Hey everyone. I have a brief update to share about the show and some thoughts in light of the recent events. But before I do, I want to say loudly and clearly that Black Lives Matter. As an Asian-American, I think about the way anti-Blackness is embedded throughout Asian culture and society. I think about how this anti-Black sentiment showed itself when Asian-American communities rallied around NYPD officer Peter Liang for murdering Akai Gurley. I think about the affirmative action lawsuit against Harvard that Asians supported as being driven by the same anti-Black sentiment. And of course, there was the Hmong-American police officer standing by as George Floyd was murdered. If there is one thing that has driven me to create this podcast, it is the belief that true freedom cannot come at the expense of Black lives. I think silence in anti-Black violence will not give Asian any true place in a racist white supremacist world. The lacking of self-awareness and propagating anti-Black and anti-Brown rhetoric just so certain Asian can get ahead will not lead to a better place. My heart goes out to everyone protesting on the streets and doing the hard work to elevate Black voices and not black squares.

Regarding this show, I did not release an episode last week. When I sat down to write the intro, no words came out. My podcast and voice seemed trite. I took it as a sign to not release my episode if I had to force words out when they were not ready. I also felt the voices that needed to be heard were Black voices. I then thought about this in relation to remaining silent and don’t have a clear answer. When I set out to make this podcast, I wanted to be able to confront my privilege as a Chinese-American cis male who went to college to study art and is able to travel to residencies while moving through the art world. I wanted to keep talking about race because I don’t believe one simply becomes “woke.” Talking about race is a lifelong commitment that never ends. I am forever learning and figuring out where these conversations fit within the larger picture.

In lieu of a real episode, I posted on my website a list of resources for anyone interested. There is a lot out there and many of these materials are waiting to be used. Feel free to share and continue the discussion about how white supremacy and racism continues to pervade every aspect of our lives.

So that’s the update. Again, thank you to everyone who has been supportive of this show as I couldn’t have gotten here without all the guests and listeners. I’ll resume my episodes starting next week. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, and good bye for now.

Image credit: @jerrygogosian

https://www.instagram.com/jerrygogosian/

Donations to Organizations:

• Black-Owned Bookstores (Publishers Weekly)
• Black Lives Matter
• Black Lives Matter Los Angeles
• blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
• I Run With Maud
• Justice for Breonna Taylor
• Justice for George Floyd
• Minnesota Freedom Fund
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Bukit Bail Fund
• Reclaim the Block: fund our broader movement

Readings and other resources:

• ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES
• What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?
• Critical Reading Google Drive Folder
• Modernity + Coloniality
• The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• 20+ Allyship Actions for Asians to Show Up for the Black Community Right Now

Extended Learning:

• Justice in June Google Doc
  Over the course of the month, you will have spent 5 hours intentionally learning how to be an active ally of the black community. (That’s less than the amount of time it takes to watch all of Tiger King ~ 5.5 hours.) Remember, the black community lives the reality of the information you will learn- they have a lifetime of fearing for their well being versus 5 hours of you being uncomfortable. All the action items listed in the calendar have linked information below the weekly schedule (see sections Watch, Read, Listen, and Act).
• The Consious Kid
• Zinn Education Project
  The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.
• UCLA African American Studies Summer Courses
• Open Yale Courses for African American Studies (FREE)

Podcasts:

The Nod
Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings gleefully explore all the beautiful, complicated dimensions of Black life.

1619 from The New York Times
Four hundred years ago, in August 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. “1619,” a New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, examines the long shadow of that fateful moment.

Podcasts in Color
A directory of podcasts

Tea with Queen and J
Queen and J. are two funny womanist race nerds from the Bronx talking liberation, politcs and pop culture over tea.

MEDIA INDIGENA: Indigenous current affairs
A weekly roundtable about Indigenous issues and events in Canada and Beyond.

Yo, Is This Racist?
Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome, and their guests answer questions from fan-submitted voicemails and emails about whether something is, in fact, racist.

About Race with Remi Eddo-Lodge
From the author behind the bestselling "Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race" comes a podcast that takes conversations a step further.

Cultura Consious
Join Paula Santos, a podcast addict and lover of everything arts and culture, in conversation with other museum and cultural workers, educators, artists, activists, and leaders about how we work with our communities and the public at large. She is particularly interested in how the work we do in museums, non-profits or other cultural organizations intersects and is informed by larger questions of race and inequity in society.

There Goes the Neighborhood
A podcast about how and why gentrification happens.

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• Seeing Color Website
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