BACK&FORTHE: Recent Episodes
FORTHE
BACK&FORTHE is a monthly conversation with FORTHE.org writers, photographers, and contributors, as well as the artists, experts, advocates, and Long Beach community members featured in our articles. Airs monthly on KLBP 99.1 FM Long Beach Public Media. Theme music by Shaine Barnett.
This month’s conversation—hosted by FORTHE.org Editor Esther Kang—dives into the nuances of Asian American mental health, and our lovely guests Serena Au (@chinatownqueen) and June Kaewsith (@jumakae) share their own experiences and insights as both AAPI femmes and therapist/healers.
In this episode we talk to Ariana Sawyer, a US Border Researcher with Human Rights Watch, about why there's a temporary shelter for migrant children at the Long Beach Convention Center. On the second half of the show, we're joined by Brandie Davison, the founder of Art Realm, to talk about ArtNotAds. The goal of this new collaboration between FORTHE and Art Realm is to place local art on the FORTHE website in the spaces where you'd normally see advertisement on other sites.
FORTHE editor local author and women's rights activist Zoe Nicholson about the status of the Equal Rights Amendment while FORTHE editor Kevin Flores chats with Long Beach country musician Katie Jo about her newest release "Pawnshop Queen."
We talk to FORTHE.org editor Esther Kang about her recent essay “We Are Not Your Model Minority or Your Punching Bag: Why Asian Americans Are Hurting and Why You Should Care.” In the piece, she writes about her immigrant roots, painful experiences with racism, and the tropes too-often used to caricaturize Asian Americans.
On the second half of the show, we're joined by Brian Hofer of Secure Justice, Jamilet Ochoa of the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, and Greg Buhl of CheckLBPD.org to discuss the Long Beach Police Department's automatic license plate reader program. In November, it was revealed that the department had shared data collected by these devices with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While the LBPD eventually revoked ICE's access to the data, questions remain about whether immigration authorities can still get to the data.