We Live Here

May is Asian American heritage month. This May, New America's Indianapolis office is proud to partner with Asian American Alliance Inc. and community members across the heartland to kick off a series amplifying Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voices: "We Live Here: AAPI Voices in the Heartland."

Sadly, anti-Asian violence and rhetoric aren't new in America. But in the last year, xenophobia and misinformation about COVID-19 seem to have once again exposed the pervasive bias and harm experienced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

There are countless important national conversations we must have: increased understanding about the extremely diverse group often simply called "Asians;" recognition that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have value as humans, not simply as workers; discussions about the ways education, national security, health, and financial policy are shaped by explicit and implicit bias; the "model minority" myth; the danger of fetishizing and appropriating culture; and more.

And it's time to have these conversations in the middle of the country.

Please join us in reading and elevating AAPI voices and for future events discussing the AAPI experience in the middle of America.

Start exploring perspectives today and if you have a story to share, please reach out to Molly Martin and Rupal Thanawala here.

• AAPI leader and transracial adoptee Jill Robinson Kramer discusses what it means to be "American enough."
• Emerging AAPI leader Tiffany Yeung discusses the need for mental healthcare reform in public schools.
• Scholar Rafia Kahder explores the search for third spaces by Muslim Americans, a journey shared by many Americans of Asian and African descent.
• New America's Jahdziah St. Julien and the Better Life Lab team discuss recent violent attacks on AAPI community members, the need to tackle discriminatory policies, and the need to dismantle biased systems.