Encore - Building Bridges: Combating Anti-Asian Racism

Originally recorded on April 21, 2021.  

The goal of this program is for the whole community to build bridges  together in an effort to show unity due to the recent rise in anti-Asian  racism.  The program features a diverse group of panelists who will provide  educational background and share their unique perspectives on this  topic.

The panel includes Sylvia Chan-Malik, Khyati Y. Joshi and Thomas  Wong.  Sylvia Chan-Malik, Ph. D,  is an  an Associate Professor in the  Departments of American and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers  University-New Brunswick. She talks, teaches, and writes about the  intersections of race, gender, and religion, with a focus on the history  and cultures of Islam and Muslims in the United States.  She is the author of Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color  in American Islam. She speaks frequently on issues of U.S. Muslim  politics and culture, Islam and gender, and racial and gender politics  in the U.S. Her commentary has appeared in venues such as NPR, Slate  News, The Intercept, Daily Beast, PRI, Huffington Post, Patheos,  Religion News Service, and others. 

Khyati Y. Joshi, Ed. D, is a public intellectual whose social science  research and community connections inform policy-makers, educators, and  everyday people about race, religion, and immigration in 21st century  America. She has lectured around the world and published ground-breaking  scholarly and popular work in her field, while also serving as an  advisor to policy-makers and a leader in the South Asian American  community. Her most recent book is White Christian Privilege: The  Illusion of Religious Equality in America.  In addition, she is a Professor of Education at Fairleigh Dickinson  University and a social science researcher whose work focuses on the  intersections of race and religion in the United States. She frequently  consults with school districts, independent schools, the judiciary,  non-profit organizations, faith communities, and business on fostering  equity and inclusion.

Thomas Wong received his Masters of Divinity from Trinity International  University in 2001. Since that time he has pastored at Rutgers Community  Christian Church (2001-2007) and is currently the senior pastor at  Point Community Church; a multiethnic and multicultural congregation  here in East Brunswick (2009-Present).  As part of the Southern Baptist  denomination, he has served on the Coaching Team & Assessment Team  for new pastors and planters in the NJ/NY area, as well as President of  the Asian-American Fellowship.  He is currently a member of the East  Brunswick Inter-faith Council, as well as the East Brunswick Alliance  for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug abuse.

Instead of an honorarium, the speakers requested to have funds donated  to Stop AAPI Hate, a non-profit organization that tracks and responds to  incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning and  child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the  United States. Information about this cause can be found online at  www.stopaapihate.org.  # # #