Background

In 2020-21 there was a marked an increase in US media coverage of violence and hate crimes against people of Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islander (ASPA) descent within the context of COVID-19.  Anti-Asian racism is not an outcome of the pandemic, it is endemic to our country, and there is a history of scapegoating Asian communities in times of national crisis.  Still, the surge of shuttered ASPA-owned small businesses and family-owned restaurants due to the devastating effects of the pandemic and the increase in political attacks on immigrants and communities of color, is contributing to the silencing and erasure of ASPA voices in our communities.  

Placemaking

The Kitchen Table Stories project aims to disrupt anti-Asian narratives, combat erasure, and create a sense of place and cultural permanence for ASPA communities through allied voice.  It recognizes care as an art form that draws on cultural wisdom, ancestral healing and collective power, and will take place in multiple physical and virtual community spaces.

Placemaking

"Unless we know ourselves and our history, and other people and their history, there is really no way that we can have positive interaction where there is real understanding"


- Yuri Kochiyama, Human Rights Activist

Over 10% of Evanston's residents identify as ASPA, and that percentage isn't accurate.  Due to the limitations of boxes on census and city surveys, the term "Asian American" does not resonate with many who identify as ASPA.  South Asians, for example, seldom identify with the term because the general understanding is that Asian American refers to East Asians.  Filipinx, and other communities whose countries were colonized by the Spanish, sometimes identify as Latinx.  Further, in Evanston, there are many mixed families, especially White-ASPA families, with family members who might identify as "mixed race."

​

Despite the fact that ASPA's have lived in Evanston for generations, and there is a solid and growing number of ASPA's in Evanston, historical data, community stories, and artifacts are nowhere to be found.  The lack of documentation of a community is a function of white supremacy.  It is a systemic erasure of a people.  The perpetual foreigner stereotype is one that has been applied to ASPA's in the U.S.  Regardless of whether they were born in or the US or your family has been in the US for multiple generations you are not American.  This certainly rings true if it is supported by a lack of documentation that a community ever existed.

​

“By not showing up in American history, by not hearing about Asian Americans

in schools, that contributes to that sense of foreignness.”

- Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn, Teacher-Educator

  Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning for Justice initiative

​

In 2021, the TEAACH Act was passed in the state of Illinois, mandating that Asian American history be taught in all IL K-12 public schools.  Although this is a significant step towards ensuring that ASPA people and stories are brought to light, we have to ensure that the ASPA experience in the U.S. is not reduced to a monolithic experience and limited to facts and dates.  We can start by ensuring that students who are learning in our D65 and D202 have access to ASPA people and stories in their own community.  ASPA students should be able to read, see and hear about people whose stories reflect their own, and non ASPA students should be able to find ways to make personal connections to the ASPA experience in their own community.  How can we teach Asian American history without knowing our own ASPA history here in our city?

​

The Kitchen Table Stories Project is partnering with the Evanston History Center on a project called "Placemaking."  The goal is to establish an accessible archive of the ASPA community in Evanston.  We are currently researching historical documents and artifacts, and gathering oral histories to include in the archive.  The goal is to unearth these stories that have been hidden for so long, and to establish a timeline for the ASPA community in Evanston.

​

TEAACH

What is TEAACH?

With its historic passage in April 2021, the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act amended Illinois School Code, ensuring that every public elementary and high school student in Illinois learns about the contributions of Asian Americans to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the United States.

Beginning with the 2022-23 school year, every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history, including the history of Asian Americans in Illinois and the Midwest, as well as the contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward.

Ensuring that Asian American history is taught in our schools lays a foundation for cross-cultural education for all students in Illinois and advances racial equity.

​

(From Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Chicago)

TEAACH Programming and Professional Development

​

Kitchen Table Stories Project will be hosting a series of TEAACH Professional Development Workshops in summer 2022 and throughout the 2022-2023 school year. Through Kids Create Change, we will also be offering art-based programs for students K-8 during the 2022-2023 school year.

​

More info coming soon!

TEAACH Resources

​

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Chicago

Illinois State Board of Education

Movement Hub

​

In the news...​

​

Daily Northwestern

May 2022

​

Daily Northwestern

May 2022

​

Daily Northwestern

April 2021

​

Evanston Art Center

April 2021

​

City of Evanston

May 2021

​

Dear Evanston

September 2021

​

Our Evanston

October 2021

Who We Follow on Instagram:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Asian American Advocacy Fund

Asians4Antiracism

AAPI Women Lead

Dear Asian Americans

Dear Asian Youth

Hate is a Virus

Unapologetically Asian