Get Out the Asian Youth Vote : A Celebration of Asian Heritage Month

Hey everyone, my name is Ben Yang, a campaign volunteer and one of the organizers of this event. Thank you all so much for attending and celebrating the start of Asian American Heritage Month with us. We have a great program prepared for you all this afternoon, where we will start with some opening remarks from our amazing panelists, followed by a free-form conversation. Before we get started, I'd like to thank my fellow volunteers, who you can see on the and Leo Deng, as well as campaign team members John Son, Erica McLeod, Shelby Sommerfeld, John Lowe, and Trip Yang for their work in bringing this event together. May is a very special month for the Asian American community, recognizing the contributions and sacrifices of Asian Americans in this country throughout its history. But as we reflect on the past, we must also reflect on what we can do right now to advance the causes of API equality and civic engagement. Local elections and voter registration deadlines are coming up fast all over the country, and now it's time for all of us to register and drive our friends, family, parents, and grandparents to register to vote. As Americans, our vote is our voice, and now, more than ever, it is important that we are heard. It is my pleasure to introduce someone who has dedicated himself to this idea over the past decade, running one of the only Asian American political consulting firms in New York and serving as campaign manager and chief strategist for multiple winning New York City campaigns. Up next is Senior Advisor to Andrew Deng, Trip Yang. Hey, everyone. Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here. My name is Trip Yang. You know, no relation here, but Ben has a great name as well. And it is an honor for us to kick off AAPI Heritage Month, May 1st, with all of you. It has been a very challenging year for many of us in the Asian American community as well as friends of ours in all communities. There has been so many challenges associated with the pandemic, so many challenges associated with the surge and the rise of Asian American hate crimes, and frankly, challenges that have been affecting our community long before COVID ever came to the U.S. But we are resilient, and we are here to celebrate our culture and our diversity and the accomplishments of our community and all of our future accomplishments to come. We have a very critical election here in New York City, the Democratic primary is going to be in a little bit over 50 days where we have the opportunity to make history and elect the first Asian American mayor of New York City. And we have an opportunity as well to increase Asian American turnout and uplift all of our Asian American communities and ensure that we have a voice in city government. So we have a number of incredible special guests here today. They are esteemed in all backgrounds, and it's a pleasure for me to mention some of them here today. And Joyce will introduce some of them right afterwards. So to kick off, we have a number of folks such as Philip Lim. Philip is an American fashion designer. He was born in Thailand of Chinese descent in the fall of 2005. He co-founded 3.0 Philip Lim with friend and business partner Wen Zhao. The Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Lim the 2007 Award for Emerging Talent in Women's Wear. And he also won in 2012 the Council's Swarovski Award for Men's Wear and the Award for Accessories Designer of the Year in 2013. We will have Joyce introduce him in a bit. We also have Cathy Yan here as well. We are very honored to have her. She's a Chinese-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Her films include the comedy drama film Dead Pigs in 2018 and Birds of Prey in 2020, the eighth installment of the DC Extended Universe. Before filmmaking, Cathy worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal in New York, Hong Kong, and Beijing. We also have Eddie Huang here. He is a film director, author, chef, restaurateur, food personality, producer, and attorney. Eddie is the co-owner of Bao House in the East Village. He has previously hosted Huang's World for Viceland and his autobiography Fresh Off the Boat, a memoir many of us know. He also directed Boogie, if any of us checked that out earlier this year. His parents were immigrants from Taiwan and we're very honored to have Eddie Huang here as well. And lastly, I'm going to introduce them a little bit later in the program. We have Assembly Member Ron Kim, who is the first ever Korean-American elected official in New York State, and we have Gigi Lee here, who is the first ever Asian-American community board chair in New York City, who's currently running for city council. So without further ado, I am going to turn it over to Joyce, who will kick off the introductions of our guests today. Good afternoon, I'm Joyce. I want to thank everyone for their time today, and Trip, thank you for the introductions. Philip, Kathy, Eddie, Ron, and Gigi, we are happy to have you. To begin, Philip, can you speak a little about the anti-Asian violence that has been going on and share some of your thoughts? Yes. Hi, everybody. I am honored to be here. It's quite a special moment in time for our Asian-American communities, and it's also happy AAPI month. This is the first day, right, to kick off? Yes. Basically, it's unacceptable. It's truly unacceptable, and it's hard to even speak about because at one point you can't believe it, but at the same time, it's happening every day. You see the assault on the most vulnerable parts of our community happening, and we as a community, we have to understand that now is the time for us to put our stake down. It is our time to be calm, and we have to raise our voice. We have to unite with each other. We need representatives, and we need to stop this craziness from continuing to happen. Yes, I absolutely agree with you, Philip. Kathy, I know you've had a lot of experience in the media industry. Can you speak a little on the importance of Asian representation in leadership and the media industry? Hi, everyone. It's good to be here. I'm honored to be invited to speak and have a great conversation with all these amazing panelists today. Absolutely, I think that representation is such a broad word, and it's absolutely necessary, obviously. I think that more and more so the media entertainment industries are aware that Asian Americans have a voice and need to be represented in film and television. It's so important because I think it's such a powerful tool for empathy. When I was growing up, there wasn't, a lot of us when we were growing up, there wasn't a lot out there that really spoke to us or that we saw ourselves on television or film. I had to look towards Asian cinema in a way to really see people that look like me. Thankfully, there are some amazing Asian filmmakers, obviously. Now, I think we're in an interesting place in Hollywood where there's beginning to be more and more diversity. I think that it has to get one step beyond that because right now it's a little bit of a check the box. It's like, well, we can make that best friend Asian, or whatnot. I think there is a real push for diversity both in front of the lens and behind the lens. I think the next step is really in terms of characterization and how these Asian American or Asian characters are portrayed. Some places are doing it better than others, but we really need to be the protagonists of our own stories and not just the sidekick. We also need to be more fully fledged characters as opposed to continue to perpetuate, I think, that stereotype of the cliche of the demure or the model minority. That's really our next step, I think, is continuing to push to tell Asian American stories and make them the protagonists of their own stories and ultimately, in fact, make them the anti-heroes of their own stories because I think that to be an anti-hero, which is oftentimes the juiciest roles, the most interesting characters, the most human characters that you find on screen, oftentimes they are still a privilege in a way, a privilege for white male characters or white characters at that. That's really what I'm focused on right now is how can we just continue to show and represent Asian Americans as the most human that we can be. Absolutely. Thank you, Cathy. Now, Eddie, what are your thoughts on Asian Americans and our potential political power? Thank you for having me today. Like Philip and Cathy both touched on, I think that we are at a very critical point in our history as Asian Americans, right? For a lot of us, I think the approach for many generations has been to come to America and keep your head down. Don't rock the boat. And this isn't just unique to Asian Americans. This is something that is logical to all groups of immigrants. I mean, even a great black philosopher like Booker T. Washington at one time told the community, cast down your bucket in industry, cast down your bucket in agriculture. Cast down your bucket, keep your head down, work hard. That is what every group of minorities coming to America has done to survive. And what we're learning is that we are coming out of that period of our history as Asian Americans. And it's not enough to just survive. I mean, think of a concept like Maslow's Pyramid of Needs. The most foundational layer is just survive, learn English, integrate as much as you can. But we're now at a time where we do have a community that is formed around shared problems. As we can see with the violence against Asians, that has actually created community because now we have a problem that we all need to address, and it has created community. And with this community, I think one of the most important things and one of the few positives that can come out of the terrible year and a lot of the attacks is that now we have community, and we have organization, and we have structure. And it is very important now to mobilize and mobilize this power and make it work for us so that there's some utility to this. And voting is the easiest way to do that. All of our activism is very important, whether it's with our work, whether it's with our social media, whether it's with our just donations, but voting is the simplest, most important thing we can do. Asians make up 15% of New York City. That is a lot of political clout and political power. And I'm not supporting Andrew Yang just because he's Asian, but it is very important to me that he is Asian because we are in a critical moment where we need support, and we need people in office, in power, that understand and appreciate our existence and our experience. And we know he has a history of fighting for this and standing up for this. Andrew is one of the few Asian Americans who actually wants the burden and wants the trouble of representing us in public office, and he does it very genuinely. And outside of Asian America, he also has very incredible policies concerning universal basic income to support the most vulnerable poor New Yorkers. So, number one, please register to vote, mobilize this community we've built, and number two, vote for Andrew Yang. Well, thank you, Eddie. You were before me on universal basic income, brother, so I appreciate it so much. And I just want to thank you and Kathy and Philip and Tripp. You don't know, Tripp's like a freaking political organizer extraordinaire here in New York City. So, people who are interested in New York City politics, Tripp Yang, no relation. Well, it's always a little bit easier when the candidate's really good. So, just saying. Well, thanks, Tripp. You're going to help us make history. But I couldn't agree with you more that people need to vote. I mean, you talk about Asian Americans being 15% of the city. And what percentage do you think we are of the electorate, according to both recent past and projections? Go ahead and put it in that. Actually, I'll tell you. I mean, it's a number. The number, unfortunately, is not 15%, which you might have guessed. And I don't blame us, because, frankly, growing up, the son of immigrants myself, they didn't talk about American politics in my house. I don't know if that was true for you all. And so, it's probably not shocking that though we're 15% of the population of New York City, we're 8% of the electorate. So, we're voting at a little bit more than half the rate of other folks. And that's not great. So, I would love to help change that. And I think this election's a really phenomenal opportunity to change that. And another person who's been doing a lot of changing around here is Ron Kim. Is Ron here? State Assembly Member Ron Kim. The people on this call are just freaking rock stars. And Ron, I don't know if you all... You had to have been under a rock if you didn't see Ron over this last number of days and weeks. But Ron's a person that stood up for elder New Yorkers in nursing homes that had their, frankly, their health and even passing misrepresented by Governor Cuomo, including, unfortunately, relatives of Ron's. And then when Ron stood up to the governor, the governor called him, and then Ron then shared the nature of that call with the world. And then it's really contributed to a total shift in New York politics. And it was because of Ron's courage and willingness to put himself out there, which Ron and I are friends. I admired it so much. Is Ron here, Tripp? Yeah, Ron's here. All right, Ron Kim, State Assembly Member. Someone who's blazed a trail. Let's give it up for Ron Kim. Yay, Andrew Yang. I'm so excited. What's up, brother? So I'm here in upstate New York, actually. It's my birthday weekend. So my wife has... Thank you. She booked a nice weekend for the family. And my six-and-a-half-year-old is about to go on a bungee ride, as you can see, in about a minute. So if you hear a lot of crying... Wow, that's some good parenting, Ron. A lot of crying in the background. If you see me drop the phone and run away, then she's up there somewhere and I have to go get her. But, Andrew, we are excited for you. The city of New York, the moment you entered, I've brought so many elected officials to my district in Queens over the last few years. But when Andrew came to visit me the first time, I mean, people were stopping left and right. MTA bus drivers were honking at us because they were so excited. This was before he even announced that he would enter the race. And he brings a level of passion and dedication to resolving real problems in the city of New York, especially dealing with poverty and dealing with issues that have been neglected for so many years without any strings attached. And that's what excites me the most. It doesn't matter what world of politics you're in. When you're in it for a long time and you run for citywide or statewide office, you're often indebted to a certain set of fixed mindings. But Andrew comes in, his values are aligned, and he wants to resolve problems that haven't been able to be resolved in so many decades. And at a time of this pandemic that our policies are failing, that people are neglected and people have not received a stimulus checks in months. Our immigrant communities, the people who are on the frontline, haven't been taken care of. The wealth gap is at its worst even. And we're at a time where no matter how hard young people are working, they're feeling like there is no upper social mobility. And that's not good enough. Our city, our state, our country works when people fundamentally believe that if you put in work, that that pays off. And there is upward mobility. And for a long time, for many years, people have given up that hope. And I know that Andrew will give that kind of purpose. And his dedication is so important right now. So I'm happy, but we can't get there unless we get people, other people that haven't been excited to come out to vote. And I hope that we can get there. I know that Trenton DePaul, he's doing a good job, but it's you, the organized young people that every one of you get up to all right now after this and make 10 phone calls, 10 phone calls. 10 phone calls will lead to a hundred more phone calls in one week. That will lead to a thousand more phone calls. And that's how, that's how we win this. So let's go win. Thanks. Thanks. What a message. I'm so happy birthday, brother. And I'm so glad that, you know, you're getting some family time, you know, that's, that's, that's lovely. And now someone who's running for office and Ron, Ron did something rare in our community, frankly, which is run for office and then win. You know, I've run for office, but haven't won yet. I mean, we could change that in a couple months. But someone else who's stepping up to run in lower Manhattan, which includes Chinatown. We're going to hear from next Gigi Lee. So Gigi has been endorsed by Margaret Chin, who's her predecessor in the city council. I've endorsed Gigi. I really want to work with her. She's going to be my partner in getting things done for New York. So if there is a local city council candidate, you all want to support it is Gigi Lee, Gigi, go ahead and grab the mic. It's great to see you. Thank you, Andrew. I'm so excited when you're going to be mayor and I'm going to be city council. And there are so many young people and especially the young people who have tuned in here that can make that happen. Young people could be the deciding vote in this in this mayoral election. You know, we have to make sure that you guys can do everything that you can. I think, you know, Andrew has come down to Chinatown several times. And as I'm out there and people see your name on my palm card, I get very positive results. So I'm very excited about our partnership. The one thing I hear over and over again, especially people that and constituents and voters that have met you is that they're like, he's so relatable and he's so down to earth. And and I think that he really listens and cares. And so that has really resonated with the voters down here. And, you know, I'm just I'm so excited to be on Yang Gang and also to you know, I I'm a social worker, first and foremost. And I spent about a decade doing advocacy and working with middle schoolers and high schoolers to organize for programs that impact their lives. Right. Funding for the Summer Youth Employment Program for community centers in their public schools. And so, you know, young people have been organizing and they do it now better than ever through social media. And so we just need to move that energy over and have them register to vote and then come out on Election Day on June 22nd, because they are a power base that needs to have a voice. So I'm really glad you're doing this. Thank you for inviting me. And we will be pounding the pavement until June 22nd so that we have more Asian-American representation, both on both sides of Broadway in the executive side and in the legislative side. So please check out my website donate, volunteer, reach out. You know, we both of our campaigns love the youth power and spirit. So thank you. Yay, Gigi. Let's give it up for Gigi. Is that not the kind of person you would love to have in New York City Council? And Gigi is running a great campaign, but she's running against someone who's self-funded and like, you know, pumping a lot of their own money in. So if you want to help Gigi win, making a donation at any level at her website would be awesome. I've donated, obviously, and you should, too. So, you know, we need people like Gigi in power, really, so we can get things done. And the fact that she's representing Chinatown, which is a place I think many of us love dearly, is all the more important. So Philip, thank you for being here, my friend. So excited. So we all love fashion. Certainly, I don't mean I don't know how fashionable I seem, but we all love fashion. It seems like right now must be like a difficult time for the fashion industry. And obviously, the fashion industry is headquartered here in New York City. Like, what has this time been like? And what do you see as the path forward? And maybe how could the public sector help, you know, if I'm in position to do so? Yeah, it is not going to lie. Thank you, Andrew Yang, for having me here. I'm not going to lie. It is very tough. Because, you know, what we forget is what New York City is made up to. It is an entrepreneurial spirit. And a majority of fashion brands here based in New York, we're all independent companies, you know, that I always say, like, do live or die by the dress. And when the pandemic happened, it literally displaced a lot of us, because again, we are so dependent upon community. And right now, you know, we've had to just restructure everything and figure out a path forward, because there is very little support for the fashion industry that I would say, the independent groups of the fashion industry. I'm not talking about the big names. I'm not talking about the big corporations. It's the middle guy. I call us the middle class of fashion, basically. You know, we have to pay all the taxes. And we also have to employ everybody too. We all are about community. And it'd be amazing to, you know, just figure out a path forward where people support this middle class. And I think that right now, outside of fashion too, I think we have to bring back the middle class, the working class. And, you know, what got me really excited about you, Andrew, is after I read your book, the more normal people, you know, and that kind of changed my mindset of just like, okay, so this is a person that I can relate to. And I hope that what you can bring to the table in New York City is again, support us, support the entrepreneurs, support the heart of what makes this city beautiful, what makes this fashion culture here so unique and different from Paris, different from New York, from London, different from all parts of the world. Because here, our attitude is we help each other out. We're there for each other. We roll up the sleeves and we do it, we get it done. So everyone here listening and attending to, you know, show up and let's get this done. Oh, it's so beautiful, Philip. I have to say, I know this has been a tough time for your industry in part, because all of us have just been wearing the same stuff for the better part of a year. I don't know about the rest of you. There hasn't been a lot of getting out and seeing people in person, but I sense that that's changing right now. There's a lot of energy. I'm certainly going to do everything I can to help you and yours. And I want people to think about how we can help Asian small businesses of every kind, whether it's in fashion or restaurants or retail, because so many of those businesses have been hurting. And I certainly want to do more. I know that a lot of those businesses have not been really accessing some of the relief funds at the same level that they should be able to. And also, can I say something here? And we forget that also in New York, the New York fashion industry is the one city, one place that holds the most Asian-led fashion brands. You know, I was looking at a picture, a portrait that I was part of for T Magazine, and in my generation and elder generation and the next generation, there were over 30 different brands here in New York City. So it's more imperative than ever to make sure that we stay alive and we continue to represent and we continue to disrupt the model minority myth. You know what I mean? We are in the center of changing cultural conversations and it is such a pivotal time. That's why I'm on here. I'm usually not involved in politics because, you know, politics can go either way, but this is more important than politics. This is personal now. Oh, fantastic. We got to get you some help, Philip, because yeah, like what you said about there being all these incredible Asian designers and fashion brands in New York City, like we have to make sure that you all make it through this time. Cathy, thank you for your incredible leadership. I just have to ask, how on earth does someone go from being a reporter to directing a DC movie? That just doesn't seem like it makes any sense. I don't know about the rest of us, but you look up and you see a major comic book movie and you're like, Cathy, yeah, I directed this, and then you dig into the bio. Actually, I'm just going to guess that this is what you all do, that when you see something has been done by an Asian American, you're like, you start digging in. So, Cathy, how did you get to that point from being a journalist? Yeah, I think I actually, you know, I covered arts and entertainment a little bit in New York for the Wall Street Journal, and I covered fashion too, Philip. It's funny, I remember doing fashion shows and stuff, and I think I was covering it from the other side as a journalist and was like, well, this is kind of fun, and speaking to filmmakers and speaking to directors and thinking, you know, I really like, I like them, I like speaking to them, and I think getting a little jealous too of just, you know, their experiences, and so I was lucky enough to go to NYU. I went back to school for business school and for film school, which is probably the most Asian thing, to be honest, and it made my parents feel better because I was like, look, I'm getting a business degree as well, don't worry, I'm getting an MBA, and yeah, it took me a little longer than I think a lot of people who probably grew up recognizing themselves in others, right, with the career that they want, and I've always said this, like I just wasn't anyone that looked like me that was directing films, frankly, and so I think it took a little longer to get on that path, but for me, journalism and filmmaking is actually really similar. We're just trying to tell stories and be a part of that conversation, as Philip said, like a cultural conversation, and I see the work that I do in filmmaking be actually quite similar to journalism. Wow, I hadn't really made that comparison in terms of storytelling via journalism, storytelling via filmmaking. It still must have been an incredible feeling when, I guess it was Warner, gave you a call and said, do you want to direct the new Margot Robbie DC movie? I mean, what was it like having that as your second major film? It was really wild. It was wild, and it was also, I mean, the superhero movie is such a funny genre right now, you know, I would say the predominant genre of big Hollywood films, and it kind of just sucks everything up, and a lot of people get into it, but at the time, I was only the second woman to direct a superhero film, and so I think seeing that whole genre open up to women and people of color as well, and then, of course, there were supposed to be more of us and more female-directed, specifically female-directed superhero or large films that were supposed to come out in 2020, that hadn't, so it was supposed to be like a big year for us, but, you know, it also didn't feel, I think that, like, there's always a sense of, like, imposter syndrome, and, oh, I can't possibly do this, and, you know, and so I always had to just tell myself, honestly, like, many white men have been in your shoes. That's a really funny mantra. So I'm going to ask a question that I got recently, and everyone can go ahead and chat their thoughts in, but you are, you know, the top of your field, so let's ask. Nomadland or Minari? Go ahead, put that in the chat, everyone. Go ahead and make your feelings known. Wow, it looks like it's a lot of Minari winning this thing, at least according to the chat. David says it's a toss-up. Kathy, any thoughts? You're probably friends with these people, so maybe you can't say anything. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. I think they're both great for different reasons, you know? Like, yeah, no, it's really lovely. It was a lovely, it's been lovely to see Asian-Americans do so well, or Asians do so well. Such a political answer. No, I'm just kidding. No, no, it's fine. So, Gigi, you're stepping up to run for office. In your case, I know you've been working with Margaret for years. You've been a social worker, you know, you're a parent, but there are a lot of folks who are here today who are at least somewhat interested in politics. We want to activate more people in our community. Can you talk about your decision to actually run for office? Because that's like a very, very big decision. And I'm on record saying I think running for local office is harder than running for something like president. I mean, they're different. But running for local office, I think, is actually like the hardest thing you can do. Can you talk about your decision? Yeah. So, first, I've had months and months of conversations with my family. I think that, you know, especially because I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of COVID in February of 2020. And that sort of changed a lot of things, right? And we knew that it would be even harder. But I think at the core of my decision to run is one, you know, that there's only 50, there's 51 council members in New York City, and only two are Asian American, right? And so that, and one woman who is, you know, Council Member Margaret Chin. So I think one was really also about representation. Because if you don't have a seat at the table, there's, you know, they always say bring your own folding chair. But, you know, the City Council only has 51 seats. So you can't quite bring your own folding chair there. But representation was one. And also, you know, I served on my local community board for 10 years. And I really saw how being able to push through just issues and having conversations on topics that are connected to the Chinatown community, which had never been done before, how you're really able to make change. And even just now that interns are signing up and, and they're like, you know, I've just never, I never thought that I'd be able to volunteer on a political campaign for someone who looks like me, like that was really powerful to think that young people have always just felt a distant or a barrier because they've never seen or related to someone who's running for office that understood the immigrant experience or understood what it was like growing up as a woman of color and not speaking English until you, you know, not speaking fluent English until middle school, right? Or even thinking about like, even till today, my parents are like, wait, you worked in a nonprofit? Like, what is that? You know, like, why are you running for office? My sister's a nonprofit housing attorney. My mom's like even more confused by that. Cause they're like, you went to law school, what are you doing? But, but I, a lot of it is just, you know, Kathy, I, it really resonated cause when I, when I talk to other young women who are interested in politics or think about getting involved, they always think they don't, that they're not smart enough or they don't have enough experience. Right. And that's, I always tell them that I was like, do you think a white man would think that way? Like, no, just do it. Right. Because the other thing is it's like, what's the worst thing that can happen? You become a better person, a better candidate, a better, right. And you grow, you grow, right. And you want to challenge yourself. So I think those are all the things. And, and, you know, my family's third generation in Chinatown and, and I want to, I want a Chinatown that, that my daughter can grow up in and be proud of, right. And say like, you know, I helped do that. Like on the community board, I helped secure 500 units of affordable housing in the Lower East Side. Right. There are very concrete things. All politics is local. And so those are some of the reasons I, I decided to run and, and I just focus on that every day, no matter how little sleep I get and, and how hard, you know, sometimes talking to voters about positions that we may not agree on, but convincing them that there's a bigger picture. So, yeah. Well, that, well, that's a very, very compelling reason to run GG. And I know everyone here is super excited that you are taking on this challenge. You know, I did some quick math. If we're 15% of the city, and there are 51 city council members, then you would expect between seven and eight Asian city council members, not two. Is Margaret Chin. So, you know, we need someone like you to replace her. And there's, you know, and, and that might happen, you know, 2021 might be the year that we can get seven or eight Asian American council members at an Asian American mayor. Right. So these are all things that are very, very possible. Yes, we can make them happen. The people on this call, very, very exciting. So we're about to wrap up, we're going to kick it to Trip and Rachel Bondi for a call to action. But before we go, I've been asked what my favorite bubble tea order is. And I feel like, like it might be something for all of you. So go ahead and, and I'm going to ask Philip first what his is, and then Kathy, and then everyone else, just go ahead and type it into the message box. So Philip, what's yours? And I'm going to type mine into the box. Okay. I actually do not drink bubble tea. I drink. Get off the Zoom, Philip. I'm kidding. My drink is Vietnamese iced coffee in Chinatown. Oh, that, that, that counts too, Philip. That's incredibly delicious. Vietnamese iced coffee is one of the few drinks that can rival bubble tea for, for deliciousness. All right. You're back on the Zoom. Kathy. Okay. This might be a little controversial, but I am a fan of the recent phenomena around cheese foam. Very interesting. Cheese foam. I, you know, yeah, there's a craze. Yes. Wow. Look at that. And Gigi, what's your, your order? There's an excellent bubble tea in Chinatown. Oh, since it was National Bubble Tea Day, I did post, so I'm going to stay consistent here. Brown sugar pearl latte from Yifang. That's very good. That's good stuff, Gigi. Oh, look at this. We made ourselves all crave bubble tea. I think that's an appropriate way to close out our, our kicking off of AAPI Heritage Month. Thank you, Philip and Kathy and Gigi and everyone else for being here today. And Trip and Rachel Bondy, tell us what to do. What do we need to do now? All right. So, Rachel's going to give us some call to actions, but we just want to do some acknowledgements before this is over. We want to acknowledge our youth, our Asian American youth leaders, you know, on the Yang campaign, who were the driving force of making this happen, and a driving force in many aspects of the campaign. So, shout out to Joyce Tan, Ben Yang, no relation, Yifan Yu, Boran Yu, Rachel Bondy, and of course, Don Sun, who is not technically a youth leader, but he is a leader on the Yang campaign and makes a lot of things happen. We also want to acknowledge Council Candidate Dao Yin is on this call and Kim Neal, who is our Chief Advisor for AAPI Affairs, you know, phenomenal work on the campaign. And one of the last things to shout out before we kick it to Rachel, every Wednesday, starting this Wednesday, May 5th, we will be having Women for Yang Home Banks, organized by Grace Lee, who is a big supporter of the campaign. And this upcoming Wednesday, I just dropped the link in the mobilize, this Wednesday evening, we will have the one and only Evelyn Yang surrogating and headlining. Wow, Evelyn's doing this? I didn't even know this. That's fantastic. Early voting starts in six weeks. Six weeks of early voting. Oh, you know, we're Asian, we need to get in there early. Is that an Asian thing? I don't know. But six weeks. Early voting starts June 12th. Folks can vote June 12th to June 20th. I don't want to take up Rachel's spotlight. Rachel, what are the calls to action? And then afterwards, we'll kick it back to Andrew for closing remarks. Sure. Well, first of all, thank you, everybody, for being here. Really enjoyed hearing from all of you guys. And Gigi, I completely agree with your bubble tea order. Brown sugar is the best one. I don't know what cheese foam is, though. It sounds a little scary. Oh, but it's so good. Okay. I'll keep an open mind about it and try it when I'm back in New York. So I have a few calls to action for you all. I mean, if you're on this call, it's because you know how important voting is and how important it is to use our voice and to organize our communities. But I have some actual physical items that you can go do today. One of them is to register to vote if you have not already. And the deadline to do that in New York is May 28th. Erica is going to help me out with some links in the chat. Also to pledge to vote for Andrew on our supporter page, which Erica just dropped in the chat right now. And also to order your absentee ballot if you're planning to use that to vote. And you can order one of those until I believe it's June 12th. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Yes. And those are the three things that you can do right now to start to organize your communities and to start to organize our voices and obviously show up on June 22nd or send in that absentee ballot and vote for Andrew Yang. Thank you, Rachel. Yeah. Look, real things we can do. And if you're in Chinatown, vote for Gigi, that's for sure. And if you're not in Chinatown, you can still support Gigi in ways big and small. Sending even 10 bucks is awesome. Number of donors really matters a lot. I feel great about our potential to make history over the next six or seven weeks. A lot of people here in New York City tell me that they did not think that they would see that we'd have an Asian American mayor, you know, frankly, this quickly. But now that we're here, let's take advantage of it. Truly. I mean, it would make me very, very proud to make history here in New York, a place that means so much to all of us, but also, frankly, like the entire world. And we can do it. We are this close. All we have to do is do the work, roll up our sleeves and go, go, go down the stretch. And I genuinely believe that we will be celebrating on June 22nd, and I will be the next mayor of the greatest city in the world. But it'll only happen if we get people out to vote. So let's transform politics in New York City to actually represent the people of the city at a higher level. And let's make sure that Asian Americans vote here in New York, this cycle, here in New York, next cycle, forever, and all over the country, because we need to have our voices heard. And that should be a all month long, but then for years and years to come afterwards. So thank you, everyone. Thank you, Rachel, Tripp, Gigi, Kathy, Philip, Don, Kim, everyone else. Have a great weekend. And yeah, let's celebrate all month long. But let's get people out to vote. Thank you all so much. Thank you.