Chinese Americans urged to take part in national survey

A survey, "The State of Chinese Americans," is being conducted by Columbia University, one of the world’s leading research universities, and Committee of 100, a nonprofit organization of prominent Chinese Americans.

The joint research will provide much-needed data to shed light on the demographic, economic, health, and sociopolitical situations of the Chinese American population, and inform policymakers and the public on the status and needs of the community. The survey data will inform timely and responsive policies, programs, and services.

"Our research teams completed a successful pilot study of the survey this summer, with the help of the Chinese-American Planning Council, Chinese American Women in Action, the Community Youth Center of San Francisco, and the U.S. Heartland China Association," stated a press release from the Committee of 100. 

The nationwide survey will be conducted online in English, "simplified Chinese," and "traditional Chinese." 

All adults self-identifying of Chinese-ethnic origin and living in the United States are encouraged to participate in the anonymous survey here: bit.ly/ChineseAmericanSurvey. 

The research is carried out by researchers of the China Center for Social Policy at Columbia University School of Social Work and Committee of 100.

Columbia and Committee of 100 invite additional organizations, community members, and interested groups to participate and partner in this critical research project, to amplify the voices of Chinese American communities nationwide. For more information on how you can become involved, please contact swchinesesurvey@columbia.edu.

For more information on the survey, including an overview of the research project and the opportunity to engage in a Question and Answer session, register for an informational webinar to be held on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 1-2 pm ET.

#FAHM2022 Jessica Hagedorn: Focusing on cultural representation can limit your humanity

Filipino American writer Jessica Hagedorn

By IVAN NATIVIDAD

BERKELEY NEWS

REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

In mainstream media, art and literature, there is a lack of Filipinx American representation and recognition. But Filipina American writer Jessica Hagedorn says that artists who make their work solely about their own culture and history are placing themselves into institutional “niches” that “limit your humanity.”

Hagedorn’s literature, which spans nearly 50 years, is featured in an online Bancroft Library exhibit released Wednesday, and centers on Philippine and Filipinx American histories. Her archives include drafts and notes from her work as a novelist, poet and playwright, public relations material and correspondence dating back to 1976.

Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies Library also has an in-person exhibit — “An Unfinished Revolution: Transnational Filipinx Activism in the 1970s” — that will be displayed at the library through the end of October to honor Filipinx American History Month.

Born in Manila, Hagedorn moved to San Francisco in 1963 when she was 14. Her writing examines the influence of American imperialism and pop culture on the development of Asian American and Filipinx American identity. Hagedorn’s many honors include the 2021 Rome Prize for Literature, a Guggenheim Fiction Fellowship and a Philippine National Book Award.

Her award-winning book, Dogeaters, was published in 1990 and captured life in the Philippines during the Ferdinand Marcos era of martial law. The novel won the American Book Award and has been adapted for the stage and performed at venues across the country.

Berkeley News spoke with Hagedorn recently about the time she spent as a “young activist writer” in the Bay Area, and how writers can break through the identity niches that institutions have placed them in.

Berkeley News: The Berkeley campus will celebrate and acknowledge Filipinx American History Month this year. Are these “identity month” recognitions important to acknowledge?

Jessica Hagedorn: Yes, I think they are for students of color. But why has it taken so long for UC Berkeley to celebrate and acknowledge Filipino Americans? Kinda ironic.

I’m friends with many distinguished Filipino scholars and artists who came out of Berkeley, and it’s very discouraging to me to hear that this recognition is just happening now after all this time. I don’t even think many people at Berkeley know that my archives are in their library and have been for years.

Do you think the accomplishments and influence of Philippine literature and Filipinx American writers often get ignored by institutions?

Yes. I think that’s why I try to be vocal and public about this situation, because I feel like I’ve had the privilege of having a bigger platform.

Charlie Chan Is Dead, an anthology of contemporary Asian American fiction, which I edited and was first published by Penguin in 1990, featured pioneering Filipino writers like Bienvenido Santos and N.V.M. Gonzalez, alongside young writers like Gina Apostol and R. Zamora Linmark.

We’ve been around a long time!

There are a lot of literary institutions that have awarded funding to writers, including yourself, to help them continue to produce literature. Would it also help if writers from the Filipinx American community got more of that financial pie?

Having support is crucial. We all need money to live and continue to make our art. And sometimes these prizes and awards can be a sort of validation.

But money and prizes don’t mean that the work you produce is going to be any good. Sometimes those accolades actually get in the way. The lean times are often when the good stuff happens. So, let’s not get fixated on fame and money.

Dogeaters was adapted for the stage in 1998. This swag shows the face of former first lady of the Philippines, Imedla Marcos, whom a character was loosely based. (Courtesy of UC Berkeley Bancroft Library)

Write like you’re on fire, be fearless, dream and explore.

Some of your writing reflects on specific moments in Philippine history. Is it important for Filipinx/Filpinx American storytellers to focus on Philippine culture and history in their work?

No. You should feel free to write whatever you want to write.

We don’t make art to represent. That has to happen organically. Filipinos are not a monolith. Humans aren’t a monolith. We all have different experiences and need to write across the different identities we hold. As artists, we should be free to write about a wide range of complicated characters and subjects.

Don’t limit yourself to only what you know. But definitely do your homework! Being a writer is hard work.

So, in a sense, are you saying that focusing solely on your identity and/or cultural history can limit your imagination and creativity?

That depends. It can limit not just those things, but it can limit your humanity. And that’s something Gina Apostol and I hope to talk about at this event on Wednesday.

How are history and memory and literature connected? How do different writers deal with these complicated topics? Is everything political? What is our role in the world?

Hagedorn was featured in this Kearny Street Workshop/Balay virtual histories series that explores the cultural impact of the Filipinx and Asian American arts activism community in San Francisco.

Those are questions that many students at Berkeley may be asking themselves at this point in their lives, as well. What is your advice to them?

When I was a young activist writer in the Bay Area, I thought I had all the answers. Sometimes I was right, and a lot of times I was just plain ignorant and wrong. There were a few positive things that came from my impatience, energy and anger: I dared to do things with my artistic comrades that hadn’t been done before.

We came together in writing collectives to make books because most writers of color were not being published at the time. We didn’t know how to publish, but we learned how to do it guerrilla-style. We organized readings, performances and concerts, made posters and came out to support each other big-time.

We brought the noise. And got it done.

It all boils down to that old cliche: believe in yourself. Trust in your creative vision and the power of your distinct writer’s voice.

Originally published by Berkeley News.

PBS special on the Atlanta spa shootings and the rise in anti-Asian hate linked to AANHPI political activism

RISING AGAINST ASIAN HATE

Robert Peterson, son of Atlanta shooting victim Yong Ae Yue, is featured in the documentary.

In March 2021, a man murdered eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia. In a year of increasing violence against Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, the shooting was a watershed event.

For many, the tragic events became a galvanizing moment, reigniting a sense of collective identity and political engagement within AAPI communities. Now, as violence against AAPI people continues to surge nationwide, Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March, a documentary chronicles the troubling escalation of hate and spotlights the movement to turn grief and anger into action. 

"The Asian American community are not victims in this story. I didn't want to show a community that's victimized, even though what's been happening is horrific. But the Asian American community [has] been here fighting for their civil rights for a very, very long time,” said Titi Yu, director of the hour-long documentary. 

WATCH: Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March premieres on Monday, October 17 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/RisingAgainstAsianHate, the PBS Video App and on the PBS

 Narrated by Emmy nominated actress Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy, Killing Eve) with music by Academy and Grammy Award-winning musician Jon Batiste and Grammy nominated musician Cory Wong, Rising Against Asian Hate pays tribute to the lives lost, examines the rise of anti-Asian racism and documents a growing movement to fight back and stop the hate.

Rising Against Asian Hate features interviews with Robert Peterson, son of the late Yong Ae Yue, who was killed in the Atlanta spa shootings; community leaders and organizers and politicians including Stacey Abrams (former Georgia State Representative, founder of Fair Fight and Democratic gubernatorial candidate), Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, Georgia State Sen. Michelle Au, Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen, Georgia State Rep. Samuel Park and Byung J. "BJay" Pak (former Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney and legislator); among others.

"The tragedy of the Atlanta shootings and the events of the past two years have compelled a deep reflection within the community about our place in the American polity. It has galvanized the Asian American community to speak up and speak out," said Yu.

"We watched in horror and shock as vicious attacks on Asian Americans were caught on camera, and we saw how this violence escalated to the killing of six women of Asian descent in the Atlanta shooting," said Gina Kim, executive producer of Rising Against Asian Hate. "With this documentary we hope to examine this troubling escalation of racism against the AAPI community, pay respect to the lives lost and impacted by the violence, and champion those coming together to fight against the hate."

"The rise in anti-Asian hate incidents over the past few years has been unlike anything we've seen in the 42 years that CAAM has been supporting Asian American stories," says Center for Asian American Media Director of Programs Donald Young. "With so much attention focused on the accused shooter in Atlanta, this film is a necessary, in-depth look at the stories behind the victims and the effects on the community."

"The shocking events that took place in Atlanta, and the acts of violence that continue to take place in communities across the country, are tragic and unthinkable," said Margaret Ebrahim, senior director, General Audience Programming at PBS. "Rising Against Asian Hate epitomizes PBS's mission to produce trusted, thought-provoking content that goes beyond the surface level; to provide a platform for discussion, and to foster a culture of understanding about issues that ultimately impact us all."

The film is part of The WNET Group's Exploring Hate: Antisemitism, Racism and Extremism, a public media reporting initiative examining the roots and rise of hate in America and across the globe. 

To complement Rising Against Asian Hate, the Exploring Hate digital series be/longing: Asian Americans Now profiles Asian American trailblazers from across the country in five stories of belonging and exclusion; resilience and hope; and solidarity in the face of hate. Rising Against Asian Hate filmmakers Gina Kim and Titi Yu are the subjects of episode five of be/longing and shed light on what they discovered about the AAPI community in the face of anti-Asian violence.

Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March is produced by Repartee Films, LLC in association with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and The WNET Group for PBS.

With director Yu is Gina Kim as executive producer. For CAAM, Stephen Gong and Donald Young are executive producers and James Ott is executive-in-charge. For Exploring Hate, Eugenia Harvey is executive producer and Judy Greenspan is series producer. For The WNET Group, Lesley Norman is executive producer and Stephen Segaller is executive-in-charge. Margaret Ebrahim is the Executive in Charge for PBS.

Yu believes that the 2022 Midterm election is a critical moment for Asian Americans' growing political influence. She explains how by drawing a line between the hate crime legislation and political participation further emphasizes the kind of work that the Asian American community has been doing throughout history.

“Whenever this kind of violence happens, we hear about the families and the victims,” Yu continues, “but we don’t really know that behind the story of how the community can actually come together to really help the victims and the families, and particularly with immigrant communities that’s also close knit. I just got a sense that a tragedy like this can really hit at the heart of the community members. So that’s why we wanted to reach out to those people.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Seven 'genius' Asian Americans receive MacArthur Fellowships

This year's MacArthur Fellows.

This year's 25 MacArthur Fellows include seven Asian Americans who are using their "genius" ideas and deeds to improve life in America.

“The 2022 MacArthur Fellows are architects of new modes of activism, artistic practice, and citizen science," said Marlies Carruth, director of MacArthur Fellows. 

"They are excavators uncovering what has been overlooked, undervalued, or poorly understood. They are archivists reminding us of what should survive," Carruth continued.

"Their work extends from the molecular level to the land beneath our feet to Earth’s orbital environment—offering new ways for us to understand the communities, systems, and social forces that shape our lives around the globe.”

The MacArthur Fellows for 2022 include seven Asian Americans. Each of the "geniuses" will receive $800,000. They are:

Paul Chan

Paul Chan  of New York is an artist striving to express humanity’s complexities and contradictions through an artistic practice that moves across media. He makes drawings, sculptures, and digital projections; writes essays on culture and history; ran a publishing enterprise; and staged a play. He draws on a wealth of cultural touchstones—from classical philosophy to modern literature, critical theory, and hip-hop culture—to produce works that respond to our current political and social realities, making those realities more immediately available to the mind for contemplation and critical reflection.

"I admire works that say and mean nothing in particular. What sets them apart? They tend to manifest a desperate immanence, as if what is expressed is not good enough, but will have to do. They seize time the way a beat possesses a song, to evoke the vertiginous feeling of seeing something emerge by being made and unmade at the same instant. They last as experiences by not staying whole as forms. They radiate an inner irreconcilability about what they are and what they want to be with unrestrained abandon, which is as close as it comes to an honest insight about the plight of living today. 

"This radiance is what makes them pleasurable. Lively. But this is also why they rarely console, as art perhaps ought to, in these great times. They remain, in the end, comfortless. Why? They remind us of just how little time there is left—for anyone—of all that has been lost, how close it all is from disappearing, and what it takes to go on."

Yejin Choi

Yejin Choi of the University of Washington is a computer scientist leveraging her expertise in natural language processing (NLP) to develop artificial intelligence-based systems that can perform commonsense reasoning. The ability to reason, or make inferences, is beyond the reach of existing AI systems because it requires implicit knowledge about how the world works. Choi recognized that rules-based models, such as logic or conditional probabilities, are too rigid to encompass the complexity of commonsense knowledge and thinking. Instead, she uses computational methods for understanding language, or NLP, to develop commonsense knowledge and reasoning models.

”Commonsense is the dark matter of intelligence. We know it’s there, and we all rely on it effortlessly, yet it has been notoriously hard to pin down, especially for machines. My research seeks to tackle this longstanding challenge in AI (artificial intelligence) by teaching machines to reason about the likely causes and effects of everyday events and the likely intents and mental states of people in relation to those events. Through this research I hope to make machines communicate better with humans and align better with human values.”

June Huh

June Huh of Princeton University is a mathematician proving long-standing mathematical conjectures through novel connections between different branches of math: combinatorics and algebraic geometry. Huh began his study of mathematics in algebraic geometry, which involves the properties of geometric structures (such as curves or surfaces) that are described using polynomial equations. 

Combinatorics concerns counting, arranging, and combining sets of elements within a discrete system (for example, in how many different orders can five people sit at a round table). Within mathematics, algebraic geometry and combinatorics are considered quite distinct.

Monica Kim

Monica Kim of the University of Wisconsin is a historian uncovering new insights into U.S. foreign policy in the context of global decolonization after World War II. Through a focus on perspectives beyond American state actors, Kim reorients our understanding of U.S. foreign policy during and after the Korean War.

Kim’s scholarship demonstrates the extent to which military interventions presented as communist containment in fact reflected more individualized struggles over national allegiance, agency, and political recognition.

Afro-Asia, examines economic development as a tool of foreign policy and international influence. Economic scarcity, famine, and political debates about socialism and capitalism often challenge societies freed from colonial rule.

Priti Radhakrishnan Krishtel

Priti Krishtel of Oakland, California, is a health justice lawyer exposing the inequities in the patent system to increase access to affordable, life-saving medications on a global scale. By distilling the technical aspects of the patent system to show its sometimes devastating impact on people’s lives, Krishtel is galvanizing a movement to center people instead of only commercial interests in our medicines patent policy.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Krishtel has argued powerfully that incentivizing innovation should not come at the expense of equity and public health. Particularly during public health emergencies and for taxpayer-funded research, commercial and public interest concerns can be balanced. Krishtel is increasing understanding of how intellectual property policy can impact personal, public, and global health care, and she and I-MAK are envisioning a patent system that benefits all people regardless of geography and economic status.

”I think a lot about who owns our right to heal. We live in a hierarchy of health. Some people get medicine first, and some don’t get it at all. Our ability to heal should not depend on our ability to pay or where we live. But it does. 

"Medicine must always be a global public good. Knowledge can no longer be locked up in this way.

"The challenge right now is that we are living in the age of the bully. A time when a small minority of the historically powerful are trying to own the un-ownable. We are saying no and creating a new, more compassionate and inclusive future in its place.”

Ikue Mori

Ikue Mori of New York is an electronic musician expanding the range of sonic and technical possibilities for experimental and improvisational music. She creates rhythmic and ambient soundscapes using digital processing techniques, a laptop computer, and repurposed elements of electronic drumming equipment. Over her five-decade career, Mori has transformed the use of percussion in improvised music and inspired generations of electronic musicians.

Mori’s most recent recording, Tracing the Magic (2022), consists of seven pieces inspired by women artists who continued creating new work well into their eighties and nineties. It is a continuation of her explorations of sound and improvisational dialogue. The pieces often begin in hushed electronic thumps, pops, and brushed tones. The layering of instruments (among them prepared piano, vocals, percussions, reeds, and bagpipe) builds gradually, ascending to achieve a riveting cacophony. With unceasing curiosity, Mori continues to evolve and to blaze an uncharted path exploring new ways to create experimental, machine-based music.

Emily Wang

Emily Wang of Yale University is a physician investigating the health-harming effects of incarceration and improving health outcomes for people exiting prison. In her clinical practice and research, Wang partners closely with justice-involved populations to develop effective clinical services and to deepen understanding of the structural barriers to healthcare access that they face.

In 2020, Wang became the inaugural director of the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice, a collaboration between Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School. The center bridges the disparate domains of health, law, and criminal justice to study how specific policies and interventions affect the well-being of individuals and communities impacted by mass incarceration. 

One current SEICHE project considers the ethical concerns and potential solutions for COVID-19 testing and prevention measures in correctional facilities. Another explores community-led strategies for reducing incidences of gun violence. Through the dignified, direct care she provides and the rigorous research she leads, Wang is shining a light on complex health needs and inequities that are largely obscured from public view.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Asian American actor gets a role he can sink his teeth into

Filipino American actor Jacob Batalon will play vampire Reginald Andres,.

Forget the remake of Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire that recently debuted and has garnered all the publicity the Amazon streaming network could muster, or Vampire Diaries over at HBO Max and Peacock, the vampire series to watch is Reginald the Vampire on the SyFy channel.

First off, Reginald Andres is not your typical blood-sucking, pale-skin immortal. He's brown. He's overweight. He's Filipino American. Reginald is being played by Jacob Batalon, who is best known for being Spidey's best friend Ned Leeds in the latest Spider-Man trilogy.

"Being Filipino and being proud of my heritage, it gives me this great sense of responsibility to be a better person," the actor said in a video released by SyFy.

"It means a lot. I think that I wanted to represent people and to make sure that they know that they are more than enough. They don't need to be a certain way, look a certain way to really be successful. I think it's important to have representation on SYFY because... I mean, why not? I feel like they've given us the platform to do so. I think that that's amazing, and we're gonna continually move forwardly and positively with that."

Not since, Vicente Rodriguez III in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that ended its four-year run in 2019, has a Filipino American man had a lead role in US television. Prior to that series, there had never been a Filipino American, male or female, playing the lead character in a TV series. 

Because of the bias baked into the entertainment industry, an Asian American male lead is still the rarest of rare creatures in US television. John Cho starred in a short-lived Selfie in 2014. 

It took eight years before Hollywood studio heads took another leap casting Raymond Lee as the leading man in the updated Quantum Leap series.

Reginald the Vampire will certainly expand the range of roles played by AANHPI actors. AANHPI male roles, for the most part, get lost in ensembles, relegated to second-banana roles or martial artists. Add vampire to the list.

On representing an ethnic group still not adequately portrayed in the entertainment media, Batalon said in an interview with "Pop Culturist:" "It’s truly an amazing honor. Being people of color in the industry, you don’t really get to see people like us, and the people that we do see are these stereotypical versions. Every marginalized group has felt this heavily in the industry. 

"I would say for Asian Americans and for Filipino Americans, we are seen. We are being heard. I want them to know that this is just the beginning of the narrative. We’re here. We’re going to stay. We’re going to keep winning," he continued.

 Based on the "Fat Vampire" novels by Johnny B Truant, the vampire series delves into the deeper aspects of Reginald beyond his newfound need to suck blood, some of which the actor relates to on a personal level.

Reginald the Vampire is Syfy‘s latest series focused on the nocturnal creature that goes bump in the night, but actor Jacob Batalon promises the titular character is different from the rest. Based on the Fat Vampire novels by Johnny B Truant, the series delves into the deeper aspects of Reginald beyond his newfound need to suck blood, some of which the actor relates to on a personal level.

“My girlfriend and I read the first book … and I very much related to Reginald on such a deep level,” the 25-year-old said in a call with reporters ahead of the premiere, adding that the first season is based largely on the first book in the series. 

“I felt like just as an actor, preparing for it emotionally and mentally very much meant that I had to really deep like dig into the sort of past insecurities that I would have about myself.”

Batalon points out that although the series is introspective on the character and the troubles he faces, Reginald is a delightful guy who would probably get on the nerves of some of the more contemporary vampires in pop culture. 

“I think that Blade probably wouldn’t give him any time of day,” he admitted. “You know, I think Reginald will probably get under his skin really quickly. He’s a very talkative person. And he’s also very neurotic. So he’ll absolutely pick his brain about the weirdest stuff like, ‘what did you have for lunch?’ Like, ‘why do you kill people with a blade?’ ‘Is that like, your whole shtick?’ If he were to speak to Morbius, you know, [he’d’] probably wonder why he’s so like, weirdly brooding.”

Although some adopt an eerie personality after succumbing to vampirism, “Reginald is very normal. He’s a very human person. He doesn’t play into the vampire tropes. That’s probably why I like him, he’s so different.”

WATCH: 'Reginald the Vampire' is available on the SyFy Channel, Wednesdays, 10 p.m.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

 

Pew Research Center: Asian American voters are an increasingly influential electorate

After making an impact in the 2020 elections, and fighting against attempts to temper their vote, the AANHPI community is hard to ignore heading into the Nov. 8 Midterm elections.

This November, about 13.3 million Asian Americans will be eligible to vote, making up 5.5% of all eligible voters, according to Pew Research Center projections.

Asian Americans  are still the fastest-growing community and leans towards the Democrats, according to information released by the Pew Research Center Wednesday. Asian American eligible voters are still growing three times faster than other demographic groups.

Fifty-seven percent of English-speaking, Asian registered voters said they would likely vote for the Democratic candidate in their US House of Representatives district race, while 26% said they would likely support the Republican candidate. In midterm elections, voter turnout rates are typically low so if AANHPI community advocates can muster their communities to go to the polls their impact could be greater than their actual numbers.

The Pew Research Center presents some quick facts about this year's Asian American electorate:

1. As of 2020, the majority of Asian American eligible voters (56%) live in only five states. California has the highest number of Asian American eligible voters by far (4.2 million). The state is home to nearly a third (32%) of the entire U.S. Asian electorate. 

The state with the second-most Asian American eligible voters is New York (1.1 million), followed by Texas (930,000), Hawaii (565,000) and New Jersey (505,000).

2. Hawaii is the only state where Asian Americans make up a majority of the eligible voter population. Asian Americans make up 55% of the electorate in Hawaii, the only state where a racial or ethnic group other than single-race White, non-Hispanic eligible voters are the majority. Following Hawaii, the states with the largest shares of Asian eligible voters are California (16%) and Nevada (10%).

Hawaii also has the highest share of eligible voters within its Asian population. Seven-in-ten Asians in Hawaii are eligible to vote, the highest share of any state with an Asian population of 50,000 or more. Following Hawaii on this measure are Nevada (64%), California (61%), Louisiana (60%) and Florida (59%).

3. Overall, more than half of all Asian Americans in the U.S. (56%) are eligible to vote, compared with 72% of the total U.S. population. Asian Americans are less likely than Americans overall to be eligible to vote because a significant share are immigrants who are not U.S. citizens. 

4. A majority of Asian American eligible voters (57%) are naturalized citizens, rather than U.S.-born citizens. Asian Americans are the only major racial or ethnic group where the majority of eligible voters are naturalized citizens. A smaller share of Asian American eligible voters (43%) are U.S.-born citizen.

5. Asian American voters are more likely than the overall eligible voter population to have a bachelor’s degree. As of 2020, half of Asian American eligible voters have a bachelor’s degree or more education. By comparison, about a third (33%) of the total eligible voter population has at least a bachelor’s degree. Asian eligible voters are also more likely than the general eligible voter population to have a postgraduate degree of some kind, such as a master’s degree or law degree (19% vs. 12%). Pew analyses from earlier releases found that educational attainment varies widely among different Asian American subgroups.

6. Asian Americans are slightly younger than other voters. The median age for Asian American eligible voters is 44, compared with 48 among the broader population of eligible voters. And 36% of Asian American eligible voters are ages 30 to 49, compared with 32% of the total eligible voter population.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Civic Action Week launch encouraging AANHPI voters

Early voting for the Midterm election has begun in many states.

With less than a month before the Midterm elections, AANHPI agencies are gearing up to encourage taking part in democracy by voting.

From Oct. 11-14, over a dozen Asian and Pacific Islander (API) nonprofits across the country are launching Civic Action Week, organized by Gold House, to encourage voting, philanthropy, and vaccines. 

"The pandemic has been particularly hard on many Asians and Pacific Islanders facing increasing socioeconomic challenges. We must mobilize to protect our rights and our health," says Jeremy Tran, COO of Gold House, one of the nonprofits leading Civic Action Week.

The week highlights national and local resources heading into midterm elections and flu season, from the Filipino Voter Empowerment Project's PSA starring Timothy Granaderos (See below.( to the US Department of Health and Human Services' COVID-19 education campaign We Can Do This.

FYI: Click here for a full list of resources and events. of Civic Action Week.

Indeed, the collective power of APIs should not be overlooked. Asian American voter turnout surged by 47% nationally and across all presidential battleground states in 2020, becoming the margin of victory in key states like Georgia. Asian Americans also assumed some of the highest national and local offices for the first time — from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to Mayors Michelle Wu (Boston), Aftab Pureval (Cincinnati), and Bruce Harrell (Seattle).

These victories did not come easily, however.

Barriers to voting access continue to exist in critical states like Texas, where a recent poll by Asian Texans for Justice showed that 64% of the API electorate are eager to vote.

"South Asians in Texas are up against major obstacles at the ballot box," warns Krisan Swaminathan, Chair of SAAVETX. "Voter suppression laws ensnare our people in antiquated voter registration regulations, complicated ballot access, and stringent voter identification requirements. This directly impacts immigrant communities."

Many API communities have also been facing limited healthcare and financial resources, despite increasing challenges in recent years.

"With the prevalence of chronic illnesses among Pacific Islanders and likeliness of our communities living in multi-family and multi-generational households, prioritizing health in our community today is key to ensuring we aren't one of the hardest hit communities in the next health crisis," Karla Thomas, Deputy Director of EPIC, explains.

But with less than 1% of philanthropic dollars going to AANHPI nonprofits, these organizations are working together to empower their communities through creative ways like Civic Action Week.

Civic Action Week is a grassroots effort to empower Asian and Pacific Islanders nationwide with accessible resources on voting, philanthropy, and vaccines. Participating organizations include AALEAD, APIAVote, Asia Services in Action, Asian Texans for Justice, CAUSE, Chinese-American Planning Council, EPIC, HAVEN, SAAVE TX, The SEAD Project, and VAYLA New Orleans.

"Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have faced many challenges over the past few years. But as a community, we did not stay silent," says Kevin Hirano, Director of Operations and Development of APIAVote. "The change we want and need can only happen when we vote and take others with us to the polls."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Ex-Hawaii Congress Representative Tulsi Gabbard leaves the Democrats

Former Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard launches a new podcast.

To no one's surprise, Tulsi Gabbard made it official Tuesday when she announced that she is leaving the Democratic Party.

The former Congressional Representative from Hawaii has announced that she is leaving the Democrats, calling it an “elitist cabal of warmongers”, and inviting her “common sense independent minded” Democrats to join her. Despite leaving the party, she left her future political affiliation up in the air.

Gabbard, who ran for United States President in 2019, said in a video published on Twitter on Tuesday said that the Democratic Party is driven by “cowardly wokeness.”

A frequent critic of the Biden administration, Gabbard's announcement was not a complete surprise. Since Biden took office, the Samoan American's criticism more and more began to echo the rhetoric coming from the conservative extremists who have taken over the GOP.

Gabbard's tweet said: "I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war."

Gabbard’s announcement comes as she also kicks off a new podcast this week, “The Tulsi Gabbard Show.”

Once seen as a rising political star, Gabbard has gained a reputation as a wild card within Democratic circles, often questioning Democratic positions. She also faced criticisms earlier this year from local Democrats who voted to condemn her “for participating in an event that raised funds that will harm Democrats across the country” after she spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

After 23 years in prison, murder charges dropped vs. Adnan Syed

THE INNOCENCE PROJECT

Murder charges against Adnan Syed, in tie, were dropped.

After 23 years in a prison, Adnan Syed is a free man after Maryland prosecutors dropped murder charges against him.

Once again, the question that haunted thousands of podcast listeners is raised: Who killed Hae Min Lee?

Syed was convicted of killing his former high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999. His trial and the subsequent podcast, "Serial," gathered hundreds of thousands of followers questioning the prosecution's evidence that put Syed behind bars.

The Maryland attorney general dropped the charges because of the results of DNA testing “that excluded Mr. Syed from the DNA recovered from the evidence,” said a statement from the state's Office of the Public Defender.

In a motion filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court last month, prosecutors said that a nearly yearlong investigation, conducted with Syed's lawyer Erica J. Suter, had found two possible “alternative suspects,” who have not been named publicly or charged.

Prosecutors also said new information revealed that one of the suspects was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, and that one of the suspects was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault.

The investigation also questioned the reliability of evidence used to convict Pakistani American Syed.

Based on that motion, last month a judge released 41-year old Syed from prison and placed him in home detention with electronic monitoring.

During his trial and even after his conviction, Syed had maintained his innocence. Supporteres, friends and family continued to raise questions about the investigation and evidence attracting the attention of podcaster producers of "This American Live," hosted by Sarah Koenig. 

In 2014, a podcast, "Serial," produced. by This American Life, gained mullions of listeners nationwide as it questioned whether Syed had received a fair trail. "Serial" was downloaded more than 100 million times in its first year, bringing nationwid attention to the case. The podcast won a Peabody Award for its “compelling, drilling account of how guilt, truth and reality are decided.”

Murder victim Hae Min Lee, left, and Adnan Syed dated each other in high school

In 2015, a judge denied an appeal based on new evidence presented by the defense. Defense attorneys in 2019 then attempted to bring the case to the US Supreme Court which turned down the case.

In March of this year, prosecutors agreed to new DNA testing, saying that it was merited because of advances in genetic profiling. 

On Sept. 14, prosecutors asked a judge to overturn Syed’s conviction, which Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court agreed to drop the charges against Syed “in the interests of justice and fairness.”

Monday (Oct. 11), the Maryland Office of the Public Defender said the charges were dropped because the new DNA evidence excluded Syed. 

An appeal before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, in which the victim's family sought to pause proceedings, remains pending. 

“Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man,” Syed’s lawyer, Erica J. Suter, said in a statement. “The DNA results confirmed what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings: that Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Becoming Mexipino: Thwarting the anti-miscegenation laws of the US

The overlapping of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 and Filipino American History Month, October 1-31, has special meaning for Mexipinos, who get a double celebration.

From the 16th century to the present, the union of Mexicans and Filipinos was the result of human nature taking its course. Love conquers man-made laws, even the anti-miscegenation laws that prevented Filipinos from marrying Whites.

Although Filipino sailors who jumped ship in Mexico after a trans-Pacific voyage on Manila galleons in the 16th to 18th centuries were able to form Filipino-Mexican families it wasn't until the 20th century that the term Mexipino was created.

Prof. Rudy P Guevarra, an associate professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at Arizona State University, is a fourth-generation Mexipino. He brought the term into contemporary use through his studies and research in college and as the author of Becoming Mexipino. 

Becoming Mexipino is a social-historical interpretation of two ethnic groups, one Mexican, the other Filipino, whose paths led both groups to San Diego, California. Rudy Guevarra traces the earliest interactions of both groups with Spanish colonialism to illustrate how these historical ties and cultural bonds laid the foundation for what would become close interethnic relationships and communities in 20th century San Diego as well as in other locales throughout California and the Pacific West Coast.

Through racial covenants and other forms of discrimination, both groups, regardless of their differences, were confined to segregated neighborhoods along with African Americans, other Asian groups, and a few European immigrant clusters. 

Rudy P. Guevarra: 'I'm a fourth generation Mexipino.'

An excerpt from Guevarra's Becoming Mexipino illustrates how love overcame the racist law that forbade the marriage of one interracial couple.

When Felipa Castro met Ciriaco “Pablo” Poscablo in San Diego, little did sheknow the impact their marriage would have on their family for generations to come. Born and raised in Baja California, Mexico, 

Felipa migrated with her family to Tijuana, then made her way north to the Otay Mesa area in the South Bay region of San Diego County during the early 1930s. 

Her future husband, Ciriaco, arrived in San Diego in 1924 from his hometown of Calasiao, in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines, via the US Navy. 

Their courtship was brief, and they filed for a marriage license in 1938. What is interesting to note about their marriage is that on their license she indicated she was a “Mexican Indian,” despite the fact she was light enough to be considered white. 

Felipa, however, made sure she was not perceived as white. Rather, Felipa consciously chose to indicate on their marriage license that she was Mexican Indian in order to marry her Filipino husband. In doing so, she resisted the racial restrictions ofthe time that prohibited miscegenation between whites and nonwhites. She had to assert her Mexican Indian identity in order for the marriage to be recognized by the state. Her choice to identify as “Mexican Indian” reveals an ironic twist of following the legal codes that opposed miscegenation between Filipinos and whites; this also affected light-skinned Mexican women after 1933.

Even when the anti-miscegenation laws were abolished as recently as 1967 in Loving v. Virginia,  a world-shaking event not covered in most US history books, the unions between Filipinos and Mexicans began to blossom and continue to this day to create the self-identified Mexipino, a term that is gaining usage as recognition of the interracial unions gains traction in popular culture.

RELATED: Designing a Mexipino wedding, a blending of two cultures

Within these urban multiracial spaces, Mexicans and Filipinos coalesced to build a world of their own through family and kin networks, shared cultural practices, social organizations, and music and other forms of entertainment. Through the common history under Spanish rule, Mexicans and Filipinos shared similar traditions through the interplay of language, cuisine and religion. 

In the US, they shared the same racism that segregated them to outskirts of cities and culture. They occupied the same living spaces, attended the same Catholic churches, and worked together creating labor cultures that reinforced their ties, often fostering marriages. 

Jackie Ramirez and Nico Blitz will do a live podcast from the Mexipino Food fest.

As evidence of the ongoing Mexipino evolution, a Mexipino food festival is being held in San Francisco. Organized in part by Nico Blitz and Jackie Ramirez, hosts of the Mexipino Podcast, the Mexipino Food Fest will be held Oct. 16, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be held at an outdoor venue, District Six, formerly the SoMa StrEat Food Park, 428 11th Street, where the fest will be held. 

The Mexipino Food Fest will feature Mexican and Filipino food vendors, desserts, clothing brands, creatives and DJs. Additionally Mexipino Podcast will conduct a live podcast and a watch party for the 49ers vs. Falcons will take place. No admission fee for children 12 and under.

Mexipino children, living simultaneously in two cultures, are creating a new identity for themselves. The way they celebrate and claim their dual heritages are the lens through which these two communities are examined, revealing the ways in which Mexicans and Filipinos interacted over generations to produce this distinct  multiethnic experience.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.