at 7 p.m. at the renovated Herbst Theater. Tickets for the pageant are available at cityboxoffice.com and our own Nonogirl will be one of the guest judges. Next week on August 16, you can hear a conversation with movement leader Pam Tau Lee and Steven Bingham, moderated by Steve Williams. Pam founded the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and Chinese Progressive Association, and is a member of Asians 4 Black Lives, so she'll have lots of knowledge to drop. This celebration of Movement Warriors organized by Hospitality House takes place at the Kelly Cullen Community in San Francisco. And the Anti Police-Terror Project General Meeting is next Wednesday, August 17 at Eastside Arts Alliance. The Anti Police-Terror Project is a project of the ONYX ORGANIZING COMMITTEE that in coalition with other organizations working to develop a replicable and sustainable model to end police terrorism in this country The post Yuri Kochiyama Fellows, Letters About Black Lives, and Justin Lin appeared first on KPFA.

All Power To The Positive! Vol#6, Episode #11 “First and foremost, you do not have to live up to or emulate the lives of any of your predecessors. But at the very least, you should know about them. You will have your own life, interests, and ideas of what you want or do not want in life. Do what you enjoy doing. Be honest with yourself and others. Don’t think of satisfying anyone: your elders, peers, government, religion, or children who will come after you. Develop meaningful ideals, and become conscious of others, their existence, and their lives.” – Yuri Kochiyama Beats: “Start The Revolution” – Marcel Cartier “Dead Or In Prison” – Lil Bibby “Luv Dem Gun Sounds” – Wocka Flocka Flames “Curve Ball” – Honey Cocaine “Hip To Da Game” – Lord Finesse “Right Now” – Celph Titled   Cuts: “I Wanna Be Your Lover” – Prince “This Is America” – Spekulation, ft. Michele Khazak (EXPLICIT) “Do The Digs Dug” – The Goats (EXPLICIT) “A Change Is Gonna Come” – Sam Cooke   Vocals: Mumia Abu-Jamal (prisonradio.org), Throwback remix: “F–K You Judge” (EXPLICIT), Sensei Lewis, Jacob Brown, and a lot more. Click here for a “Steal This House!” supplemental.

This week, in honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, we talk about wellness and mental health, especially from an Asian American perspective, with special guest, multi-disciplinary artist, and community organizer traci kato-kiriyama. In addition, we also chat about the recent LA APA Heritage Month concert, Google's tribute to Yuri Kochiyama, and talk data (but really language). This week’s intro music is provided by Kollaboration Alum Travis Atreo, check out his new single “Excited” available now on iTunes and Amazon Music! As always, send us your listener questions at podcast@kollaboration.org Subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, or via our RSS feed (http://kollaboration.libsyn.com/rss) and check out our highlights on Clammr Follow our guest at: traci kato-kiriyama @traciakemi traciakemi.com or Google traci  Follow our hosts at: @minjeeeezy @marvinyueh The KollabCast is a podcast about pop culture and the creative life from an Asian American perspective

Fund Drive and Yuri Kochiyama's Birthday We have a fund drive show tonight and we're going to be paying tribute to Yuri Kochiyama who passed away last year. May 19th would have been her 94th birthday and we wanted to celebrate her life with some of our favorite Yuri pieces. Donations to KPFA get you Yuri's memoir: Passing it On. With Hosts Salima Hamirani and Vincent Pan. Join us at 7pm on KPFA 94.1 FM. The post APEX Express Yuri Kochiyama Birthday Tribute- May 14, 2015 appeared first on KPFA.

AAL remembers Yuri Kochiyama, and explores a Chinatown button shop turned art gallery and the oldest Chinese department store with rare collectibles. And an exclusive report on a North Korean defector.

The Context of White Supremacy hosts our annual counter racist year-end review. We'll reconsider major events and patterns of the previous twelve months of world wide White Supremacy. 2014 was marked by the loss of black legends. Dr. Maya Angelou, Mayor Marion Barry, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, Amiri Baraka, Ruby Dee, Sam Greenlee, Vincent Harding, Herman Ferguson and Yuri Kochiyama all transitioned. All of these Victims of Racism invested their superb talents and life currency in countering Racism. Whites spent most of the year tarring Richard Sherman, Michael Brown, Jr., Renisha McBride, Tamir Rice, Al Sharpton, Boko Haram, Elliot Rodger and black people in general as thugs and terrorists. Conversely, innocent Whites like Darren Wilson, Donald Sterling, Cliven Bundy, Theodore Waffer, and Jill Abramson were defended as White martyrs. This was the 25 year anniversary of Do The Right Thing, and "police" departments continued their lengthy tradition of chokeholds, terrorizing and killing black people. Whites recognized the 20 year anniversary of the Rwanda genocide and demonstrated the same disdain for black life when the Ebola epidemic menaced the west coast of Africa. There was much White noise for black corpses, but lesser, muted White effort for improving the existence of living black people. INVEST in The COWS - http://tiny.cc/ledjb CALL IN NUMBER: 760.569.7676 CODE 564943# SKYPE: FREECONFERENCECALLHD.7676 CODE 564943#

Posted on September 8, 2014 by apexexpress | Leave a comment Today is the anniversary of 9/11, an event that has left indelible marks on our society and culture: We're still grappling with the ramifications of the twin towers, and coming to terms with the wars, surveillance and black site prisons that have since proliferated in the name of “safety.” In commemoration, we look back at our past September 11th focused broadcasts, starting in 2001, and the ways in which our communities came to cope with, organize and fight back against the legacy left by 9/11. Clips include: Yuri Kochiyama's speech at the 9/11 rally in 2001. Gina Hotta's sound collage of emotions, experiences and a coming together in the wake of 9/11. Truth on Trial – a follow up interview on the surveillance of Pakistani residents in a town called Lodi. Robynn Takayama's short documentary and music piece on community efforts to help Muslim Americans targeted by hate crimes. We also have a live phone interview with Zahra Billoo from CAIR on the lasting impact on Muslims and what's being done to protect them.   Finally, we have a report back from the recent rally at the Marriot in Oakland which hosted the annual Urban Shield Conference.   Hosted by Salima HamiraniProduction: Salima Hamirani and Marie Choi.   The post APEX Express – September 11, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Yuri Kochiyama print by Melanie Cervantes with Dignidad Rebelde Tonight we air part two of a special series honoring the life and legacy of civil rights leader, activist, and Asian American movement pioneer, Yuri Kochiyama. We share with you Yuri's thoughts on African and Asian solidarity across the globe, her intimate recollection of Malcolm X's murder, and we also hear more from the youth and the up and coming generations that she has inspired. Tune in tonight for: A rare interview from the Pacifica Radio Archives recorded in 1972, where Yuri shares her memories of the day Malcolm X was assassinated Tributes from youth leaders from AYPAL (Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership) An interview with Adriel Luis, curator of digital and emerging media at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and creator of Folk Hero, an online exhibit featuring art that celebrates Yuri's life through grassroots art A sharing from Yuri Kochiyama's daughter, Audee Kochiyama-Holman, about what it was like to grow up in the Kochiyama household. With Hosts No-No Girl and Roseli.   The post APEX Express – June 12, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

The Apex Express crew was saddened to hear of Yuri Kochiyama's passing this weekend. Yuri Kochiyma. That name is a bell toll for this disparate group of radio journalists and organizers. Her die-hard radicalism, as much as her die-hard compassion and warmth, drove many of us into the movement and kept us there. Not only has she inspired us, but in a generous act of giving, APEXer Karl Jagbandhansingh has been her caretaker for many years. So it is with a heavy heart that we produce this week's show. While the mainstream press's lackluster coverage recognize Yuri's association with Malcolm X as her claim to fame and note her participation (with her husband Bill) in the movement for redress and reparations for Japanese Americans, we know Yuri politics were much more broad than that. Over the next two weeks, in remembrance and celebration of Yuri Kochiyama, APEX Express will feature rare recordings including: *An interview with Yuri about the 1977 take over of the Statue of Liberty to demand the release of Puerto Rican political prisonersher speech to Laney's API Heritage Celebration in 2002. *Tape from Yuri's surprise 80th birthday including interviews with I-Hotel tenants Bill Sorro and Emil Deguzman, Betita Martinez, and many, many more. *Yuri talking about APA-African American solidarity. *An interview with Professor Diane Fujino who published Heartbeat of Struggle.   And this week, we invite our listeners to call in with your memories of Yuri. This Thursday, 7-8 p.m. call 1-800-958-9008. Join us as we bring the community together to share in our collective celebration of a full and powerful life. With Hosts Roseli and No-No Girl. The post APEX Express – June 5, 2014 appeared first on KPFA.

Kari and Chuks, for H*25, start things off with talking about all the teeny-boppers dropping the n-word and the attack on V. Stiviano outside of an exclusive Manhattan hotel. From there we move onto paying our respects to Maya Angelou and Yuri Kochimaya. Their passing brings into question where intra-POC solidarity is now and the future of the fight for civil rights. We field a thanks from an anonymous asker; catlovesmochalike’s submission regarding Harry Potter and media representation; an observation from an anonymous asked regarding all-POC television casts.

For this week’s episode, Kari, Chuks, and special guest Ubong kick off the episode with a happy birthday shoutout to Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X, a quick discussion of Macklemore’s anti-Semitic costume, and a longer discussion about ABC’s new shows for the fall. The main discussion this week centers on being Black in Asia. Both Chuks and Ubong share their experiences in Taiwan and mainland China, respectively, and upack the causes and ramifications of their experiences. We answer three asks this week: the first comes from makingofamelody, who asks about People of Color being racist against other People of Color; an anonymous asker, who asks about multisexual privilege (Kari’s piece here); an anonymous asker, who asks about sex positivity (Kari’s piece here).

Rebroadcast from June 2011, directors of "Mountains Take Wings," a film that tells the untold story of Yuri Kochiyama and Angela Y. Davis, two great women in conversation.

"... I survived, carried on, glad to be like a weed, a wild red poppy, rooted in life," Marilyn writes in her book: Wild Poppies. On Tuesday, August 3, 2010, long-time political prisoner and acclaimed poet and translator Marilyn Buck, 62, passed peacefully at her home in Brooklyn, New York. A few short weeks earlier, on July 15th, Marilyn had been released from the federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Carswell, Texas and paroled to New York City. Thanks to the efforts of her long-time friend and lawyer Jill Soffiyah Elijah, her release came several weeks before the date originally set for her release on parole, August 8th. Marilyn served a total of 33 years of an 80-year prison sentence for politically motivated actions undertaken in support of self-determination and national liberation and in opposition to racial injustice and U.S. imperialism. Throughout her years in prison, Marilyn remained a steadfast supporter of fellow political prisoners and an advocate for the women with whom she was imprisoned. A Memorial for Marilyn Buck is planned for Sunday, November 7, 2010, 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM at the First Unitarian Church, 685 14th Street, in Oakland, CA. It is wheel chair accessible and childcare is available also. Visit www.marilynbuck.com www.marilynbuckpresente.org We are joined by Linda Evans, J. Soffiyah Elijah, Yuri Kochiyama, Miranda Bergman, Hafsa Al-Amin. Music: "I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About," Mahalia Jackson & Somi's "Inspiration."

Rebroadcast from June 11, 2010: 8:00 AM: MOUNTAINS THAT TAKE WING. C.A. (Crystal) Griffith & H.L.T.Quan QUAD Productions. Their film opened at the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Thursday, June 17, 2010. The film screens Friday, SEPTEMBER 24, 7 PM, at East Side Cultural Center, 2277 International Blvd., in Oakland. It is a free event and Angela Davis and Yuri Kochiyama will be present as well. Visit www.quadproductions.org 8:30 AM: Sia Amma and Mia Pascal: The Marsh presents New Solo Theatre Pieces by Up-and-Coming Artists: A Festival of New Voices through June 13, 2010 9:00 AM: Coloring Outside the Lines artists and curator, Kheven Lee LaGrone, Makeda Rashidi, Nate Creekmore, Barbara Brandon-Croft and Jerry Craft.There is an artist panel Sunday afternoon, June 13, 2010 at the San Francisco Main Library. The exhibit then moved to the Laney College Library. Music this morning: "New Orleans Underwater" from Jane Bunnett's Radio Guantanamo.

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

Today is Malcolm X or El Hajj Malik El Shabazz's birthday (1925-1965). It is also the birthday of his friend and activist, Yuri Kochiyama (May 19, 1921), who met Malcolm X in the 1960s when she invited him to her apartment to meet Atom bomb victims who were touring the US. The meeting in her small apartment went well and this was the beginning of a friendship which lasted until his fatal shooting in the Audubon Ballroom, April 21, 1965. We are also joined by two artists, Tosin Aribasala from Lagos and Jean Pierre Simon from Cameroon. We'll play music, talk about Malcolm, black power and yes, the African roots of Argentinian tango.

We will feature Fred Harris, composer, pianist who has a recital --"Blastin' Barriers," next week, February 24, 8 p.m. at the Century Club Bldg., 1355 Franklin Street, at Sutter,in San Francisco. For tickets and information call (415) 672-5173 or visit www.fhperformances.org, We'll listen to his work and talk about his art in a special extended segment. If you aren't on Alcatraz to see Kevin Epps' latest film, The Black Rock, Tuesday, Feb. 17, a film, brought to you by the director of "Straight Outta Hunter's Point," his latest, a film which looks at the black people incarcerated on Alcatraz, I'll give you an update and information about the limited engagement at The Red Vic Movie House in San Francisco. I might have other special guests. We're working on it presently. We'll also be speaking to Director/Playwright James Brooks and Bryant Bolling, Musical Director, whose Celestial Celebration opens 2/20, 21, 27, 28, 3/1, 8 PM, Sunday at 3 PM, at Laney College, 900 Fallon Street, in Oakland, (510) 839-9192. Don Paul, poet, is another guest who is on a book tour presently and will speak about his book and a tribute to Yuri Kochiyama, 2/19 at the Humanist Hall on 27th Street. Yuri was a close friend of Malcolm X, who was killed 44 years ago, Sat., Feb. 21. We hope to close the program with poetry of artists who will be a part of Black Panthers Black History Program honoring Huey P. Newton, at the Black Repertory Theatre, 3201 Adeline Street, in Berkeley, 5-8 p.m. Visit www.itsabouttimebpp.net or call (510) 652-7170.

Hear about the upcoming May 1st International Worker's Day Rally in Oakland. Also, find out about a Performance called "Refugee Nation", based on stories of Laotian refugees and their descendants.  (http://refugeenation.blogspot.com/) Also, long time activist, Yuri Kochiyama about the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal (http://www.freemumia.com) Plus music, calendar and more!  Contact: 510-848-6767×464;apex@kpfa.org; for more stories: www.apexexpress.org and www.myspace.com/apexexpress on our hip hop tip.  The post APEX Express – April 24, 2008 appeared first on KPFA.

An upcoming film, "Freedom Fighters," featuring Yuri Kochiyama and Kiilu Nyasha focuses on their intersections with such notables as Malcolm X and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Hear about APATURE, the largest showcase of Asian American arts with lady DJ Zita on turntables. Visit: www.apexexpress.org The post APEX Express – September 13, 2007 appeared first on KPFA.

It's that time again…API hip-hop on Apex. We give-away a One-of-a-Kind API hip-hop compilation by DJ Phatrick during this KPFA fund-drive. And, we talk with Yuri Kochiyama about her life of supporting civil rights and bridging the Asian and African American communities. Her support of political prisoners remains an inspiration in today's America where imprisoning an immigrant without charges, with no release date, and the increased probable use of torture is now a reality. We'll be giving away "The Heartbeat of Struggle, the Revolutionary life of Yuri Kochiyama" for your support. Plus, we also talk with Diane Fujino, the book's author. So please call in your donation during Apex! Contact: 510-848-6767×464; apex@kpfa.org; for more stories: www.apexexpress.org. The post APEX Express – October 5, 2006 appeared first on KPFA.

Joe Bataan: Afro-Filipino – just an "ordinary guy"? Apex talks to the '60's Salsoul artist who's now gaining a new audience with the growing popularity of down-home, hip-hop, soul stylings. Learn about Bataan's rough beginnings that gave rise to his gritty sound as well as his Sept. Herbst Theater gig in SF. And, from the Barrio to the beat of South Asian sounds and the new scene being created around it…we catch up with DJ Maneesh and Dhamaal's MC to hear about their part in all of this as well as their new CD. Also, Yuri Kochiyama's activist spirited started as a young woman while interned in camp for Japanese Americans during WWII. We talk with the author of a new book that documents the life of Kochiyama and her committment to justice – a book soon to be featured at Berkeley's East Wind bookstore. Plus music, calendar and more… The post APEX Express – August 25, 2005 appeared first on KPFA.