Monsoon’s Violence Prevention Program will host The History of Asian Representation: A Learning Event for Teens.  This is a learning event/community conversation for Asian and Pacific Islander teens on the history of Asian and Pacific Islander media representation and cultural appropriation. Following Hollywood’s “Asian August” in 2018 and the sudden emergence of Asian American presidential candidates Andrew Yang (Chinese-American), Tulsi Gabbard (American-Samoan) and Kamala Harris (Indian-American), several Asian and Pacific Islander youths are questioning how this current-day media and political representation will impact their futures. Asian American and Pacific Islander history is not taught in public or private schools. Beginning to learn this history will help API youths better understand their culture and identities, and expand their abilities to better analyze the structural racism that still takes place against API communities.

The event will be led by youth interns Animesh Joshi and Connor Liu, and will feature guest speaker Dr. Noreen Naseem Rodriguez. Dr. Rodriguez uses critical race frameworks to explore how racial and cultural experiences impact Asian American and Latinx pre- and in-service teachers’ pedagogy and curricular enactment.  Her most current research project focuses on the educational experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Iowa. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.