This week we talk with Needa Bee, founder of Feed the People and member of Asians for Black Lives. She is part of housed Oakland residents who supported The Village. She provides an update for this powerful form of reclaiming public land and build dignified housing and services for our houseless community members living in the streets
We talk with artist Christine Wong Yap. She’s one of eight Chinese American artists in the Social Energies exhibition that opens tomorrow in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Folks in the ROOTS program put on by Asian Prisoner Support Committee talk about the School-to-Prison Pipeline thanks to the. And we play music to lift your spirits selected by new APEXer Anica Wu.
Social Energies, a group exhibition featuring works on paper and editions by Kayan Cheung-Miaw, Andrew Chuani Ho, Louise Leong, Cathy Lu, Leon Sun, Chelsea Wong, Leland Wong, and Christine Wong Yap. The artists are involved in community organizing, gardening, meditating, shopping, cooking for others and for strangers, and juggling day jobs, navigating their creative communities and the current political climate, all the while balancing the determination and focus needed to sustain creative output.
Asian Prisoner Support Committee is an Oakland-based organization providing support to Asian Pacific Islander prisoners. They also educate the community about the growing number of API’s in the United States being imprisoned, detained, and deported. APSC’s Restoring Our Original True Selves, or ROOTS program, seeks to increase knowledge about API culture, history, community issues, and healing practices among San Quentin inmates. Their program provides weekly classes involving guest speakers, group discussions, and leadership/empowerment activities. They serve over 30 AAPI prisoners by building support networks and opportunities for transformation and reentry.
In this segment, we’ll share voices from three prisoners. They talk about the vulnerabilities they faced as targets of racism and bullying through the “school-to-prison pipeline.” The “School-to-Prison Pipeline” refers to the trend where minorities with histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect are disciplined more harshly for minor offenses. They’re often forced out of schools and into prisons.
This podcast was recorded, edited, and produced entirely by a team of currently incarcerated people in the San Quentin Prison Report and the San Quentin ROOTS program.
Community Calendar
This Saturday in Watsonville, there’s an action supporting the boycott of Driscoll Berries. Farm workers in San Quintin, Mexico demand that they be treated with dignity and respect. They demand that Driscoll sit down to negotiate union contracts with the field workers. This event is on Saturday from 1-3 in Watsonville Plaza. https://www.facebook.com/events/1338481426182606/
On Monday at 7 p.m., Kearny Street Workshop starts a four-session workshop on writing narrative prose. This is a FREE, all-levels course that will help strengthen your understanding of narrative writing and help you put those stories that you’ve been wanting to tell onto the page. https://www.facebook.com/events/812772052193812/
And on Wednesday, Migrante SoMa/Tenderloin holds an immigration clinic at Bayanihan from 6 to 8 p.m. Whether you’re a permanent resident looking to file for citizenship, petitioning a family member, or looking for a path towards legalization, it’s important to get informed and take action to defend our community. https://www.facebook.com/events/343882162677691/