Fresh Off The Vote @FreshOffTheVote

How exactly did we make a podcast from scratch during quarantine? The FOTV team shares candidly about our grassroots project as we look forward to the holiday season and a continuation of Asian American perspectives.   Listen to Kaitlyn, Ava, Jessica, Julia, and Kenna reflect on the motivations, both personal and political, that turned into Fresh Off the Vote. 

What did we learn about ourselves in making Fresh Off the Vote? What are our coffee preferences, if any? Who are the people behind our audio quality and how do we make sure it's consistently top-notch? And what the heck is going on with Georgia's politics right now? 

Join us as we process our learnings and discoveries out loud. We are determined to keep at our individual journeys of civic engagement through this labor of love! 


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Yup, we’re pissed about Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation. We ended up with an aggressively conservative Supreme Court with a 6-3 supermajority that doesn't reflect the political makeup of this country and was appointed by a president who lost the popular vote. This is minority rule. But, Supreme Court headlines aside, many of us don’t really understand the court systems leading up to the highest court in the land. According to Ballotpedia, there are a total of 278 state appellate court seats up for election in 2020. What does that even mean? It’s too bad Law and Order didn't prepare us well enough.

In this episode, Jessica and Julia invite John Wang, a housing judge running for a civil court judge seat in New York City’s lower Manhattan, and Jerry Vattamala, an Asian American voting rights advocate from the non-profit Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), to give us a crash course on the judiciary. What are the differences between a district court and an appellate court? What makes a good judge? How do we understand the complicated dynamics between politics and judicial decisions, evaluate judges on our ballots, and beyond? 
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In this episode of #FOTV,  Grace hosts a roundtable with a Race and Ethnic Studies graduate student and two undocumented immigrants. They examine lived experiences to see how race and law work together to erase Asian Americans from the undocumented narrative. Complicating and untangling the notion of "legal immigration", they ask the audience members to find local ways to listen to immigrant stories in their own zip codes and act as co-conspirators - more than allies. 

Rose Ann E. Gutierrez, a PhD student in the Social Sciences and Comparative Education division specializing in Race and Ethnic Studies at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Denise Panaligan is an undocumented immigrant born in the Philippines and raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Tony Zhu was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras as the son of Chinese immigrants who came to the United States when he was six years old. 
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In the latest VP debate, Pence admitted the climate is changing without addressing the urgency of the climate crisis we are living in. This episode is a Green New Deal 101 featuring candidates working at the state, city, and ground level to bring attention to our politicians on the climate crisis. 

Michelle Wu (running for Boston mayor), Alex Lee (running for California Assembly District 25), Megan Nguyen (Sunrise Movement Bay Area Hub Leader), and a friend of the podcast, Leslie Chang (consultant at Planet Earth Observatory) join #FOTV for what the Green New Deal could look like at different levels of our government, but also how to approach the solution in an equitable way that considers all communities.


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In this episode, #FOTV hosts Emmy and Kenna interview two Asian American athletes on how race and culture come to play in sports. Camryn Hamaguchi is a Japanese-American two-sport athlete in basketball and track & field at Chapman University in California. She is also Head Coach at Ironmen Basketball Club Program and Assistant Girls Varsity Coach at Kennedy High School. Jojo McIntosh is a mixed-race Black and Cambodian-American football player and a University of Washington Huskies alum. 
Jojo and Camryn reflect on their Asian and mixed Asian-American upbringing. Navigating roles as activists and role models, they dive into how the worlds of football and basketball view race, plus its impact. The hosts believe Asian Americans enjoy representation in sports, but without due acknowledgment. They talk about the importance of helping others by using their voices and platforms as Asian American athletes, activists, and beyond.
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Have you and your parents ever had an argument about something they read on WeChat? What about WhatsApp? In this episode, Shawna (The Yappie) and #FOTV's Helen dive into these two ethnic media platforms to discuss misinformation and why it’s important to understand it in the context of election integrity. 

What exactly is “misinformation” and what is being done about it? With our guests from The WeChat Project, we look at a case study of second-generation Asian Americans combating misinformation about Black Lives Matter, racism, and affirmative action. They remind us of the traumas many immigrant parents face and offer tips on how to engage in productive dialogue—that avoid misinformation—on social media.



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