New Narratives

Transgender Day of Visibility is March 31st. To celebrate this day we’re going to hear from Chuefeng Yang, a local transgender queer Asian American musician. We'll also get to hear an exclusive sneak peek of her song "Me Nyuam HMoob" coming out on April 18th! 

You can find Chuefeng Yang @chuefengy on all social media platforms

Spotify

Tiktok

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Website

March 16th marked the one-year anniversary of the Acworth-Atlanta shooting where eight people died, six of them being Asian American women. In this episode, we hear from Anthea Yur about the solidarity march she organized last year and Professor Jigna Desai on media portrayals of Asian American women and historical events that have led us here.

Guests include: Anthea Yur (Kokoro Project), Professor Jigna Desai (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities), Kay Moua, Phoua Chang, Jun Lin, and Siena Milbauer

Where do we go from here? That’s the guiding question of the finale of our special mini series “Justice for George Floyd.” We’re moving our transformative justice-focused podcasting out of this specific basket and into our main podcast “New Narratives.” But before “Justice for George Floyd” bows out, we’re taking a journey through its episodes to reflect on the impact of storytelling, the incredible movement we’ve witnessed in our Minnesota communities, and what the future of public safety can and will look like if we all step up to shape it.

This series is made with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Coma-Media via Pixabay and Small Million.

"The River of Time,” used by Tori Hong in this podcast, is a concept coined and shared by Cori Nakamura Lin.

Election day is fast approaching and alongside important local races, Minnesota voters will be deciding on some crucial ballot measures. None is getting more attention than Minneapolis Ballot Measure 2. Thousands of Minneapolis community members already voiced their support for the ballot measure via petition, and if passed on November 2nd, Ballot Measure 2 would open the door to a model of public safety that stops enabling police brutality and starts funding community-based solutions to health and safety crises.

In this episode, we speak with Jessie Lee-Bauder (she/her), Communications Manager at TakeAction MN and an organizer who has been active in the campaign to get Ballot Measure 2 in front of Minneapolis voters. Lee-Bauder talks about the process behind Ballot Measure 2, the roadblocks thrown in the ballot measure’s path, and the changes that will be possible in our communities if Ballot Measure 2 passes.

This series is made with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Small Million.

For Minnesota early voting information, head to bit.ly/EarlyVoteMN. For voter registration info, visit bit.ly/Reg2VoteMN. For polling location info, visit bit.ly/FindPollsMN. Let’s get out and vote, making our voices heard for the future of our communities!

To learn more about TakeAction MN’s work, and to find volunteer opportunities, visit them on Twitter @TakeActionMN

Join New Narratives' creator & host Anya Steinberg as she says goodbye to AAOP! She'll take you on a tour of some of her favorite interviews -- including moments you've never heard before.

Music by Takénobu. Guests include: Jane Jeong Trenka (she/her), Professor Bee Vang-Moua (she/her), and Julian Saporiti (he/him). 

Once upon a time, abolition in its modern sense was an obscure concept that only a handful of organizers and agitators knew about and dreamed of. But in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, abolition has stepped into the mainstream.

You’ve probably heard plenty of explanations about what abolition is and why people do or don’t support it. So rather than repeat definitions or commonly held arguments, we decided to go straight to Abinaya Ilavarasan (she/her), Tori Hong (she/they), and Tri Vo (he/they/she), three organizers who are working in ways big and small to abolish police, ICE, prisons, and more structural harms. We ask them why they do the work they do, what abolition means to them, and what the future of abolition work could look like for our communities.

This series is made in collaboration with Buddhist Justice Reporter, with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Lesfm via Pixabay and Small Million.

"The River of Time”, used by Tori Hong in this podcast, is a concept coined and shared by Cori Nakamura Lin.

A message from New Narratives on the events in Afghanistan and how you can show up in solidarity with Afghanistan and the Afghan people.

Mutual aid resources/opportunities (in English) at bit.ly/3z6DP0r

Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

On April 11, 2021, 20 year-old Daunte Wright was murdered by police in Brooklyn Center, just miles away from where Derek Chauvin was on trial for the murder of George Floyd. Brooklyn Center erupted into protests which the Brooklyn Center police department met with what many saw as unreasonable force, escalating the unrest.

As Minnesota responded in horror to yet another police murder of a Black community member, there was also admiration for the spontaneous yet swift Brooklyn Center community organized response to Daunte Wright’s murder, both in the form of protests and mutual aid. We speak with Jackie Hayden (she/her), Longkee Vang (he/him), and Ngan Nguyen (she/her), three educators from Brooklyn Center Community Schools who were part of those mutual aid efforts. They share the response to Daunte Wright’s murder from their school youth, the generosity and ingenuity of Brooklyn Center residents in the face of crisis, and what the path forward looks like for their community.

This series is made in collaboration with Buddhist Justice Reporter, with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Small Million.

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down for the past year and a half. But life-saving COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available, and free of cost in the United States. In this episode, you’ll hear the vaccination stories of 9 Minnesota Asian American youth who share their vaccine experiences, and why they have stepped up to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.

This special episode of New Narratives is part of the We Can Do This vaccination education campaign. AAOP supports We Can Do This, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ nationwide COVID-19 and vaccine education campaign. The Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Community has been hit hard by COVID-19 and many of us need help in getting educated about how we can get vaccinated. We are working together to ensure our community has access to important information in our fight against COVID-19. Learn about COVID-19 vaccinations and get help scheduling your vaccine at vaccines.gov #WeCanDoThis

Music by taskinjura via pixabay.com. Sound effects by abcopen, Dr. Macak, eguobyte, Ichapman1980, kyles, mcmikai, MSXP, Taira Komori, and WingsofIrony, all via freesound.org

They say youth are the future, but youth are also the present, often leading the way on issues of racial justice and structural change. We speak with 17 year-old Pa Yao (she/her) about being a young Minnesotan activist in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Daunte Wright, and Winston Smith, and amidst an alarming rise in violence against Asian Americans. Pa Yao shares why she’s been motivated to fight anti-Blackness within her Asian community, and advocates for the importance of youth voices in all contexts.

This series is made in collaboration with Buddhist Justice Reporter, with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. Music by Small Million.