S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Today , should second homes that are empty most of the year face a new tax ? San Diego voters are deciding that in the June 2nd primary elections. We continue our ballot breakdown with a look into the details of measure A and San Diego City Council races , then how San Diego's Muslim community is celebrating Eid al-Adha after last week's Islamic Center shooting. Plus , a conversation with the groundbreaking writer on how she sees the intersection between activism and journalism. That's all ahead on KPBS roundtable. With Election Day fast approaching this Tuesday , June 2nd , some San Diego vote centers have already opened their doors. The remainder will be open starting this Saturday. And of course , voters can still mail their ballots as well. Those just need to be postmarked on or before Election Day. Today , we're continuing our series breaking down primary ballots with a look at a new tax targeting empty homes in the city , as well as some of the city council races on ballots this year. And I'm joined now by KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen. Hey , Andrew.
S2: Hey , Andrew.
S1: Welcome back. Thanks.
S2: Thanks.
S1: Great to have you here. So , you know , big , big week coming up here on your beat. You've covered , you know , a number of these local races here. Let's start with measure A. It's the only local measure here in San Diego on the ballot this year called the non-primary homes tax. Tell us more about it.
S2: So a non-primary home is a home that is not your primary residence as the name implies. And it This tax would also , um , so it would target somebody who's , you know , it's not the home that you live in most of the year. And it's also empty for most of the year. So it has to be vacant for more than a hundred or at least 130 days per year in a calendar year. And it can't be claimed as somebody's primary residence. The , um , the city estimates there are about 5000 of these homes in San Diego that is based on certain tax forms and claims that that people make on their homes. But it's not a it's ultimately not the number that will be subject to this tax. And that's because in the measure , there are a number of exemptions. You can be exempt if there is a natural disaster that has damaged or destroyed your home. Uh , if the owner of the home was your parent , you they die and you inherit it. There's a period where you know you're not subject to the tax. Um , of course , if if somebody does have a second home in San Diego and they would be subject to this tax , they might rent it out and decide , you know , they don't want to pay the tax. They would rather turn it into an income property. And that's one of the goals of the measure itself , is to take these homes that are not being used as long term residences by San Diegans and , you know , create a disincentive for the owner to keep it vacant. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And I want to talk a little bit more because it does seem , you know , obviously the city is dealing with a budget shortfall. So money is an issue here. Can you talk more about how much this tax you know , how much revenue the tax is expected to raise. And also just how much is the tax would it be for for a homeowner. Yeah. In that case.
S2: The the baseline is $8,000 for each home that is subject to the tax. If you own 3 or 4 vacant , you know , vacation homes in San Diego , you would have to pay that on each of them. That is for the first year in 2027. In 2028 , the tax rate would rise to $10,000 and then be indexed to inflation starting in 2029. In addition , there is a $4,000 surcharge for homes that are owned by corporations. Based on the city's estimates , this is a pretty insignificant number , but it is , you know , an additional tax that some that a corporation would have to pay if they own an empty second home in San Diego. And as far as how much revenue the you know , it's a hard thing to estimate because , you know , generally how many homes could be subject to the tax , but you don't know how many of those will be subject to the tax ultimately. And there are all sorts of things that people can do to try to avoid paying the tax. So the best estimate from the city's independent budget analyst was between 9 and $21 million in the first year. Other cities that have passed similar tax measures have found that revenue estimates are often overstated. They underestimate the number of people who will try and avoid paying the tax by one way or another , and the tax revenue tends to decline in the long term because again , more and more people are seeking to avoid it.
S1: But as you mentioned earlier , Andrew , there is another goal of this tax , which is around the amount of housing we have in here in San Diego. So can you talk a little bit about that balance if obviously it's we need more revenue and that's that's one angle of it , but it's also about just the amount of housing we have. Right.
S2: That's right. So you know , I think the supporters say there are two goals. One is to raise revenue for the city because the city has a big budget deficit. It's cutting library hours , rec center hours , funding for arts organizations. And , you know , any bit of revenue helps solve that problem and makes it easier to balance the budget without those cuts. Uh , the other part of the goal of measure A is to make these homes that are not going used by long term residents of San Diego , make those homes available to San Diegans. We know that there is that the shortage of housing available in San Diego plays a big role in the price of housing. Whether this tax will have a measurable impact on the cost of housing because it is making more homes available , I don't think we can say that , you know. That being said , what council member Shani La Rivera , who proposed this tax measure , has said many times in the media and in the council deliberations is that , you know , when we see a new apartment building go up that's providing 100 or 200 new homes to the city. We celebrate that. We're glad that that housing now exists when it didn't before. And this we should do the same thing for these homes that are vacant for most of the year and are going underutilized.
S1: And , you know , before moving on to some of the other races we want to talk about.
S2: The California Association of Realtors has spent huge amounts of money campaigning against measure A in digital ads , in mailers. Many of the listeners , you know , probably have gotten some mailers on measure A. Realtors , of course , earn commissions from the sale of homes. And San Diego has a decent sized market for vacation homes from people in other parts of the country. And so they , you know , see something. They see that they have something to lose here in terms of their , you know , market share and , and the ability to market these homes in San Diego for vacationers who were looking to buy a second home. Um , the support for measure A has has raised a fraction of that , a little over $100,000. So they are being far outspent by the opponents of measure A. But , you know , we'll see where where the whether either side actually has an impact on voters and how the the votes actually turn out.
S1: All right. So now I want to turn to , you know , the San Diego City Council races , those that are being voted on this year. But first , just briefly , I'm wondering if you can just tell us a little bit about the job of a city council member , because there can be. I don't know. I sometimes get confused of what's in the mayor's purview versus the city council. Just share a little bit more on that with us.
S2: Yeah , I think a big part of the job is constituent services. So , you know , if you have a broken streetlight in your neighborhood , if you're having issues with billing in the water department , you know , your city council member is the first point of contact that you have with the city bureaucracy. And they often help and should help their constituents navigate all of that. And that's , I think , sometimes an underappreciated aspect of the job. You have to be good at managing the amount of the volume of requests and contacts that you get from your constituents. As far as policy , you know that the city council has a big role in land use matters in housing and development matters. It has a big role in the budget. We've seen the council , you know , take a stand against the mayor. When the mayor proposes a budget , the council might pass a different budget. There's sometimes a back and forth with a veto and an override of a veto. So the job of a city council member is is incredibly important.
S1: All right. So let's go. I mean , the most crowded council race right now that's district 2nd May not have as many as it's on the on the ballot for governor , but there's still a lot of candidates. There's seven on this one , but three in particular have at least led the way in terms of fundraising. Tell us about those candidates in district two. And I should just note that includes , you know , Claremont down through AUB , Point Loma , mission Bay.
S2: So Richard Bailey is a candidate who is the the candidate who has raised the most money by far more than $200,000 this year. And he entered the race fairly late compared to the other candidates. He was he has a bit of name recognition because he was the mayor of Coronado before he moved to district two. He was also a Republican and a high profile Republican in San Diego County , before he reregistered as an independent within days of entering the race. Um , He didn't respond to our questionnaire. But I think , you know , he generally aligns with conservative viewpoints on questions of local government that the government should cut spending before it decides to raise revenue. There are two other Democrats in the race , Josh Cohen and Nicole Crosby , who have raised decent amounts of money , enough money to mount a serious campaign. Nicole Crosby is a deputy city attorney and has the endorsement of the Democratic Party. Josh Coyne is works for the Downtown San Diego Partnership and has won the endorsements of more business friendly Democrats and and housing activists. The other candidates are Mandy Havlicek , Jacob Mitchell , Mike Rickey and Paul Sepa. And Mandy Pavlik stands out among those four because she's run for this district once before and has , you know , been involved in a lot of activism and community advocacy. The other candidates haven't raised a lot of money and don't have a very big campaign presence.
S1: Okay , so let's move on now to the district eight race. It's another pretty crowded field. Uh , this covers , you know , Barrio Logan , Sherman Heights , Nestor , Otay Mesa. Um , you know , tell us more about this race in some of the candidates , you know , running this year.
S2: Yeah , four candidates in district eight. They are all Democrats , but different types of Democrats. One is Gerardo Ramirez. He's the chief of staff for the incumbent , uh , Vivian Moreno. And I think he comes from the same line of Democrats that has occupied this seat in the past , you know , decade or so , um , more centrist , more moderate , not antagonistic towards organized labor , but also not the staunchest organized labor ally. Um , you have Antonio Martinez , who served on the San Isidro school board. He previously worked for Congressman Juan Vargas , and this is his third time in the race. So , um , you know , he's familiar to voters , I think. And we'll see if this is the time he breaks through. Uh , Venus Molina is also a chief of staff for a city council member , but council member Jennifer Campbell in District two , so she works for a different council district , but has lived in district eight for a very long time and has deep roots there. She won the endorsement of the Democrats , which is the sort of pro housing , pro-development group of Democrats , and has been campaigning also alongside council member Steven Whitburn and Mayor Todd Gloria , who is not always seen as the most popular politician. So an interesting choice there to really associate her with Gloria and sort of tout his endorsement of her campaign. And then the fourth candidate is Rafael Perez. He is a realtor by trade , also an educator in the community college district. He has been an active , very active in Sacramento , passing different housing laws at the state level , and also runs the endorsement of the Working Families Party , which is a progressive campaign as sort of party structure that works within the Democratic Party to promote left or far further left candidates. Um , and so , you know , for again , for Democrats , but all very different types of Democrats. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So now that's we've covered district two , district eight. You've broken those down. There's two other council districts. District four and six are also on the ballot. You know , what can you tell us just briefly about those ? Yeah.
S2: They both have incumbents. So they're definitely less competitive than districts two and eight , which are open seats in district four. You have council member Henry Foster. Uh , he has two opponents. One of them is has raised some a decent amount of money. Her name is Martha Abraham , and she's been involved in a lot of neighborhood activism in district four. Um , so , you know , he , uh , will be facing one of those two opponents in the primary regardless , even if he wins a majority of the votes on the primary. And in district six , the incumbent is council member Kent Lee. And you know , he only has one opponent opponent. So it's not really there's not much suspense as to who will be making the run off. It's really just kind of a practice round for the November general election.
S1: Yeah , it can be easy to forget that this is really just the first go round. Obviously the top two in those races go ahead. So yeah that's a good reminder. It's not it's not over. It's really just beginning in a lot of ways. We have about a minute , a little over a minute right now. And I just want to , um , throw one more thing your way before we let you go. Just one through line here of our conversation , just like the role of money fundraising , you've mentioned it and how it's playing out.
S2: These are also called superPACs. They really exploded in the wake of Citizens United , which said , you know , you there's the laws that limit the amount of money that a corporation or a labor union or an independent group can spend in an election or unconstitutional. And so we've just seen more and more money flow into these superPACs , less money flow into the actual campaigns that are controlled by the candidates themselves. And , you know , that's that's troubling , I think , for good governance and democracy advocates , because ultimately , the person who's running for this seat should be the one accountable for the campaign. And when you have these outside groups , it can be very hard to tell , you know , where the money is coming from. It can be confusing to know who is behind the the ads and you know , whether the candidate actually has anything to do with it. So I'd say that's the the biggest takeaway I've seen recently and not a very encouraging one. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. Well , we appreciate you breaking this down. And you can find out more about these races and all the other races on your ballot at the KPBS Voter Hub. You can find that KPBS. Org. I've been speaking with KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen. Andrew , thanks again.
S2: Thank you.
S1: Up next , how San Diego's Muslim community has been observing Eid al-Adha , one week after the Islamic Center shooting round tables back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable , I'm Andrew Bracken. Each year , Muslims across the world celebrate Eid al-Adha , also known as the Festival of Sacrifice. The holiday marks the end of the Hajj , the annual pilgrimage to Mecca taken by millions of Muslims each year. This week in City Heights , KPBS East County reporter Elaine Alfaro paid a visit to one long running prayer service , and she joins me now to talk more about it. Elaine , welcome back to roundtable.
S3: Thank you. Glad to be back.
S1: So before we get into the specifics here , just first , can you tell us more about Eid al-Adha and what it celebrates ? Sure.
S3: Yeah. Like you had mentioned , Eid al-Adha marks the end of Hajj , the annual pilgrimage to the Mecca. And also , you know , EDA al-Adha also recognizes the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son as a sign of obedience to God. God ultimately gave a ram in replacement of his son so that he didn't have to sacrifice his son. But folks still today just honor and recognize Ibrahim's willingness and to sacrifice , and also to be obedient to to God. And so that's kind of what they dwell on on this day. And , you know , leading up to Adelaide to there's ten days , I believe , of prayer , of of reading and interacting with the Quran and being generous with their , with their money and their time. So that's kind of what the the holiday looks like and represents.
S1: And there's , there's two major official holidays in the Islamic calendar , right ? Right.
S3: Yeah , there's two Eid holidays. One marks the end of Ramadan , which happened in March of this year , and that Eid breaks the month long fast folks observe for Ramadan. And on that Eid they usually also have prayer service and a feast like Eid al-Adha.
S1: So you visited one local prayer service and was at Colina del Sol Park. It's been happening for for many years , so tell us more about it.
S3: Folks have been gathering at this park for decades , really to pray. On al-Adha , folks walked in from the surrounding neighborhood or drove in , parked nearby and walked to the park. And there were folks there from a few different groups , a few different places of worship. There was folks from Masjid Al-Ansar and also folks from the Huda Community Center , and I spoke with one of the imams who helped organize and lead the service as well. And so there's usually there's a sermon and then a time of prayer. And they had two prayer services on Wednesday morning.
S1: I mean , obviously , this is happening one week after the shooting at the Islamic Center. You know , still , the entire San Diego community is still kind of recovering from that.
S3: And I think that's the tone I , I noticed in that folks who I spoke with were telling me about just really focusing on the prophet's obedience and also thinking about the word sacrifice , I think felt very heavy for folks on that day as they thought about one , the sacrifice that's present in their religion and Ibrahim's sacrifice and obedience. But when you think of the word sacrifice , you know , they were also thinking of the martyrs and the folks , the three men who sacrificed their lives to protect their community. And so I do think there was a heaviness at the service.
S1: And you spoke with with many community members there. I mean , what else did you.
S3: Um , and so that was really a powerful part of this moment there. Like I said , there was definitely weight and grief. I spoke with a man named Nur who was on the security team , and he did say some folks were worried about their safety coming to the gathering on Wednesday. But he also , you know , highlighted and appreciated that the security team that was there and the police presence. I also spoke with Ismene Abdullahi , who is a board member of the Huda Community Center. And , you know , she shared some questions that she's been asking in the days after the shooting.
S4: What a safety look like for us as a community and our folks going to take anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobia seriously.
S1: So , yeah , and obviously safety remains such a concern. And that comes through in your story. But , you know , she also had a wider message she shared with you , right ? Yeah.
S3: She had a powerful message. Like she said , she wants folks to take the anti-Muslim bigotry seriously. I mean , this is not the only attack on the Muslim community this year or in recent years , but she really is also calling to address that , um , for solidarity from folks in and around San Diego and throughout the nation.
S4: We have a verse in the Quran in which God says that he created us into different nations and tribes so that we may get to know one another. We're part of that human family , and we're hoping that folks are able to just kind of stand strong with this community in this tragic time.
S1: Well , I mean , Elaine , as a reporter covering a story like this. There's a lot to it. There's a lot that goes into it.
S3: Are there not things to take lightly ? Um , I think I came into this really hoping and very consciously trying to listen to organizers and follow their lead in this moment. We were invited to come out , actually , we didn't just , you know , show up. And I think that was really important that , um , the community specifically Iseman talked about how she wanted visibility of this and for folks to know what the community is going through right now , not just the grief and the heaviness , which definitely she wants folks to know about , but also the resilience of the community and also the fact that in the days after this really horrible and tragic shooting that they have to persist. And they have these , um , holidays in these traditions. They want to continue to be able to observe without fearing for their safety. And so I think that was a really big message that I got from Iseman and the other leaders I spoke with. And so , yeah , in telling the story , all of those things I was thinking about and really just trying to amplify and listen to what organizers and community leaders are saying to have their story be told in this.
S1: And I think also what struck me is that , you know , this was just a very public open display of faith in this particular , like , very trying moment where safety is such a concern. But the fact that it was in a public park , you know , in the greenery in a public space was powerful as well.
S3: And that's kind of like one that feels especially important right now following obviously , the shooting. But it also is the fact that they've done this for decades and will continue to do this , hopefully for. For decades and for years to come. And um , that even in this very tragic and horrible and grieving moment for them that this continues to be a space that they find community and resilience and just like their faith and their their religion.
S1: And will , of course , have a link to your story on that. But before we let you go , Elaine also want to turn to another recent story of yours , and this one is focused on El Cajon , your East County reporter here at KPBS. Um , and you kind of delve into some of the history of El Cajon and how it became , you know , a hub for refugees over the past few decades. Tell us more about that history and , yeah , the story behind it. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. This story I couldn't tell the full , comprehensive history of El Cajon refugee community. It's something I hope this community is one. I hope I can continue to cover and peel back layers and tell more stories about. But based on interviews I had with community leaders and elders , my reporting really started Examining one of the large influx of refugees to El Cajon , where the Chaldeans in the 70s. And folks told me that , you know , this Chaldean community and the roots that they set down in El Cajon really set the stage for future migration of refugees to the city. So in the 80s , 90s and on folks from Syria , Afghanistan , Iraq , Lebanon and more came to El Cajon. And through years of , like I said , setting down roots , um , establishing businesses , places of worship , markets , you know , seeing their language and Arabic on business signs throughout the city , you know , all of these kind of elements of creating community really established the migration that would come in the in the years to follow. And so , yeah , this reporting tells that context in that history. And that just felt really important to recognize until right now in this current moment. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And so I mean , you mentioned this is a much larger story that you're just kind of getting into here. So for this one , you , you know , particularly honed in on the experiences of refugees from Afghanistan who've arrived in recent years.
S3: At the beginning of this fiscal year , President Donald Trump set the lowest refugee admissions cap in the program's history. He also last year gutted support for resettlement agencies that that helped refugee communities get established and find community and find jobs and housing and all those different things. And so it is a very difficult time , especially for folks like you had mentioned , who I spoke with from the Afghan community. I spoke with one man , Fareed Ibrahim , who came to the US in 2025 and who really shares what his experience has been since coming here.
S5: Hamish says Hamish. Naderi. 30TB.
S3: And a translator helped me with his interview , and the translator said that he was saying , essentially , you know , at first we were hearing lots of great things about America , but now we're more scared of if ice is going to come and deport us. And he came , you know , he came here legally. He had he got asylum , all of these things. And he still has that fear.
S1: Well , so much more to get into. But , Elaine , I'm just glad we had a few minutes to talk about some of your recent stories , and we'll have you on to discuss more coming soon. I've been speaking with KPBS East County reporter Elaine Alfaro. Elaine , thanks again.
S3: Thank you.
S1: Coming up , journalist and activist Helen Zia reflects on her career and the current moment. Roundtables back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Here on roundtable , we hear from journalists and writers from across our region to learn more about their work and their approach to storytelling. KPBS recently welcomed groundbreaking journalist Helen Zia to reflect on her career as both an activist and a journalist. For much of her life , she's advocated for women's rights , Asian-American rights , marriage equality and more. She's also authored several books about Asian American history and identity , including Last Boat Out of Shanghai and Asian American Dreams. Last week , KPBS producer Giuliana Domingo had the chance to speak with Helen in commemoration of Asian American , Native Hawaiian , and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Here's that conversation.
S6: So I want to start by talking about your journalism and activism , which are and have been very deeply intertwined.
S7: I grew up during the civil rights era , the women's movement , the LGBTQ movement , uh , the , uh , against the war in Vietnam. So it was a real time of a lot of activity. And I and my generation , many of us , ended up trying to figure out what we could do to change the world and or what we call systemic change today. But back then it was like , what can we do ? And it was , um , get involved in the community. Um , and I ended up in a factory in Detroit and , uh , went there with the idea of being part of the labor movement. I got a job in a factory. A stamping plant where we stamp out large and small pieces of steel to be part of cars when they were mostly steel in those days. And and like millions of other workers in those days , I got laid off because of an oil crisis in Iran , of all places. Sound familiar ? Right. And and then people couldn't get gas , and gas was too expensive. And there was a depression as a result of it. Unemployment. We talk about inflation now being high as it approaches 4%. Back then it was more than 14% and you couldn't get a job of any kind. And then there was a hate that emerged out of it. And I think in today's world , we have to be very , very aware that we don't want that kind of history to repeat. But it was out of that when I was unemployed for , you know , it seemed for months and months and months. I mean , actually , it might have been almost a year. It was what do I do next ? And I was so upset that the stories of people who I knew working in a factory and living among people in Detroit , their lives disrupted , were not being told people were suffering. And it was at that point I just thought , somebody's got to tell these stories and and nobody's doing it. And I could do better than what there is. I could do better than this because there's nothing. So that's when I began to think I could tell the stories , because I know what people are going through and from from that , I , I began learning how to become a journalist , what it takes , you know , how do you tell a story ? What's required to do the kind of research and reporting and interviewing ? So that's where it started from ground zero.
S6: Definitely , definitely. And I'm curious if you could tell me more about the landscape for journalism back when you were really starting to , you know , learn the ropes.
S7: Before then , it never occurred to me to become a journalist , because growing up in this 1960s and 70s , you did not see any women , you did not see any people of color. So it was not , you know , a viable option if you needed to get a job and have a career. So , um , so I was of the period when people were breaking in , breaking into journalism and it was hard to get jobs.
S6: Well , your work in journalism and advocacy has played a very significant role in the fight for civil rights. I'm thinking of the case of Vincent Chin , for example.
S7: And and unfortunately , that's way under fire today. But to me , what that means is the role of journalists is even more important than ever. You know , the the journalists like yourself who are willing to , to , um , stand against the tide , be it a , you know , public media station , you know , I mean , which is also under fire , terribly under fire , you know , and um , that is where the , um , you know , the the struggle is. That's where it's all meeting. That's why it's , you know , so tough. But being able to continue and tell stories that have some depth and context and a background and get behind the headline , which is not something that , um , is readily available to most of us now. You know , uh , that's the significance today , because that's going to be the record , that's going to be the the , um , public record that documents and chronicles this time for all , for all of history. And so , um , what journalists today are really the , the , the front line , you know , of of history. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. And speaking of journalists as being on the front lines of history and doing this really in-depth reporting. That brings me to your work in long form journalism , specifically in magazine journalism.
S7: I mean , part of the problem with media is that it simplifies , I mean , our especially our media today , social media , digital media broadcast in many ways because you are limited by time and space and all of that. And what that means is you have to figure out how to do a story in fewer and fewer words. What you know , what drew me to long form is that , you know what ? There really is a lot more nuance to every person. You know , every person is a complicated , complex human being , and if you really want to understand them and get somebody else to understand what motivated them to , you know , join the resistance , what motivated them to , you know , um , join the collaboration collaborationist forces and become part of the enemy among the people. I mean , if you really want to understand what motivates human beings and drives history and drives society , it takes a little bit more investigative pieces. All of those things. So that's what kind of journalism attracted me. I knew that I wouldn't be able to just be limited by a few paragraphs. And and I think the challenge today is how do we tell a fuller story , um , when attention spans and , and social media and all of that and algorithms are training people to , uh , you know , if you don't get them in a , like , two seconds , that's it. Right.
S6: Right. Lots of competing forces there for our attention. Yeah. Um , right now , um , we're seeing a coordinated effort to roll back on some of the civil rights that we've already discussed. But I'm specifically thinking of LGBTQ plus rights at both a federal and a state level. Um , you were at the front lines of the fight for marriage equality.
S7: Those are getting rolled back now. And so there's no question that we are at a time that we really do have to to look at what's happening to the people who are now , um , you know , being thrown back. Uh , back in time. Um , trans people , LGBTQ people , um , you know , have been targeted specifically and on really on the front lines of being attacked. Um , women , Roe v Wade , I mean , 50 years. How about that ? We can do that. And , you know , voting rights , just the ability for people who who couldn't get representation before now , you know , we're going back in time. So this is not a great time for Americans , for democracy , um , for the world. And and what that means For journalism is that we have to be documenting this. We have to be telling the world what is happening. And it's not easy because of course , public broadcasters , you know , the people who hold the purse strings are trying to eliminate public broadcast. But this is where those stories are best told , because they will be told in there in a context and in complexity. Include some of the history behind it , which is just not going to happen in a , you know , 20 minutes of an evening newscast in corporate media. So I think it means that the role of journalists today and in covering these stories are even more important.
S6: As you mentioned. This year marks the 50th anniversary since the founding of America , and Asian Americans have been a part of the fabric of that history since the very beginning , and even long before that.
S7: And and it's amazing to hear people talk about Wong Kim Ark , which is something those of us who pay attention to Asian American history know that all the people in America who came as immigrants , migrants , refugees can thank Wong Kim Ark for the fact that their descendants are who are born here , are considered American citizens. So I didn't learn about this guy's name , Wong Kim Ark , until I was well into adulthood , studying Asian American history and just feeling like if only I had known that when I was a kid , when somebody said to me , go back where you came from , I could say , you go back where you came from because you can only thank Wong Kim Ark , a Chinese American and Asian American , for the fact that you can be here. And so that's a story that's come to the fore. But I , you know , 250 years of American history. Well , we already know 1619 was important for a lot of other reasons , um , to the creation of America. But they're going back to the 1500s and 1600s. We can actually point to Filipino Americans who actually had , um , a villages in outside of New Orleans , in Louisiana. How did they end up there ? Well , think about it. The Spanish galleon trade , who knew how to navigate the Pacific Ocean ? It was Filipino sailors and , you know. Polynesians and Native Hawaiians. And so there were Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in this country well before 250 years ago.
S6: Yeah , definitely. And that's something I think a lot about being Filipino American. I moved here when I was ten years old , and it's an interesting experience to come from the diaspora or be part of the diaspora and then realize , you know , I think it was in college when I had that moment of realization like , oh , we have such a rich history of Asian American history here that I just hadn't been able to tap into you for a long time. And so that , I think , speaks exactly to that experience. We don't learn about that until adulthood. And I think that's especially timely now coming into this 250 year milestone or commemoration. Right.
S7: Right. And with all this stuff going on in the country , it's like , who is an American who belongs ? And when history and stories can be kept invisible , like you're not hearing these stories , you know , and , and and I don't know if you were like me wondering , do I belong here ? Everybody's telling me to go back where I came from. If I did that , I'd be back in new Jersey. But that's not where they want me to go. And so do I belong here. And then to find out. Well , actually , yes. You know , we could go back to the 15 , 1600s and there were people from Asia and the Pacific who were here. And so. Yeah. And just how much of your childhood , my childhood , so many other Asian American kids who are like like people tell me I don't belong here. I'm not American. And to to have had if they had had the possibility of knowing that. Yeah , sure. Before the Mayflower two. Right.
S6: I want to bring it back to journalism because you've been telling stories for decades through magazine articles , books and much more , and we've touched on just so many different facets of , you know , the work that you've done in your career and the impact that it's had. So I'm just curious.
S7:
S6:
S7: Um , I have to say that throughout my career as a journalist , when I was working as a journalist , I wrote almost no articles about Asian Americans under my own byline. I wrote some under another , you know , pseudonym , um , freelancing because the majority of of news organizations and whatever magazines that I work for , it just they weren't , you know , they didn't have room for stories about Asian Americans , even if I tried to pitch them. And so it really wasn't until I left daily journalism and went to really long form and went to writing books , that that's when I took the stories that I had been saving up , thinking , somebody's got to write about this someday and put them together in books. And so I'm , I'm really proud that I was able to sort of like , get it together at some point in my life to really start writing the really long form. My last book took me 12 years to write.
S6: Oh my goodness.
S7: Yes , it was long form. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. That long , long form. Yeah , exactly. But again , speaks to just the really the work that it takes to be able to produce or maybe even do the stories that the stories that still need to be told. Right.
S7: You have to care. A journalist has to care. You have to care about the subject. You have to care about the issue. You have to care about the people. Otherwise , why are you doing it ? And and then the longer it gets and the more time commitment it gets. You can't write a book if you don't care about it. Because you'll give up. Way before you've reached the end.
S1: That was KPBS producer Juliana Domingo speaking with award winning writer and activist Helen Zia. We'll have links to Helen's work on our website , KPBS. Org. That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for listening. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables technical producer is Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Juliana Domingo and Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer , and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Have a great weekend.
