Bonus: Unpacking Pandemic Racism

Self Evident: Asian America's Stories

The struggle to save lives from COVID-19 is far from over, and neither is America’s struggle against racism.

As we report on hate crime and anti-racist action, Cathy and James hop on the phone and check in with a couple of our friends in podcasting: Paola Mardo (who tells stories from the Filipino diaspora on Long Distance) and Ahmed Ali Akbar (who covers the social, cultural, and political experiences of American Muslims on See Something Say Something).

We took this time to unpack the ugly, reckon with the bad, and speak to the good that we hope comes out of this pivotal moment in history.

We hope you’re all getting the support you need out there, and would love to hear from you — just write to [e-mail], and please take care.

Resources and links:

“COVID-19 is not the great equalizer” — a short piece from Marketplace showing how hard this pandemic is hitting communities of color and the working poor.

If you want to dive into reports focused on anti-Asian racism and Asian American efforts to save lives from COVID-19, Next Shark has been relentlessly covering these beats. Big thanks to them for taking on all of the work required to keep this up.

We shared a list of anti-racism resources in a recent newsletter. Since circumstances evolve day by day, we’ll continue using the newsletter to bundle and share resources that might help you get through it all. You can sign up for that here.

Paola (@paolamardo) is working on a new episode of Long Distance about health care workers on the front lines. You can hear the full story of her recent encounter with racism here.

Ahmed (@radbrowndads) is working on “M Train,” a 6 part miniseries focused on Muslim life in New York, made as a collaboration between See Something Say Something and BRIC. You can listen here.

Cathy (@cathyerway) covered new efforts to save Manhattan Chinatown’s local businesses for NYMag’s Grubstreet. You can read that story here.

James (@actualjamesboo) wrote these show notes. If you’re wondering why he’s not a Governor Cuomo fan, read this Gothamist news piece and this op-ed by Prasanna Shah.

Credits

Produced by Julia Shu

Edited by Julia Shu and James Boo

Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly

Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love