Wow! It's already June??? Has a year gone by that quickly? Also, happy pride month besties 🦄
Love,
Jamie and Melinda
News
📚 Illinois might be the first state to mandate that Asian American history be taught in public schools. Last week, the TEAACH (Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History) Act passed the Senate unanimously, and this Monday, it passed in the House, 108-10. Now, it goes to the governor to sign.
Source: Illinois Senate Democrats via POLITICO
This would require, "a unit about the Asian American experience, including the community's history in Illinois and the Midwest, starting in the 2022-23 school year." I hope this can have a lasting impact since I truly do not recall learning Asian American history in school aside from the Chinese Exclusion Act lol.
🔈 This was quite an interesting piece on Roger Lau, the current deputy executive director of the DNC (Democratic National Committee). It documents his upbringing in NY as the oldest son of working-class Chinese immigrants, his tough time in school, rise through state and national politics, and efforts at building AAPI coalitions.
🗿 Not The Rock getting 1/3rd of all API roles in film. I literally read this and was like ??? LMAO but also not good... This article documents the stats of APIs in media and Hollywood between 2007 and 2019, and while we weren't surprised, we were a liitttttle disappointed that there were few meaningful roles that APIs played and even less representation among creatives/directors/producers. Of course, with Chloé Zhao's work and incoming movies, things are getting better, but yikes!
🏳️🌈 Happy Pride month! Check out this feature on "Queer AAPIs and the politics of belonging" that our friends at the Yappie just published. We really appreciated the brief snapshot of history they included (not something you often read about) and the list of a ton of great resources and organizations. Also, this from the Asian Pride Project (which I didn't know about!!):
🎾 Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from the French Open "boosted hopes that greater attention will be given to the pressures faced by athletes, particularly women and players of color."
‼️ Not AAPI related, but important for people to know. Last week, the remains of 215 First Nation children were found at a former residential school in Canada. The history and current interaction between Native communities and governments like the US and Canada are fraught with violence and abuse in the name of assimilation.
small feelings
I'm actually really happy right now :) been relaxing, seeing friends, and traveling a bit. Just genuinely out here having a good time :)
aw yay love this for you
✨ Spotlight
AJ Rafael
Singer/songwriter, YouTuber, TikToker
In my middle school YouTube days, I actually didn't come across AJ Rafael's videos, but he came across my radar again this past year when he performed at a conference by the Asian Mental Health Project, became viral on TikTok for the duets he and his now fiancee do together, and posted this awesome music video, sharing the untold story of Larry Itliong, a Filipino American activist who organized Filipino farmworkers in California (e.g. Delano grape strike).
After 14 years as a YouTuber, he finally reached 1 million subscribers this past February. But, backtracking: AJ Rafael was born in 1989 and grew up in Moreno Valley, CA. His parents immigrated from Manila, Philippines, and he has 3 sisters. Early on, he became involved with music—he started playing piano when he was 5 years old (his dad was a big influence although had cautioned AJ on pursuing music), started performing in musicals in middle school, and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2010 with a degree in songwriting.
He began posting covers/songs on MySpace back in 2004 and ended up on American Idol in 2005. His first YouTube video was uploaded in 2006, but he became an official "YouTube partner" in 2008; soon, he started making income (while in college) from his YouTube channel. His voice is BEAUTIFUL btw.
After college, he began performing and touring both in the U.S. and the Philippines, was a part of the AJ Rafael Band (lol), and did several interesting projects (you can check the Wikipedia if you're curious haha). On YouTube, AJ Rafael has a ton of song covers, original songs, challenge videos, and collabs with lots of well known (East) Asian American YouTubers (e.g. this big collab with Jeremy Lin and this one w/ LaurDIY and Alex Wasabi on a Disney song challenge.) In 2018, he started a variety show called Crazy Talented Asians. He's also been known to raise money and advocate for social causes. Anyhow, though I haven't followed him for long, I can tell he's been a positive impact on the Asian community :)
Chef's Specials 💋👌
🎷 I thought this piece on defining Asian American music was actually pretty interesting! Talks about the role of music in activism and the current state of AAPIs in the music industry. Worth a read if you have time (also speaking of music, follow and add to our shared playlist on Spotify!)
📺 Absolutely loved this post on LGBTQ+ Asian Animated Icons
🎮 How the gaming industry is contributing to stopping anti-Asian violence through funding, donations, employee initiatives, and training.
💌 "For some Pacific Islanders in Anchorage, a group outing to tend family graves is a Memorial Day tradition" (Anchorage Daily News)
🌎 As a follow up to my question last week on Asian activists in the environmental justice movement, I came across this article published yesterday on the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), based in the Bay Area. "APEN is so successful because our organizing incorporates our cultural heritage and our own legacy fighting aggression and chemical warfare in our homelands. For us, this memory of how our homelands were affected both physically and culturally by environmental violence and war allows us to really address the root causes of injustice."
‼️ Ongoing: Sharing resources to help with COVID response and care in India. Please take a look!
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AAPI Artists Spotify Playlist (it's collaborative again!) :