API Underground - Kansas City

05/17/2022

Anyone interested in getting into politics of the progressive/democrat affinity as staffers, campaigners, or candidates?

08/26/2021

This looks really interesting! Anyone interested?

Also, if you don’t already follow on Instagram, check them out. They always post super good and helpful information and resources.

07/06/2021

Seating will be finalized by noon on Thursday, so claim your spot and join API Underground and Tradewind Arts in supporting artistic representation on stage for the youngest AAPIs!

UMKC student Hieu Bui takes the stage in Coterie Theatre's outdoor production of Dragons Love Tacos and we'll be there to cheer along! Limited discounted seating available through Thursday with additional subsidy through Tradewind Arts!

05/22/2021

Did you know that Japanese Americans weren’t the only people who were imprisoned by the US government during World War II?

Because of Japan’s show of force in the then-territory of Alaska, nearly 900 Aleuts were rounded up from the Pribilof Islands and Aleutian Chain, transported 2000 miles near Juneau (some even farther), and dumped into abandoned canneries and fisheries that lacked heat, water, and sewage systems. These interned indigenous peoples were held for three years, but it took over forty years before this country even acknowledged what had been done to Aleuts. By then, over half of those who were interned had already died.

As we enter the final week of AAPI Heritage Month, let’s remember that AAPI history is complicated and always intertwined with other BIPOC communities. Let’s demand rigor and high standards for learning—for ourselves and others. If we remain self-centered and unaware of the fullness of our histories, or believe that our personal experiences alone are enough to make us racial justice “experts”, we end up harming everyone in the Movement.

Joaqlin EstusIndian Country Today The Alaska Legislature unanimously voted on Monday to help protect an Unangax, or Aleut, cemetery in Southeast Alaska. The

05/19/2021

Happy birthday to Yuri Kochiyama. What a legacy she left for us!

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SONG FOR AN ASIAN AMERICAN RADICAL: YURI KOCHIYAMA
By David Mura

I open the door

and there she stands hectoring me

about Malcolm X.
Says impatiently there’s no time

for sumiye or sake,
exigencies of meter, rhyme.

She’s so tiny, I’m so
unknowing, the fractions enormous,

all those years of fires
in Philly, Detroit, Oakland, Harlem, Watts.

Behind her the night
stalks its stars beyond history

and I know if I shut
this door each time she vanishes farther

till nothing remains
but silence and sleep.

Reader you may think
in the end I’ll let her in. Don’t

count on it. That’s
why she keeps knocking

night after night.

05/16/2021

Check out the mention we got in The Kansas City Star!

Great things are happening, folks—thanks for being here to support all of it!

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“In April, community activist PaKou Her co-founded API Underground, the mission being to build kinship among the Asian American community in Kansas City and provide opportunities to get involved in grassroots initiatives.
.. The organization is still assessing the community’s needs, but is considering ways to expand bias reporting as well as education about the Asian American culture that goes beyond food, delving deeper into issues around race and identity.
.. ‘We’re not here to have some kind of liberatory experience just for Asian Americans,’ Her said. ‘We know that if we’re going to have a radical, revolutionary anti-racist experience, then we need to be fighting for that for everybody else as well, and that is a core value for us.’”

“Until we get justice for everybody, an injustice to anybody is a threat to justice for all.”

05/14/2021

Come hang out with us tomorrow at Cafe Cà Phê!

Members of API Underground will be tabling and talking to folks about our new group and some of the things we want to do to support and strengthen KC’s API community. We’ll be there from 10:00-2:00 with stickers and information about how to join us.

*AND* you can grab great Vietnamese coffee and support a bunch of awesome foodies and local makers at the same time. It’s a win-win!

05/12/2021

Get to know the diverse, dynamic, and talented AAPI community, including up-and-coming talent that's been nominated by some of the most influential AAPIs across the country.

Who is Making Asian American Pacific Islander History in 2021: The GMA Inspiration ListMalala Yousafzai and more nominate those who are making history in our world.ByGood Morning AmericaviaMay 10, 2021, 9:02 AM• 296 min readShare to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleABC News Photo Illustra...