[upbeat music] [birds sing] [gentle music] - [Audre] We're all living on the planet so we have to learn to live peacefully together.

[children playing] It's like if we're all living in one house, we might get like mad at each other sometimes.

So we have to learn to work through that and to be better.

- [Kali] Age doesn't matter.

Say I'm fighting for Black Lives Matter or I'm fighting for women's rights.

It doesn't really matter how old you are, if you are fighting for something that's important.

[activists chant] [gentle music] [gentle music continues] [wind blows] [cars whoosh] - This is to myself for when I'm feeling sad.

I wrote encouraging things to myself.

So if I'm feeling like discouraged, then I can just open it and read what's inside and I'll feel better.

My name is Audre Without the Y. Mow.

[laughs] I was named after someone called Audre Lorde.

She is my mom's favorite poet.

She was an activist too.

- When Audre was born, I had this feeling like she would have a very strong personality.

And so I really wanted to give her a name that like meant something to me and my activism.

It became the perfect name for Audre who's also a creative person, a feminist, and very strong in her identity too.

[calm music] - This is a random feminism sticker that I made because I like feminism, and I'm a feminist.

This says, "My body, my choice."

This is one that says "Proudly Asian" with a little cute little dumpling.

This is just like a sketch.

It's very messy, but it says "Cats for Stop Asian Hate" because we don't like Asian hate.

[rhythmic beat music] Our family is an activist family.

It means we're involved in social justice, and we try to do our best to stand up for everyone.

- Ever since Audre and Violet were babies, we were very involved with like a group of families that also had kids who are organizers.

As the kids got older, we wanted to have something where they could really engage a little bit more, and we started Kids 4 freedom & Justice.

- My mom wanted me to be a part of it.

I didn't really want to at first, but then like I started going and it became really fun.

It's a great way to learn more about different issues in society and then how you can help them.

[rhythmic beat music continues] [children laugh] - What's the color, mom?

- Color's green.

- Dang it.

And I choose blue.

Uno.

- Dang.

- Go pull out the cards.

[Kali laughs] Yikes.

- Dang, I'm that good.

So this is my room.

I have books, and I have a few Lego sets and a lot of Harry Potter stuff.

[upbeat music] My name's Kali Perez, and I'm 11 years old and part of the Radical Monarchs.

Hi, friends.

Radical Monarchs is a group of young girls of color that wanna learn more about activism and stuff that they usually don't teach in schools like the rights for people of color and justice for women or justice for all races.

So radical race is about your ancestors.

Radical bodies is just about appreciating who you are as a person, just the skin that you're in, and then justice for people who aren't like the society norm of size.

And then a radical love was just about loving yourself, loving others, just how they are.

And then we're gonna get the Black Lives Matter.

[dog barks] - [Dr. Shadi] Three awesome women came together and they created the Black Lives Matter movement to emphasize the fact that what's happening with police brutality and how folks are being racially profiled is not okay and how we can like move towards stopping that from continuing to happen.

- It was stuff that we were talking about at home already.

So we decided it was what would be best as a family to see her grow as a person.

And then about six months ago, they were looking for another troop assistant.

So as a parent, I wanted to be more involved, and Kali was cool with me being there.

So, we made the decision to join.

- Think about one thing that you either learned about Black Lives Matter so far or that you have a question about.

Go ahead and write that on your sticky note, and then we're gonna collect them.

[group chatters] Okay.

Does anyone wanna share?

Yeah?

Ooh, the first Black Lives Matter group was the Black Panthers.

Ooh, I like that idea.

Did anyone else wanna share?

- Black and brown people was getting treated different than others and dying for their skin tone.

- [Dr. Shadi] Do you know what the word for that is called?

- No.

- Has anyone heard these words, racial profiling?

What do you think that means?

- As soon as they see someone that like doesn't have like the same skin color as them, like they're immediately gonna put them in like this certain category as if they're not someone that they could trust or something else like that.

- What we're working towards is having this public action, okay?

Part of public action is making people aware of a situation that might not be thinking about every day or know anything about.

And then the other piece is like a call to action, right?

So this is what the issue is.

This is what we wanna do about it.

What do you think, Kali?

- Could be a protest.

- [Dr. Shadi] Could do a protest, yeah.

Where would you wanna do a protest?

- Somewhere where there's a lot of people maybe like downtown LA.

I think it's gonna be fun for kids our age to be part of something like that rather than just be on the side lines.

[upbeat Latin music] [upbeat Latin music continues] [upbeat Latin music continues] - Jenny, Jenny, they're over here.

We're making japchae for Feast of Resistance.

- Well, Feast of Resistance was a tradition started by Asian American Movement activists that tells the history of Asian American like movement history through food.

And then this year, we're doing food demonstrations.

[knife chops] - We made kimchi for the Feast of resistance.

Kimchi is my favorite fermented food.

This is what it looks like.

It's fully fermented right now I think.

Ah!

- Ooh, see that's the fermentation.

And smell it.

- Ooh, it smells like kimchi.

Look at it.

[Liz laughs] Smell it.

Smells delicious.

[calm music] [table cloth rustles] [drink pours] [calm music continues] - [Host] Hi, everybody, welcome to Feast of Resistance.

[attendees cheer] - Feast of Resistance started almost 30 years ago.

It came from this little idea that Asian Americans needed our own holiday that was not based in our home countries, but based in America.

It never took... That's why you don't see it.

We don't get the day off from work, but what it did turn into is these kind of collective, communal dinners and potlucks that bring people together.

The idea is to use food to teach the Asian American history, specifically history that deals with the resistance, not your general cultural stuff.

So the first Feast of Resistance food is hot tea, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, and those were eaten by Chinese railroad workers.

It was probably some of the last foods that they ate when they went on strike for equal wages to white workers.

They didn't get paid the same, and they had to buy their own food.

So, we eat these foods to remember that hard work.

[attendees chatter] - All right, so we're gonna make chilaquiles.

Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican dish dating back to centuries of the early aspects.

We're talking indigenous people way before us, right?

There's a lot of different ways to make chilaquiles.

We're gonna show you the way we make it in our family today, okay?

- Take one or two of the pears.

It's between an apple and a pair.

We make kimchi all together in community, and everybody takes it home.

Okay, why don't you guys try mixing?

I definitely was not part of an activist family.

Like many Korean Americans, my parents were like, "Don't make any noise.

"Study hard.

"Get a high paying job."

I knew though for me and for our family, we wanted to get the kids connected to community and to activism.

[gentle music] - This is definitely my favorite.

It's delicious.

- Isn't that good?

- [Kali] Oh, my gosh.

That was too close.

Try to walk out to where it rolled now.

[laughs] - Ooh.

- You want a potato taco, or you just want rice and beans and a tortilla?

We're fourth generation.

My husband is fourth generation Mexican as well.

Our parents don't speak Spanish.

My grandparents speak very little.

So, we've been really intentional about trying to understand our ancestry.

Kali's done like little home interviews like with her grandparents.

- One of the units we did was called Radical Roots, and they talked about your ancestors.

During that time, we went to my great grandma, Becky, and she taught me some of her recipes, so just learned how to make like menudo, pozole and salsa and tortillas.

It's always just fun to hear about where they came from.

So like my great grandma might talk about Mexico.

The other might talk about just how they were raised as Mexican people.

So, I just thought it was cool to listen to that.

[uplifting music] [children laugh] [uplifting music continues] - Good morning, Monarchs.

So we've all played Simon Says before?

Yes, okay.

So Maya Angelou says we follow the commands, and then you're out if you move without Maya Angelou telling you to move.

Cool?

Okay, so Maya Angelou says stomp your feet.

[feet stomp] All right, Maya Angelou says take three steps forward.

[feet stomp] Stop.

Ooh.

[laughs] [Monarchs laugh] - [Leader] [laughs] That was like a bunch of the people.

[leaders laugh] - [Leader] I don't know who was out, so I'm gonna let that pass.

- Oh, okay.

- Honor code, honor code.

- There we go, there we go, integrity, I appreciate it.

[all laugh] All right, as we're practicing our chants today and making posters, I know our whole unit is around Black Lives Matter, but is there anything in particular we wanna make sure to make signs for?

Like are we focusing on Black girls?

Are you focusing on Black lives in generally.

- Everything.

- A little bit of everything?

Okay, cool.

But first, I wanted to just teach you all some chants that we can do.

Ready, go.

- What do we want?

- [All] Justice.

- When do we want it?

- [All] Now.

- What do we want?

- [All] Justice - When do we want it?

- [All] Now.

- Good job.

Okay.

- Black Lives.

- [All] Matter.

- Okay.

- Again, oh, okay.

- Three times.

We'll do it three times, how about that?

- Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Good job, if you're feeling anxious about it now when it's literally just us, [laughs] imagine what it's gonna be like in front of other people, right?

You could do it.

I believe you.

[relaxed music] [group chatters] [relaxed music continues] - [Gia] Can I just draw another one?

- Yeah.

We're just decorating our paper because that's totally what professional people do.

May is a AAPI Month.

So our school always does these ASMs, which stands for all school meetings, and a AAPI means Asian American Pacific Islander, and we're both Asian.

- Yeah.

And we're gonna be really talking about like Stop Asian Hate because we feel strong about it.

- Mhm.

- First I thought maybe it would be helpful for you all to learn like a little bit of the history and background so you can learn, and then figure out where you wanna go in the presentation.

So, let's see.

[gentle music] - [Victim] A few weeks ago I was in a grocery store, and someone behind me in line was glaring at me and then said, "You don't belong here."

- The way I explained to Audre like grandma's generation, they faced racism but they dealt with it differently, right?

Their goal was to just survive and to really like be as successful as possible, and then also like setting up education for their kids.

But our generation cares about understanding ourselves and then the role that we could play in the community and the world.

- [Anchor] Activism also taking the form of agency as Asian Americans turn to self defense training to protect themselves and their families.

- [Participant] It's really easy to feel like you can't do anything as a young person.

Seeing other young people around me making changes in their own community, no matter how big or how small, has been really inspiring for me.

- It was inspiring to see like younger people like me stand up for their rights and other things.

- I definitely agree.

And like I also thought it was kind of sad how all these attacks were happening.

- If you were walking down like a street and someone like just like punched you because of like your race, and that just wouldn't be right 'cause you are just trying to have a normal day.

- Also, it's not really good to punch someone in the first place.

- [Liz] In general, right, and definitely not because of their race.

- Yeah, they shouldn't have to be forced to learn self-defense just so they can like get through a daily basis.

- Yeah.

- Well, Audre and I talk about like white supremacy.

Have you heard that term before, Gia?

- I think I recognize it, but I don't remember it.

- [Liz] Mhm.

So basically it's like... How would you explain white supremacy, Audre?

- It's basically like the belief that people who are white are better.

- Wow.

- On the other side of it though, because there's been a long history of this kind of stuff, there's also been Asian American activism.

A lot of it was based on like activism from like other people of color that were here before us, right, Indigenous Americans, Black Americans, and Latinx folks, right?

- Yeah.

- What are you all thinking right now about the presentation?

- I think we have a pretty good amount of things to like add and talk about that.

And I think so far this will be pretty good.

[gentle music] So what should our first like kind of subtopic be about?

- [Audre] Maybe what is Stop Asian Hate?

- Yeah.

[gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] - As a dad, having my kids go to protest and some of the stuff that you see on TV, you know, not all of 'em turn out peacefully.

That's where my worry's at.

But at the same time, you know, for her to understand those struggles and those challenges that she could face out in the real world and let her know from a young age is very important to have her established and have her prepared.

- You okay?

- Yeah.

- [Jessica] Yeah?

All right, I'm excited to hear you yelling and leading.

- Will I yell though?

- For sure.

- Will I lead?

- All right.

You're already doing it.

- Will I?

Am I?

- You'll be out there with your crew.

You guys know what you're talking about, one of your signs that you work so hard on?

- We'll see where it takes us I guess.

- [Jessica] Okay, baby.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] [people chatter] [bell rings] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] - [Coach Jessie] Check and make sure I got all your lines highlighted.

Well, I started in purple, but the purple was too dark so I switched it to pink.

[laughs] - No!

[Coach Jessie laughs] - So, friends, today is our last date of this badge unit.

What is this badge unit?

- [Group] Black Lives Matter.

- Oh, okay, wonderful.

So, because we're staying on the street, there shouldn't be any reason for us to get in trouble.

Well, does that mean that people are gonna agree with us and always say nice things?

No, not necessarily.

So, does anyone have any ideas of what we should do if something like that happens?

- [Participant] We could just walk away from that.

- Yeah, we're not trying to fight with people.

We have a right to say what we believe, and that's what we're doing today, okay?

[gentle music continues] - It's been so much fun working on this with you all, getting all of your ideas and helping that shape the ASM, and I'm very proud of you all.

Normally, we have a planning committee of staff and caregivers that sign up to help plan our ASM, but for this one, Audre and her mom approached me saying Audre's really passionate about this issue of Stop Asian Hate, if she could present at this ASM.

It's just really inspiring to me and has me rethinking how we can do these assemblies with more student voice in the future.

[students chatter] Oh, come on, are you ready for our ASM?

[students cheer] All right, everybody, we're gonna do a big whoosh clap to our student leaders on the count of three.

You all know how that goes.

Ready?

One, two, three.

[students clap] Whoosh!

- [Audre] Hi, CWC stars.

I'm Audre.

- And my name's Gia.

And we made a - [Both] Special presentation just for you all about Stop Asian Hate.

- [Student] But what is Stop Asian Hate?

- Great question.

Asian hate is when people discriminate against people for being Asian.

- Or like when people say, "Go back to your country."

- Yep, exactly like that.

So Stop Asian Hate is fighting against Asian hate.

Asian hate is something we all need to work together to stop.

- This is where solidarity comes in.

- Can you say solidarity?

- [Students] Solidarity.

- Solidarity is when different people, regardless of race, work together to stop Asian hate.

- Oh, so you don't have to be Asian to do your part to stop Asian hate?

- Today may have been about stopping Asian hate, but we want to remind you that at CWC we are against any kind of hate against any kinds of people.

- And we value every single one of you sitting in this auditorium today.

Yeah, you, you, you, you, you, you.

- So for our closing cheer today, we're gonna try something very simple.

It's a call and response, and it goes like this.

- When we say stop, you say hate.

- Stop.

- Hate.

- Stop.

- Hate.

[audience cheers] - [All] One, two, three, stop hate!

- Two, four, six, eight.

- Stop the violence.

Stop the hate.

- Two, four, six, eight.

- Stop the violence.

- Stop the hate.

[group cheers] [gentle music] [cars honk] ♪ Everywhere we go ♪ People wanna know ♪ People wanna know ♪ Who we are ♪ Who we are ♪ So we tell them ♪ So we tell them ♪ We are the Monarchs ♪ We are the Monarchs ♪ The mighty Radical Monarchs ♪ The mighty Radical Monarchs ♪ Fighting for justice ♪ Fighting for justice ♪ And liberation ♪ And liberation - Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Black Lives.

- Matter.

- Black is.

- Beautiful.

- Black is.

- Beautiful.

- Black is.

- Beautiful.

- Black is.

- Beautiful.

- Good job, Audre.

- I really like Audre.

Like means I'm Gia.

[group chatters] One way to help stop Asian hate is to learn more about Asian hate history and to educate about it.

So yeah, I feel good educating people about it.

- You just did your first public action.

What did it make you feel?

- Made me feel good and that we were like spreading awareness.

- It made me feel like I was part of something very, very, very, very important 'cause it was.

It was kind of like powerful.

Like it kind of makes you known that like you have a voice, and that you're like able to try to change things.

- I was feeling a little bit scared at first, but then I just like felt this burst of excitement.

- [Leader] Power to the people!

[group chatters] - In the future, we're obviously gonna have more kids, and kids are just being really sensitive out of this kind of thing like, oh, it's too dark, or, oh, world's perfect, you don't have to worry about this kind of stuff.

So kids are raised like that, and we're not gonna be able to fight the injustice that is going on today and probably will go in the future if we don't change it now.

[gentle music] - [Leader] Way to go, Kali.

[group cheers] - Before the part where we were about to say, "Hi, CWC stars," GIA freaked out a little bit, and she got really scared - It was a big help.

- So I calmed her down.

- It helped that she calmed me down.

- 'Cause we're besties.

[gentle music concludes] [upbeat rhythmic music] [upbeat rhythmic music continues] [upbeat rhythmic music concludes] [wind whooshes] [calm tone] [upbeat music] [upbeat jingle]