1/11/18 Hope in the New Year

Tonight, we feature organizing at the state and local level.

• Celi Tamayo-Li with SF Rising talks about their work on the College for All campaign in California.
• Deepa Varma from the San Francisco Tenants Union talks about the effort to repeal the California Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act. She brings us breaking news from the state Housing Committee.
• And we talk with the people involved with Barangay Broadside, an art and activism project in San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District.

Tonight, we’re looking at movement building and legislative change that is mounting in the new year. But if you take a bird’s-eye view, we’ll see that the repression has been year’s in the making. Whether we’re talking about the increase in higher education tuition, the dramatically increasing rents throughout California, or the forced displacements of communities there has been resistance through people powered solutions.

College 4 All

The first to join us is Celi Tamayo-Li. Born and raised in SF, Celi is the field organizer at San Francisco Rising where they’re focus is on “youth” which is defined as up to 30 years old. Celi taught history at Hilltop High, SF’s school for teen parents, and was the campaign manager for Vote 16 (a measure to lower the voting age to 16 in SF), which only lost by 2 percent. Celi talks about SF Rising’s College 4 All campaign.

Deepa Varma

Our next segment is hope for housing in the new year with an effort to repeal the Costa Hawkins Act. Our guest is Deepa Varma, the executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union. Deepa has worked as an organizer, litigator and activist on social justice issues including women’s rights, public benefits, criminal justice reform and immigration. She was a tenants rights attorney in New York and at San Francisco’s Eviction Defense Collaborative. She helped to train a new generation of eviction defense lawyers in San Francisco to enforce the tenant protections we have in the city, and to provide last minute litigation support for tenants in housing court.

YOHANA getting down! Photo by Anth Bongco.

Finally, we we are joined by artist Colin Kimzey and Claire Amable, the youth health coordinator at SOMCAN or the South of Market Community Action Network. Colin and SOMCAN were awarded $3,000 from Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure grant to “invigorate and transform the San Francisco Bay Area arts community”. The project is called Barangay Broadside and it pays for silk screen workshops at the South of Market Community Action Network.

 

8/31/17 Back to School

Tonight, we head back to school and look at some amazing programs preparing young people to engage in the fight for justice.

WALC hiking up Yosemite’s Mist Trail towards Nevada Falls

APIENC’s POP Camp, a training camp for LGBT, API high school youth

ACT4CUSD speaking at the Cupertino Union School Board

• First we hear from high school teachers Rachelle Urzua and Jody DeAraujo. They work with the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative, a small learning community that teaches high school curriculum through a lens of environmental stewardship.
• Then we speak with Sammie Ablaza Wills from API Equality- Northern California, an API LGBTQ organization in San Francisco training and building a youth-led movement.
• And we’ll hear from Medha Asthana with ACT4CUSD who is working to make sure public schools in the South Bay have comprehensive sex education that covers important things like consent and uses inclusive language around gender expression and sexual orientations.

Community Calendar

• On Labor Day, there’s a strike and march in Oakland in support of organized labor. Fast food workers in 300 cities and in the UK will be on strike to demand a liveable wage. Meet at 1330 Jackson St, Oakland Monday morning.  
• On Tuesday, the Parkway Theater screens “And Then They Came for Us.” The documentary features actor and activist, George Takei and many other Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War 2. This screening includes a post-show discussion. 

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5/4/17 Immigration and Activism

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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.

Community Calendar

May 4 -June 11, United States of Asian America, various locations

May 4 Aye Nako at the Luckyduck Bicycle Cafe located at 302 12th Street in Oakland.

May 5 Aye Nako at the STUD located at 399 9th St in San Francisco.

May 4-25, 2017  Shifting Movements: Art inspired by the life of Yuri Kochiyama

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.

May 6, 2017 noon Rally for Inclusion, Portsmouth Square, Chinatown

May 6, 2017:  Asian Pacific Heritage Festival, Asian American Alliance of Marin

May 9, 2017  Immigration Forum and Community Meeting, Bay Any Means Necessary 6-8pm, Manzanita Recreation Center, 2701 22nd Ave., Oakland, CA 94606

May 16 Asian American Bar Association presents – Lessons from Mass Incarceration

 

 

5/5/16 AYPAL, Legions of Boom, and Weston Teruya

Josh Fisher Lee and Lubab Alkhayyat with AYPAL

Legions of Boom

Weston Teruya

To download the audio click here.

Tonight on APEX Express:

• Renee Geesler talks with members of AYPAL, Building API Community Power, join us to talk about their anti-displacement organizing work in Oakland
• Cristal Fiel talks with Oliver Saria about Legions of Boom, a book by Oliver Wang on the Filipino American mobile DJ scene, and Bindlestiff Studio‘s  API Heritage Month events inspired by the book
• And, we head to the dump — yes, the dump, to talk with visual artist Weston Teruya about his latest residency where he’s exploring displacement and gentrification in San Francisco.

Community Calendar

For a quick recap of what we featured on tonight’s show: Legions of Boom, the discussion on Filipino American mobile DJs and the immersive theater experience is on Friday, May 13 for the panel discussion, and Saturday, May 14 for the immersive theater experience at 8 p.m. both nights at Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco.  AYPAL’s May Arts Festival is on Saturday, May 14 from 11 to 4 at San Antonio Park in Oakland.  and the Recology exhibition dates are Friday, May 20 from 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday the 21st from 1 to 3, and Tuesday, May 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 401 Tunnel Avenue in San Francisco.

You may remember that on April 6, APEX covered a story about a Bay Area production of the Mikado where it was feared performers would be in Yellow Face. That controversy led to an important community discussion on equitable representation in the arts. It takes place on Monday May 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Arts activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph will be moderating a conversation on this topic with the members of the Ferocious Lotus Theater.

May 10th is Asian American Mental Health Day. Asian & Pacific Islanders make up one of the fastest growing ethnic communities in the United States, yet they have the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services among ethnic populations. To destigmatize mental health issues, Kearny Street Workshop has teamed up with the Richmond Area Multi-Services Inc. to present “Frames of Mind,” a seven-week photography workshop. An exhibition of their work focused on mental health led by documentarian R.J. Lozada that will be on display at the I-Hotel in Manilatown on May 10 to May 12.

As part of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance’s #RedefineSecurity week of action, a broad coalition of API community organizations are coming together to discuss what safety looks like for queer and trans API folks, particularly in the context of incarceration, immigration and racial profiling. This conversation will take place at Excelsior Works on May 15 from 3:30 to 5:30 with our friends at AACRE: API Equality of Northern California, the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, Asian Prisoners Support Committee, and ASPIRE 

And closing out May, spoken word artist and author Jason Bayani will be performing pieces drawing on stories from the fourth wave of Pilipino immigrants at Bindlestiff Studios on May 27 and 28.

6/12/14 Remembering Yuri Kochiyama (part 2 of 2)

Click here to download the audio.

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

10/24/13 Shutdown ICE, Community Victories Against Stop and Frisk, and Oakland’s Push for Democratic Budgeting

ASPIRE member, Fiona. Photo by Robynn Takayama

Download the entire show.

Last Thursday in San Francisco, undocumented immigrants and their supporters sat down in front of a deportation bus.  It was part of an action to shut down Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.  They managed to delay the bus for several hours, and 26 people were arrested.  Apex Contributor Marie Choi talks with May Liang, an organizer with Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights Through Education (ASPIRE).

WBAI’s Asia Pacific Forum covered the exciting and historic community-led victories against Stop & Frisk and other racial profiling and oppressive practices by the New York PD.

You’ll hear the voices of Andrea Ritchie of Streetwise & Safe, Jennifer Ching of Queens Legal Services and Lynly Egyes of the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center – all based in New York.   Apex Contributor Ellen Choy brought the story to Apex.  It was produced by Asia Pacific Forum’s Michelle Chen.

Finally, should residents be able to call the shots about how their tax dollars are spent?  In Oakland, the Community Democracy Project is collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would do just that.  Modeled on the democratic budgeting practices of Puerto Allegre, Brazil and Medellin, Colombia.

We talk with Jiwon Chung and Alexa Chua to learn more about how democratic budgeting would work.

Karl Jagbandhansingh hosts.

5/9/13 Youth voices, “Growing Up Asian in America,” Rod Daus-Magbual and PEP.

[audio http://archives.kpfa.org/data/20130509-Thu1900.mp3]

To download this episode, click here.

On this weeks show:

It’s the KPFA 2013 Spring Fund Drive, so for the hour consider contributing to truly independent media by calling 1-800-439-5732 or 510-848-5732, or online at kpfa.org.

As a thank you gift for becoming a member of KPFA (amount TBD), you’ll be receiving Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama.

Winners of Asian Pacific Fund’s writing contest, “Growing Up Asian in America.” (L to R, back row: Divya Prakash, Nikhita Gopisetty, Joshua Ko, Kavya Padmanbhan, Alex Yang, Jasjit Mundh. L to R, front row: Amelia Ny, Emily Yang, Elisabeth Kam.)

This week we hear some amazing youth voices and from youth educators.

We’ll be sharing with you some of the winning essays from the Asian Pacific Fund’s Growing Up Asian in America essay contest.

Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) at ISEED (Institute for Sustainable Economic, Educational, and Environmental Design)

Rod Daus-Magbual, Ph.D., Associate Director of Curriculum at PEP

In the studio, Rod Daus-Magbual, Associate Director of Curriculum at Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) in the studio with us, and for the hour, we’ll be discussing youth and education:  From the work that PEP does to inspire their students, and be inspired by them, to more ethnic studies courses in high schools, to building the next generation of teachers–the terrain is vast and there’s a lot to cover.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

• On Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11, Queer Rebels present SPIRIT: A Century of Queer Asian Activism. From the Asian avant-garde to 1960’s activists, Angel Island poets to Slam champions, the Queer Asian Diaspora comes alive through performance, films, and a panel discussion in this three-part extravaganza. https://www.facebook.com/events/187766414706008/

• On Saturday, May 11 A History of the Body, a new play by Aimee Suzara. A History of the Body brings together text, dance, and visual projections that explore themes of decolonization, and beauty when three Filipina women meet in a beauty salon. For tickets: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5679044174/efblike

• The Crumbles, an indie rock slice-of life feature and winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2012 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (now CAAM Fest), screens at the Roxie Theatre on Saturday at multiple times. The cast and crew will be in attendance. https://www.facebook.com/events/448017581948589/

• Have you wondered what we do to bring you our show every week? Well on Saturday, May 11 at noon at the KPFA studio, APEX Express and the Unpaid Staff Organization of KPFA present Behind the Curtain: How Great Radio is Made. Learn how we produce our weekly magazine-style show and find out how you can join the APEX Express collective. https://www.facebook.com/events/166744520155666/

7/5/12 Fighting Back the Big Box, Politicizing Desi Youth, and Art of Hustle

Chinese Progressive Association protesting WalMart in L.A.’s Chinatown. Photo by Jennifer Phung.

Download the mp3 by clicking here.

This week on APEX Express, we talk about politicizing Desi youth, fighting back against WalMart in L.A.’s Chinatown, and learning from The Art of Hustle. Tune in!

• We talk with Nevin Gandhi-Rao with Bay Area Solidarity Summer or BASS. They are gearing up for this year’s youth camp that teaches South Asian youth leadership skills and social justice issues affecting the Desi community.
• RJ Lozada reports from Los Angeles where thousands of community members are mounting a campaign against WalMart, which plans to open a store in the city’s historic Chinatown.
• We hear the first in a series of podcasts we’ll be sharing from Anthem Salgado called, The Art of Hustle, where art meets entrepreneurship.

Community Calendar

This Friday, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center and Asian Improv present PULL. Performing artist/actor/writer Traci Kato-Kiriyama and actor/aerial artist Kennedy Kabasares use monologues, recorded interviews, and static trapeze as elements to tell the story of a young woman’s relationship with her mother, and how they deal with the death of her father. The show starts at 8 p.m. at COUNTERpulse in San Francisco.

On Saturday, IcTus Gallery in San Francisco presents a photo installation by Bay Area photographer Pak Han. The opening reception is from 6 -10 p.m. and features a live performance by percussionist Dohee Lee.

Later on Saturday, Pinoispop and Bindlestiff Studio present Seemingly Random Bleeps, a music showcase featuring Secret Sidewalk, Apple Orchard, The Dualies, The Skyflakes, and Shadow is My Friend. Tickets are $10 and the show starts at 8 p.m. at Bindlestiff Studio.

4/5/12 Oikos Tragedy, Kosal, La Femme Deadly Venoms

On this show:

(Photo from Karl Mondon, Oakland Tribune)

The recent events surrounding One Goh, and the Oikos Tragedy still leave many questions unanswered. Contributors Marie Choi and R.J. Lozada attend a vigil at the Allen Temple Baptist Church on April 3.  The two report back on what happened at the vigil, and what’s been happening.

(Photo by Cuong Pham)

Contributor Marie Choi interviews Kosal Khiev, Poet, Tattoo Artist, and Survivor of the U.S. Prison System. Kosal is an artist with Studio Revolt and is currently living in exile in Cambodia.

(Photo by La Femme Deadly Venoms)

La Femme Deadly Venoms sit with contributor Ellen Choy for another installment of the Womyn in Hip Hop Series. La Femme Deadly Venoms are Kat O1O, DJ Deeandroid, DJ Celskiii, and DJ Lady Fingaz. The four make up an amazing and truly groundbreaking set of skratch artists, and mind blowing musicians, continuing to make an impact in the Hip Hop community.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

San Jose Stage presents
by Jeannie Barroga’s epic play “Buffalo’ed”

When: April 4 – April 29 (Wed – Sun) at 7:30pm
Location: The Stage -490 South First St.  San Jose, CA
Tickets: $14 – $45

Buffalo’ed retells the story of the Buffalo Soldiers, descendants of American slaves, who were stationed in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th Century, during both the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. The military presence of the United States Army’s Buffalo Soldiers’ during the Philippine occupation is a little-known thread in the fabric of American history. It is an American story told through dialogue and movement.   Click here for more details…

2012 DMC Bay Area Regional DJ Battle

Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 4:00 PM (PT)
San Francisco, CA

330 Ritch San Francisco, CA

Hosted By Fran Boogie

Featuring Showcase sets from

Mista B (2008 DMC West Coast Champ)

La Femme Deadly Venoms (Cellskiii x Deeandroid x Lady Fingaz)

iNBiTuiN (Spintronix / Thud Rumble)

Snayk Eyez (2000/2001 DMC US Supremacy Champ)

This is the DMC’s classic solo showcase style DJ battle:

DJs must perform a 2 minute routine for the elimination round. Judges will select the top 6 who advance to the Finals. The top 6 finalists will perform a 6 minute routine. The champion of the 2012 DMC Bay Area Regional will advance to the 2012 DMC US Finals in New York City (in early August tba).

more info: http://dmcbayarea2012.eventbrite.com/

9/1/11 AYPAL Youth Leaders Speak On OUSD Ethnic Studies Campaign

On APEX Express tonight:

It’s back-to-school season for most Bay Area students – so tonight we hear about a fierce campaign to transform the Oakland school district!  We have a full-length interview with the incredible voices of AYPAL youth leaders!  9 API youth organizers, making up the AYPAL Campaign Organizing Team, joined us in the studio to talk about their current campaign to fight to include Ethnic Studies in the Oakland Unified School District.  They speak on their work, how they got involved, and how they’re already winning successes on a completely youth-led campaign.  Also, their AYPAL adult coordinator – Armael Malinis – joins us live to give us the latest updates and tell us how to get involved.  Plus, some exciting musical selections.

Hosted by Ellen Choy.