In this inaugural episode of Listen Up, join co-hosts Michael Tamsuriyamit, Joie Ting-Jing Ng and Melina Giorgalletou in a timely discussion about how different communities of people are fighting conflict both within and outside of the United States.
TRANSCRIPT:
~ Start of Episode ~
MICHAEL TAMSURIYAMIT, CO-HOST:
On this episode of “Listen Up.”
Two college students sit down and discuss their concerns living in New York City right now.
JOIE-TING JING NG, CO-HOST:
Another student talks about what it’s like being a minority within a minority.
MELINA GIORGALLETOU, CO-HOST:
And Ukrainian and Russian Americans open up about the effects of war on their mental health.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
How are these stories connected? Stay tuned to find out.
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TAMSURIYAMIT:
Good afternoon, and welcome to this edition of “Listen Up.” I’m Michael Tamsuriyamit.
NG:
I’m Joie-Ting Jing Ng.
GIORGALLETOU:
And I’m Melina Giorgalletou.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
With different communities of people currently under attack, we’ve decided to dedicate this episode to highlighting some of the cross-cultural conflicts, happening not only across the country, but also across the world.
NG:
We begin our episode about the war in Europe. Our foreign relations correspondent Melina Giorgalletou joins us now for an update on the conflict in Ukraine. Hi there, Melina.
GIORGALLETOU:
Hi, Joie. Thanks for having me.
The invasion of Ukraine has been deeply upsetting the whole world, despite it being far away from us. One thing I was made aware of is the toll it has had on the mental health of Ukrainian and Russian Americans here.
Recently, I had the chance to speak with two college students with family ties to these countries, and they opened up about what it’s like for them experiencing this war from afar.
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Story 1 Headline: UKRAINE WAR TAKES TOLL ON STUDENTS' MENTAL HEALTH
Reporter: Melina Giorgalletou
ANTHONY, COLLEGE STUDENT:
Hi, my name is Anthony.
GIORGALLETOU, REPORTER:
Do you identify more as Russian?
ANTHONY:
Yes, I would say I definitely identify more as Russian, it’s the culture I'm more connected to. I had never believed that something like this would happen on this scale.
GIORGALLETOU:
In social media there’s been a lot of coverage on this. How has watching the events unravel online been making you feel?
ANTHONY:
Yeah, anxiety definitely. It was interesting on social media just because, obviously, social media is not the most empathetic place. On like Whatsapp and like Telegram and like all these different places that I communicate with my family, it's all just like panic. It definitely allows me to be constantly like stop scrolling. My dad, who's not Russian, is kind of like, maybe don't speak Russian in public, but I don't know how real that is.
SIMA SADYKHOV, COLLEGE STUDENT:
My name is Sima Sadykhov. I'm a student at Hunter College. I have family that lives in Russia and also distant family that lives in Ukraine. Seeing everything on social media, it is a lot but at some point, it became too much for me. I deleted Instagram because I was already upset about the situation, I was worried, I was looking at the news so I was kind of like I need to shut off from social media because it becomes too much. Because I was born here, I can freely say and speak my mind and have a voice. People that are protesting in Russia and that are speaking even on social media, are being threatened and not only threatened, it's taken action that they are being taken away to jail.
GIORGALLETOU:
On March 16, there was a town hall meeting for the Ukraine war at Hunter College's Roosevelt House. Associate Professor Yasha Klots and NYC commissioner of International Affairs, Manuel Castro, were two of the guest speakers. They spoke about the situation revolving around the war and how New York City can help.
YASHA KLOTS, HUNTER COLLEGE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR:
But it's simply impossible not to think of Ukrainian students whose universities have been bombed, nor to ignore what I hear from colleagues who are still teaching at Russian universities in Russia. One of them tells me the other day that several more students have been detained for anti war protests in Petersburg, and are now facing charges for the sole crime.
MANUEL CASTRO, NYC MAYOR'S OFFICE OF IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS (MOIA):
My name is Manuel Castro, I’m the Commissioner of the Offfice Immigrant Affairs. While we are preparing for a possible influx of refugees or people coming over from Ukraine, New York City also plays a really important role in advocating to the federal government policies and laws that benefit our immigrant communities here, but also represent the values that New York City looks to adhere to. If someone is trying to come over through the regular refugee process, this is likely going to take years for them to finally arrive here. And so we can achieve what we're looking for by other means by offering perhaps humanitarian parole because this is the largest displacement of people we've seen since World War Two.
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GIORGALLETOU:
Honestly, it's heartbreaking listening back to what these students had to say. Being European myself with friends in both Russia and Ukraine, it was important for me to offer them a platform that gives them a voice.
NG:
All we can do now is be like you Melina, and continue to report on the stories that matter to us, both at home and abroad. So from co-host to co-host, thank you.
GIORGALLETOU:
Yes, we’re all doing what we can. Thank you, Joie.
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NG:
Let’s shift gears now, and talk about what’s going on at home.
A woman stabbed and robbed in broad daylight. A man beaten with a hammer after accidentally bumping into someone. And most recently, daily commuters escaped a shootout within a crowded Brooklyn subway train.
With many countless attacks on everyday New Yorkers, many residents wonder when the violence will stop.
Our co-host Michael Tamsuriyamit spoke with some New Yorkers about what they’re doing to keep themselves safe from the violence.
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Story 2 Headline: NEW YORKERS TAKE PUBLIC SAFETY INTO THEIR OWN HANDS
Reporter: Michael Tamsuriyamit
MICHAEL TAMSURIYAMIT, REPORTER:
When 20-year-old Veronica Zheng swipes into the subway station every morning, she is constantly on high alert.
VERONICA ZHENG, MAIN TALENT:
Whenever I walk through the train station, I would always like stay very close to the wall. To be like pushed onto the tracks, especially if you were like at a safe distance, or maybe like not close to the edge, is something like scary to think about.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
This past month, felony assaults accounted for nearly 20% of all reported crimes in New York City. And with many of the victims being Asian American women, Zheng says the recent attacks hit too close to home.
ZHENG:
Every day you see news articles about someone getting stabbed or followed. You know, that could be me, that could be anyone that I know too. And it's to the point where you don't really recognize individual people anymore. They just become statistics, it just becomes another case.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
It is the fear of being randomly stabbed or pushed onto the subway tracks that persuaded Zheng to invest in personal protective equipment.
ZHENG:
Sometimes you can't like necessarily call 911 whenever you feel unsafe. Like what if your phone gets knocked out of your hand? What if you're out of battery? Or what if you can't like talk, you know? Pepper spray is so accessible, like it's attached to my keychain. You switch the lock and then you spray it and aim it at like a specific target.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
Many other New Yorkers have also considered gearing up in order to keep themselves safe when outside.
ANTONIO LADRON DE GUEVARA, VOX-POP TALENT:
I personally, have thought about buying like pepper spray or some type of like, I've seen this on Instagram, like people sell cheap kits with self defense.
REBECCA RAMSAMMY, VOX-POP TALENT:
One of my friends was attacked on the subway, and it was a very, like, brutal attack. So after seeing that, I would also probably invest in pepper spray.
ELIZABETH NIKOLAEVA, VOX-POP TALENT:
I have bought a personal alarm, as well as a pepper spray and a window breaker. I have something called a safety keychain, and it makes me feel a lot more safe.
LADRON DE GUEVARA:
Even like having your keys in your pockets, you can use it as some sort of weapon actually.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
Although Zheng started doing mixed martial arts as a hobby well before the surge in crimes, she says the lessons she learns in class are applicable to today’s crime-saturated landscape.
ZHENG:
I take specifically Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu is really good rape defense. If someone ever tackles you, or tries to choke you from behind, there are various ways to get yourself out of it.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
Some, however, fear that the use of self-defense could lead to even greater issues.
SHIRVAN PERSAD, VOX-POP TALENT:
I think it's good for people who need to protect themselves, but at the same time, someone could always misinterpret that as another form of violence that could result in injury towards someone.
NIKOLAEVA:
Well I guess it's one of those situations where it's not something that you ever want to use, but it's something that's good to have. If God forbid I run into someone dangerous, I can kind of have more things to use to stop them.
TAMSURIYAMIT:
Despite all the recent attacks, Zheng hopes that New Yorkers will come together in the end, and help one another.
TAMSURIYAMIT, FROM INTERVIEW W/ ZHENG:
If you could just say a quick message to all those New Yorkers out there, what can we do moving forward, what would that message be?
ZHENG:
I’d say look out for each other and also take safety into your own hands. Every person that you encounter, every victim you see out there – they’re someone's loved one, they’re someone else's children, they're someone else's parents. Everybody needs to process that, and know how to move forward from there.
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TAMSURIYAMIT:
In 2009, former President Barack Obama announced that May would now be known as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month.
As we enter AAPI month and also approach the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, we want to highlight the interracial conflicts happening in our country right now.
Our inequality reporter Joie-Ting Jing Ng found out that while it’s one struggle to be Asian or Black, it's another struggle being Asian and Black, or as we say, Blasian.
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STORY 3 Headline: THE BLACK ASIAN EXPERIENCE
Reporter: Joie-Ting Jing Ng
JOIE-TING JING NG, REPORTER:
Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 339% last year, according to The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
Many perpetrators of these attacks are framed as Black, even though 75% of the culprits are white.
Ashley Fung, a Brooklyn College volleyball player who identifies as Black Indigenous Hawaiian Chinese, is one of the Black Asians who feel as if they're caught in the middle of this feud.
ASHLEY FUNG, BLASIAN COLLEGE STUDENT:
They’ve always created a nice environment for me and my siblings. Despite the different cultures, they’ve always tried their best to bring them together and try to show the similarities. So it kind of just hurts because it’s like, both these groups are both groups that are struggling, and are going through a lot and are constantly exploited, and we're pointing fingers at each other when we should just be working together, you know.
NG:
UCLA Professor of History and African American Studies Brenda Stevenson said in a CGTN interview that the racism between the Black and Asian communities are a result of white supremacy.
BRENDA STEVENSON, UCLA PROFESSOR OF HISTORY & AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES:
Is that the othering in order to be accepted into the quote unquote, mainstream or the white mainstream, then you have to, you know, also join in with the stereotyping of all other groups of people.
NG:
Fung continues to support the Black Lives Matter and Stop AAPI Hate movements by participating in rallies and speaking up on social media.
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GIORGALLETOU:
When Michelle Go was pushed to her death in front of an oncoming subway train in January, New Yorkers were left on edge.
Just a few weeks later, Christina Yuna Lee would be stabbed to death in her Chinatown home.
And with a 361% increase in attacks on their community since last year, many Asian Americans continue to fear that they may be next.
Our very own Michael Tamsuriyamit sat down with fellow co-host Joie-Ting Jing Ng to talk about their experiences with anti-Asian hate.
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Story 4 Headline: ASIAN AMERICANS REFLECT ON RECENT ANTI-ASIAN HATE ATTACKS
Reporter: Michael Tamsuriyamit
MICHAEL TAMSURIYAMIT, REPORTER:
I’m hurting. I’m hurting for every boxcutter-slashed, hammer-beaten, subway-pushed Asian American in New York City.
Recently, I was taking the N train from 34th Street Herald Square, when I noticed a distressed man walking up and down the platform.
He was sort of like mumbling to himself, then he started yelling.
Long story short, he seemed like he needed some help, but at the same time, he was endangering everyone, including me, on that platform.
And it got to the point where he came so close to me that I remember feeling goosebumps on my forearms.
And then I remember asking myself, “Oh, my goodness, am I going to be the next Michelle Go?”
JOIE-TING JING NG, INTERVIEWEE:
With Michelle Go’s case, I remember at first just feeling numb and empty.
One time where I felt like I could have become a statistic was on the subway.
I was with my friend, I was going home from class, and there was this man, you know, he was just talking like, really, really loudly, and he had these like really erratic movements, and he was slowly becoming more and more violent.
Me and my friend were just like, you know what, don't make eye contact, stuff like this happens all the time in the train, but the moment he looked at me, my life just flashed before my eyes, like this is it, this is how I die.
It's hard to not feel like something terrible could happen to me at any moment with all these Asian women around me dying these terrible and violent deaths.
During the pandemic. I just thought to myself that, hey, you're in Chinatown, who's going to be racist to you in Chinatown, but then Christina Yuna Lee's case happened.
I live very near to where she lives, she lived, and now I don't feel safe anywhere.
For me, therapy works the best, but honestly, the most important thing to me is to have more lawmakers who are Asian American representing us because we are the ones that know what is best for our own community.
We, as Asians, we can’t keep on portraying this image of being silent and submissive on these issues, because if we don't speak up on these issues, no one else will.
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TAMSURIYAMIT:
Well, that’s all for this episode of “Listen Up.” On behalf of Joie, Melina, and the entire team, thank you so much for tuning in.
“Listen Up” returns next week on your favorite streaming platforms. We’ll see you then.
~ End of Episode ~
MUSIC CREDITS:
ABOUT LISTEN UP:
Listen Up is a news podcast show that provides listeners timely news coverage about the stories that matter to everyday people. Through reporting peoples' life experiences, Listen Up hopes to shine a light on and inspire conversation about the events unfolding not only across the country, but also across the world. Michael Tamsuriyamit, Joie Ting-Jing Ng and Melina Giorgalletou are your producers, editors and co-hosts for this show.