We Are All Americans Michele Jaquis

In episode seven of season three*, Anuradha Vikram, the first in her family to be born in the US, speaks with her mother Dr. Revathi Vikram, a Naturalized Citizen from India, and her 9 year old daughter Nadja Vikram Bugaj, about how 9/11 shifted the South Asian-American role in racial politics and activism and what Kamala Harris’ nomination for Vice President of the United States means to them.

* Recorded on Aug. 21, 2020 at the ICA LA as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

Holly M. Crawford and Michele Jaquis share their individual family stories about love, trauma, illness, protest, silence, and believing versus questioning… all while grappling with the question of what do we do with the stories we hold and their effects on our present day relationships.

Yrneh Gabon tells the story of how he followed his grand-uncle from Jamaica to Los Angeles to pursue his American Dream of working in Hollywood. Despite much success, he also laments his experiences being questioned by campus police while pursuing his college and graduate degrees as a Black man who was older than the typical college student.

Asuka Hisa and Michele Jaquis talk about the important role education and engagement plays in combating fear and collectively telling stories that move society towards a better place, despite our human nature of not always wanting to talk about the bad things. 

*Recorded on Aug. 21, 2020 at the ICA LA as part of Field Workshop: Action Projects, in the midst of the global COVID 19 pandemic and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. 

Marjan Vayghan talks about the challenges and inadequacies of her American education as a new immigrant from Iran in the mid-nineties, and her uncle’s disappearance after arriving at LAX from Iran during Trump’s travel ban in 2017, while also asking Michele about the optimism of bringing a child into this messed up world.

In episode two of season three, Beverly Naidus talks with Michele about “the pleasure of being able to blend into the world of otherness that I never had growing up in a white town where I was always an outsider."