A Few AAPI Folks To Know
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I wanted to highlight four amazing AAPI folks that have really inspired me, and have played a part in creating and shaping the legacy of our American history.
Kala Bagai (1893-1983)
When I think of change makers, I sometimes default to movement leaders and speakers who galvanize folks into action; however, a change maker is really anyone who creates and sets in motion an intention of having an opportunity to a better quality of life. Kala Bagai is that example.
She was one of the first South Asian women in America, and while Kala Bagai may not have considered herself an activist, she played a huge role as a community builder for South Asian Immigrants. During those times, and even today, citizenship and housing issues played a big part of the community’s fight for justice.
“…But mainly, it seemed to be my grandmother’s personal mission to create a welcoming community to other immigrants arriving in this land, where she herself was once a stranger, and to show the kind of generosity of spirit to them that had been denied to her and her family…" - Rani Bagai (grand daughter)
As of this year, 2021, Kala Bagai received a street named after her in Berkeley, California - Kala Bagai Way.
Yuri Kochiyama (1921-2014)
Yuri Kochiyama was one of those people that I first learned about in one of my Asian American Studies class. She was a Japanese American that was a part of Malcolm X’s pan-Africanist Organization of Afro-American Unity and was present during his assassination. I remember this is my first glimpse of solidarity.
Throughout the remainder of her life, she was an activist within the social justice movements and was a supporter of liberation organizations. She also created a more political Asian American movement that linked itself to Black Liberation.
Yuri and other Japanese American internees were able to get government reparations to World War II internees in 1988 through the Civil Liberties Act, and used this victory to advocate for reparations for African Americans which is still ongoing to date.
Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015)
Grace Lee Boggs was a Chinese American author, philosopher, and social activist known for her lifetime of work within labor and civil rights, Black Power, Asian American and environmental movements. Much of her life’s work spanned within America’s social movements of the 20th century and beyond.
The way I see her life’s work is also that of cultivating the next generations of minds. When I recently heard author and activist Adrienne Maree Brown speak, she adoringly mentioned beautiful and powerful moments with Grace in her home. And as the pandemic civil unrest busted open within the last year, her name (re)emerged in more mainstream outlets.
“activism can be the journey rather than the arrival…” - Grace Lee Boggs
George Takei (1937-Present)
I first remembered George Takei’s face when I was around 5 years old on TV. I didn’t quite understand what Star Trek was at the time, but at that young age I remember being like ‘oh! Amazing’. Representation matters.
George is a Japanese American who was imprisoned in America’s Japanese internment camps during World War II for about 3 years of his childhood. He would later in his life rise to fame with his character, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, on Star Trek.
But, you might also know him from his recent political Tweets/commentary. It’s not only punchy, it’s quite funny.
Because of his scarring experience at such a young age, his activism and political involvement emerged; George is heavily involved with his local and state politics and advocating LGBTQ rights.
