Telling Mom She’s Also Biased

While speaking to her Korean mom about anti-Asian violence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Phyllis must also confront her family's prejudice. And racial justice attorney and activist Manjusha Kulkarni offers advice for talking with parents about challenging racial discrimination.Phylllis writes about parenting,  race and diversity, and being raised by an immigrant family on her blog, The Napkin Hoarder. Featured Expert: Manjusha P. Kulkarni (Manju) is Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance (AAPI Equity), which serves and represents the 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County. In March 2020, Manju co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, the nation’s leading aggregator of COVID-19-related hate incidents against AAPIs. Stop AAPI Hate analyzes data to better understand what is happening, where, and to whom, and uses this information to advocate for resources and solutions, including the passage of local, state, and national policies that strengthen human rights and civil rights protections, dismantle systemic racism, and address root causes of discrimination and bigotry. They also work on narrative change to impact how racism is understood and shift attitudes in the general public to acknowledge anti-AAPI hate as a long-standing problem. In 2021, Manju was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential individuals and by Bloomberg/Business Week as one of the 50 individuals “with the ability to move markets or shape ideas and policies,” along with the co-founders of Stop AAPI Hate, Cynthia Choi and Russell Jeung. They also won the 2021 Webby Social Movement of the Year. Manju is a member of the LA City Ethics Commission and was recently appointed to the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board by CA Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. She holds a BA degree from Duke University and a JD degree from Boston University School of Law.If you liked this show listen to When Our Parents Don't See Their Bias and OG Check-in: Even a Pro Finds it Hard to Talk about Racism with Dad.We’d love to hear your stories of triumph and frustration so send us a detailed voice memo to virginia@lwcstudios.com. You might be on a future episode! Let’s connect on Twitter and Instagram at @TalkToMamiPapi and email us at hello@talktomamipapi.com. And follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.