Dr. Helen Chu discussed her team’s work tracking the coronavirus in Washington state.
By Kai Curry
Northwest Asian Weekly
Branded as an ACLU People Power event, the 2020 AAPI Democracy Summit, organized by the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition (APIC) of Washington, was held online on Sept. 15. Keynote speakers included renowned activist Helen Zia and University of Washington infectious disease expert Dr. Helen Chu. Alongside these notable speakers, the co-executive directors of Freedom, Inc. were given space, as well as leaders of local APIC chapters, who took the opportunity to announce the first-ever APIC policy agenda.
The second half of the Summit was reserved for a gubernatorial candidate forum, to which Gov. Jay Inslee and his opponent, Loren Culp, were invited but only Inslee showed. Summit organizers stressed that the Summit was non-partisan and both candidates had been vetted equally and would have gone through the same run-down.
“For the past month, organizers of this event have reached out to Republican Police Chief Loren Culp to engage with us in this AAPI Democracy Summit. As of today, we were still giving him that chance and it did not happen,” explained Summit emcee Nia Wong of KLXY-TV Spokane.
While a mélange of topics was covered, the overall emphasis was on solidarity and speaking up for the change our communities want now and in the future.
“I have run into so many people who have said, ‘Well, what’s wrong with being the good minority? Isn’t that a compliment to us? And shouldn’t we be the good minority?’ When we accept that…and we think that that’s how we’re supposed to behave, we are allowing ourselves to be used and manipulated as that counterpoint to the bad minority whose crime is that they want to be treated as full human beings. When we do that, we are also denying our own humanity.”
Helen Zia
Kabzuag Vaj, co-executive director of Freedom, Inc.
“We have an opportunity to build the world that we want, and we should take that very seriously,” exhorted Freedom, Inc. co-executive director M. Adams. “The real question for us isn’t what our opposition is going to do and is prepared to do—they have demonstrated through history, and in this current moment, that our opposition is committed to keeping power…and harming us. The real question is what do we do as Black and Brown people to ensure a transformative future and one that shifts power?”
Adams, fellow co-executive director Kabzuag Vaj, and others expressed solidarity with the Black fight for equality and an end to racism, while rallying Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for their own sakes.
“When we are out in the streets marching and protesting, one of the things that I learned was I cannot be out here to protect anybody. I’m in the streets because it means something to me,” said Vaj. “I’m in the fight for my own people. I think that’s really important for us to figure out, how we are in liberation together and how we’re fighting together and not so much just showing up as allies because the violence against our bodies is real, and we have no one to blame if anything happens to us because we’re in the fight for ourselves.”
In relation to this, Zia talked about how AAPIs have been set up as a counterpoint to Black Americans, and that AAPIs should not be content with this dynamic. She reminded the audience that the concept of the “model minority” was started in 1966 by two U.S. news publications that “brought up this idea of Asian Americans being the model minority that ‘by dint of their own hard work and not a welfare check’ was better than the bad minority.” Zia warned that this is a one-dimensional and unacceptable stereotype.
M. Adams, co-executive director of Freedom, Inc.
“I have run into so many people who have said, ‘Well, what’s wrong with being the good minority? Isn’t that a compliment to us? And shouldn’t we be the good minority?’ When we accept that…and we think that that’s how we’re supposed to behave, we are allowing ourselves to be used and manipulated as that counterpoint to the bad minority whose crime is that they want to be treated as full human beings. When we do that, we are also denying our own humanity.”
The dual pandemic of COVID-19 and racism. Global warming and alarming fires covering our western states. These were the serious subjects covered. APIC leadership also revealed their newly created policy agenda, which Dori Peralta Baker, Yakima Chapter Chair, described as “a platform to launch listening sessions around the state, build political education awareness, and hold decision makers accountable.” The overall takeaway of the Summit was a sense of opportunity. Inslee, who during his question-and-answer period reiterated his commitment to the AAPI community, said, “My message is sort of like Winston Churchill during the London Blitz. Everybody said, ‘How are you getting through these dark days?’… and he said, ‘These are not dark days. These are great days…because we can rise up together. We can be strong together. We can help each other through this time of crisis.’”
Anchor and Journalist Nia Wong, emcee for the Summit
Inslee spoke of what he considered our shared Washingtonian values of education and science. Speaking just a few minutes after Chu, with a team from the University of Washington that discovered the first cases of COVID-19 in the United States, Inslee praised the high number of doctors, scientists, and engineers within the AAPI community and stood behind his dedication to combatting the coronavirus.
“We believe in the power of science. We’ve put that to work in fighting the COVID pandemic. I’m the candidate in the race, frankly, that believes in science…that science can save our lives, and we’re following that science. That’s why we’re in the top eight states in the United States reducing COVID infection rates, because we have followed the science and we have protected our people.”
Chu, who was optimistic that the United States will see an end to the spread of COVID-19, mirrored Inslee’s sentiment.
“Science is not political. I am not a politician. I’m a scientist. The more politics are inserted into all of this—whether masks work or not, if vaccine trials are being conducted quickly enough, whether COVID is just going to go away—it just confuses the message for everyone and it distracts all of us from the work that we need to do to move everything forward.” Chu added that it was important as a community to have “regular, clear, consistent messaging from a trusted public health voice.”
Governor Inslee responded to questions during the gubernatorial forum portion of the Summit.
Close to the end of the Summit, a question was posed to Inslee regarding anti-Asian racism. “This is so painful to me,” Inslee responded. “…and what’s so painful is that the flames of xenophobia have been fanned by the current occupant of the White House. To call this the ‘Chinese Virus,’ that opens the door to this attitude that somehow people of Asian heritage and Islander heritage are lesser Americans. We shouldn’t open that door. We should speak against that.” Inslee added, “We’ve got to get a new leader in the White House. We can’t have somebody to fan the flames of racism. We need people to help unite us and to understand implied bias, and to calm the waters and look for people to look for the best in each other rather than teach people to fear one another based on race. That’ll be a good day in the United States, and I hope to be the next governor to continue that effort.”
A recording of the 2020 AAPI Democracy Summit can be found on the Asian Counseling and Referral Service Facebook Page under “Videos.”
Kai can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.