VOL 41 NO 14 | APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA

VOL 41 NO 14 APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

FREE 40 YEARS YOUR VOICE

Refugees helping refugees in #StandWithUkraine movement Photo by Jessica Garcia

Inspired by her grandmother, who was a single mother that raised her mother and uncle, Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman wanted to use sewing as a way to give back to the community.

Refugee Artisan Initiative (RAI) partners with immigrant women to foster an inclusive, prosperous transition to the United States through

Photo by Sharon Ho Chang

By Nina Huang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

see UKRAINE on 12 Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman and RAI artist, Diba

Baseerah Salim wears a #StandWithUkraine pin

AAPI REPRESENTATION AT THE OSCARS

EDITORIAL

InterIm parking lot to get new fence for neighborhood beautification

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Photo by Mahlon Meyer

The South King Street side of the parking lot still had tent encampments with people living in them last week

By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY The smell from a pile of trash Youn Yuh-jung, right, presents Troy Kotsur with the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for “CODA” at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Let’s talk about the Oscars… and not the thing that social media wants to talk about.

Youn Yuh-Jung, who became the first Korean actress to win an Academy Award for Best

Supporting Actress in 2021, appeared as a presenter for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. see EDITORIAL on 16

THE INSIDE STORY

A&E Return to the road for Hill  5

■

A&E Riz Ahmed is an Oscar winner  8

ON THE SHELF Pham’s ‘7 Forms of Respect’  9

PUBLISHER’S BLOG Celebrate that you are alive!  10

is so strong that it hangs several yards out into the street. It smells like sickly sweet human flesh. But see PARKING on 15

KOMO 4 fires Jonathan Choe

Former KOMO-TV reporter Jonathan Choe said he’s not a neoNazi, fascist, or white supremacist.

“Those are just some of the names I have been called over the past few days for my recent coverage of a protest in Olympia,” Choe wrote on Medium. “As a proud Asian American journalist who’s faced years of discrimination for my race and ethnicity, this is comical at best.”

Jonathan Choe

see CHOE on 14

412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 • f. 206.223.0626 • editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com

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asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

■ NAMES IN THE NEWS

in Seward Park. The original torii was removed in the mid1980s due to decaying beams. 

Credit: Kaur’s campaign website

New torii at Seward Park

Seward Park torii

The long-awaited celebration to mark the construction of the Japanese torii (gate) in Seward Park will be held on April 2 from 1-2 p.m. The celebration will include taiko drummers, a lion dance, and remarks from elected officials as well as community advocates.

The Department of Neighborhoods awarded a planning grant to the Friends of Seward Park, which hired landscape architectural firm Murase Associates to design the torii.

Murase worked with the Friends of Seward Park to gather community input. Community participants chose a design that honors the original Seward Park torii, addresses concerns about long-term maintenance, and reflects current community values and the wilderness character of the park. The columns (hashira) of the torii are made of natural basalt from central Washington. One giant western red cedar tree harvested on Vancouver Island provided the timber for the lintel (kasagi) and crosspiece (nuki). Seattle Parks Foundation supported the Friends of Seward Park, and together they successfully raised $347,000 for the project.

Seattle Parks and Recreation managed the construction of the new torii gate. It replaces the 26-foot timber torii given to the City by Seattle's Japanese American community in 1934 as part of the International Potlatch celebration and then donated as a gesture of intercultural friendship and placed

Photo by Becky Chan

Photo provided by April Hattori

Cherry blossoms at UW

After a two-year hiatus, the University of Washington once again welcomes visitors to view its iconic cherry blossoms.

The 29 cherry trees in the Quad usually reach peak bloom during the third week of March. Warmer temperatures and mild weather all factor into when the cherry trees start to blossom and when they reach peak bloom.

Dozens of varieties of blossoming cherry and plum trees can be found across the Seattle area, with blooms visible from early February until, for some species, May. Plum trees, which often are mistaken for cherry trees, bloom earlier than most cherries and don’t have lenticels on their bark. 

Kaur looks to replace state Sen. Das

Kent City Councilmember Satwinder Kaur tossed her hat into the ring to run to replace state Sen. Mona Das, who announced last week that she is not running for re-election.

Das held the 47th District State Senate seat since being elected in 2018, when she defeated incumbent Joe Fain. Her current term expires Dec. 21, 2022.

In a Facebook announcement, Kaur said, “I appreciate Senator Das and all her service to her community. As many of you know, I have been looking to deepen my commitment

Satwinder Kaur (middle) and her family

to public service. This is an exciting opportunity.”

Kaur was elected to the Kent City Council in 2017. 

Kin On board announces Hsieh as next CEO

The Kin On Board of Directors has appointed Ketty Hsieh as Chief Executive Officer effective June 1, 2022.

Hannah Wong, Kin On Board First Vice President and search committee chair, said, “Ketty’s unique combination of proven success in executive leadership roles, considerable experience in the healthcare field, and deep Ketty Hsieh cultural understanding of the Asian community makes her ideally suited to lead Kin On into the future.”

Hsieh has over 25 years of experience in finance, including more than 10 years in the healthcare industry. Most recently, she was the vice president of finance for Western Washington at the Polyclinic and the Everett Clinic. She has also been serving on the Kin On Board since 2021.

Hsieh will work alongside Interim Chief Executive Officer Sam Wan for a transition period until June 1.

“Kin On is a gem in our community, and I hope to build on the strong foundation we already have and grow Kin On to reach and serve even more Asian seniors,” Hsieh said. 

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

YOUR VOICE

asianweekly northwest

■ FINANCE A passion for equitable services

By Juliet Fang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY As the current branch manager for Chase Bank in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID), Leslie Holland can be found overseeing the growth of the bank, ensuring her team provides equitable services to the district’s diverse clientele, or grabbing boba from nearby tea shops with her co-workers.

“It’s a very exciting but busy job,” she says, laughing.

But long before she ended up in Seattle, Holland attended first and secondary school in the Philippines, the country where she grew up. She and her family migrated to Los Angeles when she was 16, which proved to be a difficult adjustment for Holland.

“In the Philippines, I grew up quite sheltered,” she says. “I went to an all-girls Catholic school and had a group of close, tight-knit friends.

My worldview was definitely very small, so when I moved to the United States and faced so many things that I was unfamiliar with, it was a huge culture shock.

“My only real impression of the United States was the movie 16 Candles, so I was pretty naïve when I moved. All of the sudden, I was different. My world was no longer

Leslie Holland

the same. I remember this being the time in my life that I had my first experience with racism, too. I just had to start from scratch and navigate the high school scene on my own.”

After high school, Holland attended college for Business Management at University of Phoenix.

To help pay off school tuition, she worked part-time as a bank teller at Citibank, her first brush with the financial industry, which she would be involved in for the next 25 years.

“I felt it was important for me to work for a company like Citibank that was recognized both in the Philippines and the United States.

That really began the rest of my career.”

Holland has since worked at

Merrill Lynch, Rainer Investment Management, and, for the past 14 years, JP Morgan Chase. Along with being the manager of Chase’s CID branch, she is heavily involved in a swath of JP Morgan’s Business Resource Groups, such as Asian Pacific Islanders Reaching for Excellence (ASPIRE), of which she is the former co-chair, Adelante, and Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD), amongst others. Her involvement in these advocacy organizations is reflective of her passion for equitable employee and client engagement.

“We live in a diverse city with a very diverse community. So, something we’re really focused on tackling is the ‘bamboo ceiling,’ which basically describes the challenges Asian Americans face breaking through to upper management.

When different backgrounds and different perspectives converge in a workplace, that’s when, I think, problems are best solved.

“ASPIRE has been especially important to me as a member of the Asian community. Of course, we are all aware of the increase in Asian hate since 2020. One of the projects I put together as co-chair of ASPIRE were town halls to address questions about Chase’s bank leadership and how we could better support our community.”

Another ASPIRE project Holland has worked on is a community cookbook, which showcases recipes and stories from ASPIRE’s members.

“We asked our members to really think about what food means to them, and we realized that, for all of us, food is how we connect with others. It’s the recipes handed down that make us remember our grandmother’s cooking, or the family gatherings we couldn’t have because of the pandemic. Food is so much more than nourishment.”

The cookbook features dishes from across Asian culture, including Filipino, Vietnamese, and Chinese.

Each recipe includes not only detailed instructions and a picture of the dish, but also a description of what that food means to the author of the recipe. Other groups, such as Adelante, JP Morgan’s business group dedicated to “[promoting] professional development and leadership opportunities for Hispanic and Latinx employees,” have done similar community cookbook projects.

All the business groups (Women on the Move, ASPIRE, Adelante, BOLD, to name a few) that Holland has been a part of share a common theme of diversity, inclusion, and promoting career development for individuals underrepresented in

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upper-level management, such as women, Asian Americans, Blacks, and Hispanic/Latinx individuals.

According to JP Morgan, the goal of their 70+ business resource groups is to help the company’s “employees reach their greatest potential.”

“Though the programs are targeted towards different groups, all these groups have the same struggles. We all know what it’s like to be different, which makes us great resources to learn from and support each other.”

Holland has recently stepped down as co-chair of ASPIRE to focus on her duties as branch manager, but she continues to be involved as a member and dedicated ally of many of JP Morgan’s business resource groups.

“I think being an ally means to seek to understand people and experiences you’re not familiar with, to really truly show support and learn from other people, even when you may disagree with them. We all want the same things, and we must be supportive of each other to achieve our goals.”  Juliet can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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asianweekly northwest

■ BRIEFLY

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

40 YEARS

Study: 36% of unvaccinated WA resident distrust government Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions in the U.S. have shown marked signs of improvement. While the Omicron wave brought a massive spike in cases, case counts have declined rapidly since peaking in mid-January, and the latest variant saw milder effects.

In light of these shifts, Washington and other states have moved to relax their remaining public health restrictions.

An accelerated process of developing, testing, manufacturing, and distributing vaccines has allowed more than 250 million Americans to receive at least one dose since vaccines first became available. With greater protection, COVID’s risk to much of the population has been significantly reduced. During the recent Omicron wave, vaccinated individuals showed far lower rates of hospitalization and death than their unvaccinated counterparts.

Public health leaders have made efforts to overcome skepticism and resistance to COVID-19 vaccines, but around one quarter of the total U.S. population still have not received a dose of the vaccine.

A large share of hesitation comes from concerns about the vaccine itself. According to survey data from the U.S.

Here is a summary of the data for Washington: • Share of unvaccinated adults who cited distrust in govt.: 36% • Share of unvaccinated adults who likely won’t get vaccinated: 82.6% • Share of adults who are unvaccinated: 11.5% • Total unvaccinated adults who cited distrust in govt.: 235,755 • Total unvaccinated adults who likely won’t get vaccinated: 561,796 • Total adults who are unvaccinated: 679,988  Census Bureau, 51.3% of those who are unvaccinated named concern about possible side effects as a reason, and 45.6% said they don’t trust COVID-19 vaccines.

A recent study from ChamberOfCommerce.org found that as of the first week of February 2022, 11.5% of Washington residents were unvaccinated. Among the unvaccinated population in Washington, 36% cite government distrust as one of the reasons for not receiving or planning to receive a vaccine.

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, find the original report on chamberofcommerce.org/states-whose-residents-donttrust-the-government.

This health series is made possible by funding from the Washington State Department of Health, which has no editorial input or oversight of this content.

Study: Asian elders are less happy A study published in January in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine reports that several groups of Asian American elders reported significantly lower levels of life satisfaction and receiving social and emotional support, compared to elders of other races.

The study was based on California survey data in 2018 and consisted of a sample size of nearly 8,200 individuals—all aged 65 years and older, including people of Chinese,

Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese descent. South Asians were not included in the analysis, as their sample size in the study was too small.

Compared to 80% of respondents from other races and ethnicities, only 54% of Asian American older adults surveyed said they were satisfied with their lives, Similarly, 56% of Asian American elders reported usually or always receiving needed social and emotional support compared to 80% of people of other groups. Within

the AAPI community, Korean elders reported the lowest number at 40%.

The survey was done prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then, social isolation and loneliness among older adults could have led to even lower levels of life satisfaction.

A new report by the Asian American Federation found that 75% of Asian older adults in New York are afraid to leave their homes due to the uptick in anti-Asian hate incidents. 

KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON NOTICE TO PROPOSERS Sealed bids will be received for KC000507, FALL CITY FLOODPLAIN RESTORATION PROJECT; by the King County Procurement and Payables Section, via the E-Procurement system, until 1:30:59pm on 4/21/22. Late bids will not be accepted. The public bid opening will only be conducted on-line following the Bid Close Date and Time; see Invitation to Bid for details.

There is a 15% minimum Apprentice Utilization Requirement on this contract.

There is a Voluntary Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Goal: 10% of the Contract Price.

There is a Voluntary Women Business Enterprise (WBE) Goal: 4% of the Contract Price.

King County in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 252, 42 USC 2000d to 2000d-4 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, Subtitle A, Office of the Secretary, Part 21, Nondiscrimination

in Federally-Assisted Programs of the Department of Transportation issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises as defined at 49 CFR Part 26 will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, national origin, or sex in consideration for an award.

Brief Scope: The project includes removal of over 32,000 cubic yards of riprap armoring and levee material of the Snoqualmie River Bank (including the removal of approximately 1,100 feet of the Barfuse Levee and 1,290 feet of the right bank Haffner revetement), setting back over 1,000 feet of Neal Road SE away from the Snoqualmie River, constructing an 880 foot long buried Haffner Setback Rock Revetment adjacent Neal Road SE, excavating over 3,000 feet of new side channel on the right bank floodplain, restoring

and enhancing 1,350 feet of the existing left bank side channel, floodplain grading, salvaging felled trees, and construction of engineered log structures to enhance fish habitat.

Estimated contract price: $9,715,074.00 Mandatory Pre-Bid(s): Please see Invitation to Bid section for details.

It is anticipated that this project will be funded in part by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Neither the State of Washington nor any of its departments or employees are, or shall be, a party to any contract or any subcontract resulting from this solicitation for bids.

Prospective bidders can view more details at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ solicitations Complete Invitation to Bid Documents, including all project details, specifications, and contact information are available on our web page at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ supplierportal

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

asianweekly northwest

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Return to the road for Hill

By Jason Cruz NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Vancouver-based Ed Hill is happy to be back on the road telling jokes across the U.S. and Canada. His comedy tour visits Seattle on Saturday, April 2 at the Jewelbox Theatre.

During the pandemic, Hill filmed a comedy special, Candy & Smiley.

Originally scheduled to be performed in front of a live audience, Hill conformed to shoot the special and did it with a small group of friends and family. He hopes that his next special, which will occur after this current tour, will be in front of a live audience.

As Hill was able to travel to different comedy clubs and bars, he has adjusted to what is the new normal, adjusting to pandemic rules. “[It’s] a bit of a learning process,” Hill said about conforming to different rules while traveling. “One of the things I noticed about getting back on the road is that things could happen.”

This is in light of cancellations and postponements that have been a common occurrence while areas deal with the rise of positive COVID-19 cases.

“You have to be at peace with whatever the moment brings you,” Hill said.

Hill started back on the road in the fall of 2021 in Canada. There was a break in the schedule due to the Omicron virus, but he returned after restrictions allowed for him to perform. Hill returned to touring in the U.S. in February, starting with shows in Alaska. He now has a schedule which has him crisscrossing the U.S. and Canada through the end of 2022.

Even with masking and social distancing rules loosening, Hill has reflected on the pandemic. While he focuses his comedy on his own personal life, he noted that the backlash toward Asians in light of the coronavirus is enlightening.

“The only people that can destroy your community is yourself,” he said about the attacks against Asians and trying to stay

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Obviously, Hill wants a show with tons of laughter, but he enjoys the moments in which he feels that he and his audience “are in this together.”

As a comedian, Hill knows how it is for an audience member to be unruly during a show. In response to the stunning incident at the Oscars in which Will Smith walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock, Hill joked, “If somebody is going to slap me, I hope it’s Will Smith.”

He added, “While watching that, I’m 60% comedian, 40% average citizen.” As a comedian, Hill joked that Rock would have “a brand new [comedy] special” based upon the incident. As a citizen, Hill applauded Rock’s ability to remain calm and professional. Hill believed that the joke, while maybe out of line, did not deserve a slap.

Hill recalls that despite having KKK members in the audience while performing in the South and Vagos Motorcycle Club gang members attending shows, the most tense moments he experienced involved a woman at a bachelorette party. She attempted to come on stage during his set until another comedian and the manager at the comedy club kicked her out.

In this latest tour, Hill’s focus will be on the women in his life. The show is a follow up to his comedy special.

“It’s a discussion about strength and fragility and what those concepts mean and also the idea of love.” He added, “It’s a different feel from the special, which was really about family and my relationship with my parents. This one is about the relationship between the women in my life and myself.”  positive. “You are the only person that can actually save and protect your community.

Obviously being Asian, there are different things happening.” He added that you have to ask yourself, “Do I want to be the figure of perseverance and resilience for my community?”

While comedians tend to chase the

laughs, Hill now embraces the quiet moments during his routines. Since coming back to performing live, the silence symbolizes when the audience is listening and highlights to him the connection between the comedian and audience.

“A lot of people find it (silence) daunting.

For me, I find a sense of comfort.”

To purchase tickets to his Seattle show, visit strangertickets.com.

For more on Ed Hill, visit kingedhill.com and you can purchase his first special Ed Hill: Candy and Smiley on Amazon.com.

Jason can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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asianweekly northwest

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

40 YEARS

■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR THRU APRIL 1

3RD ANNUAL MUKAI FARM & GARDEN HAIKU FESTIVAL Poetry competition for all ages Submission deadline: April 1 Send the three-line poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern to mukaifarmandgarden.org/ haiku-2022 NOW THRU JULY 10

EMBODIED CHANGE: SOUTH ASIAN ART ACROSS TIME Seattle Asian Art Museum, South Gallery Fri-Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. seattleartmuseum.org NOW THRU FEB 19, 2023

EXHIBIT, “WE ARE CHANGING THE TIDE: COMMUNITY POWER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE” The Wing Luke Museum, 719 S. King St., Seattle Thu-Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. wingluke.org/we-are-changingthe-tide

MAR 31

VIRTUAL EVENT: WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE ON AA & NHPI PACIFIC NORTHWEST ROUNDTABLE 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Register at https://bit.ly/3umo9oC

2

30

CLUB MEETING WITH ANNABEL QUINTERO, 9/11 SURVIVOR, AUTHOR, LIFE COACH 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

For Zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail.com

CLUB MEETING WITH STEVE ROWLAND AND AMITI BEY ON EDUCATION IN PRISONS 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

For zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail.com

LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION Seattle’s Chinatown– International District 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

THE SECOND LITTLE SAIGON CLEANUP EVENT 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Sign up at bit.ly/littlesaigoncleanup

SAKURA-CON 2022 Washington State Convention Center, 705 Pike St., Seattle 8 a.m.–5 p.m. sakuracon.org/registration

AAPISTRONG SMALL BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE SERIES: STATE OF SMALL BUSINESS IN SEATTLE China Harbor Restaurant, 2040 Westlake Ave. N., Seattle 11:30 a.m.

Register at bit.ly/ace_sattle

JUN 4

23 13TH SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FRIENDSHIP FESTIVAL Seattle Center, Fisher Pavilion 11 a.m.-6 p.m. icffseattle.org

DENISE LOUIE EDUCATION CENTER 2022 DINNER & AUCTION, “THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!” Magnuson Park Hangar 30 Seattle 5:30 p.m.

In person or via Zoom Register at https://bit.ly/371tvOh

Japan enjoys cherry blossom season despite COVID-19 worries

By CHISATO TANAKA and MARI YAMAGUCHI ASSOCIATED PRESS

People wearing face masks view seasonal cherry blossoms at Tokyo’s Sumida Park on March 28.

PUBLIC HUMANITIES TALK, “THE SAMURAI CODE: HOW BUSHIDO CHANGES LIVES ON” WITH LORI TSUGAWA WHALEY 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Via Zoom, register at https://bit.ly/3JiHkGb

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8-10

15-17

KIN ON VIRTUAL GALA & AUCTION, “FUTURE FORWARD FESTIVAL” 6 p.m.

Register at kinon.cbo.io

AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

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SEATTLE CHERRY BLOSSOM & JAPANESE CULTURAL FESTIVAL Seattle Center 11 a.m.-4 p.m. cherryblossomfest.org

APR

■ WORLD NEWS

7

TOKYO (AP) — People across Japan are celebrating the peak cherry blossom viewing season one

week after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, triggering concerns of a possible virus resurgence.

Trees are in full bloom this week in many parts of Japan. The peak in Tokyo was on March 27, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency,

attracting many people who had avoided participating in the national tradition for two years because of the pandemic.

At Chidorigafuchi Park, a famous see CHERRY BLOSSOM on 14

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APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

YOUR VOICE

■ AT THE MOVIES

7

on AppleTV+ is well meaning—perhaps too much

Photo courtesy of AppleTV+

“PACHINKO”

asianweekly northwest

The cast of “Pachinko” at the world premiere.

By Kai Curry NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY “What if you could create a show where the third generation has at least some kind of thematic dialogue with the first generation? There’s a sacrifice of that first generation and the burden that it becomes on the third generation…I think every family has a Sunja…regardless if you’re Korean, regardless if you’re from an immigrant

family. This experience of leaving a homeland to forge a new life somewhere else because you want a better experience for your children.”

The goals of the television adaptationversion of the bestselling novel, “Pachinko,” are grand—as the above spoken by scriptwriter and executive producer, Soo Hugh.

The book by Min-Ho Lee, and the show, tell the saga of three generations of a Korean family, whose matriarch, Sunja (played by two actresses, Minha Kim, as the

younger, and Yuh-Jung Youn, as the older), immigrated to Japan during the time of Japanese colonization of Korea. The family is besought by difficulties, which as is suggested in the first “chapter” of the TV show, is due to a curse. As might be expected, there are the trials and tribulations of living in impoverishment under Japanese rule, but more there is the constant and everlasting—into see PACHINKO on 13

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asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

RIZ AHMED IS AN OSCAR WINNER NEW YORK (AP) — Pakistani actor, musician, and activist Riz Ahmed won Best Short Film for “The Long Goodbye” at the 2022 Oscars on March 27.

Ahmed co-wrote the 12-minute film and starred in it.

In his acceptance speech Ahmed, 39, said, “In such divided times, we believe that the role of story is to remind us there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’.

There’s just ‘us’.

Ahmed was nominated for an Oscar last year for his role as a hearing-impaired drummer in Sound of Metal, losing out to Anthony Hopkins.

“The Long Goodbye” is blisteringly visceral, harrowingly violent and desperately urgent.

Directed by Aneil Karia, the film is initially naturalistic, immersed in the pre-wedding preparations of a South Asian family in suburban England. The concerns are familiar. Where a chair should go. Who wrote “Blinded by the Light.”

But Ahmed’s character spies out the window of unmarked vans of masked white militants arriving outside. Daily life is violently interrupted. They soon begin rounding up people and executing the men. The nightmarish scene culminates in a furious monologue performed while staggering down the street by Ahmed, quoting from his song, “Where You From”—a passionate testimony of cross-cultural identity.

“Now everybody everywhere wants their country back,” Ahmed says into the camera. “If you want me back to where I’m from then, bruv, I need a map.”

To Ahmed, “The Long Goodbye,” which is streaming on YouTube, channels his own fears while drawing from current clashes for immigrants and migrants against rising swells of racism draped in nationalism.

“In post-Brexit Britain, we were feeling this rising drumbeat of xenophobia all around. And it’s starting to feel a little bit deafening. You get to the point where you’ve got to grab someone and say, ‘Do you hear this? Are you feeling this? Am I having a panic attack?”’ Ahmed said in a recent interview from London. “Aneil and I wanted to urgently tell a story about this, to spill our feelings, to unearth our nightmares and put them out into the world.”

The scenes that play out in “The Long Goodbye” appear more like those that might occur in more remote global corners. But to Ahmed, the film reflects both the day-to-day emotional reality of diverse peoples in increasingly divisive Western democracies, and the on-the-ground actuality in other places.

“Really, where this story takes place is within our psyches. But it also takes place within our ancestral memories,” says Ahmed. “It takes place in Ukraine right now. It takes place in India, with the pogroms last year. It takes place in Myanmar.

It’s taken place in the United States. It’s taken place in Bosnia.”

“The Long Goodbye” isn’t the only Oscar nominee to wrestle with these issues—or the only one Ahmed is connected with. Ahmed is also an executive producer on “Flee,” the animated documentary about an Afghanistan migrant’s twisting path to a new life in Denmark and, ultimately, to self-acceptance. “Flee” is the first movie ever nominated for best documentary, best animated film and best foreign language film. “‘The Long Goodbye’ is about identity, home and belonging. And ‘Flee’ is about identity, home and belonging,” says Ahmed. “The conversation of our times seems to be about identity, home and who belongs where.”

Ahmed made history last year as the first Muslim nominated for lead actor, for “The Sound of Metal,” in which he played a drummer losing his hearing. This year, the short categories are among the eight awards that were handed out

SomeSuch and Left Handed Films via AP

By JAKE COYLE AP FILM WRITER

Riz Ahmed in a scene from the Oscar-winning short “The Long Goodbye.”

an hour before the telecast began. While the academy pledged to honor each winner during the broadcast, the decision was heavily criticized by some in the industry. Ahmed says regardless of whether he had a film nominated in one of the eight categories, he wished they were presented live during the telecast.

“The (Oscar) community is about recognizing the elders and also uplifting the newcomers,” says Ahmed. “So often the shorts category is where the new talent cuts their teeth. Aneil Karia is a name that will ring out for years to come.”

The 39-year-old Ahmed, who was born in Wembley outside London to Pakistani parents, has often rapped about his complex feelings around identity and about making his way “in this business of Britishness.” “Maybe I’m from everywhere and nowhere,” he raps in “Where You From.”

Ahmed has worked with USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative researchers to highlight how Muslims are often marginalized or stereotyped in film and television. Out of 8,965 speaking characters identified across 200 top-grossing films released between 2017 and 2019, just 1.6% were Muslim, but 30% were perpetuators of violence.

Though its second half turns abruptly violent, the fleeting family scenes early in “The Long Goodbye” are enough to constitute something rarely captured in mainstream film—a Muslim family simply existing. While Ahmed grants “The Long Goodbye” and “Flee” are very tied to the current moment, he also sees them as reflecting an eternal struggle—one that can also be heard in the Lin-Manuel Mirandapenned “Dos Oruguitas,“ the “Encanto” ballad and immigration parable up for best song at the Oscars.

“Stories about refugees, stories about intolerance, films like ‘The Long Goodbye,’ films like ‘Flee,’ are confronting us with questions that on some level, no matter who we are, are always asking ourselves,” says Ahmed. “That’s why I think these are timeless stories. You look at the Aeneid. Aeneas is kicked out of Troy. It’s ransacked and he’s a refugee.

“He went on to found Rome, by the way. Not bad for a refugee,” adds Ahmed, chuckling.

“Maybe up there with Apple and Steve Jobs, a Syrian refugee.”

But if “The Long Goodbye” seems grim,

it’s also stirring in its clarion defiance, sounded straight at the camera. In its radical shifts, Karia’s film, itself, breaks free of convention.

“When you tell your story, you’re

sharing your experience with someone,” says Ahmed. “You’re putting yourself out there to connect. And when other people connect with that experience, man, that is hope. Hope is connection.” 

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

YOUR VOICE

■ COMMUNITY NEWS ’ t c e p s e R f o s m r o F ‘7 ’s Pham

asianweekly northwest

9

made possible by community support

By Samantha Pak NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

In her community-building work, Julie Pham has seen her share of friction between people.

One situation that sticks out in the Seattle-area resident’s mind is when she was working with an engineer and labor organizer. The engineer was asking the organizer a lot of questions, which made the latter feel disrespected. In reality, Pham said they just weren’t communicating.

Miscommunication can be caused by differences ranging from cultural to functional— people in different job roles and industries have different work and communication styles. It was situations like the one between

the engineer and organizer that led Pham to write “7 Forms of Respect: A Guide to Transforming your Communication and Relationships at Work,” which will be available in April. The book focuses on how people can “articulate how [they] want to receive respect and determine how others want to be shown respect,” according to its website.

While researching for her book, Pham held focus groups asking people how they wanted to be treated at work. A term that was used often was “respect.” As she began asking what respect looked like, she expanded her research.

In the end, Pham and her team talked to about 400 people through workshops and interviews. Most people were from the Seattle area and covered a range of cultures and work industries. It wasn’t all straightforward research either— some of the book’s content is based on Pham’s observations as well.

STORIES BEHIND THE ‘‘WHY’ While “7 Forms of Respect” can help people gain self awareness to learn the types of respect that are important to them, as well as what’s important to their colleagues, Pham said that’s just surface level. The real point of her book is to start conversations.

Why does someone prioritize one type of respect over another?

What are the stories behind those reasons? People might assume someone has good intentions, but Pham said they rarely ask what those intentions are.

“A lot of times, people don’t ask questions,” she said, adding that she often saw this in her community-building work.

For example, Pham said, someone might view receiving clear and detailed instructions as micromanaging, but for the person giving instructions, it could be that they grew up translating for their parents and always had to be clear and detailed. Learning their stories makes it easier to understand another person’s intentions—stories are also easier to remember.

EVEN RUBBER BANDS BREAK In addition, Pham said her book can help people recognize if a company’s culture is the right fit.

A company that values candor and unsolicited feedback would not be the best place for someone who does not like this. They would be constantly “flexing” or “code switching” to adjust.

Being flexible like a rubber band and able to adapt may be helpful in some situations, but it’s not sustainable.

“Rubber bands break if we stretch too much,” Pham said, adding that if you’re constantly trying to adapt to your workplace,

“you’re going to feel exhausted all the time.”

She stressed that a bad culture fit doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with a company. It’s just not right for the individual.

This being said, Pham’s book can’t help a toxic workplace. She said she can’t help people who believe that other people are the problem and that they themselves don’t need to learn anything new.

THE SUPPORT OF HER COMMUNITY Pham’s name may be on the book, but it was made possible by her community.

She self-published “7 Forms of Respect” and raised the funds through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Her goal was $10,500, which she reached in 18 hours. In the end, she raised more than $23,000 with more than 300 backers—for a nonfiction, professional development book, she noted.

“This is my community and they believed in my book,” she said, adding that she feels like the community gave her her advance.

To thank them, Pham uses some of the names of her Indiegogo supporters in the book as a fun surprise. She uses their names in workplace scenario examples to illustrate her points.

DR. JULIE PHAM Pham admits to some previously held internal elitist views, thinking a self-published book is not a “real book.” But that changed after she self published her first book, “Their War: The Perspectives of the South Vietnamese Military in the Words of Veteran-Émigrés” and her father held a reception in her and the book’s honor. About 300 people attended the event and 75 % were Vietnamese. Pham saw the impact that book had and that led to her rethinking traditional publishing, who gets to decide what is commercially viable and how she doesn’t need to be validated by a traditional publisher. She credits her ability to adapt and go the untraditional route to her parents.

“As an immigrant, I saw my parents make their own way,” Pham said.  For more information about “7 Forms of Respect,” visit formsofrespect.com/book.

Samantha can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

2

1. Clear of garbage after a cleanup near 8th and Jackson 2. A Starbucks union organizer gathering signatures in the CID 3.Several crews from the city gathered on March 25 to pick up trash and clean up the area near 10th and Dearborn

3

Photo by Tony Au

1

Photos by Assunta Ng

CID happenings

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asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

■ PUBLISHER’S BLOG

Celebrate that you are

By Assunta Ng NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Photos by Assunta Ng

Did you know that March 2022 was a milestone for us Washingtonians? If you are reading this, you might recall that you have escaped the most horrific pandemic that killed 12,497 Washingtonians, more than 790,00 people in the U.S., and over 6 million people globally.

Congratulations, you are alive.

If you had Covid-19 and recovered, you are among the 1.45 million out of 7.76 million Washingtonians who got infected. That means one in five people in our state tested positive. The Washington Post reported 52% of Americans got Covid.

That’s even more reason to celebrate and feel fortunate.

We empathize with the struggles and adversities you have been going through. You have probably survived one of the worst nightmares of your life. Please don’t take this lightly. Beating Covid is monumental.

March 2020 was the most challenging and uncertain time in the 21st century. A pandemic struck—Gov. Jay Inslee ordered a shelter-in-place on March 23, 2020—the world halted, people died, lives shattered, jobs lost, and businesses closed…And you survived!

Two years later, March 2022, what a contrast! A new world has reopened—Covid-19 deaths and cases are down, vaccines abundant, mask mandates lifted, schools opened, airlines and hotels full, concerts and shows rolling out, and restaurants bustling…

You and I have experienced misery, anguish, and wretchedness for the past two years. You may not feel like celebrating, but you should. Life is short, fragile, and precious. You have only one life to live. Please don’t take your life for granted. And please don’t take for granted those who saved you. If not for our frontline workers— nurses, doctors, and medical workers—the number of deaths and tragedies could be much higher.

What we have done is major and wonderful, we fought insanity to stay strong and Covid negative during this terrible ordeal. We have survived and grown our resilience and patience for months of isolation. We hated many of the health guidelines such as masking and social distancing, but we followed them. The number of sacrifices was way too many to count or remember. But we pulled through.

The number of painful changes that you and I have implemented in our daily lives over 700-plus days, may be unbearable. Amazingly, I have saved quite a few of those habits as they have transformed my life.

Celebrate that your loved ones are still with you and

ton state was held The first BLM protest in Washing 2020 in Chinatown on May 29,

Boarded-up building in

Japantown, June 2020

Social distancing posters on Uwa

jimaya’s floor in 2020

test, organized by kids, An anti-Asian hate pro Park in 2021 y Ha g Hin at

takeout orders at Phnom Owner Sam Ung with ing the 2020 lockdown Penh Restaurant dur

see BLOG on 15

Signs at SeaTac Airpor

t 2021

Free vaccinations offered at Hing Hay Park in 2021

auded the Rotary Seattle Westin Hotel wait staff appl ting in July 2021, Club of Seattle’s first in-person mee them. after the Rotary thanked

Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s Celebrate Asia on March 20 welcomed big crowds The Seattle Great Wheel displays colors of the Ukraine flag Seattle Symphony Orchestra showed its support of Ukraine with blue and yellow neon lights during a March 17, 2022 concert

YOUR VOICE

■ WORLD NEWS

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

asianweekly northwest

11

Hong Kong to lift flight bans, cut quarantine for arrivals HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the U.S., as well as reduce quarantine time for travelers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateaus.

The city’s chief executive Carrie Lam announced during a March 21 press conference that a ban on flights from nine cou nt r ies —Aust ralia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the U.S.—would be lifted

from April 1. A flight ban on most of these countries has been in place since January, as authorities sought to stem the outbreak of the highly transmissible omicron variant in Hong Kong.

Travelers entering the city can also quarantine for as little as seven days in quarantine hotels—down from 14 days—if they test negative for the virus on the sixth and seventh days of their quarantine. Such travelers must also be fully vaccinated and test negative for the coronavirus before entering the city.

Lam also said that plans for a citywide mass-testing exercise, which was first announced in February, would be suspended.

“The experts are of the opinion that it’s not appropriate for us to devote finite resources to the universal mass-testing,” said Lam. “The SAR government will continue to monitor the situation. When the conditions are right, we will consider whether we will be implementing the compulsory universal testing.” see HONG KONG on 14

Now Taliban preserve Buddhas, with eye to China investment MES AYNAK, Afghanistan (AP) — The ancient Buddha statues sit in serene meditation in the caves carved into the russet cliffs of rural Afghanistan. Hundreds of meters below lies what is believed to be the world’s largest deposit of copper.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are pinning their hopes on Beijing to turn that rich vein into revenue to salvage the cash-starved country amid crippling international sanctions.

The fighters standing guard by the rocky hillside may once have considered destroying the terracotta Buddhas. Two decades ago when the Islamic hard-line Taliban were first in power, they sparked world outrage by blowing up gigantic buddha statues in another part of the country, calling them remnants of paganism that must be purged.

But now they are intent on preserving the relics of the Mes Aynak copper mine. Doing so is key to unlocking billions in Chinese investment, said Hakumullah Mubariz, the Taliban head of security at the site.

“Protecting them is very important to us and the Chinese,” he said.

The Taliban’s spectacular reversal illustrates the powerful allure of Afghanistan’s untapped mining sector. Successive authorities have seen the country’s mineral riches, estimated to be worth $1 trillion, as the key to a prosperous future, but none have been able to develop them amid the continual war and violence. Now, multiple countries, including Iran, Russia and Turkey are looking to invest, filling the vacuum left in the wake of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal.

But Beijing is the most assertive. At Mes Aynak, it could become the first major power to take on a large-scale project in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, potentially redrawing Asia’s geopolitical map.

AP Photo/Dusan Vranic

By SAMYA KULLAB ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this file photograph from 2010 in Mes Aynak valley, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Buddha statues are seen inside an ancient temple.

In 2008, the previous administration of Hamid Karzai signed a 30-year contract with a Chinese joint venture called MCC to extract high-grade copper from Mes Aynak.

Studies show the site holds up to 12 million tons of the mineral. But the project got tied up in logistical and contract problems, and it never got past some initial test shafts before it ground to a halt when Chinese staff left in 2014 because of continued violence.

Mere months after the Taliban seized the capital in August, consolidating their power over the country, the group’s newly installed acting Minister for Mining and Petroleum Shahbuddin Dilawar urged his staff to reengage Chinese state-run companies.

Dilawar has had two virtual meetings with MCC in the last six months, according to company and ministry officials. He urged them to return to the mine, terms unchanged from the 2008 contract.

A technical committee from MCC is due in Kabul in the coming weeks to address the remaining obstacles. Relocating the artifacts is key. But MCC is also seeking to renegotiate terms, particularly to reduce taxes and slash the contract’s 19.5% royalty rate by nearly half, the percentage owed to the government per ton of copper sold.

“Chinese companies see the current situation as ideal for them. There is a lack of international competitors and a lot of support from the government side,” said Ziad Rashidi, the ministry head of foreign relations.

China’s ambassador to Afghanistan has said talks are ongoing, but nothing more.

Acquiring rare minerals is key for Beijing to maintain its standing as a global manufacturing powerhouse.

For Afghanistan, the contract at Mes Aynak could bring in $250-300 million per year to state revenues, a 17% increase,

as well as $800 million in fees over the contract’s length, according to government and company officials. That’s a significant sum as the country grapples with widespread poverty.

But there’s a catch.

At Mes Aynak, a 2,000-year-old Buddhist city sits uncomfortably alongside a potential economic engine. Afghanistan’s tumultuous modern history has gotten in the way of both exploring the archaeology and developing the mines.

Discovered in the 1960s by French geologists, the site was believed to have been an important stop along the Silk Road from the early centuries AD. After the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s, Russians dug tunnels along the mountain to investigate the copper deposit; the cavernous bore holes are still visible. These were later used as an al-Qaida hideout, and at least one was bombed by the U.S. in 2001.

Looters then pillaged many antiquities from the site. Still, archaeologists who came in 2004 managed a partial excavation and uncovered remnants of a vast complex.

To the shock of the non-Taliban technocrats in his own ministry, Dilawar is committed to saving the site. He dismissed open-pit mining schemes that would raze the site entirely. The alternative option of underground mining was judged too pricey by MCC. The Culture Ministry has been tasked with presenting a plan to relocate the relics, most likely to the Kabul Museum.

“We have already transferred some (artifacts) to the capital, and we are working to transfer the rest, so the mining work can begin,” Dilawar told The Associated Press.

While the ministry is optimistic a deal can be reached, MCC officials are cautious.

They did not speak to the AP on record, citing sensitivities around the talks happening see TALIBAN on 14

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asianweekly northwest

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

40 YEARS

■ NATIONAL NEWS

‘Drive My Car’ wins Oscar award for best international film

By ANDREW DALTON AP ENTERTAINMENT WRITER LOS ANGELES (AP) — The emotional epic from Japan “Drive My Car” won the Academy Award for best international feature film on March 27.

Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film became the fifth from Japan to win the Oscar, the first since “Departures” in 2008.

The win for the three-hour journey through grief, connection and art spawned its own mini-drama when Hamaguchi took the stage at the Dolby Theatre to accept it. He paused for applause, and the show’s director then started the music to cue him to leave the stage, but he objected.

“I’d like to thank all the members of the

UKRAINE from 1 artisan skills training in zero waste and small batch manufacturing.

RAI’s founder and executive director, Tung-Edelman was a pharmacist for 25 years before she transitioned into her current role.

“We are nimble in using their skills for community needs by using sewing as a platform to voice concerns. We’ve made masks with VOTE and BLM (for Black Lives Matter) printed on them to combine artisan skills with advocacy, and now to show support for what’s happening in Ukraine,” Tung-Edelman said.

She added that this felt like the perfect opportunity for women who escaped from war zones arriving in Seattle to use sewing as a means of healing to start their new lives, and now they’re taking the opportunity to help refugees in Ukraine.

A few weeks ago, the team at RAI began making blue and yellow butterfly pins in support of Ukraine.

Tung-Edelman shared that the butterfly symbolizes freedom, resilience, and rebirth.

“Our goal is to sell 1,000 pins to raise money for the Ukraine Red Cross, who was one of the first agencies to go in and help with relief efforts,” she said.

“It’s extremely meaningful to

have refugees helping refugees,” she added.

Tung-Edelman said that they’re not making the pins to make money. Each butterfly pin costs $10, $4 goes to the artisan that made it and $1 for the cost of materials, the rest of the proceeds go to the Ukraine Red Cross.

She mentioned that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and several King County council members have been wearing the pins in public to show support.

In addition, local community members including Laura Clise of The Intentionalist and Aparna Rae have also been showing their support on social media by wearing their butterfly pins in support of the #StandWithUkraine movement.

“Intentionalist is proud to be among many longtime supporters of the Refugee Artisan Initiative.

I had the opportunity to speak at length with Executive Director Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman about how their #StandWithUkraine butterfly pins are both a statement of solidarity and a vehicle to raise much- needed financial support. In addition to highlighting this effort through our online communication channels, we purchased pins and gifted them to fellow women business owners and community leaders with a request that they wear the pins proudly and help to spread

academy for having us here,” Hamaguchi said, then thanked the distributors of the film for bringing it to the United States.

“Just a moment,“ he said, to laughs from the audience. He then thanked his actors, “especially Toko Miura, who drove the Saab 900 beautifully in the film,“ and paused again for applause. Another musical cue followed, and Hamaguchi tried to restart yet again, but he was led off stage.

Many on social media decried what they regarded as the disrespectful treatment of the director in the moment.

With four Oscar nominations, including the first best picture nomination for a Japanese film, and several early wins in awards season that made it appear to be a best picture frontrunner, no one was

the word,” Clise shared in an Instagram direct message.

“We want to create a movement to recognize the butterfly and show solidarity with Ukraine. This also helps our RAI artisans to use their craft and skills for this worthy cause,” Tung-Edelman said.

RAI sells the pins online individually, as well as a kit of five with threads and pins with step-by-step instructions for those who want to make them at home.

The concept for RAI started in 2016, but the nonprofit was incorporated in 2017. The organization supports a community that values and invests in refugee and immigrant women as they achieve economic independence.

“Sewing to me is a universal language. From Afghanistan to Burma, escaping genocide and the Taliban, sewing allows these women to be self-sufficient early on,” she said.

Sewing is a very familiar skill that they already possess, and she saw how her grandmother provided for her family with these rudimentary skills, so she really wanted to disrupt the concert of these women coming with deficits and wanted to focus on the assets that they came with.

“They have these amazing handcraft sewing skills that they don’t teach in school at all,” she added.

Tung-Edelman shared that

surprised by the win for “Drive My Car.” “Drive My Car“ based on a short story from novelist Haruki Murakami, centers on a theater actor, Yusuke Kafuku, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima, directing a multilingual production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.” Still mourning the death of his wife, Kafuku leads the cast in rehearsals where the actors sit and read their lines flatly, ingesting the language for days before acting it out.

The films of the 43-year-old Hamaguchi, who also released the anthology film “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” last year, are acclaimed around the world, but he was not widely known in Hollywood before a win for best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival last year started to bring attention to “Drive My Car. 

they’ve become very consumer-oriented. They have the women come on board and RAI provides them a quick way to start earning income from home through a home-based hybrid model training. They teach the women through video tutorials.

In 2015, when Tung-Edelman was taking a certificate program for fashion at the University of Washington, she became friends with the instructor where they brainstormed ways to combine creating jobs for refugee women and creating a circular equitable economy with textiles.

She started collecting textiles around the city including bed sheets that were previously purchased from Amazon that couldn’t be resold. She picked those up from the warehouse in Fife and was able to teach the women at RAI to turn the bed sheets into face masks.

Tung-Edelman started a GoFundMe campaign and raised money to make 1,000 masks for Kaiser Permanente in Everett. In addition, they also produced masks for bus drivers driving for the city of Seattle.

RAI currently works with 16 women refugees from Afghanistan, Burma, China, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Vietnam.

They also partner with refugee settlement offices in the greater Seattle area, such as the Refugee’s

Women Alliance and others to onboard more artisans from countries like Burma and Ethiopia.

Baseerah Salim, a mother of six from Afghanistan, moved to Seattle in 2003 and joined RAI as an artisan just at the end of last summer.

Salim already knew how to sew as she used to make traditional clothing for her and her children.

Her work has been flexible as she works three to four hours a day from her home in Northgate, and it’s the exact way that she would’ve wanted to work.

“Sewing has been a favorite of mine since I was a child. I learned from my mom, and I love it. Right now, I’m so happy,” she said.

Her favorite thing to make is the scrunchie because her kids love it.

Prior to working at RAI, she worked in childcare.

Salim has sewed a variety of products including embroidered pillows, sandwich bags, face masks, scrunchies, and now the butterfly pins.

“I’m happy to help support the Ukrainian refugees because when I was about 10 or 11, I went through a similar experience that was very difficult,” she explained.  Nina can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON NOTICE TO PROPOSERS Sealed bids will be received for KC000509, Brightwater Aeration Basin Optimization Classifying Selector; by the King County Procurement and Payables Section, via the E-Procurement system, until 1pm on 4/28/2022. Late bids will not be accepted.

The public bid opening will only be conducted on-line following the Bid Close Date and Time; see Section 00 10 00 for details.

There is a 15% minimum Apprentice Utilization Requirement on this contract.

There is a 20% minimum requirement for King County Certified Small Contractors and Suppliers (SCS) on this contract.

Brief Scope: The contract work includes construction of a classifying selector, replacement of the aeration diffusers, installation of actuators on the secondary scum channel gates, installation of a chemical addition system, and coordination with Owner’s Ovation programmer (Emerson).

Estimated contract price: $5,931,624

Mandatory Pre-Bid(s): Please see Section 00 10 00 for details Prospective bidders can view more details at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ solicitations Complete Invitation to Bid Documents, including all project details, specifications, and contact information are available on our web page at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ supplierportal

YOUR VOICE

■ ASTROLOGY

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

asianweekly northwest

13

Predictions and advice for the week of April 2–8, 2022

By Sun Lee Chang Dragon—Although you prefer a direct approach, a little tact could go a long way in how your message is received.

Monkey—Are you stalling on something you meant to address sooner? Maybe it’s not the thing itself that you are avoiding.

Ox—Too many unfinished projects? Complete the task at hand before you look for other things to tackle.

Snake—Considering joining forces with someone who was once a foe? It might actually be beneficial to you both.

Rooster—If you usually do things one way, a little experimenting could yield a surprising and pleasing result.

Tiger—Though you are gifted in many areas, there are times when it is advisable to seek the advice of experts.

Horse—Before you go full speed ahead, devise a strategy to make the most efficient use of your current resources.

Dog—One would not suspect it because of your calm demeanor, but you are ready to rise to the occasion.

Rabbit —Luckily, you have the benefit of past experience, but do recognize each situation is slightly different.

Goat—Laying the groundwork can be a tedious process, but important as it will be the foundation for what follows.

Pig—Is opportunity knocking once again? When luck and hard work intersect, you are poised for good things.

Rat—Don’t jump to conclusions based on a snippet of information. Consult a variety of sources to ensure accuracy.

WHAT’S YOUR ANIMAL SIGN? RAT 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 OX 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 TIGER 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 RABBIT 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 DRAGON 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 SNAKE 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 HORSE 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 GOAT 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 MONKEY 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 ROOSTER 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 DOG 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 PIG 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.

PACHINKO from 7 the present day—burden of racism and of not belonging, no matter where you are. The parents in the story do their best to instill good values and a sense of self and destiny into their children, but it still makes for somber stuff.

A fisherman in “Chapter One” of the series says it well, that no matter how the Koreans try to fit in, they will never be accepted by the Japanese, even while at the same time the Koreans are expected to behave as Japanese.

“Let’s enjoy our small victories while we can,” he says.

“They’ll never see us as one of them.”

In addition to the family curse that Sunja’s mother, Yangjin, (In-Ji Jeong), already believes exists, the fisherman suggests that Korean children from this moment will always be cursed due to the hate they harbor in their hearts at their unjust fortune. Whether in Korea itself, Japan, or outside of Asia, such as where Sunja’s grandson, Solomon (played by Jin Ha), works for a time in a big corporation, the Korean people will never again have a home.

This message resounds true. Unfortunately, the book is full of tropes (poor girl gets pregnant by a rich married man—the entire basis of the rest of the story) and the retelling in visual form is wooden and overdone. The TV show boasts gorgeous scenery of the misty mountains and glassy ocean waters of Sunja’s hometown, yet every single scene is loaded with import as if the simplest transaction cannot take place without the weight of destiny. Even so, when something actually terrible happens, such as a murder at the hands of Japanese officials, it’s the least impactful part of the story so far, with most of the violence concealed and the officials moving like robots (maybe that’s on purpose—robot-like Japanese soldiers, slaves to imperialism?).

To be honest, that’s pretty in line with the book, which

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has a similar feeling of destiny constantly having a hand in everyday happenings. To be fair, the everyday life of this family is remarkable as to the extent of its harshness. Once immigrated to Japan, they live in the Korean ghetto, called Ikaino, and are subject to constant harassment on the basis of their race. To the Japanese, they are animals, dirty and irredeemable—even though their poverty and “dirtiness” is the fault of the very circumstance the Japanese have put them in. In the story, Sunja becomes connected to a yakuza of Korean blood, Hansu, her married former lover, who keeps an eye on her due to the fact that she is raising his son. Feeling as if she has to do anything to keep her family alive, and give her children better opportunities, Sunja eventually accepts Hansu’s help., but However, this leads to conflict within the family (the show mainly follows Sunja and her pastor husband Isak’s [(Steve SangHyun Noh]) son, Mosazu[ (Soji Ara]i), and his son, that third generation, Solomon).

This extra “curse” of being tied to the yakuza underworld persists through the tale. To me, it was too much a matter of principle. An ethical question in the story is does it matter how you get your money? There are super bad ways to do it, I concur, such as the implied gangsterism, yet we don’t see a lot of that—Hansu and his kin are rather courteous on screen. What we see are people making whatever living they can under an oppressive regime.

“Clean money. Dirty money. Makes no difference.

Money’s money,” says pachinko parlor worker Hirota (Ko Yaesawa), which echoes Hansu’s sentiment—in bad times, get by however you must. It’s part of the title. Mosazu ends up in the pachinko business, and thrives, but since it involves gambling, pachinko is considered a seedy business. It symbolizes not only this money dilemma but the nature of life that relies partly on talent, yet largely on luck—which this family has very little.

I guess I’m over stories where one bad thing happens

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after another. Where the good guy dies or can never catch a break. Where the beleaguered matriarch is the heroine simply because she made it through alive. Once upon a time, these types of stories would have charmed me, and for sure, for those that celebrate the book as a masterpiece, and who will likely enjoy the TV series, it’s a type of story that teaches empathy, that teaches history, that warns against the injustice and pains of racism and war. That’s a good message for anyone that is new to it and needs to digest it still.

For me, everything about the TV show was too “precious” and the acting, by several renowned actors, did not do enough to redeem it. The slow pace—such as agonizing long moments when Hansu first sees Sunja and parallels her movement down the marketplace, just as he will parallel her life forever—was just too exaggerated.

We get it. This portends something.

It’s hard to be so downhard on something that means so well and is so beautiful, visually. The major differences from the book to the TV show were also hard to take, even if that is to be expected with any adaptation. The role of Sunja’s father, Hoonie (Dae Ho Lee), for instance, while we already knew he meant the world to his family, is hugely increased. In the books, we get the impression that Sunja’s mother is ever-present in her childhood, but in the TV show, it’s Hoonie that is always there dispensing wisdom and making memories. He talks about how he will always be there to protect her, but of course you know he will not. He says that he knew he had to “grow strong to chase away the shadows of this world.” But “soon you will be strong yourself,” he tells Sunja, and “you, too, will have to prove yourself worthy.” Indeed.  Kai can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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40 YEARS

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CHERRY BLOSSOM from 6 “hanami” or cherry blossom viewing spot northwest of the Imperial Palace, thousands of people viewed the fluffy pale pink flowers while strolling under rows of trees or from rowboats on the palace moat.

“I feel like life has finally gotten back to normal. Here in the downtown area, people have waited for this for so long,” Takanori Shiwaku, a 62-year-old cafe owner, said as he admired the blossoms at the park.

He said cherry blossoms, which bloom and then fall en TALIBAN from 11 while international sanctions still prohibit dealings with the Taliban.

In the ministry’s labyrinthine halls, hopeful investors stand in line, documents ready to stake their claim of Afghanistan’s untapped mineral riches.

CHOE from 1 Choe was in Olympia on March 19 covering a Proud Boys rally and tweeting out a timeline of what was going on.

He wrote on Medium: “In a Tweet recapping the day, I decided to create a photo montage with natural sound from the march… One of my videos picked up music blasting from a speaker strapped over the shoulder of one of the protesters. I could not make out the words and had never

masse, connote a sense of pureness.

“I wanted to come here for sure this year, and I’m really happy,” said Midori Hayashi, a 75-year-old retiree who has largely stayed at home for the past two years.

Cherry blossoms, or “sakura,” are Japan’s favorite flower and usually reach their peak in late March to early April, just as the country celebrates the start of a new school and business year.

At many parks, viewers were requested this year not to gather under the trees for drinking parties—a traditional way of celebrating the season—as part of continuing anti-

virus measures.

Tokyo reported 7,846 new cases on March 29, more than twice the 3,533 a week earlier, in a resurgence attributed to the new omicron subvariant. Nationwide, Japan logged 29,740 new cases on March 28, up slightly from the previous week, bringing the country’s total to about 6.4 million, including about 28,000 deaths Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said the increase underscored “the spread of the BA.2 subvariant of omicron that is replacing the existing variant with significant speed.” 

Knocking on Rashidi’s office door these days are Russians, Iranians, Turks and of course, the Chinese.

All are “in a great hurry to invest,” he said.

Chinese interest is “extraordinary,” he said.

Ministry revenues have increased exponentially, from $1.2 million in the year preceding the Taliban takeover, to $67

million in the six months since the Taliban assumed power, according to documents seen by the AP. Ironically, it was the Taliban that hindered work in Mes Aynak for over a decade.

An MCC official recalled how the road leading to the mine was laden with IEDs targeting Afghan forces and NATO allies.

When his Taliban hosts told him they had restored safety so work could resume, he replied in jest, “Wasn’t it you who was attacking us?”

The men, machine-guns slung around their necks, laughed too. 

heard this song in my life.

I later learned the song is called ‘We’ll Have Our Home Again,” and is sometimes played at white nationalist rallies. This piece was never meant to air on KOMO News and it never did. I wanted it to be a conversation starter, and it sure did incite an unexpected response. In hindsight, I wish I added more context to this Tweet. But before I could clarify or respond to the criticism, my news director told me to take down all my social media related to the Proud Boys march. I

was also told by my boss not to speak to any outside media. The following day, I was fired from KOMO. I’ve been a journalist now for more than 20 years. If there was a Ku Klux Klan rally and cross burning at Seattle Center in downtown, I would be the first person there to cover the event. My job is to present all sides, not just the one that aligns with my values or worldview.”

In a statement, KOMO said that it “did not direct or approve Jonathan Choe’s decision to

cover this… rally, nor did his work meet our editorial standards. We decided to end our employment relationship with him.”

A source at the station told TVSpy—an aggregator of television industry news—that staffers were complaining about Choe and that this was the “last straw.” The source also said that station photographers felt Choe was putting them in danger when they worked with him. 

SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 6.

HONG KONG from 11 The changes announced signal a shift in Hong Kong’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as authorities sought to provide a direction for Hong Kong businesses and its residents after two years of aligning with mainland China’s “zero COVID” policy.

Lam said that the changes come as part of an interim review of the city’s measures, and that various stakeholders in the city will be consulted for any longer-term roadmaps when it comes to public health and economic development.

“We have to listen more carefully to the experts, both locally and from the mainland,” said Lam. “For any longer-term public health strategy, we will have to take into account both factors that is maintaining Hong

Kong’s accessibility to the mainland, and also ensuring her continued connectivity with the outside world.”

Lam also announced that social distancing measures will stay in place, although they will be lifted in stages from April 21 if infections do not surge, Lam said. A ban on dining in after 6 p.m. will be lifted, and public gatherings will be capped at four people, up from two.

Other businesses that were ordered to shutter temporarily, such as gyms and massage parlors, will also be allowed to reopen.

At the peak of its outbreak, Hong Kong reported over 50,000 cases daily, and has reported over 1 million infections and nearly 5,700 deaths since the current outbreak began at the end of last year. 

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

PARKING from 1 a young girl in torn jeans and a rose sticking out of her back pocket stands transfixed over the pile, looking for something useful. A few minutes later, she is on the other side of the parking lot, which contains the trash, holding her hands up wildly and swaying.

A plan to “protect” the parking lot, which is leased by the state to InterIm Community Development Association, and encompasses the area between South Jackson and South King streets under I-5, is underway. It involves extending and broadening the fence around the lot.

State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, working with the Chong Wa Benevolent Association and InterIm, led efforts to secure $100,000 from the state transportation budget to rebuild and lengthen the fence so that it reaches to the very ends of the parking lot, and InterIm will be able to put up a “no trespassing” sign. That will allow police to remove people or bring in social workers to help them transition to a different environment.

“Of course, InterIm can already call the police, but the police are unable to do anything if the campers are camped out on public property . . . this is the central issue,” Santos said.

CLARIFYING ROLES As it is, the land is managed by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) but leased to InterIm which in turn has taken over the management. But the property is also the responsibility of WSDOT. WSDOT personnel are not equipped or trained to remove hazardous waste, said Santos, who brokered discussions with the community organizations, WSDOT, and also brought members of the various legislative committees to the site.

Moreover, WSDOT workers are not able to remove people from their property, she said.

Having a “no trespassing” sign along a complete fence would allow Seattle police to respond to a call “about unhoused people camping in a public right-of-way,” said Santos.

The fence would also help keep the property clear in another way. Tent encampments with homeless people inside them were seen last week along one side of the fence—on the outside. But they were on a strip of land that is raised higher than the sidewalk and is next to it.

That strip of land, a long grey platform of concrete, holds the bottom of the poles that rise up in the darkness to hold up the freeway.

It is also land managed by InterIm, so until recently it had not been subject to clearance by the police, said Santos.

The purpose of broadening the fence is to remove access to that extra strip of land. In that case, the fence will come right up to the sidewalk, which is a public right of way and

BLOG from 10 you get reunited with them. Instead of being confined at home, we can walk out of our home freely now.

Celebrate that we have control over Covid because of the vaccines.

At the beginning of Covid, few assumed that it would last more than two years. But we have tackled it, and are not so afraid anymore. We are not being locked down, and we can go about living our lives as normally as possible. My prayers are finally answered, and hope is coming. In my gut, I feel, “The worst might be over, we are almost there.”

As if the pandemic is not complicated and heavy enough, we lived through an unusual but exciting election in 2020, and endured an insurrection in 2021 even though insurrectionists wanted to overturn the election. Let’s celebrate that.

the responsibility of the city, its police, social workers, and other professionals.

“Things have been increasingly challenging for the community in terms of public safety and public sanitation,” said Santos.

HEALING THE COMMUNITY The fencing may also solve tensions between Chong Wa, which apparently levied complaints about the parking lot, and InterIm—or it is meant to do so. Chong Wa did not respond to multiple requests for comments.

Yet even the narrative about how the fencing solution came to be is questioned by different parties.

“I am not aware of any questions about the origins of the fencing idea,” Santos told the Northwest Asian Weekly.

She said the idea emerged from one of multiple meetings she had with the community.

“The idea really did come from especially this one meeting where we had the people from Chong Wa there and we had InterIm there, and when Chong Wa was able to hear about what the challenges were from the standpoint of the State Department of Transportation and the challenges that InterIm was having, they said, ‘But our property owners are able to do this, why can’t InterIm do that?’ And it was because the fence didn’t go far enough,” she said. “And that was sort of like this moment where all those lightbulbs go off all at the same time and it was like, let’s just re-fence it.”

But Tom Im, deputy director of InterIm, said the solution had been discussed at InterIm internally for years.

“I just want to reiterate that the fencing idea did not, in any way, originate from Chong Wa, as that would be a false narrative—though they might’ve come up with the idea from their own internal conversations. However, the idea has been discussed well before last year. If anything, Rep. Santos helped push this forward and if it wasn’t for her work, this wouldn’t have happened,” Im said.

A PERSONAL ISSUE Still, such small differences may reflect a greater sense of frustration that the freeway represents for the community. They also perhaps reflect uncertainty about the future.

The neighborhood was “intentionally” split by the freeway in the 1960s, said Im, who has worked at InterIm for 25 years. According to Santos, this caused parts of the community to shrivel.

During the 1970s, her late husband Bob Santos led a movement to advocate for the space under the freeway to be turned into a parking lot to help revitalize the community. In an interview with Densho on June 30, 2011, Bob Santos described the process as part of a way to save the Chinatown-International District (CID) by bringing in more

Just as we thought we may be back to normal in 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, and President Joe Biden’s leadership in uniting 27 European countries to sanction Russia and support Ukraine is no small feat. I celebrate America’s strength to isolate Russia, an evil empire; and our humanity and solidarity to support the Ukrainians by sending them money, food, medical supplies, and military equipment, in addition to our talents and advice. While it is unbearable for us to witness Russia’s destruction of lives and cities in Ukraine, I am grateful that Biden insisted he won’t be sending troops there. War should never be a part of the plan. We are blessed that our land is protected.

No one knew that the last 24 months would be extraordinary, unpredictable, and heart-wrenching, especially the tremendous loss of

business to its remaining shops and restaurants through more parking spaces.

The money from parking was also transformative to InterIm, which for a time Bob Santos led, because it allowed the organization to do lobbying since the parking entity was not constrained by the laws that governed InterIm itself as a nonprofit.

Still, today, InterIm does not make any substantial revenue from the parking lot, said Im. “Over the last couple years, I’m pretty sure it’s been down a lot to the point where we aren’t making any income, if not making a loss,” he said.

The fencing is meant as a community solution, he said.

DIFFERING LAWS? At the same time, though, the need for the fencing highlights an apparent dysfunction between state and city governments—one that it is not clear the future will remedy.

There is, in fact, already a provision that requires city police to take responsibility over areas of land under and along freeways that pass through the city. A 1961 provision in the revised code of Washington (RCW 47.52.200) allows city police, county sheriffs, and state patrol to enforce laws, which would include trespassing or any other state laws.

“Whenever any limited access highway facility passes within or through any incorporated city or town the municipal police officers of such city or town, the sheriff of the county wherein such city or town is situated and officers of the Washington state patrol shall have independent and concurrent jurisdiction to enforce any violation of the laws of this state occurring thereon,” it sates.

Moreover, it appears that Seattle police, even as recently as March 17, carried out a sweep of state-managed land under the freeway along one side of the current fence.

Photos obtained by Northwest Asian Weekly show countless bicycle police officers, patrol vehicles, and a garbage truck along South Jackson Street. The following week, that side of the fence was mostly empty of tents and trash. It was not clear why the other side of the fence, on South King Street, was still full of encampments.

When asked if police were operating under such a law that allowed them to enforce on state-managed property, the Seattle Police Department responded, “You will need to reach out to the Mayor’s office regarding this inquiry.”

Jamie Housen, director of communications for the city of Seattle said the encampment that was removed on March 17 “was primarily on City-owned property.” A few tents on WSDOT property were also removed, he said, under a “maintenance agreement between the City of Seattle and WSDOT.” “Existing laws do not prevent Seattle from conducting encampment removals on WS-

human lives. Everyone has a Covid story to share. Mine may be different and not so different. But one lesson I have learned is, I will never be the same person after the pandemic.

What was important then, is not so important anymore. What used to be beautiful, now it is not. What used to make me happy, has no effect on me. The Covid journey has been profound. We never know if today is our last day. So don’t waste time on small stuff. Wake up every morning with love, joy, gratitude, and laughter every day. I am aware of those qualities before Covid. The only difference is, I truly embrace these gifts of life by practicing them constantly.  Assunta can be reached at assunta@nwasianweekly. com.

asianweekly

HOPE FOR COLLABORATION The lack of clarity may reflect systemic issues of local governments trying to work together. Rep. Santos hopes to make sure that the personnel who have the requisite training and authority are protecting the InterIm parking lot.

“People know when governments don’t work, but they don’t really know why governments don’t work,” said Rep. Santos.

“And it’s not because we’re not trying. Then all of a sudden you have two different governments. You have the city and you have the state. Both trying to accomplish something.

And if they can’t get along, then we’re all in trouble, right?”

Housen said Mayor Bruce Harrell was “putting a renewed focus on regional collaboration, bringing together county, state, and federal efforts and resources to make a difference in the immediate and long-term.

That includes engaged work with the new Regional Homelessness Authority, funding their work and supporting the new Partnership for Zen effort to reduce homelessness on the streets of downtown Seattle.”

In the meantime, Santos said the fence building is part of a broader movement to reclaim and heal parts of the community that were torn away and damaged. She pointed to a similar moment in South Park, where citizens are working to reclaim the damages done to the area by the SR 99 highway.

“When they first started looking at this, mostly from an environmental standpoint, they started realizing there actually is a traceable reason to why you see higher rates of asthma, and other kinds of health conditions in poor communities of color. It’s because they’re located so close to a freeway. Well, you take a little while longer and you realize they didn’t move there because the freeway was there, the freeway ran right through it,” she said.

Outside the fence that is currently in place, a man with a face like mud beaten into tiny hillocks wanders with a blanket over his shoulders that he then pulls over his head and continues to stagger.  Mahlon can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

support of Jade Facebook post in which had been a nt, Garden Restaura vandalism target of

Yard sign in 2020 protesting Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric

15

DOT properties within the City. That said, maintenance agreements between Seattle and WSDOT are important for informing City practices and clarifying roles and responsibilities,” Housen said.

As of press time, however, it was not clear which laws the city would be following in the future if it removed homeless encampments from the InterIm parking lot—existing laws, or no trespassing laws activated by the expanded fencing. Nor did it seem clear under what circumstances the police would be acting at the direction of the city or the state or simply responding to a call from InterIm.

The Rotary Club of Seattle gave out colored wristbands after restaurants reopened in 2021. Green means “hug me,“ yellow means elbow hugs only, and red means stay 6‘ apart.

Photos by Assunta Ng

YOUR VOICE

northwest

16

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

APRIL 2 – APRIL 8, 2022

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

AP Photo/John Locher

From Thai Nguyen’s Instagram page

EDITORIAL from 1

Kelly Marie Tran wore a green áo dài designed by Thai Nguyen.

She wore a UN Refugee Agency blue ribbon pin on her dress, in support of the Ukrainian refugees campaign.

She also captured the audience’s hearts when she presented the Oscar in American Sign Language to Troy Kotsur, the first deaf male actor to win an Academy Award.

Following the phrase “And the Oscar goes to,” Youn paused to sign “congratulations.”

“Shang-Chi” star Simu Liu was also a presenter at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27. He teamed up with Tiffany Haddish to present the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.

And of course, South Asians Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for “The Long Goodbye.”

LA Weekly wrote that the “media should be celebrating the diversity of the Oscars

Simu Liu arrives at the Oscars

winners list… instead of arguing about who was right or wrong,” in regards to the punch that made collective jaws drop.

In case you missed it, Will Smith struck Chris Rock on stage after Rock directed a G.I. Jane joke at Smith’s wife and actress, Jada Pinkett Smith.

It “shouldn’t be about being ‘Team Rock’ or ‘Team Smith’... it’s about the films,” stated LA Weekly. “Despite a rough past couple years for the movie industry thanks to the pandemic, last night showed that the art can still be powerful and inspiring, and it is getting more inclusive.

Especially after the #OscarSoWhite boycott of 2016 (which the Smiths were a part of), it’s important to put personal feelings aside and focus on this progress.”

Ever since #OscarsSoWhite became hugely

Presented by LY ASIAN WEEK NORTHWEST ST O P E INES & SEATTLE CH

TH N O M E G A T AAPI HERIhoto contest video & p

Pawo Choyning Dorji arrives at the Oscars

popular around the world, the Academy has tried to be more inclusive of people of color in their nominations.

Such change has been demonstrated in the past few years too, with the Academy passing several milestones in the previous two ceremonies, with Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite becoming the first foreign film of all time to win Best Picture in 2019 and Chloé Zhao making history as just the second woman ever to win Best Director for Nomadland in 2020.

Whilst its slow progress, it’s certainly a start.

We love seeing Asian presenters and nominees flaunting their heritage through traditional costumes on the red carpet.

“Raya and the Last Dragon” star Kelly Marie Tran became the first actress in Oscar

history to arrive in the áo dài—she had her emerald green dress specially created for her by Vietnamese American designer Thai Nguyen.

“Writing With Fire” directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh both donned traditional Indian costumes to the red carpet, as well as “Lunana” director Pawo Choyning Dorji, who showed off the Bhutanese gho.

Let’s see more Asian representation onscreen and behind the scenes, on the big screen and small screen. It’s not traditionally a career path that Asian parents would approve of or condone. Perhaps it’s time for a change. What’s not to like? Those who succeed in the entertainment industry enjoy money and prestige (check Asian parent boxes), along with fame. It’s time to step into bigger roles—literally and figuratively. 

Show us how you celebrate AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Heritage Month in May. Whether it’s a family gathering, adorable children (and adults!) celebrating traditions, in all forms including arts and craft, or the awesome family cook showing off a delicious meal, we’d love to see the unique ways in which you and your family celebrate AAPI heritage. There will be two categories of competition: videos and photos.

Prizes: Judges’ Choice awards and People’s Choice Awards (readers vote). The winners will be announced in early June. Winners will receive gift certificates to restaurants and grocery stores, and Asian snacks.

Please submit your photo(s) to james@nwasianweekly.com by April 25. For videos (no more than 1 minute each), please submit it by posting on your Facebook and tag us #NWaapi to consider. Whoever win, will be part of Northwest Asian Weekly‘s YouTube. All entries have to be original photos and videos. Fill out the information below. You may also submit via mail to: Northwest Asian Weekly, 412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104.

Name: ____________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________________________ Phone: ___________________________________________________________ Describe in one to two sentences what the photo or video is about. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ SPONSORED BY