🍉 Join us for a Palestine teach-in led by Bianca Mabute-Louie, MA and Reverend Addie Domske, as part of our AAPI Rising series. Moderated by Dr. Jacqueline Thanh, DSW, AM — Executive Director of VAYLA, this virtual teach-in will explore lessons on decolonization with an emphasis on history, solidarity, and shared liberation.

April 30th is also Black April, also known as Reunification Day, which serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come as children of Vietnamese refugees. We reflect on a painful time in history where many sacrifices were made and mourn the countless lives lost. As part of Asian diasporic communities, resistance against colonization and the ongoing repercussions of such violence have impacted us all. The Palestinian struggle is our collective struggle, and in solidarity we stand against the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Don’t miss this powerful conversation—register today!

Meet Our Speakers!

Bianca Mabute-Louie (she/her) is a scholar-activist, the daughter of Cantonese immigrants, and a new mama to a Chinese-Filipino son. She is currently completing her PhD in Sociology at Rice University, and is published in top academic journals (Social Forces, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Socius) as well as public outlets like Elle Magazine. She has been featured in CNN, TIME, ABC, LA Times, among other outlets. Her first book, UNASSIMILABLE, comes out January 2025 with Harper Collins.

Previous to academia, Bianca served Asian American youth in community-based organizations and taught Asian American Studies at college and high-school levels in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently serves on the board of Asian Texans for Justice. Through her work in academia and community organizations, Bianca is dedicated to helping Asian American communities celebrate our ethnic/racial identities and deepen our commitments to interracial, anti-imperialist solidarity and liberation.

Rev. Addie Domske (she/her) is a social worker and theologian, originally from a little borough north of Pittsburgh, PA. Addie is especially attuned to theology that is queer, anti-colonial, and that combats anti-Blackness. While attending seminary on the Southside of Chicago, Addie spent the summer of 2013 in the Holy Land--arriving with no understanding of Palestinian resistance. Oh, how two months in that land can change you! After meeting people on the ground in Palestine, Addie returned to the U.S. committed to indigenous land sovereignty, both in Palestine and on Turtle Island. She has been an active advocate in her national church, the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s adoption of BDS [Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions], and is on the faculty of the Hosanna Preaching Project, which trains preachers in decolonial theology in their preaching practice. Addie has returned multiple times to Palestine to stay connected with the reality on the ground; her most recent trip was in February 2024 by invitation of Sabeel, a Palestinian liberation theology institute. Addie loves the Arabic concept of sumud, baking without a recipe, and taking care of her many reptiles and black cat Bissa (بسة). She lives in Washington state with her spouse and 1.5 year old cutie pie kid.

AAPI Rising is a storytelling, workshop initiative to humanize Asian American life in the South and combat xenophobia while building partnerships with social groups, student groups, small businesses and communities in the Greater New Orleans area. AAPI Rising hosts educational speaker series in which we explore questions of identity, place, and empowerment so we can build power and community through a digital platform, offering a connection in the age of social distancing while asking difficult questions. We invite speakers working in AAPI communities as well as Black and Brown communities to discuss their journey and create calls to action for our next generation of leaders.