During the 48 hours of uncertainty after November 3, 2020, our producer James called over a dozen people — not to talk about Trump vs. Biden, but about the more systemic problems that would stick with us after all the votes were counted.

These conversations with family and friends led him to reexamine a pivotal moment in his civic education: When he founded a chapter of the Junior State of America in the midst of the 2000 Presidential race, and learned that the act of democracy was a lot tougher than it seemed.

After speaking with Cris Aguila and Karl Kristian Flores (two of our youngest voting-age listeners) about their frustrations with our we vote for President, James dug up the phone number of the high school student who leads the same Junior State chapter that he had started a generation ago… and ended this week of cynicism with a surprising moment of hope.

Reading and Listening

• “Stacey Abrams on minority rule, voting rights, and the future of Democracy” on the Ezra Klein Show by Vox Media
• “Are Asian Americans the Last Undecided Voters?” by Hua Hsu for The New Yorker 
• Cathy Park Hong and Ayad Akhtar discuss Ayad’s new novel, “Homeland Elegies” on the Bookable podcast by Loudtree Media
• “Grassroots Organizers Flipped Georgia Blue. Here’s How They Did It,” by Anoa Chang for Truthout
• “Lessons From the Pacific Islands — Adapting to Climate Change by Supporting Social and Ecological Resilience” by multiple researchers for Frontiers in Marine Science
• “Can I Tell You Something?” a book of poems by Karl Kristian Flores

Resources for Action

• “The Work Will Continue After Nov 3. Here’s how you can stay involved” by Anjali Enjeti for Mic
• “My Role in a Social Change Ecosystem: A Mid-Year Check-In” by Deepa Iyer
• A list of Georgia BIPOC-led voter outreach organizations that you can support right now with donations and volunteer work, created by They See Blue Georgia
• “Craft Talks 4 Georgia,” a series of audio craft talks to raise money for Fair Fight, to ensure the right to vote for marginalized and disenfranchised people in the Georgia run-off elections in January 2021

Credits

• Produced by James Boo
• Edited by Julia Shu
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love

Shoutouts

Thanks to everyone who hopped on the phone during the 48 hours after the election, to share their in-the-moment feelings and their experiences with voting:

• Alex Laughlin
• Dorian Love
• Justine Lee
• Melissa Sebastian
• Marissiko Wheaton
• Rachel Ramirez
• Sidharth Gupta

With so much attention focused on the Presidential race and other federal elections right now, we hope you'll find it refreshing to hear from Yuh-Line Niou, the only Asian American woman in New York's state legislature.

In this conversation with Rock the Boat podcast host Lucia Liu, Yuh-Line explains how and why she got involved with local and state government, and how her experiences as an immigrant American woman have enabled her to make a distinct impact in the New York state assembly.

The latest season of Rock the Boat, produced in partnership with Model Majority highlights Asian Americans working in government and civic engagement.

Reading and Viewing:

• "'I Can Still Smell Him': For 4 Legislators, the Child Victims Act Is Personal" by Corina Knoll for the New York Times
• Yuh-Line speaks against New York State Budget priorities during the peak of the pandemic's first wave in New York City

Rock the Boat is made by:

• Lucia Liu, Host
• Rachel Chou, Music & Sound Editor
• David Liu, Associate Producer
• Chia-Yi Hou, Blog Editor
• Emily Cheng, Email Marketing Manager
• Debbie Wong, Social Media Coordinator
• Margaret Zhao, Press & Partnerships
• Sung Hwang, Mental Health Events

When New York City became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, Brooklyn-based producer Beenish Ahmed struggled over whether to visit her parents in Ohio or stay put. Her parents — a landlord and hairdresser who immigrated from Pakistan in the ‘70s — begged her to come home. When Beenish finally decided to go in May, she recorded that journey, and the discoveries she made about her family’s relationship to America.

This story is an episode we're sharing from A Better Life?, a new podcast by our friends at Feet in 2 Worlds that explores how America’s failed response to COVID-19 has reshaped immigrants’ lives and their relationship to the United States.

Here's the team behind the story, and many other stories and conversations that you can hear on A Better Life? wherever you get podcasts:

• A Better Life? is hosted by Zahir Janmohamed.
• This episode was produced by Beenish Ahmed.
• It was edited by Mia Warren and John Rudolph.
• It was mixed by Jocelyn Gonzalez.
• Anna Dilena is our assistant producer.
• Alejandro Salazar Dyer is our development coordinator.
• Olivia Cunningham is our digital content manager.
• Kenny Leon is our intern.
• A Better Life?’s theme song was composed by Fareed Sajan.
• A Better Life? is produced by Feet in 2 Worlds, an organization that has supported the work of immigrant journalists since 2005.

How can Asian American communities create safety, when the harms of racism and xenophobia are so deeply rooted in our society?

We’ve spent time unpacking the simplistic solution of hate crime enforcement, then learning how local activists rallying against anti-Asian hate often reveal a much deeper history of neglect and under-resourcing of immigrant communities.

In this third of three episodes on community responses to anti-Asian racism during the pandemic, we speak with four people — Rachel Kuo of the Asian American Feminist Collective; Sammie Ablaza Wills of API Equality in Northern California; and Suja and Iram Amir from American Muslims Uncovered.

From seeking non-policing solutions for conflict management, to helping intergenerational communities understand how to express what they need most, to challenging the racism that festers in schools across the country, each voice in this episode challenges Asian Americans to ask for fundamental change in how we achieve safety for our communities.

Credits

• Produced by James Boo and Julia Shu
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love

Shout Outs

• Thanks to Rachel Kuo and the entire leadership of the Asian American Feminist Collective, Sammie Ablaza Wills of APIENC, Suja Amir of the Asian & Latino Solidarity Alliance of Central Virginia, and Iram Amir of American Muslims Uncovered for sharing their time with us.

Self Evident is a Studiotobe production, made with the support of our listener community. Our show was incubated at the Made in New York Media Center by IFP. 

Resources, Reading, and Listening

• “We Want Cop-Free Communities: Against the Creation of an Asian Hate Crime Task Force by the NYPD” by the Asian American Feminist Collective
• “Internal Affairs Investigating Columbus Park Incident” by The Lowdown
• “Charges Dropped in New York City Jaywalking Incident” by ABC News
• “Trusting Abundance: A Conversation With Sammie Ablaza Wills” by Lia Dun for Autostraddle
• “Race, Policing, and the Universal Yearning for Safety” featuring Phillip Atiba Goff for the Ezra Klein Show
• “The Store That Called the Cops on George Floyd” by Aymann Ismail for Slate

The rise in xenophobic harassment, discrimination, and violence against Asian Americans during the pandemic has led to a rise in neighborhood watch groups in historic Chinatowns and other Asian immigrant communities across the country.

While these groups have made headlines for speaking out against racism, their motivations and actions reveal a deeper story about the pain of underserved communities and the role of policing in those communities.

In this second of three episodes on community responses to anti-Asian racism during the pandemic, we report on three neighborhood watch groups in historic Chinatown neighborhoods: the Manhattan Chinatown Blockwatch, the SF Peace Collective, and the United Peace Corps. The diverging approaches that they take reveal how much American communities rely on a “law-and-order” definition of safety.

Two Asian American olds (Cathy and James) watch the original Mulan for the first time, then join a seasoned fan (Julia) — for an animated discussion about the limitations of Hollywood representation, the saving grace of gender-bending innuendo, and what exactly it is about Mulan that resonates with so many Asian Americans who grew up with it.

Resources and Recommended Reading:

• Ariana Amour performs "Reflection"
• 'Mulan' Was the Most Bisexual Cartoon Ever
• What Mulan taught me about identity, honor, and drag saving China
• The Groundbreaking Queerness of Disney's 'Mulan'
• ‘Mulan’ remake drops Li Shang character because of #MeToo movement
• Pro-democracy boycott of Disney's Mulan builds online via #milkteaalliance

Two incidents of anti-Asian racism — the beating of an elderly grandfather in a San Francisco park and the harassment of a mourning son in a New York pharmacy — reveal an ugly side of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the first of three episodes reporting on Asian American responses to anti-Asian hate incidents. Share your thoughts on the stories with us by emailing [email protected].

To support our ongoing mission and work on stories like these, join our membership program via Patreon.

Credits

• Produced by James Boo
• Edited by Julia Shu
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Reporting and production assistance by Prerna Chaudhary
• Interview recordings by Sonia Paul
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
• Sound effects by Soundsnap

Shout out to

• Cynthia Choi at Chinese for Affirmative Action SF for her help with research and reporting
• Sojung Yi and Charles Wang for sharing their stories with us and with the rest of the world
• Our intern Prerna, who learned roughly two million new skills to help us report, produce, and edit this episode

Resources and Reading

• To report a micro-aggression, bullying, hate speech, harassment, or violence incident, fill out a form at Stop AAPI Hate (multiple languages provided).
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resources to Stand Against Racism 
• Bystander Intervention Trainings To Stop Anti-Asian/Xenophobic Harrassment by Hollaback!
• I’m an Asian American doctor on the front lines of two wars: Coronavirus and racism by Sojung Yi, for The Lily
• Asian Americans Face Dual Challenges: Surging Unemployment and Racism By Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil and Kimmy Yam, for NBC News
• “As anti-Asian hate incidents explode, activists push for aid” by Anh Do, for the Los Angeles Times

Self Evident is a Studitobe production, made with the support of our listener community. This episode was made with support from the Solutions Journalism Network, and from the National Geographic Society’s Emergency Fund for Journalists. Our show was incubated at the Made in New York Media Center by IFP.

You’ve said the words, “Black Lives Matter.” You’ve put your money where your mouth is. You’ve shown up for the marches.

What next? What exactly is the change we’re showing up for, and how exactly can we commit to making that change in our own communities?

In this bonus episode, we’re passing the mic to Jaime Sunwoo (a Korean American interdisciplinary artist and former housing advocate) and Brandon West (a longtime Black organizer for democracy rights and racial justice). Jaime and Brandon’s experiences in community service, city budgeting, and organizing work clarify why and how today’s movement for racial justice is asking us to defund the police.

Resources and Links

• Jaime Sunwoo (@jaimesunwoo) worked in homeless services from 2015-2017. She's a multidisciplinary artist and is developing Specially Processed American Me, a performance project on the significance of SPAM in the Asian diaspora. You can learn more about her at jaimesunwoo.com.
• Brandon West (@btwest) is a campaign manager for voting rights at the Center for Popular Democracy, and collaborates with a great many community organizers in Brooklyn. He’s also a candidate for New York City Council, which you can learn more about at westforcouncil.com (full disclosure: our Managing Producer James Boo is Brandon’s roommate, and volunteers for Brandon’s campaign).
• Both Jaime and Brandon support the work of Communities United for Police Reform, a coalition of community groups seeking to defund the New York Police Department and create greater accountability for police misconduct.
• Jaime worked as a housing advocate for Breaking Ground, a non-profit organization that provides housing and wraparound services to over 8,000 New Yorkers a year.
• The Brooklyn Liberation march for Black trans lives ended up attracting an estimated total of 15,000 people. Many organizers intersecting with that action support the repeal of “Walking While Trans” laws across the country. You read about the underlying issues here.
• If you’re still looking for ways to learn and donate in support of Black lives, then check out our latest newsletter for a curated list of some of our favorite works (almost all by or centering Black voices) and Black-led groups.

Credits

• Produced by James Boo and Julia Shu
• Edited by Julia Shu, with assistance from Prerna Chaudhury
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love
• Thanks to Dolly Li of Plum Radio for helping us record some of the protest tape heard on this episode!

The struggle to save lives from COVID-19 is far from over, and neither is America’s struggle against racism.

As we report on hate crime and anti-racist action, Cathy and James hop on the phone and check in with a couple of our friends in podcasting: Paola Mardo (who tells stories from the Filipino diaspora on Long Distance) and Ahmed Ali Akbar (who covers the social, cultural, and political experiences of American Muslims on See Something Say Something).

We took this time to unpack the ugly, reckon with the bad, and speak to the good that we hope comes out of this pivotal moment in history.

We hope you’re all getting the support you need out there, and would love to hear from you — just write to [email protected], and please take care.

Resources and links:

“COVID-19 is not the great equalizer” — a short piece from Marketplace showing how hard this pandemic is hitting communities of color and the working poor.

If you want to dive into reports focused on anti-Asian racism and Asian American efforts to save lives from COVID-19, Next Shark has been relentlessly covering these beats. Big thanks to them for taking on all of the work required to keep this up.

We shared a list of anti-racism resources in a recent newsletter. Since circumstances evolve day by day, we’ll continue using the newsletter to bundle and share resources that might help you get through it all. You can sign up for that here.

Paola (@paolamardo) is working on a new episode of Long Distance about health care workers on the front lines. You can hear the full story of her recent encounter with racism here.

Ahmed (@radbrowndads) is working on “M Train,” a 6 part miniseries focused on Muslim life in New York, made as a collaboration between See Something Say Something and BRIC. You can listen here.

Cathy (@cathyerway) covered new efforts to save Manhattan Chinatown’s local businesses for NYMag’s Grubstreet. You can read that story here.

James (@actualjamesboo) wrote these show notes. If you’re wondering why he’s not a Governor Cuomo fan, read this Gothamist news piece and this op-ed by Prasanna Shah.

Credits

Produced by Julia Shu

Edited by Julia Shu and James Boo

Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly

Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love

When we started Self Evident, we were surprised at how many people wanted a new show but hadn’t heard about all the Asian American podcasts already out there.

In this bonus episode, our team shares clips from a few other independent podcasts, showing a wide range of Asian American stories and conversations.

Tell us what you think of our first season!

As we head into our off-season, we could use your help understanding what we're doing well and what can improve.

Please take this survey, even if you've only listened to one episode of Self Evident, to give us your honest feedback.

Resources

If you want to really dig deep into the world of Asian American & Asian diaspora podcasts, you can check out this extensive list of shows, maintained by the Asian American Podcasters group.

Here's what Cathy, Julia, and James share in this bonus episode:

• Long Distance, Season 1 Episode 6: "Filipino Tiki Bar" (and the Long Distance Radio Club Patreon)
• See Something Say Something: "Ramy" (and the See Something Say Something Patreon)
• Saturday School, Season 6 Episode 1: "Kal Ho Naa Ho" (and the Saturday School newsletter)
• Escape From Plan A, Episode 92: "Boba Liberalism vs. Asian Left Twitter" and Episode 86: "Yellow Asians, Brown Asians... Who's Asian?" (and the Plan A Patreon)

Shout Outs

We’ve been on a really long journey, with hopefully a long way to go! So we want to thank the podcasters and producers who took the time to give us advice and encouragement as we were creating Self Evident: Anne Saini, Erica Mu, Marvin Yueh, Vishal Janmohamed, and Stephanie Tam.

Credits

Produced and edited by James Boo

Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly

Long Distance theme music by C. Light and the Prisms

Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love

Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound