Uncovering to Recovering w/ Rebecca and Phillip Ozaki
(S4, EP 8) Rebecca and Phillip Ozaki joined me for this week's episode. They are two of 4 children born and raised in Chicago, and of Japanese and Filipino descent. Both Rebecca and Phillip talked about their grandfather's trauma from living in the Japanese-American prison camps during WWII. Both their grandfather and father became long-time activists in the Chicago Japanese community for years fighting for reparation and redressing for Japanese survivors who experienced the racism and displacement of their homes during the imprisonment era. Rebecca and Phillip take us on their journey in uncovering their family's past, their father's recent passing, and how all of this has motivated them to fight against inequities and injustices that BIPOC communities continue to face in the US through their own work. You wont want to miss this episode!
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Bio:
Rebecca Ozaki was raised in a family of artists and activists and in intergenerational community spaces that have shaped her vision of the world. Her grandparent's story of survival in Japanese American concentration camps during WWII has led her to work and volunteer in local and national Asian American organizations and ultimately, to become a social worker in order to understand what healing and liberation looks like for communities that have experienced generations of trauma. Rebecca is a Healthcare Community Organizer at Jane Addams Senior Caucus working with elders to fight for racial/housing/healthcare justice. Specifically, Rebecca leads the Care Collective campaigns for nursing home abolition and Universal Long-term care, runs mutual aid initiatives, and community healing circles.
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Phillip Ozaki is an activist for the civil rights of LGBTQ and AAPI people and their intersections. After completing his sociology degree in his hometown, Chicago, he fundraised for the Japanese American Citizens League and Lambda Legal, the nation's oldest and largest Asian American and LGBTQ legal rights organizations, respectively. He is also a founding board member of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance. Phillip has lived all over the USA and the world including Spain where he studied at the prestigious ESADE MBA.
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Season 4 is sponsored by Red Scarf Revolution (RSR). RSR aims to bring awareness to the tragedies, atrocities and cultural destruction the Cambodian people endured from 1975 to 1979 under the Khmer Rouge regime and how that period impacts us today. With that awareness, Red Scarf Revolution advocates the silenced art, music, culture, and language, with designs that incite the resiliency of the Cambodian people. Visit them at www.redscarfrevolution.com to check out their merch line and to learn more about their work, or follow their Instagram at red_scarf_revolution or on their Facebook.
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