Welcome back. We are continuingo
shine a spotlight on some of the
members in our community who arf
Asian or Pacific Islander desce.
In honor of Asian American
Pacific Islander Heritage Month
and at the top of the hour,
I shared my interview with
Representative Julie Yamamoto.
I also sat down with Representative Sue Chu.
Here's her story
I'm very beholden to. My ancests
and the folks that come before ,
I'm very aware that on a daily basis,
a Representative Sue Chu has had a front
row seat to a lot of changes inr
eighteen years in the Idaho legislature.
But her journey witnessing history started
long before her time as an Idaho lawmaker.
My dad was one of the very first
Chinese lawyers in California.
Chu grew up during the Civil
Rights era in California,
a time of unrest. And discrimination,
there's always been so
much friction for us.
Back in the old days,
we weren't recognized at all,
so the fact that we have this
is really important. Even as a
kid in Oakland, she says she wet
to school where there were very
few people who weren't white.
As a first and 2nd grader,
I was beaten every day.
Where I come from,
one of my classmates was black,
and he took the Bart station in the Bay Area.
To Walnut Creek to watch a basketball game.
He never made it back, and when people
followed to see what happened to him,
they found him in a tree.
Someone hung him.
So that's what we come from.
So when she was in pharmacy schl
and looking to work in geriatri,
she chose to come to Idaho,
which was one of three places
in the US at that time that had
a geriatrics pharmacy program.
She also had a family
friend here at the time,
so I called her. And this is Sa.
You do in a geriatric residency.
And she says, yes, I am.
And I'm like, and do they hang
people like us up in Idaho?
And she said no, Sue.
And I'm like, good.
And that's how she ended up in the Gem State.
I think what's important for me is the
idea of giving back to my commu.
I can specifically give back
to my Asian communities.
So, you know, when we had the.
Anti Asian hate that was associd
with COVID and things our
communities had to come togethe.
I mean for the most part I find
here in Idaho folks from our Asn
communities that I've dealt wit,
when things happen to them
in terms of anti Asian hate,
they don't want to tell anybody about it,
they just want to move on.
But we needed to unify.
Our community
a unity among all generations of
Asian Americans. This last elec,
Chu says 30 kids, most of them Asian,
organized and ran her campaign.
She says they have a different way of
doing things and that was seen n
they marched through downtown B.
They got standing applauses
by all these people.
Much different outcome than me.
They experienced it in a very positive,
uplifting way and my old ways coming from.
The civil rights time is I would
have had it shut down and controlled.
I would never have done that.
The kids found no harm and
they found love. Having
lived through the civil rights ,
Chu says It makes having a month dedicated
to Asian American and Pacific Islander
Heritage Month all the more spe.
Instead of having to try and blend in,
you could actually be you.
Now, I think it's so important t
people are upstanders or willing
to learn to be upstanders, righ?
And help each other be open to
folks that are different than y.
And also, you know,
a lot of folks have carried some
historic trauma that they themss
have have dealt with or you kno,
is in their genetic background.
So if someone's triggered, maybe just
give them a little bit of space just.
Love each other.
We're not perfect, right?
None of us are.
And Representative Chu is also e
first Idaho lawmaker who is Chi,
as well as the first Asian
female Idaho lawmaker.
And coming up tomorrow,
right here on the news at 4:00,
we have one more story for you,
part five of our Asian American Pacific
Islander Heritage Month stories.
And I actually interviewed my parents,
and that's coming up
tomorrow. Did you learn anything
about them in that interview?
Surprisingly, yes, actually.
Yeah, you know so.
And I'll share it with everyone
here tomorrow as well.
Different context,
learning different things.
That's cool that we can't
wait to see that here.