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asianweekly northwest
39 YEARS
JUNE 5 – JUNE 11, 2021
■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
#AZNXBLM TWO MINORITIES UNITE IN ART AND ACTIVISM By Andrew Hamlin NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Kristin Leong
Getting Blacks and Asian Americans to come together, in art and in activism, isn’t the easiest thing in the world. But Seattle’s Kristin Leong, an author, activist, and KUOW radio producer, has a long history with both practices. She felt a cultural and political need for the two sides to come together, to complete the collection of works she calls “#AZNxBLM.” The resulting collaborations will roll out through the Slants Foundation website, theslants. org/aznxblm, #AZNxBLM—The Slants Foundation; and also Leong’s own website, RockPaperRadio.com. “When I published the call for #AZNxBLM proposals, we were one year into surging anti-Asian hate crimes
Boston-based family band Shimokita Bam Bam. From left: Junko Harris, Kari Harris, and Philip Harris. For #AZNxBLM, they produced an original song and music video. Photo credit: Junko and Philip Harris
around the world, and one week ahead of the Atlanta spa shooting in March,” said Leong. “I was feeling like I had been shouting in the wind for a year trying to draw attention to the fact that our Asian community— especially our elders—were facing real fear and danger in the wake of the then-president’s ‘Kung Flu’ and ‘China Virus’ rhetoric.” She learned a few painful truths from interviewing
her own father. “My dad’s a tough guy—he was a boxer and prone to fights and troublemaking in general in his youth. So it was especially heartbreaking to interview him, and learn that he was feeling afraid for himself when he went grocery shopping, and also for me because much of my public-facing work is focused on race and equity.” Leong was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Chinese father and a white mother. Moving to Washington state in elementary school proved quite a culture shock. She wasn’t used to a mostlywhite suburb. Her sister and herself made two of the very few biracial kids in the
entire community. She was the first in her family to graduate from college, completing her undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence college in Yonkers, New York, and a graduate degree at Seattle’s Antioch University. Settling in Seattle, she see #AZNXBLM on 10
