On this month’s South Asian spotlight, we celebrate India’s Supreme Court’s historic decision striking down Section 377, an archaic Colonial law that criminalized homosexuality. We talk to a feisty Desi lesbian couple Priti and Mads about their new ice cream business, a venture that has helped them dream and live outside the box in many ways!
We also hear from Thanu Yakupitiyage from 350.org, about the ongoing climate actions in resistance to Governor Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, and why climate change is also a South Asian issue; and the piece de resistance: a sneak peek into a brand new storytelling podcast by APEX Express’ Preeti Mangala Shekar!
First, we’ll hear an interview with two members of Buena Vista Methodist Church, a historically Japanese American church that’s providing sanctuary for undocumented families.
Then we’ll speak with Leslie Tran from VietUnity, and Danny Thongsy from Asian Law Caucus about their current work in deportation defense for Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrant communities.
And last we’ll hear about the artwork of Flo Oy Wong. Her art uplifts the lives of paper daughters — women who forged documentation to come to the US after the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Community Calendar
Eastwind Books of Berkeley is hosting a book talk with Myles A. Garcia on his anthology of essays on the Filipino-American experience. The event is at Eastwind Books this Saturday at 3pm.
Oakland Asian Cultural Center is hosting a concert to celebrate Black History Month and to commemorate the Day of Remembrance, a day to remember the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. The concert will feature the Asian American Orchestra and the Voices of a Dream ensemble and will be on February 18th at 7PM.
VietUnity is partnering up with QTViet Cafe again for the 2018 Intergenerational Feast of Resistance on Saturday, April 7th. The intention is to celebrate and share the foodways and recipes of our families and/or loved ones as a pathway to organizing and creating a cultural healing hub.
In an effort to better understand San Francisco’s local arts ecosystem, ensure equitable distribution of resources, and pursue solutions to affordable housing for artists and cultural workers, the San Francisco Arts Commission has issued a brief 10-minute survey. If you are an artist or cultural worker, help the Arts Commission help you by taking 10-minutes to complete the survey. Visit sfartscommision.org for more info.
Tonight on APEX Express, Powerleegirls hosts Miko Lee and Ayame Keane-Lee check in with documentary filmmakers and writers Mike Siv on Daze of Justice, Sahra Nguyen on Deported and Charles Vogl on New Year Baby and his latest book The Art of Community. We hear the latest about immigration, deportation, storytelling and community.
Tonight, we kick off the new year with voices from APEX contributors and our larger community. Charged with the request to share audio clips that inspired them through the last year, we hear from APEX contributors Lindsay Oda, Geraldine Ah-Sue, Nonogirl, and the Power Lee Women (Miko, Jalena, and Ayame). We also have a contribution from APEX’s co-founder Renee Geesler. And our community contributed including Oliver Saria from Bindlestiff Studio and Rachel Lastimosa with SOMA Pilipinas.
The audio contributions include music, poetry, inspirational speeches and interviews that cover labor, colonization, sovereignty and immigration. We hope this inspires you into the new year.
Tonight on APEX Express, join hosts Miko Lee and Jalena Keane-Lee as we talk with lawyers and activists in Trump’s America. First we talk to Kevin Lo from Asian Americans Advancing Justice about the ICE round up of Cambodian Americans. Then we hear from activists Sonya Shah, Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies and founder of the Ahimsa Collective and Ke Lam from the Asian Prisoner Support Committee about the prison industrial complex in the Trump Era.We also hear from Nonogirl reporting from the Ban Trump Rally from the Bay all the way to the Philippines.
“I learned to use chopsticks when I was seven,” says our guest Dolores Huerta about growing up in diverse Stockton, California. Join us on Apex Express to hear Host Miko Lee and guest contributor Jalena Keane-Lee interview the legendary activist Dolores Huerta and filmmaker Peter Bratt all about the new documentary “Dolores“.
Dolores shares her experiences with intersectionality and community development. She talks about the Dolores Huerta Foundation which trains community activists and her struggle with making the film that features much of her personal life including interviews with many of her 11 children.
Peter Bratt talks about adding the human side to Dolores Huerta’s remarkable life. The film, produced by musician Carlos Santana, has been having sold out screenings throughout the Bay Area.
Voices from the Emergency DACA Rally in San Francisco, organized by Bay Resistance on the day Trump ended the program. You’ll hear from a young woman with ASPIRE (Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education), the first Pan-Asian, undocumented immigrant led organization in the country. You’ll also hear from Sharif from AROC, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
ASPIRE activist speaking at the Emergency DACA Rally at the SF Federal Building
Greetings, my name is Danny Thongsy I am a Yuri Kochiyama Fellow at Asian Americans Advancing Justice/Asian Law Caucus. I am deeply inspired by Ny Nourn. Her strength and resilience speaks to the spirit she carried which defied so many odds and obstacles. The trajectory of her life – migration-school-prison-detention/deportation pipeline – disclosed the results of our nation’s militarism/capitalism and its failure to help immigrants and disadvantaged members within our community. Her life has raised so much awareness regarding this and domestic violence issue.
Ny Nourn (center)
I can empathize with Ny, being a child refugee of parents who escaped war and the Khmer Rouge genocide only to resettled in an impoverished setting, and I only imagine how difficult it truly was for her and her family; in addition, to the trauma of war she and her family carried and the challenges of acculturation. Also, as a young lady she was shackled in an abusive relationship with a man who is older than she is and to escape seems detrimental. As a results of this toxic relationship she was later accused by our failing criminal justice system for a crime her abuser committed and then she was branded with a prison number and given a life sentence.
However, regardless of her circumstance, after a decade and numerous years of being warehoused and separated from her family and her community, she persevered and attained her freedom but only to face, once again, a threat of being separated from her family and her community through deportation. The question is: when is enough enough especially for a domestic violence survivor who served an unjust sentence for a crime her abuser committed and all she wants is to forgive him, bring healing to her community, and be reunited with her family.
Once again as she perseveres through this challenge, we at the Asian Law Caucus and other organizations and community groups are supporting her by advocating for her release.
By Danny Thongsy, Yuri Kochiyama Fellow #FREENYNOURN
Yuri Kochiyama Fellow Danny Thongsy with Ny’s Attorney, Anoop Prasad.
Tonight, on APEX Express, we talked with Asian American Artist Activist Change Makers. We spoke to San Francisco Mime Troupe veteran Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, data artist Brian Foo, singer Hollis Wong-Wear and filmmaker Jalena Keane-Lee. On behalf of my co-host Ayame Keane Lee and myself Miko Lee, we thank all of our Artist Activist Changemakers who joined us tonight. Keep creating, keep fighting, keep sharing your visions with the world.
Tonight on Apex Express Mother/Daughter hosts Miko Lee and Ayame Keane-Lee spoke to Yvette Felarca from By Any Means Necessary about taking direct action out into the streets and stopping the Trump ICE raids. More information about an upcoming immigration forum is listed in the calendar below.
We spoke to Michelle Lee, curator of Shifting Movements, Art inspired by Yuri Kochiyama, which opens with a big celebration tonight at SOMARTS Cultural Center and runs through May 25. Shifting Movements is part of the 20th Annual United States of Asian America Festival. Some of the art pieces are shown above, but go check it out in person to see how amazing the work is.
Mari Nakagawa interviewed punk band Aye Nako who hits the Bay Area tonight and tomorrow night.
Poet Yujane Chan came into the studio and performed her erasure poem derived from her formal immigration papers. Ayame, also a youth poet, chatted with Yujane about her inspiration and process. Yujane performed this as part of Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam in April.
Miko spoke with award winning filmmaker Felicia Lowe’s about her latest work Chinese Couplets which is her personal tale about the Chinese Exclusion Act. They also discussed the big Rally for Inclusion that is happening this Saturday in Portsmouth Square Chinatown to acknowledge the 135th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Find out more about the Rally and how to take action page here.
Venue: SOMArts Cultural Center, Main Gallery, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco. Exhibition Dates: Tuesday through Friday from 12-7pm, and Saturdays from 12-5pm. Closing Reception: Thursday, May 25, 2016. 6-9pm.
APEX Express is a proud member of Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, or AACRE. AACRE is a network of Asian American social justice groups with shared values that are working to create positive change.
“I learned to use chopsticks when I was seven,” says our guest Dolores Huerta about growing up in diverse Stockton, California. Join us on Apex Express to hear Host Miko Lee and guest contributor Jalena Keane-Lee interview the legendary activist Dolores Huerta and filmmaker Peter Bratt all about the new documentary “
APEX Express is a proud member of 
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