May 21, 2024 • 27 mins
It is AAPI Heritage Month, and Varun Nikore, Executive Director of AAPI Victory Alliance, returns to Woke AF Daily to discuss the issues on the minds of Americans within the wide diaspora of Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKP Daily with me
your girl, Daniel Moody recording from the home bunker, folks.
So some global news to start out. First of all,
anytime that a news story leads with a helicopter crash
(00:33):
of an elected official in another country or frankly, in
this country, my eyebrows are always raised. And so apparently
Iran's president, Ibrahim Rasisi racy excuse me, was killed in
(00:55):
a helicopter crash that had his helicopter crash against the mountains.
What is really interesting about this helicopter crash that would
kill who was going to replace the aging Ali Kamenni
in Iran? Really fascinating because Raci was presumed to be
(01:21):
the next leader, moving out of the way a other
successor who was you know, a family.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Related like a Nepo baby, if you will.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And now that this man has been killed, which is
what I'm going to say, it leaves the door wide
open for the other person that was in the running
to be the successor, which is Ali Kamenni's son, Moshtaba,
(01:59):
who is fifty who people didn't necessarily want his candidacy
because of what they termed monarchical succession right that it
shouldn't just go to.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
A family member NEPO baby essentially.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And so now that the current president of Iran has
been killed in this helicopter crash, guess who has a
clear path to succeed his father. I'm just saying they
said that there were technical difficulties. I'm saying, okay, And folks,
(02:40):
the reason why I bring this up is because I
honestly think that more things like this will be happening
in the coming months, and I just kind of want
people to start to see the patterns of things that
are going to be happening. So let me switch gear
out of the Middle East for the moment and come.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Stateside to.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The place where Biden finds himself and Donald Trump finds himself.
So apparently Donald Trump was in the middle of his
speech where he completely glitched like Mitch McConnell for thirty
seconds and just like stopped talking and music was playing,
and then he finally got back into his thoughts. A
(03:30):
Twitter account that supports Biden retweeted and said, Glitchen Froze
clearly unfit for office. I mean, Donald Trump is unfit
for office in so many ways, but I will say
that the behavior that he has been exhibiting over the
last several months are alarming and should be. But of
(03:51):
course we'd rather focus on Biden's stutter.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Or you know, him being old, or what have you.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
But we're not also putting the same end energy into
what our obvious trip ups that Donald Trump has been
having and should be raising alarms, but do not. Biden
spoke at Morehouse College over the weekend as a commencement speech.
Shenny talked about January sixth and drawing people's attention to
(04:21):
the fact that if January sixth insurrectionists had looked like
black people, can you imagine what would have happened? We
all don't have to really imagine. We see what happens
to unarmed black people on a regular basis, whether they're
playing on the playground, pulled over in their car, walking
down the street, standing in their backyard. We know exactly
what happens and exactly what would have happened. The steps
(04:44):
of the Capitol Building would have been covered in people's blood,
nor would they have even gotten that close to the
Capitol Building.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So, you know, this commencement.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Speech, as well as other stops that Biden took over
the weekend is to gin up support in the Black
community where he is lagging. He is losing support, and
that support is dwindling because of his ironclad support for
genocide in Gaza. And frankly, the American people, whether they
(05:16):
are Black or latinax, young or old, are looking at
what is happening in Gaza and looking at this administration
continuing to send billions of dollars to net Niyaku, who
continues to embarrass this motherfucker on the Maid stage, and
Biden just says, yes, sir, can I have another? And
so these attempts at tough talk and painting pictures that
black people have long seen and no will it do
(05:40):
much to bolster his image and appearance in the black community.
I don't think so unless Joe Biden actually takes some
real action, and I have yet to see that. But
what I will continue to say is that if you
look at the actions that not just taken by Donald Trump,
but taken by red state governors around the country, whether
it just Glenn Youngkin in Virginia that vetoed legislation that
(06:04):
would you know, secure contraception for women and people with
uterses in the state of Virginia, whether it is you know,
Greg Abbott pardoning a white supremacist murderer, Daniel Perry, whether
it is Ron de Santis, you know, giving the green
light for vehicular homicide as it you know, pretends to
(06:24):
protesters in the streets, whether it is denying people access
to IVF in Alabama. We have to be able to
look at the full picture of what the Republicans are doing,
as Steve Bannon said, state by state and village by village,
and understand that if given Kart Blanche over the executive branch,
that all of these things that we are seeing pop
(06:45):
up state by state will in fact be nationalized. So
while I find it difficult to stomach what it is
that Biden is doing in Gazen, what he is using
our hard fought for dollars and sending them over to Israel,
I also know exactly what it is that the Republican
Party will do if they take control of the White House,
and what Donald Trump will do in the first one
(07:07):
hundred days, as outlined in Project twenty twenty five. So
as I continue to say, my friends, do not play
with your vote, because Republicans are not playing with your rights,
they're taking them away one by one. Coming up next
in my conversation is my interview with Varun Nekoor from
(07:29):
AAPI Victory Alliance to talk about the importance of AAPI
History Month and why it is important for us to
look more closely into this demographic that his organization represents
and where they are in the electorate. That conversation is
(07:51):
coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Next, folks.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I am very excited to welcome back to wok F
Daily the executive director of AAPI Victory Alliance, Varunnicor. During
AAPI Heritage Month, which you know, I got to tell you, Varun,
it's a month that doesn't get the same amount of
play as a lot of us, as a lot of
(08:19):
other you know, it's like Black History Month, as Women's
History Month, like it just you know, so talk to
us about the importance of AAPI Heritage Month and what
you all have been focused on and are focusing on
at AAPI Victory Alliance.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's a milestone. I don't think it was frankly on
the radar screen as you sort of alluded to of
most Americans until more recently. And we're obviously honored to
have this month to sort of celebrate our history, our accomplishments,
which I think very much lean to. I would say
(08:58):
the immigrant experience. And you know, I was I was
asked by someone the other day, in fact, what this
month meant to me and how sort of ordinary folks
could celebrate the month or think about the month. And
I responded by, well, first reflecting on it and then saying,
you know, I think you know, everyone has an immigrant
(09:20):
story in this country, whether forced or unforced of immigration,
and to just reflect on their immigrant experience, and then
from that, I think you can get connected to how
the vast majority of APIs today in this country sort
of live and breathe and work and sort of interface
in society.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You know, we know in our conversations that we've had
that the AAPI community is the fastest growing community in
the country, made up of so many different countries, so
many different ethnicities and cultures, and I oftentimes feel that
one the recognition of marginalized groups matter. But then I
(10:03):
sometimes think about the lumping in that we do that
doesn't allow for there to be more distinction between how
these different cultures and ethnicities and groups fit. And so
how do you tend to I guess the needs of
such a vast and diverse community with this umbrella right
(10:25):
of AAPI, I.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Think, and that's such a great point, you know. I
was actually looking just yesterday in fact, at sort of
all the countries of origin that make up the API population,
and it is staggering, right. If you look all the
way from the west, it includes you know, Iran, Afghanistan,
et cetera. To the east, you know, the Pacific Islands,
(10:49):
Hawaii to the north, the Mongolia to the south, Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, and everything in between, right, nations of origin,
hundreds of languages and dialects. And so I think the
best the way that we can lift up me as
I would say a privileged Indian American is to, is
(11:14):
to lift up those folks that we don't and countries
of origin that we talk about very often, right, like
Southeast Asians that have a completely different immigrant experience, being
largely refugees or folks displaced for more. Right. And then
you know, Persian Americans and Iranian Americans have their own history.
(11:37):
We don't see too many Indonesian Americans or Mongolians. But
I like to talk about it because I think that
I think one of the things that binds us all
as people is food, and so by going into restaurants
and sort of exploring, we get tied to the cultures
and connect to the people and just really realize not
only how vast API as a community are, but how
(12:01):
we can all get maybe a little bit more in
tune to say, world geography, and how we can get
better connected as people, even in this country. And so
I feel, you know, I feel privileged, honestly to be
part of this larger family. It's like I feel like
I've got cousin in some place that I don't even
know it, and it's sort of it warms my heart
(12:23):
to think that, you know, I didn't create this term.
I probably wouldn't come up with another term had it
been me. But I will accept it fully and allow
myself to sort of explore all these nations and certainly
get a chance when i'm a little when I have
time to explore the countries themselves.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Right right, you know, with such a vast and rich community,
how do you go about And I know that I
ask you this, but particularly as we're heading towards, you know,
the most consequential election, I think of our lifetimes, how
do you part and parcel out what issues are most
(13:06):
affecting this very diverse population and how your community kind
of measures against with what, let's say the larger democratic priorities,
values and such are for this term.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
It's so important that you're bringing this up because it
certainly requires research and polling, right, which is done in
politics every single day. Our community doesn't have the robust
amount of polling as say mainstream politics. But that being said,
when we are able to get access to research and
data on what is moving the AAPI electorate, and frankly,
(13:44):
we really have to segment it by the ethnicity to
know because certain ethnicities feel stronger or weaker on issues.
But I'll give you one example. Gun violence, which is
one of the key issues that we're working on in
our community, has risen to the top. Some polls have
it number one as the number one issue going into
(14:05):
this election. So think about it for a second. This
is not an issue that was even in the top
ten three years ago, four years ago, and now it's
risen to number one, and we believe we've had a
little bit of data to back this up, but the
numbers started to really move in terms of the importance
of this issue after Uvaldi in Texas two and a
(14:29):
half years ago, and it was the intersection of historically
important theme and issue, education and schools right and the
fact that this was a shooting in an elementary school.
It really was the I would say that Netsu's point
for when the numbers started to rise in terms of
(14:50):
issue of importance, and we've seen similar parallels in the
Latino community as well. And that's not something you hear about.
I would say when you if you reading political news
or you're reading about you know, Biden Trump or the
fall matchup, is how far this issue has come. Now,
reproductive freedom is going to be front and center, part
(15:11):
and parcel like central to this election. And a sleeper issue,
I believe is it's going to be gun violence. And
these issues they don't get talked about in an election
without an impetus, without a push, just like the crime
narrative is being pushed very hard on the other side
(15:31):
right now that you know Democrats and the left or
weak on crime, frankly, they're making that up. But the
core of the issue for our community is gun violence.
And if we decide to put some money behind this
messaging and this narrative, I think that we can win
on this issue as well. And I believe once again
(15:52):
that this is a once in a fifty year, once
in one hundred year opportunity when you have two very
galvanizing issues like the basic rights that women have had
in this country for fifty years just taken away, as
well as gun violence. And I think a lot of
API's view view gun violence in the frame of crime,
(16:15):
and so it may not be the winner issue that
the Republicans are I think, really trying to hit us on.
They're going to view it in the issue in the
framework of gun violence, and they're losing on that issue.
And I like this issue specifically because the Republicans don't
have a message right now. They don't even have a response.
They decided that they don't even want to respond at
least on reproductive's freedoms. They're kind of trying to figure
(16:37):
out what the magic number of weeks that might be
palatable to restrict amortionis. Right, it's like pick a dart
and choose on gun violence. They've chose to unilaterally disarm.
And I like that political equation.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
From a math perspective, I wonder too as a tains
to gun violence. I mean, the you know, community was
visited upon right by a mass shooting. You know, god,
what was it, maybe three or four years ago at
this point, And I wonder that since that time, coupled
(17:13):
with the UVALDI and that being you know, children being targeted,
you know, has there also been a rise or would
your polling show in gun ownership like because you know,
on both sides as violence, you know, escalates when it
is directed towards a particular community, like the AAPI community.
(17:34):
Both people want gun reform, right, but then they also
tend to actually go ahead and purchase guns. So what
is what does that look like for you? Well, what
have you seen in your research?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
So we went from being the demographic with the least
amount of gun ownership now on a per capita basis
one of the fastest growing communities of guns. And it
all started, frankly, with this cycle that really started with
Donald Trump and his spewing of vicious rhetoric and hatred
(18:11):
that led to sort of the next part of this
was that it led to mass acts of hate and
violence all across the nation, and correspondingly, it led to
the direct marketing by the NRA because they saw their
gun sales started to Flatten in the latter half of
(18:32):
the Trump years, and they were looking for new markets.
They said, hey, in the Asian American community, they've got
high net worth income, they've got high incomes, they're low ownership.
And they started marketing in all their magazines and doing
some advertisements essentially towards the API community. So we responded
in kind by buying guns now at very high rates.
(18:55):
And now where we are, and everyone knew this was
going to happen, that we have some of the highest
suicide by gun rates in the country. Sixty of all
the suicides that happened in the APAC community are suicide
by gun. Right, So we also know that by any measure,
(19:16):
that when a gun is in the home, that it
leads to a number of negative consequences intentional homicide, accidental death,
accidental injury, intimate partner violence, all of that. And so
this is what it's led to. And it started with
the vicious rhetoric, and I would say sort of the
(19:36):
white supremacist frankly, the white supremacist elements of not only
the NRA, but I would say the gun industry. They
use this and they capitalize on the sphere, and we
respond because we think this is the only way we're
going to be able to protect ourselves and our protect
our families.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I mean that, And you're right, as you had opened
up with saying the vicious cycle, right, because the more
gun violence that we experience, then the more that people
are triggered in their mind that, well, there's so much
gun violence. Now I need a gun because I need
to protect myself because clearly I'm not protected, right. And
the more that your community is targeted, then the more
(20:14):
that you you know, you feel inclined to want to
go kind of run in that direction, which is really
terrifying because what we know is that the NRA, you know,
prides itself off of operating out out of chaos. Right.
The more chaos and devastation that there is, the more
that they see sales opportunities as we too. You know,
(20:35):
you talk about gun violence being a top issue, you
talk about abortion.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Where does democracy fall?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
We know that, right, the Biden campaign made democracy the
center of this campaign. We have to save our freedom,
save our rights. But some people have said it's two
up twos, right, what does that actually mean? And so
when you're looking at the issues that are our most
top of mind for the folks that you represent, where
(21:06):
does that fall and how and how did how does
the messaging around democracy actually hit them?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Ranks very high, and I think with the right messenger
and the right message, we can turn out people on
this issue. And the fact that I think many Asian
Americans saw January sixth as sort of this call to
action at a very sort of you know, personal personal
(21:38):
DNA level, because a lot of the countries that they
left APIs had left either did not have democracy or
did not have democracy in the forum that America represented
and was founded upon. And so when they saw that
insurrection happened before their very eyes, when they saw these
(22:00):
frankly traders, these treasonous acts go on, they you know, collectively,
were impacted. And I think this election will be very
pivotal on a number of levels. We'll get a chance
soon to see, you know, how America as a whole,
(22:23):
as a collective is going to you know, decide to
vote people in or people out based upon the issues
of the day. Democracy is very much an undercurrent of that.
Of course, there's the single issues like gun violence and
reproductive freedoms that are going to be I would say
a response if polsters ask people. But the subtext is
(22:45):
going to be very much like which president or which
a legislator is going to preserve America or try to
wreck America or reshape America to their own, say, fascist ideals. Right.
That's really what this is coming down.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
To, you know, And I think, Wow, you made a
point that I hadn't thought about, which is that a
lot of folks inside of the AAPI community come from
countries that don't have democracy, right. And I think that again,
a really important voice and messenger right of people who
(23:22):
can testify firsthand as to what it is like to
live inside of a country that doesn't give you know,
women a voice, right, that doesn't recognize LGBTQ people, that
doesn't you know, certify a vote. You know, I think
that that is really important to uplift that a community
(23:44):
of immigrants means coming from countries that were in some
ways worse off than the United States in terms of
how their governments function. And don't want to see that
backslide here.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I wonder too, again, as we are a handful months away,
if you were to give a directive right to the
Biden campaign in terms of how they invigorate right, the
AAPI community, how they engage and inspire the AAPI community
to come out in robust numbers.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
What would you say?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
I would say, start talking about the issues that really
matter to the American people outside of just the economy.
I think there's been way too much emphasis on the
economy when the data points in other elections prior to
this coming November has been that, yes, jobs are important,
(24:41):
the economy is important, Inflation is important. Right, every single
poll has that as the number one or number two issue.
But this administration, I believe in my bones, has so
much accomplishments that they don't talk about. They have moved
the needle more on gun violence than any administration in
(25:03):
modern times. I would say, since the assault weapons ban
in the Clinton administration. But they don't they don't talk
about it. They need to get out there and spend
millions of dollars messaging on this because it will move
the needle. And they talk about climate, but they talk
about climate in a business frame. You know, they're out
there with hard, hard hats and shovels. We opened up
(25:24):
a new microchip plant, or we've you know, set up
a new solar factory, or uh, you know, windmill and all.
That's important. People care, but they need to know how
it's going to affect their daily lives. And I'm not
sure that connection has been made quite yet. They're getting there,
they're I think they're doing a much better job than
they have, but I think they need to be talking
(25:45):
more about those bread and butter issues, you know that
folks can connect with, right, I'm not sure they're going
to connect with you know, Biden necessarily with the visual
of of him and a hard hat. They're going to
connect with him like in a Chipotle talking to people,
talking to line workers and talking to customers, you know,
(26:06):
about the issues that matter, like how much has the
price of guacamole gone up? And why has that happened?
And how what I've done to make it go down
and stabilized prices. That's I think, you know, where he
is is his best because you know, Joe Biden is
very much a retail politician. Yeah, we haven't had a
retail politician like that in a very long time. It's
almost been bred out of the system in many respects.
(26:28):
But he's assault of the earth, regular Joe, and he
needs to just maybe showed a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, well, vroom, we'll leave it there today with you,
but I like that direction and the advices you offer.
Please tell folks how they can connect with AAPI Victory
Alliance and stay in touch with the work that you're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Of course, thank you so much. So we're at API
Victory Alliance dot com. You'll see a big fat donate
page and link on that website. We hope you do
throw a few dollars our way, especially this month, so
we can get out there and activate voters and make
sure that we message on the issues that really matter
and drive the vote and slip elections. Thanks so much again.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
That is it for me today.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Dear friends on Woke af AS always, power to the
people and to all the people.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.
Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKP Daily with me
your girl, Daniel Moody recording from the home bunker, folks.
So some global news to start out. First of all,
anytime that a news story leads with a helicopter crash
(00:33):
of an elected official in another country or frankly, in
this country, my eyebrows are always raised. And so apparently
Iran's president, Ibrahim Rasisi racy excuse me, was killed in
(00:55):
a helicopter crash that had his helicopter crash against the mountains.
What is really interesting about this helicopter crash that would
kill who was going to replace the aging Ali Kamenni
in Iran? Really fascinating because Raci was presumed to be
(01:21):
the next leader, moving out of the way a other
successor who was you know, a family.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Related like a Nepo baby, if you will.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And now that this man has been killed, which is
what I'm going to say, it leaves the door wide
open for the other person that was in the running
to be the successor, which is Ali Kamenni's son, Moshtaba,
(01:59):
who is fifty who people didn't necessarily want his candidacy
because of what they termed monarchical succession right that it
shouldn't just go to.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
A family member NEPO baby essentially.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
And so now that the current president of Iran has
been killed in this helicopter crash, guess who has a
clear path to succeed his father. I'm just saying they
said that there were technical difficulties. I'm saying, okay, And folks,
(02:40):
the reason why I bring this up is because I
honestly think that more things like this will be happening
in the coming months, and I just kind of want
people to start to see the patterns of things that
are going to be happening. So let me switch gear
out of the Middle East for the moment and come.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Stateside to.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The place where Biden finds himself and Donald Trump finds himself.
So apparently Donald Trump was in the middle of his
speech where he completely glitched like Mitch McConnell for thirty
seconds and just like stopped talking and music was playing,
and then he finally got back into his thoughts. A
(03:30):
Twitter account that supports Biden retweeted and said, Glitchen Froze
clearly unfit for office. I mean, Donald Trump is unfit
for office in so many ways, but I will say
that the behavior that he has been exhibiting over the
last several months are alarming and should be. But of
(03:51):
course we'd rather focus on Biden's stutter.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Or you know, him being old, or what have you.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
But we're not also putting the same end energy into
what our obvious trip ups that Donald Trump has been
having and should be raising alarms, but do not. Biden
spoke at Morehouse College over the weekend as a commencement speech.
Shenny talked about January sixth and drawing people's attention to
(04:21):
the fact that if January sixth insurrectionists had looked like
black people, can you imagine what would have happened? We
all don't have to really imagine. We see what happens
to unarmed black people on a regular basis, whether they're
playing on the playground, pulled over in their car, walking
down the street, standing in their backyard. We know exactly
what happens and exactly what would have happened. The steps
(04:44):
of the Capitol Building would have been covered in people's blood,
nor would they have even gotten that close to the
Capitol Building.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So, you know, this commencement.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Speech, as well as other stops that Biden took over
the weekend is to gin up support in the Black
community where he is lagging. He is losing support, and
that support is dwindling because of his ironclad support for
genocide in Gaza. And frankly, the American people, whether they
(05:16):
are Black or latinax, young or old, are looking at
what is happening in Gaza and looking at this administration
continuing to send billions of dollars to net Niyaku, who
continues to embarrass this motherfucker on the Maid stage, and
Biden just says, yes, sir, can I have another? And
so these attempts at tough talk and painting pictures that
black people have long seen and no will it do
(05:40):
much to bolster his image and appearance in the black community.
I don't think so unless Joe Biden actually takes some
real action, and I have yet to see that. But
what I will continue to say is that if you
look at the actions that not just taken by Donald Trump,
but taken by red state governors around the country, whether
it just Glenn Youngkin in Virginia that vetoed legislation that
(06:04):
would you know, secure contraception for women and people with
uterses in the state of Virginia, whether it is you know,
Greg Abbott pardoning a white supremacist murderer, Daniel Perry, whether
it is Ron de Santis, you know, giving the green
light for vehicular homicide as it you know, pretends to
(06:24):
protesters in the streets, whether it is denying people access
to IVF in Alabama. We have to be able to
look at the full picture of what the Republicans are doing,
as Steve Bannon said, state by state and village by village,
and understand that if given Kart Blanche over the executive branch,
that all of these things that we are seeing pop
(06:45):
up state by state will in fact be nationalized. So
while I find it difficult to stomach what it is
that Biden is doing in Gazen, what he is using
our hard fought for dollars and sending them over to Israel,
I also know exactly what it is that the Republican
Party will do if they take control of the White House,
and what Donald Trump will do in the first one
(07:07):
hundred days, as outlined in Project twenty twenty five. So
as I continue to say, my friends, do not play
with your vote, because Republicans are not playing with your rights,
they're taking them away one by one. Coming up next
in my conversation is my interview with Varun Nekoor from
(07:29):
AAPI Victory Alliance to talk about the importance of AAPI
History Month and why it is important for us to
look more closely into this demographic that his organization represents
and where they are in the electorate. That conversation is
(07:51):
coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Next, folks.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I am very excited to welcome back to wok F
Daily the executive director of AAPI Victory Alliance, Varunnicor. During
AAPI Heritage Month, which you know, I got to tell you, Varun,
it's a month that doesn't get the same amount of
play as a lot of us, as a lot of
(08:19):
other you know, it's like Black History Month, as Women's
History Month, like it just you know, so talk to
us about the importance of AAPI Heritage Month and what
you all have been focused on and are focusing on
at AAPI Victory Alliance.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It's a milestone. I don't think it was frankly on
the radar screen as you sort of alluded to of
most Americans until more recently. And we're obviously honored to
have this month to sort of celebrate our history, our accomplishments,
which I think very much lean to. I would say
(08:58):
the immigrant experience. And you know, I was I was
asked by someone the other day, in fact, what this
month meant to me and how sort of ordinary folks
could celebrate the month or think about the month. And
I responded by, well, first reflecting on it and then saying,
you know, I think you know, everyone has an immigrant
(09:20):
story in this country, whether forced or unforced of immigration,
and to just reflect on their immigrant experience, and then
from that, I think you can get connected to how
the vast majority of APIs today in this country sort
of live and breathe and work and sort of interface
in society.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You know, we know in our conversations that we've had
that the AAPI community is the fastest growing community in
the country, made up of so many different countries, so
many different ethnicities and cultures, and I oftentimes feel that
one the recognition of marginalized groups matter. But then I
(10:03):
sometimes think about the lumping in that we do that
doesn't allow for there to be more distinction between how
these different cultures and ethnicities and groups fit. And so
how do you tend to I guess the needs of
such a vast and diverse community with this umbrella right
(10:25):
of AAPI, I.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Think, and that's such a great point, you know. I
was actually looking just yesterday in fact, at sort of
all the countries of origin that make up the API population,
and it is staggering, right. If you look all the
way from the west, it includes you know, Iran, Afghanistan,
et cetera. To the east, you know, the Pacific Islands,
(10:49):
Hawaii to the north, the Mongolia to the south, Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, and everything in between, right, nations of origin,
hundreds of languages and dialects. And so I think the
best the way that we can lift up me as
I would say a privileged Indian American is to, is
(11:14):
to lift up those folks that we don't and countries
of origin that we talk about very often, right, like
Southeast Asians that have a completely different immigrant experience, being
largely refugees or folks displaced for more. Right. And then
you know, Persian Americans and Iranian Americans have their own history.
(11:37):
We don't see too many Indonesian Americans or Mongolians. But
I like to talk about it because I think that
I think one of the things that binds us all
as people is food, and so by going into restaurants
and sort of exploring, we get tied to the cultures
and connect to the people and just really realize not
only how vast API as a community are, but how
(12:01):
we can all get maybe a little bit more in
tune to say, world geography, and how we can get
better connected as people, even in this country. And so
I feel, you know, I feel privileged, honestly to be
part of this larger family. It's like I feel like
I've got cousin in some place that I don't even
know it, and it's sort of it warms my heart
(12:23):
to think that, you know, I didn't create this term.
I probably wouldn't come up with another term had it
been me. But I will accept it fully and allow
myself to sort of explore all these nations and certainly
get a chance when i'm a little when I have
time to explore the countries themselves.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Right right, you know, with such a vast and rich community,
how do you go about And I know that I
ask you this, but particularly as we're heading towards, you know,
the most consequential election, I think of our lifetimes, how
do you part and parcel out what issues are most
(13:06):
affecting this very diverse population and how your community kind
of measures against with what, let's say the larger democratic priorities,
values and such are for this term.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
It's so important that you're bringing this up because it
certainly requires research and polling, right, which is done in
politics every single day. Our community doesn't have the robust
amount of polling as say mainstream politics. But that being said,
when we are able to get access to research and
data on what is moving the AAPI electorate, and frankly,
(13:44):
we really have to segment it by the ethnicity to
know because certain ethnicities feel stronger or weaker on issues.
But I'll give you one example. Gun violence, which is
one of the key issues that we're working on in
our community, has risen to the top. Some polls have
it number one as the number one issue going into
(14:05):
this election. So think about it for a second. This
is not an issue that was even in the top
ten three years ago, four years ago, and now it's
risen to number one, and we believe we've had a
little bit of data to back this up, but the
numbers started to really move in terms of the importance
of this issue after Uvaldi in Texas two and a
(14:29):
half years ago, and it was the intersection of historically
important theme and issue, education and schools right and the
fact that this was a shooting in an elementary school.
It really was the I would say that Netsu's point
for when the numbers started to rise in terms of
(14:50):
issue of importance, and we've seen similar parallels in the
Latino community as well. And that's not something you hear about.
I would say when you if you reading political news
or you're reading about you know, Biden Trump or the
fall matchup, is how far this issue has come. Now,
reproductive freedom is going to be front and center, part
(15:11):
and parcel like central to this election. And a sleeper issue,
I believe is it's going to be gun violence. And
these issues they don't get talked about in an election
without an impetus, without a push, just like the crime
narrative is being pushed very hard on the other side
(15:31):
right now that you know Democrats and the left or
weak on crime, frankly, they're making that up. But the
core of the issue for our community is gun violence.
And if we decide to put some money behind this
messaging and this narrative, I think that we can win
on this issue as well. And I believe once again
(15:52):
that this is a once in a fifty year, once
in one hundred year opportunity when you have two very
galvanizing issues like the basic rights that women have had
in this country for fifty years just taken away, as
well as gun violence. And I think a lot of
API's view view gun violence in the frame of crime,
(16:15):
and so it may not be the winner issue that
the Republicans are I think, really trying to hit us on.
They're going to view it in the issue in the
framework of gun violence, and they're losing on that issue.
And I like this issue specifically because the Republicans don't
have a message right now. They don't even have a response.
They decided that they don't even want to respond at
least on reproductive's freedoms. They're kind of trying to figure
(16:37):
out what the magic number of weeks that might be
palatable to restrict amortionis. Right, it's like pick a dart
and choose on gun violence. They've chose to unilaterally disarm.
And I like that political equation.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
From a math perspective, I wonder too as a tains
to gun violence. I mean, the you know, community was
visited upon right by a mass shooting. You know, god,
what was it, maybe three or four years ago at
this point, And I wonder that since that time, coupled
(17:13):
with the UVALDI and that being you know, children being targeted,
you know, has there also been a rise or would
your polling show in gun ownership like because you know,
on both sides as violence, you know, escalates when it
is directed towards a particular community, like the AAPI community.
(17:34):
Both people want gun reform, right, but then they also
tend to actually go ahead and purchase guns. So what
is what does that look like for you? Well, what
have you seen in your research?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
So we went from being the demographic with the least
amount of gun ownership now on a per capita basis
one of the fastest growing communities of guns. And it
all started, frankly, with this cycle that really started with
Donald Trump and his spewing of vicious rhetoric and hatred
(18:11):
that led to sort of the next part of this
was that it led to mass acts of hate and
violence all across the nation, and correspondingly, it led to
the direct marketing by the NRA because they saw their
gun sales started to Flatten in the latter half of
(18:32):
the Trump years, and they were looking for new markets.
They said, hey, in the Asian American community, they've got
high net worth income, they've got high incomes, they're low ownership.
And they started marketing in all their magazines and doing
some advertisements essentially towards the API community. So we responded
in kind by buying guns now at very high rates.
(18:55):
And now where we are, and everyone knew this was
going to happen, that we have some of the highest
suicide by gun rates in the country. Sixty of all
the suicides that happened in the APAC community are suicide
by gun. Right, So we also know that by any measure,
(19:16):
that when a gun is in the home, that it
leads to a number of negative consequences intentional homicide, accidental death,
accidental injury, intimate partner violence, all of that. And so
this is what it's led to. And it started with
the vicious rhetoric, and I would say sort of the
(19:36):
white supremacist frankly, the white supremacist elements of not only
the NRA, but I would say the gun industry. They
use this and they capitalize on the sphere, and we
respond because we think this is the only way we're
going to be able to protect ourselves and our protect
our families.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I mean that, And you're right, as you had opened
up with saying the vicious cycle, right, because the more
gun violence that we experience, then the more that people
are triggered in their mind that, well, there's so much
gun violence. Now I need a gun because I need
to protect myself because clearly I'm not protected, right. And
the more that your community is targeted, then the more
(20:14):
that you you know, you feel inclined to want to
go kind of run in that direction, which is really
terrifying because what we know is that the NRA, you know,
prides itself off of operating out out of chaos. Right.
The more chaos and devastation that there is, the more
that they see sales opportunities as we too. You know,
(20:35):
you talk about gun violence being a top issue, you
talk about abortion.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Where does democracy fall?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
We know that, right, the Biden campaign made democracy the
center of this campaign. We have to save our freedom,
save our rights. But some people have said it's two
up twos, right, what does that actually mean? And so
when you're looking at the issues that are our most
top of mind for the folks that you represent, where
(21:06):
does that fall and how and how did how does
the messaging around democracy actually hit them?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Ranks very high, and I think with the right messenger
and the right message, we can turn out people on
this issue. And the fact that I think many Asian
Americans saw January sixth as sort of this call to
action at a very sort of you know, personal personal
(21:38):
DNA level, because a lot of the countries that they
left APIs had left either did not have democracy or
did not have democracy in the forum that America represented
and was founded upon. And so when they saw that
insurrection happened before their very eyes, when they saw these
(22:00):
frankly traders, these treasonous acts go on, they you know, collectively,
were impacted. And I think this election will be very
pivotal on a number of levels. We'll get a chance
soon to see, you know, how America as a whole,
(22:23):
as a collective is going to you know, decide to
vote people in or people out based upon the issues
of the day. Democracy is very much an undercurrent of that.
Of course, there's the single issues like gun violence and
reproductive freedoms that are going to be I would say
a response if polsters ask people. But the subtext is
(22:45):
going to be very much like which president or which
a legislator is going to preserve America or try to
wreck America or reshape America to their own, say, fascist ideals. Right.
That's really what this is coming down.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
To, you know, And I think, Wow, you made a
point that I hadn't thought about, which is that a
lot of folks inside of the AAPI community come from
countries that don't have democracy, right. And I think that again,
a really important voice and messenger right of people who
(23:22):
can testify firsthand as to what it is like to
live inside of a country that doesn't give you know,
women a voice, right, that doesn't recognize LGBTQ people, that
doesn't you know, certify a vote. You know, I think
that that is really important to uplift that a community
(23:44):
of immigrants means coming from countries that were in some
ways worse off than the United States in terms of
how their governments function. And don't want to see that
backslide here.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I wonder too, again, as we are a handful months away,
if you were to give a directive right to the
Biden campaign in terms of how they invigorate right, the
AAPI community, how they engage and inspire the AAPI community
to come out in robust numbers.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
What would you say?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
I would say, start talking about the issues that really
matter to the American people outside of just the economy.
I think there's been way too much emphasis on the
economy when the data points in other elections prior to
this coming November has been that, yes, jobs are important,
(24:41):
the economy is important, Inflation is important. Right, every single
poll has that as the number one or number two issue.
But this administration, I believe in my bones, has so
much accomplishments that they don't talk about. They have moved
the needle more on gun violence than any administration in
(25:03):
modern times. I would say, since the assault weapons ban
in the Clinton administration. But they don't they don't talk
about it. They need to get out there and spend
millions of dollars messaging on this because it will move
the needle. And they talk about climate, but they talk
about climate in a business frame. You know, they're out
there with hard, hard hats and shovels. We opened up
(25:24):
a new microchip plant, or we've you know, set up
a new solar factory, or uh, you know, windmill and all.
That's important. People care, but they need to know how
it's going to affect their daily lives. And I'm not
sure that connection has been made quite yet. They're getting there,
they're I think they're doing a much better job than
they have, but I think they need to be talking
(25:45):
more about those bread and butter issues, you know that
folks can connect with, right, I'm not sure they're going
to connect with you know, Biden necessarily with the visual
of of him and a hard hat. They're going to
connect with him like in a Chipotle talking to people,
talking to line workers and talking to customers, you know,
(26:06):
about the issues that matter, like how much has the
price of guacamole gone up? And why has that happened?
And how what I've done to make it go down
and stabilized prices. That's I think, you know, where he
is is his best because you know, Joe Biden is
very much a retail politician. Yeah, we haven't had a
retail politician like that in a very long time. It's
almost been bred out of the system in many respects.
(26:28):
But he's assault of the earth, regular Joe, and he
needs to just maybe showed a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, well, vroom, we'll leave it there today with you,
but I like that direction and the advices you offer.
Please tell folks how they can connect with AAPI Victory
Alliance and stay in touch with the work that you're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Of course, thank you so much. So we're at API
Victory Alliance dot com. You'll see a big fat donate
page and link on that website. We hope you do
throw a few dollars our way, especially this month, so
we can get out there and activate voters and make
sure that we message on the issues that really matter
and drive the vote and slip elections. Thanks so much again.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
That is it for me today.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Dear friends on Woke af AS always, power to the
people and to all the people.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.
Host
Danielle Moodie
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