Past Forward

Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller and educator. She believes in the power of story to amplify voices. Miko is lead producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio focused around AAPI activists and artists. She is Director of Programs for Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and on the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. Miko’s career has been rooted in the nonprofit world, first as a theatre actor, director and writer and then as an artistic director and as an arts education leader.

Miko was executive director of Youth in Arts for over a decade and prior to that was Director of Arts and Public Education at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to Teaching Artists Guild, Miko is an artsEquity BIPOC leader and serves on California’s Special Education + Arts Working Group and the Public Will Committee of CREATE CA. Miko’s extensive background in theatre includes working on shows at Berkeley, Seattle and South Coast Rep, Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and many others.

Annie Lee is the Director of Policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, CA. In her role, Annie advocates for systemic change that protects workers’ and immigrants’ rights and promotes language diversity and education equity. CAA is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, and Annie develops policy solutions to address discrimination against the AAPI community.

Annie previously worked as a Civil Rights Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the National Center for Youth Law, where she specialized in foster youth education rights, special education, and school discipline. Her passion for serving students stems from her experience as an 11th grade United States history teacher in the Bronx. Annie is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guests: Miko Lee and Annie Lee
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward

Aiden Thomas is a trans, Latinx, New York Times Bestselling Author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Aiden Thomas
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Kwame Sound Daniels' feverishly written forthcoming book, the pause and the breath from Atmosphere Press, is a meditation on Black trans identity and ancestry in the form of broken and re-imagined sonnets. Xir current book out now is Light Spun with Perennial Press, a collection of sonnets and free verse exploring queer love and Black American spirituality.

the pause and the breath
Atmosphere Press, 2023

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Vishavjit Singh is a cartoonist, writer, performance artist (aka Sikh Captain America) and creator of Sikhtoons.com based in New York City. He is a public speaker expounding on diversity, inclusion, storytelling and power of art in schools, universities and companies across the nation. He currently works in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in FDNY.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Vishavjit Singh
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Manpreet Kaur Kalra (she/her) is a social impact advisor, educator, speaker, podcast host, and activist working to decolonize ethical storytelling. She navigates the intersection of impact communication and sustainable global development. Her activism focuses on the interconnectivity of economic, social, and climate justice. 

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Manpreet Kaur Kalra
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Janice Munemitsu is a third-generation Japanese American Sansei. A native of Orange County, California, Janice was raised on the family farm and worked there from age 5 through high school. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Biola University Institute for Spiritual Formation. Her family name, Munemitsu, 宗 光, means source of light in kanji. The Kindness of Color is her first book. 

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Janice Munemitsu
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Jerry Almendarez is the Superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District. Almendarez has a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Redlands, and a bachelor’s degree in business/finance from Cal State San Bernardino. Almendarez’ career in education spans 27 years, and includes experience as a classroom teacher, an assistant principal and a principal. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific University and the University of Redlands, and in March was named a 2019 Ted-Ed Innovative Educator.

Linn Lee is the History and Social Science Curriculum Specialist for Santa Ana Unified School District. Lee has a a master of education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in history from UC Santa Cruz.

The Santa Ana Unified School District is the 12th largest school district in the state of California. In June 2020, the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a resolution creating a new graduation requirement that will mandate students to complete a one-year course of ethnic studies before receiving their diploma, making Santa Ana one of the first districts in the country to require this curriculum starting this school year of 2022-2023.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guests: Jerry Almendarez and Linn Lee
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Gerald Clarke is an enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians and lives on the Cahuilla Indian Reservation. When not creating artwork or serving as Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside, Gerald oversees the Clarke family cattle ranch and remains heavily involved in Cahuilla culture. As a visual artist, Gerald has exhibited his work extensively and in numerous exhibitions as well as in major museum collections.

In 2007, Gerald was awarded an Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship for Native American Fine Art and served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2015. Earlier this year, Gerald received a Harpo Foundation Native American Fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Ethnic Studies is a series of discussions about race, ethnicity, indigeneity, and the strategies used in historical movements for social transformation, resistance, and liberation.

Guest: Gerald Clarke
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Evette Davis is the author of 48 States and Woman King and Dark Horse, the first two installments of TheDark Horse Trilogy. When she’s not writing novels, Davis dispenses advice to some of the country’s largest corporations, non-profits, and institutions as a consultant and co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs, an award-winning San Francisco-based public affairs firm. Before establishing her firm, Davis worked in Washington as a press secretary for a member of Congress and as a reporter for daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

48 States
Flesh & Bone Publishing, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

As a science writer and medical publisher, Stuart Chapman has written hundreds of articles and created medical journals for physicians on a wide array of clinical and medico-legal topics. During the 1970s, he founded a weekly newspaper in Northern California. A certified Master Gardener, he grows vegetables in Florida with his wife, Vivian.

The OCD Chronicles: Fear and Loathing on the Psychiatrist's Couch
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a public podcast service and book initiative. As a nonprofit organization, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our Re-Mind initiative focuses on educational accessibility. We collaborate with experts and curate book collections inspired by topics from our podcast. This program creates a path for curiosity and provides access to millions of books at a discount price.