Escape From Plan A

Kajah and Jeoffrey of Black Zebra Productions joins Nia and Diana for a rare interview. The husband-and-wife team shares stories of documenting the protests in Sacramento, Portland, Kenosha, and Paris. As Asian American artists, they also share their experiences with breaking out of the scarcity mentality, personal decolonization, and finding connection and community within the greater struggle against fascism happening all over the world. Please consider donating to Black Zebra Productions' coverage efforts on Venmo (@BlackZebra), Paypal (paypal.me/blackzebrainc), or CashApp (cash.app/$theblackzebra) TWITTER: Black Zebra (@blackzebrapro) Nia (@nxn_nrc) Diana (@discoveryduck) REFERENCED RESOURCES: Black Zebra Productions: www.travelwithblackzebra.com https://www.facebook.com/blackzebraproductions/ Black Zebra Productions crew attacked by federal agents in Portland protest, video shows: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article244412477.html Facebook Deleted Black Zebra Productions’ Sacramento George Floyd Protest Videos, Before Restoring Page: https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/06/09/facebook-deletes-black-zebra-productions-page-sacramento-george-floyd-protest-videos/ SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

On August 20, 2020, Asian Americans Advancing Justice's Asian Law Caucus, along with dozens of Asian American and Civil Rights organizations, filed an amicus brief opposing the US government's increasing attacks on Chinese American scientists. In this special unlocked bonus episode, Teen and Diana discuss "The China Initiative," how and why something like this gets enacted, who it hurts and who it benefits. Ethnic cleansing and fascism don't require violent mobs. Jealous colleagues, ambitious prosecutors, and an ignorant public will get the job done. But are Chinese scientists the first victims of an impending Boba Liberal pogrom, or the last line of defense against a truly failed state? In an America that is insane and eating itself, Asian Americans need to develop our own tradition of intellectualism to fight for ourselves and all Americans. TWITTER: Teen (@mont_jiang) Diana (@discoveryduck) REFERENCED RESOURCES: United States vs Tao Amicus Brief: https://advancingjustice-aajc.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/Tao%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf The Chinese in America, by Iris Chang: https://b-ok.cc/book/3236054/6cdc89 Thread of the Silkworm, by Iris Chang: https://b-ok.cc/book/2372111/9b0caa One Billion Americans: The case for many more Americans: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21449512/matt-yglesias-one-billion-americans How Two Students Touring Florida Found Themselves Branded as Chinese Spies: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/28/china-lost-students-spies-michigan-florida-espionage-fears/ Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? by Graham Allison: https://b-ok.cc/book/5152796/296be7 SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Diamond Yao joins Teen and Diana to discuss her article "Navigating Capitalist Mandates for Happiness and Collectivist Fears of Shame." What do "failure" and "success" mean in a culture of excess consumerism that dehumanizes and commodifies us? How do we get out of the white hand-me-down world? TWITTER: Diamond (@graceofyul) Teen (@Mont_Jiang) Diana (@discoveryduck) REFERENCED RESOURCES: "Navigating Capitalist Mandates for Happiness and Collectivist Fears of Shame" https://planamag.com/navigating-capitalist-mandates-for-happiness-and-collectivist-fears-of-shame/ The Black Bourgeoisie, E. Franklin Frazier https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Black-Bourgeoisie/Franklin-Frazier/9780684832418 SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

On September 19, 2020, Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump Administration's executive order that would remove WeChat and its software support from U.S. app stores, effectively banning the Chinese "superapp." ****** In this special unlocked bonus, Jess, Diana, Chris, and Teen dive into the details of the executive orders against WeChat and TikTok, and contextualize the upcoming trial to keep WeChat in American cyberspace. Like US vs Wong Kim Ark and Yick Wo vs Hopkins, US WeChat Users Alliance vs Donald Trump recalls the underreported and under-appreciated heritage of Chinese American legal battles that defined American concepts of citizenship and civil rights. It will potentially be a Supreme Court case that will define the civil liberties of all Americans in the digital age. Please consider donating at: https://uswua.org/donations TWITTER: Teen (@mont_jiang) Chris (@JesuInToast) Diana (@discoveryduck) Jess (@cogitatotomato) REFERENCED RESOURCES: -NYTimes: "WeChat Ban Makes U.S.-China Standoff Personal" https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/technology/wechat-ban-united-states-china.html -US WeChat Users Alliance Vs Donald Trump: https://chinaipr2.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/dkt.-01-complaint-for-declaratory-and-injunctive-relief-08-21-2020.pdf -US WeChat Users Alliance Order on Motion for Preliminary Injunction: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17470217/59/us-wechat-users-alliance/ -US vs Korematsu: https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-supreme-courts-worst-decision-lives-on-in-2016-campaign -US vs Wong Kim Ark: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/10/30/birthright-citizenship-trump-inspired-history-lesson-th-amendment/ -Yick Wo vs Hopkins: https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=mjrl SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

This episode of Escape From Plan A is sponsored by NCRC. Content creation, research, and podcast guest scheduling was done in partnership with the Adoptee Rights Campaign. ***** Adam is joined by three guests, Leah, Sara and Mike. All three are international adoptees without citizenship in America. In their own voices, each of them share the legal, practical, and emotional implications and impact that their status has had, and continues to have on the lives of themselves and their families. This is the first of a three part series exploring the issue of adoptees without citizenship. Part Two will explore the legal and policy perspective and Part Three will explore how the political climate effects solving citizenship for adoptees. TWITTER: Adam (@snbatman) SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com Special EFPA Opening and Closing Theme: "Space" by Soon Jo

Adam and Diana discuss three readings: "Ghost Dance Prophecy," Chapter 10 of "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States," by Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz; "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy," by Andrea Smith; and "The Racist Origins of U.S. Policing: Demilitarization Will Require Decolonization," by Julian Go. The core of the United States' identity is white supremacy. Its growth as a nation has always depended on genocide, enslavement, and colonization, beginning in indigenous American land, and now globally. To fight them, we need to understand how our oppressions differ, interact, and enable the others. White Supremacy is not a ladder we can climb to the top of. It is a 3-legged stool. REFERENCED RESOURCES: "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States" (Chapter 10 attached) https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/indigenous-peoples-history-of-the-us/ "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy" https://cpt.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/Undoing%20Oppressions%20-%20Three%20Pillars%20-%20Smith.pdf "The Racist Origins of U.S. Policing: Demilitarization Will Require Decolonization" https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-07-16/racist-origins-us-policing TWITTER: Adam (@snbatman), Diana (@discoveryduck) SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Emily Dong returns to continue the discourse with Diana and Teen. What is Sinophobia and how does it differ from and interact with anti-Asian racism? How do we process such antagonism as Chinese Americans? How do we relate to Black Radicalism and police violence? There are no easy answers, only another sprawling conversation. SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Mike and Q discuss Inventing Reality: The Politics of New Media, by Michael Parenti. The book pulls no punches in explaining exactly how the people who own the news media creates what is (and isn't) news. What is news invariably serves elites, their investments, and right-wing corporate interests. What gets twisted or isn't shown at all is usually the information necessary for the people to collectivize and organize in our own interests. This is the story of how social and political justice is undermined in "The Free World." It also explains a lot of why and how Asians in diaspora are trained to hate their home countries. REFERENCED RESOURCES: "Inventing Reality: The Politics of New Media" https://b-ok.cc/book/3525906/3999bb TWITTER: Mike (@ChuNghiaCafein), Q (@allyouneedis_q) SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

Psychiatrist Joshua Blum joins CS and Teen for an expansive discussion that begins and ends with Asian American mental health and covers pretty much everything that Plan A has been pondering for the last three years. TWITTER: CS Taniguchi (@c_taniguchi) Teen (@Mont_Jiang) SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)

This is a free extended preview. The full conversation (runtime ~2h51m) is available to Patreon supporters. Support us at https://www.patreon.com/planamag and get access to a private discord chat and all of the bonus episodes of Escape From Plan A. ***** It's estimated that porn constitutes ~30% of all internet traffic. One company dominates much of that traffic -- MindGeek -- but is not a household name. There are very few discussions about porn, yet porn is being consumed in huge amounts. It's as if porn does not exist in our regular everyday dimension, yet its influence can be felt everywhere. It has a particular effect on Asian American men, where discussions about masculinity, race, and social status are seemingly inflected by porn, yet porn itself is conspicuously absent from view. Jong, Diana, and Teen break this silence and step into the Porn Dimension to try and figure out what this tsunami of porn is doing to us as Asian Americans and the way we relate (or don't relate) to one another. REFERENCED RESOURCES: The Joy Fuck Club, Darrell Hamamoto https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07393149808429832 Pornography: Men Possessing Women, Andrea Dworkin https://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Andrea-DWORKIN-Pornography-Men-Possessing-Women-1981.pdf The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf https://shamelesslyunladylike.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/the-beauty-myth-naomi-wolf.pdf Pornography, Margaret Atwood https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/92.html SUBMISSIONS & COMMENTS: editor.planamag@gmail.com EFPA Opening Theme: "Fuck Out My Face" by Ayekay (open.spotify.com/artist/16zQKaDN5XgHAhfOJHTigJ)