Commemorating the first AA anti-Vietnam War Rally in Little Tokyo
By Eddie Wong. Posted January 11, 2019. Several hundred Asian Americans from all walks of life gathered in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo 49 years ago on January 17, 1970 to protest the Vietnam War. Visual Communications, a collaborative of young Asian American photographers and filmmakers, was there to document this historic occasion. The following video…
Jon Jang and the Sounds of Struggle – Part One: Black Arts in White Palo Alto
The Sounds of Struggle: Music from the Black Liberation Movement of the 1960s to the Asian American Movement of the 1980s By Jon Jang. Posted January 8, 2019. Editor’s Note: This is part one of a multi-part series of articles. The entire series will unfold monthly. “In recent times musicians like Charles Mingus (dig Fables…
Tsering Ngodup: Tibetan American Organizes for Union Drive at Tufts
By Liz Bishop. Posted December 29, 2018. This the transcript of an interview between Tsering Ngodup and Liz Bishop about the Tufts Dining workers’ successful unionization campaign that occurred in the spring of 2018. Liz graduated from Tufts in May 2018 and was a student worker in the Tufts dining halls from September 2015 to…
Parol Festival Sends A Joyous Message of Unity
by Eddie Wong. Posted December 13, 2018. There was a slight chill in the air on this San Francisco night deep in SOMA Pilipinas, the cultural heritage district of the Filipino American community. And winter in SF is often rainy and cold. But nothing could dampen the spirit of the hundreds who gathered for the…
Native Guns reunites to honor Dawn Mabalon
by Eddie Wong. Posted December 9, 2018. This post is a preview/teaser for a longer story that will include an interview with Native Guns and more clips from their December 8, 2018 show at Bindlestiff Studio by Jericho Saria. MCs Bambu and Kiwi and DJ Phatrick performed at this benefit for Little Manila Rising and…
Play It Again, David Sum – SF Chinatown’s pioneering jazz pianist.
By Eddie Wong. Posted November 14, 2018. Introduction I interviewed David Sum a long, long time ago. October 30, 1982 to be exact. I had heard that David played in San Francisco Chinatown dance bands and jazz combos in the 1920s and 1930s, but I had no idea that he toured the USA in vaudeville.…
OC APAs Planting Seeds for Progressives
Orange County APAs lay foundation for progressive electoral organizing By Mark Masaoka. Posted November 12, 2018. As heavily Democratic as Asian Pacific Americans are in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles—that is how heavily Republican APAs are in Orange County (OC). Of Orange County’s 13 state legislators, five are APA Republicans, as are…
Election Commentaries by Timmy Lu and Michael Liu
APAs on the Move! By Timmy Lu. Posted November 13, 2018. There were some really exciting wins at the local level, with House races in Orange County, California still TBD, progressive Asian American candidates winning in the Bay Area (Gordon Mar for San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Nikki Fortunato Bas and Sheng Thao for Oakland…
APAs Impact the Midterm Elections
By Eddie Wong. Posted November 12, 2018. All over the country, Asian Pacific American activists participated in the all-out effort to beat back Trump and take back theHouse of Representatives on November 6. Not only did the Democrats exceed the goal of flipping 23 seats (votes are still being tabulated in several close races and…
From Heart Mountain to Henoko Bay – for Uncle Shōbo and Okinawa
By Miya Sommers. Posted November 15, 2018. Monday was Veterans Day, and the ashy skies sagged from the weight of yet another devastating fire raging in California. I have trouble breathing as I inhale apocalyptic visions of our future on this day of solemn commemoration. My Facebook feed is filled with tag lines like “…