Commentary

COMMENTARY: Black and Asian, Oakland Native Justin Jones Embodies Unity in Tennessee Statehouse Showdown

Since it happened over the Easter holiday, the parallel cannot be overlooked. Resurrection was in the air. Just five days after his political death, Oakland native Justin Jones, the newly minted voice of the voiceless, an advocate for an assault-weapons ban and an overall generational change for a more inclusive democracy in America, was not just back in the Tennessee state house–to all the world, he was also Black.

Published

1 month ago

April 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Tennessee lawmaker Justin Jones was expelled by GOP colleagues for supporting gun reforms following a mass murder at a Nashville school on March 27. Photo courtesy www.votejustinjones.com.

By Emil Guillermo

Again.

The Associated Press headline was pretty unequivocal.

“Black lawmaker who was expelled reinstated to Tennessee seat,” blared the online Yahoo news site.

The lede was even clearer.

“One of two Black Democrats who were expelled last week from the GOP-led Tennessee House was reinstated Monday after Nashville’s governing council voted to send him straight back to the Legislature.”

Great, but only partially right.

Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News gave it a crack, but alas, he too fell short.

In “that political drama in Tennessee late today,” the anchor declared on the network’s evening news: “The Nashville Council voted to reinstate one of the Black state lawmakers expelled last week over protests….”

All that was great. But when it comes to Jones’ race, Lester was only half correct.

Jones isn’t just Black. He’s also Filipino by his mother’s side. He’s Justin Shea Bautista Jones, who grew up in Oakland and in the East Bay. And he fully embraces his Filipino-ness. As mentioned in his campaign collateral, Jones is as proud of his Filipino heritage as he is of his African side.

He’s a mixed-race Asian American.

No big deal? I’m making it one.

We all should see Jones’ Asian American Filipino side.

If Jones and his fellow expelled legislator, Justin Pearson, are all about inclusion, youth, and bringing in all the people from the margins to be seen and heard, then why just outright ignore Jones’ Filipino/Asian American side?

Why not mention that Jones represents even more cultural diversity than anyone thinks?

The Washington Post got it right last Thursday, when, in one of the first stories about the Tennessee expulsions, the paper referred to Jones as being of Black and Filipino heritage.

Even on MSNBC, Alex Wagner, herself part Burmese descent, acknowledged Jones fully as Black and Filipino. Other media outlets, not so much. Of course, Asian/Filipino media did.

Acknowledging Jones’ mixed race specifically was 100% accurate.

But by the time Jones was reinstated, AP and others simply ignored Jones’ mother’s blood and dropped expressing America’s real diversity.

We’ve seen it before. Tiger Wood’s mom is Thai, and he made a big deal about his Asian side when he was younger. But his term to accurately describe himself, “Cablanasian,” didn’t stick, and most everyone just found it easier to backslide to Black.

Vice President Kamala Harris has always seemed more partial to her African American side. During her run for president, it was like she kept her Asian-ness (her mother is an Indian immigrant) as a handy aside. And then she made history, and who could ignore that she was Black and South Asian, the highest-ranking Black and Asian American woman in our democracy’s history?

Still, most media references have gone back to ignoring it. Perhaps it’s assumed everyone knows Harris is of mixed race, or editors feel when it comes to Harris, her race is so obvious it’s irrelevant?

But it’s not irrelevant.

It helps to counter the ongoing battle in our country over racial identity.

With the GOP waging a culture war on denying our country’s racial history, it’s become imperative for the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) community to proudly declare our heritage and race, especially when it comes to newsmakers whose cultural backgrounds are factual identifiers that help people understand the new America.

A name and an age are usually the two most important facts about a person journalistically. But race should be right up there too.

Jones can’t just be Black. Not when his physical presence (his hair, skin, size) clues us in that he’s also representing another ethnic minority as well, Asian American Filipinos.

One’s race should be as important as people boldly declaring their pronouns. (Yes, I’m a he/him, though I feel solidarity with the they/thems.)

But that’s gender grammar. Race is about blood, fluid and undeniable. But too often ignored.

I’ve always said when we have a love interest in one another, maybe we’ll see an end to the racism. According to the numbers, it’s slowly happening.

In 2020, the percentage of mixed-race people was up from 2.9% of the population or 9 million people in 2010, to nearly four times that at 10.2% or 33.8 million people.

With so many mixed-race American people according to the last Census, we have to stop being lazy, as in defaulting to Black when someone is really Black with Asian, or Latinx, or Caucasian, or whatever.

Just get it right, as in the case of Justin Jones. Make his ‘Lola’ (Granny) Harriet from the Philippines happy.

Don’t ignore his Asian American Filipino side. And don’t let the news media get away with saying, “the Black lawmaker.”

Make them say it all. In the overt language of diversity, Jones is a Black Asian American Filipino.

If we’re all slinging pronouns, declare your race too, fully and not in part.

Let us all be seen.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See him on www.amok.com

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Activism

Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

Published

1 day ago

May 30, 2023

Oakland Post

Geoffrey Pete went to City Hall to appeal the city Planning Commission’s approval of the high-rise development that threatens the closure of his 44-year historic cultural mecca. Photo by Jonathan ‘Fitness’ Jones.

By Ken Epstein

An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).

The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.

Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.

Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.

“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”

One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.

“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.

Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.

“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”

The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.

Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”

The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.

This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.

John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.

“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”

Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”

Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”

The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.

Activism

Emil Guillermo: ‘Strong Like Bamboo’ Stories of AAPI Resilience at Oakland Asian Cultural Center

The name from the project came from the husband and partner of Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with ‘Strong Like Bamboo.’ “There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

Published

4 days ago

May 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607

By Emil Guillermo

During the pandemic, I was in a group of Asian American storytellers based in the Bay Area on a weekly Zoom call when six Korean American women were killed in what has come to be known as the Atlanta Spa killings in March of 2021.

From that point on, the storytellers of Asian American Storytellers in Action (ASIA) realized we all had stories of discrimination and hate worth sharing.

The group’s discussion through the pandemic has resulted in “Strong Like Bamboo: Stories of Resilience for Healing in the Era of Anti-AAPI Violence,” a community event Sunday May 28 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

“I asked myself ‘how do we heal?’ How do we respond to the crises we’re going through,” said Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, a storytelling theater based in San Francisco.

“I thought it would be great to gather to hear other people’s stories about discrimination they have experienced but came through it somehow as an inspiration for others to also find solace and support and strength in dealing with what’s going on.

“We all need to know we’re not alone,” she added. “That we have each other and we have allies.”

The name from the project came from Nancy’s husband and partner Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with “Strong Like Bamboo.”

“There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

The free, three-hour event will feature storytelling from six professional storytellers (including yours truly) and others from the national AAPI community like Alton Takiyama Chung from Portland, Ore., MJ Kang from Los Angeles, and Linda Yemoto from the Bay Area.

Afterward, Russell Jeong, professor of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State, will lead a group discussion of the stories. Jeong is also the co-founder of #StopAAPIHate which recorded more than 14,000 instances of self-reported hate transgressions during the pandemic.

Some say it was the remarks of former President Donald Trump scapegoating Asians for the spread of the virus that led to the violent reaction toward AAPI.

The audience will then break into groups where people can share their stories.

The afternoon will also include two short movies on the Asian American experience. The event closes with a reflective song by Kukuchi-Yngoho, and a number by a well-known group of rappers made up of senior women known as the Follies.

I look forward to sharing my stories and hope to see you all at the free event.

JOIN IN PERSON:
Date: Sunday May 28th, 2022
Time: 2:00-5:00 pm PDT
Where: Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Register to attend this Free live, in-person event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/strong-like-bamboo-tickets-509561551317
*Recording of the live event will be made available for those unable to attend.

– or –

JOIN ON ZOOM:
This event will be livestreamed on Zoom and recorded, same date and time!
To register for the live virtual event on Zoom, please visit:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpceyrpjIoHtGozoJo7reCVDGg2PRXkGKi#/registration
*Our Zoom links have not worked in past emails, so let us know if our long link doesn’t work.

If you have any questions, please reach out to contact@ethnohtec.org.

The program is funded in part by the California Arts Council.