curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷
by Hailey Wu
Around election season, I spend most of my time doing voter education, hosting ballot parties, and organizing candidate forums. Most of our clients at Asian Counseling and Referral Service are elderly immigrants and refugees, so the rooms are always full of people speaking Cantonese, Mandarin, Lao, and more. Everyone is excited to hear the explanation of the initiatives, talk about the candidates, and get their ballots cast.
However, our participants have always struggled to understand the “advisory votes,” those questions that ask if we want to maintain or repeal various tax laws. I would always tell our clients to skip them. Although it was unclear to most voters, advisory votes actually never had any power to change our laws. We needed to save our workshop time to discuss the votes that actually made a change in our community.
Continue reading OPINION | The End of Advisory Votes Is a Victory for Immigrant and New Votersby Mimi To and Jasmine Tran
Hi, our names are Mimi and Jasmine. We are members of the ACRS Civic Engagement Youth Organizing Team. ACRS (Asian Counseling and Referral Service) is a nonprofit founded in Seattle that offers community-based multilingual and multicultural services to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. We are both Vietnamese American women who care deeply for our community and work to serve its goals.
Continue reading OPINION: Centering Compassion in Little Saigonby Emerald Staff
In the wake of the horrific mass shooting that took the lives of eight people in the Atlanta area on Tuesday — including six women of Asian descent — local elected leaders and community organizations came together to denounce anti-Asian hatred, show solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, and call for solutions that did not de-center the needs of all communities of color. The shooting, the worst mass attack in the U.S. since 2019, has sent shock waves through the local AAPI community, and drawn renewed attention to a spike in anti-Asian hate and violence, especially against women, during the pandemic.
Continue reading Local Reactions, Resources & Events in Response to Atlanta Shootingsby Jack Russillo
Nearly $1 million in grants from the Port of Seattle will be dispersed to ten organizations to help lead equitable economic recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 in South King County.
The move comes after the Port of Seattle Commissioners approved a recommendation at their meeting on December 15. The funds will be dispersed by the end of January.
Continue reading Ten Non-Profits Receive Grants From Port of Seattle’s South King County Fund to Improve COVID-19 Economic Recoveryby Aaron Burkhalter
Thi Bui’s graphic memoir begins with the birth of her first child in a hospital contemplating her mother’s experience with childbirth in Vietnam and her family’s journey to the United States as refugees.
Continue reading Thi Bui Brings Her Graphic Novel Memoir to Seattle for Four Days of Appearances
