MinneAsianStories Podcast

Jun 27 2022 1

MinneAsianStories Podcast artwork

What does it mean for you to be in solidarity with others? How have you been impacted by anti-Asian discrimination? What comes to mind when you hear the name “George Floyd?” These are some of the questions we asked our community members to reflect on this past year. A Diversity Equity & Inclusion practitioner recounts a startling encounter in the Minneapolis skyways at the start of the pandemic and a tv news videographer shares his reflections on his work covering the murder of George Floyd. The MinneAsianStories Podcast, co-produced by CAAL, The Uptake, and WFNU Frogtown Community Radio,

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"Adoptee liberation is also connected to our shared liberation"

Jun 27 2022 35 mins

For our final episode of the MinneAsianStories Podcast: Season 2, we continue our look at adoptee justice organizing in Minnesota. Our host Julia Gay chats with community organizer and founding board member of CAAL Margie Jo Eun Joo Andreason about how transracial and transnational adoptees in Minnesota are creating adoptee centered spaces for processing, healing and joy. Margie re

"Our healing is rooted in decolonizing ourselves"

Jun 20 2022 39 mins

For our final two episodes of the MinneAsianStories Podcast: Season 2, we're exploring how Asian Minnesotan transnational adoptees have been shifting the dominant narrative around adoption to center adoptee voices and experiences. Our MinneAsianStories Correspondent Hannah Kinzer chats with educator, writer, and DEI consultant Dr. SooJin Pate about the decolonizing process of

"We've always had queer Hmong artists as a part of SOY"

Jun 13 2022 45 mins

This week on the MinneAsianStories Podcast: Season 2, we continue our celebration of Pride Month with our look at Shades of Yellow (SOY), the first Hmong LGBTQ+ organization. Our host Julia Gay chats with Xay Yang, Queer Justice Director and Mental Health Therapist at Transforming Generations and former SOY participant and volunteer. Xay shares her fondest memories from her time wo

“We were finally able to celebrate that part of ourselves”

Jun 06 2022 44 mins

Happy Pride Month! As we transition from Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month to Pride Month this June, we are thrilled to highlight the significant work and contributions of queer Asian Minnesotan organizers in our community. This week on the MinneAsianStories Podcast: Season 2, our host Julia Gay chats with Ka Oskar Ly, multidisciplinary artist and

"How do you get men to support your organization?... You don't"

May 30 2022 28 mins

This week on the MinneAsianStories Podcast: Season 2, our host Julia Gay chats with Gaoly Yang, the former Executive Director of the Women’s Association of Hmong and Lao (WAHL), the first Hmong and Lao women's organization in Minnesota. Gaoly reflects on her early days of gender-based organizing and what inspired her to help found the first ever Hmong and Lao women's organization

"Education should be used as a tool for liberation"

May 23 2022 27 mins

MK draws on the metaphor of root systems and waterways to highlight the healing bonds between community members amidst the toxic effects of racism. She shares her perspective on Ethnic Studies organizing and how she has incorporated lessons from mothering and movements across the country into the local fight for Ethnic Studies in our schools. We want our school systems to be place

"We were born out of the struggles of the people before us"

May 16 2022 53 mins

Joyce shares her perspective growing up in the civil rights era in a family that experienced both the privilege as Chinese scholars and persecution as immigrants in Minnesota. She highlights how activism in the Black community and different communities within the Asian community have shaped calls for Ethnic Studies in broader Asian American movements today. Visit www.caalmn.org/pod

"Which came first, the dream or the dreamer?"

May 09 2022 45 mins

Marlina moved from New York City to the Twin Cities with her daughter in the early 90's and was welcomed with open arms by a community of Asian American dreamers. What started as potluck dinners, soon grew into a flourishing community of artists that organized the Asian American Cultural Renaissance Conference, the Don't Buy Miss Saigon protests and more.

"Don't give power to people who cannot see you"

May 02 2022 38 mins

This year, 2022, marks the 30th anniversary of the Asian American Renaissance, which was a community based Asian American arts organization which began in 1992 and was an anchor in the Asian community here in Minnesota for the decade that followed. The Asian American Renaissance gave birth to many of the Asian arts and cultural organizations we know today such as Theater Mu, Mizna

"Is this what is means to be Asian in America?"

Dec 20 2021 30 mins

Hannah Kinzer, our MinneAsianStories Correspondent, joins us for this episode as our featured storyteller! As a Filipino adoptee, Hannah has continually re-examined her identity as “Asian American,” but an unsavory encounter while waiting for the light rail one evening puts her Asian Americaness in perspective against the dark backdrop of increasing sentiments of anti-Asian hat