<Begin Segment 11>

BS: And just one of my final questions to wrap up that I have was, as an Asian American, what do you think the biggest social or political challenge that faces the Asian American community, and what steps do you think should be taken to resolve it?

HP: I think it's anti-Black racism. It is so pervasive, and people are always talking about how -- particularly in Los Angeles with the riots that had happened -- how the stories of Black versus Koreans, how there's so much animosity, and da da da da da. It's like, why are we focusing on that narrative? Why are we even, that's not even... that's a tool of white supremacy. That is, you can smell it a mile away. It's ready and riddled to start pitting us against each other for just dollars, pennies on the dollars. But we never focus on, like, Yuri Kochiyama, or Grace Lee Boggs or... oh gosh, who was the Japanese American guy that was involved with the Black Panther Party here? I forgot his name.

BT: Guy Kurose?

HP: Yeah, I think so. Alan Sugiyama used to talk about it all the time.

BS: Was it like Chris Ichioka or something?

HP: Yeah, something like that. But that there's all there has been a long-standing connection and partnership between the Asian and Black community. So, hearing these stories of, well, you know, here are these Asians, particularly Koreans coming in. I mean, we have privilege, too, right, based off of white supremacy, unfortunately, because of how people view light skinned Asians next to, in its proximity to whiteness, right? And how it's not always... we always talk about like proximity to whiteness. I really hate that. What I would prefer is our proximity to the Black community, right? Changing that narrative, flipping it on its head and really focusing on, in the civil rights movement there were a lot of APIs that were on campuses with American Ethnic Studies movement along with... and that's still happening today. I mean, having to fight for critical race theory? You've got to be kidding me. And so, there are all these little points that are coming out that I think are born out of anti-Black racism and CRT is definitely one of them, abolition is one of them.

I don't know, I think what would be really fun actually is to see more partnership within the abolitionists framework of, with Tsuru for Solidarity. And I know that's like kind of asking a lot because Dan does double duty, but it would be really cool to showcase that whether that's through art or dance. Gabrielle has been such a great addition, I think, to JACL, because she makes me think in ways that I just never, I just never think. Like, to me, I used to think... I would kind of be like, "Oh, that's so like New Agey." But it's actually like, just because I don't understand doesn't mean that it's not... like I don't need to dismiss it in such a way. But dance is such a powerful form of storytelling. Art is such a powerful form of storytelling. And it's what it... it's kind of what sustains us in the movement, that we're able to process policy in different ways. I mean, I always lead with policy, but it's actually like, issues. It's not policy, because issues can be, issues can have different vehicles. And that vehicle could be policy, it could be organizing on the ground, it could be through art. It could be through... the resistance comes in many different forms. And honestly, just by sheer existing is something that I had never, and it's never made me sit down and think about, right, as being a Korean American woman. And just by saying that, just by taking up space, and the Japanese American Citizens League, I feel is always so low key, and that's what I do really enjoy. But when we celebrate our wins, it's always so much fun. And I think that's what I really miss, too, a little bit about, since the pandemic, is the end of the year celebration, kind of miss that and seeing people sharing food. I miss Four Seas. I'm not gonna lie, that place was so dingy, but it was so delicious. And you knew you could search for certain karaoke songs like you couldn't find at Bush. I mean, these institutions are now gone. And so how can we pay homage to them and its cultural relevance and impact? I mean, we would have Congress, congressional folks come for campaigning in Seattle. Like when my condo was still around, we would go to the Bush. Like Jim, when I worked for Jim, Jim totally skipped out on like this event, and he's like, "Oh, I'm going to the Sounders match." And I was like, "Okay." And then I saw him at Bush. And I was like, oh...

BT: He was with Mike Honda, both of them were out there. I was there. I was sitting...

HP: Yeah, right, because we were celebrating the passage of Referendum 74. Yeah. So, there's these little stories and memories that are so, They're great and pre pandemic. But there are also so many great memories that I can lead to now, even over Zoom, like when we had the Uprooting Blackness in the Asian American, Japanese American Community, there are people of all different ages from everywhere. It was insane. There was this elder woman and her daughter who was a baby boomer, but her mom remembers being forced into camp. Remembers a lot of things. And she doesn't talk about it, but she was there listening and participating. Her daughter was there also kind of having that, contributing to the conversation. And then we had another guy that was from the east side, I think somewhere in Bellevue. He was a high school student. And I was just like, "Oh my god, this is amazing." Having these conversations with folks just within community, whether you know them or not, your community just kind of knows no bounds. And I think that's something that JACL has really taught me and I'm very grateful for.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2021 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.