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The Power of the BTS/ARMY Relationship

BTS, the South Korean music group has taken the global music scene by storm, breaking records in numbers of albums sold and spun, twitter follows, number of fans, sold out concerts and much more. 

Their influence has been noted by many, including governmental officials who have tried to suppress BTS’s reach and image in public. This story looks at who they are, their work and social reach in partnership with their fanbase, ARMY.

Reuters graph of BTS/ARMY fundraising for Black Lives Matter

Producer: Yuko Kodama – special thanks to Sam Sullivan, Christine Marasigan, Nancy Yang, Candace Epps-Robertson, Laura Mundt, Angela Young and Sherry Lynn Reynolds Anderson

Photo: Ashley[epidemic]

Update from the Southern US Border

 
Dulce Garcia, Executive Director at Border Angels gives us an update of Ukrainians and other migration patterns at the border.
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
 
Photo: Dana Schuerholz

On the Ground in Poland to help Ukrainians Fleeing War

What’s happening on the ground in Poland where Ukrainians are fleeing to by the thousands? A local Sammamish resident and his brother are there to help.

Here is information on their project, Suitcases for Ukraine.

Producer: Yuko Kodama

Photo Credit: Lance and Thury Foster

In a Dense City Landscape, Can Trees and Development Coexist?

 
In the face of rapid residential development, Seattle’s urban trees are in the crosshairs. 60% of the city’s urban canopy is on residential lots. Tree advocates say housing and trees can co-exist, but have yet to convince the Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspection.
 
Producer: Martha Baskin
 

Supporting Families Through the Pandemic

 

Gerald Donaldson is a Family Support Worker at Leschi Elementary School in the Seattle Public School System. He assists families who need help, so the children at Leschi can thrive in school.

Donaldson describes the challenges through the pandemic (from our interview with him last spring), and gives a more recent update of where many of his families are in their support needs now.

 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
 
Photo: Yuko Kodama

World Water Day: The One Minute Challenge

It’s the United Nations founded World Water Day today, March 22, 2022. 

Here’s a prompt for you to submit your own one-minute groundwater story.  Five story submissions will be picked to present to the United Nations.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – A Series of Six Stories

A report released by the Urban Indian Health Institute in 2018 shows that over 500 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women have been found throughout the United States – many since the year 2000. 70 women had gone missing or were murdered in Seattle and Tacoma. 6 were reported in Portland. How are indigenous families impacted by this and how are our communities coming together to help? (more…)

Honoring the Nikkei Farmers of Bellevue

 
Prior to World War II, Bellevue, Washington was home to a powerful and vibrant Japanese American community.  In 1942 the United States government forcibly evacuated and incarcerated sixty Japanese American farming families from Bellevue.  They were among 120,000 Japanese Americans who were sent to incarceration camps from along the west coast.  
 
After the war, only a handful of these families returned to Bellevue because many of them lost their land and work here. 
 
Local artist, Michelle Kumata and creative director, Tani Ikeda, honor this community with an art display at Bellevue Arts Museum.  It’s titled ‘Emerging Radiance: Honoring the Nikkei Farmers of Bellevue.  
 
Kumata also has a solo exhibit titled Regeneration at Bonfire Gallery in Seattle’s Chinatown International District through April 7th
 
 
 
 
Audio Story Producer: Yuko Kodama
 
Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Kumata Taken by John Lok
 

Artist, Lauren Iida

 
Lauren Iida is an artist who works with cut paper and paint.  Iida is artist-in-residence with Densho Project.  She recently completed an art installation for Densho Project’s community space.   The piece was created in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the day Franklin D. Roosevelt signed  Executive Order 9066.  This order authorized the US military to forcibly remove and incarcerate 120,000 people of Japanese descent in relocation centers across the United States in during WWII. 
 
Listen in on excerpts of an interview with Lauren Iida.
 
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
 
Photo: courtesy of Lauren Iida
 
 

Remember and Resist – Day of Remembrance

 
On February 19th, a number of Japanese American organizations and La Resistencia partnered to observe the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt.  This act authorized the US military to forcibly remove and  incarcerate 120,000 people of Japanese descent across the west coast in 1942. 
 
The action started at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Most Japanese Americans in the Seattle area were detained at the Puyallup Assembly Center before their transfer to concentration camps at Minidoka, in Idaho and Tule Lake, in California. Formerly incarcerated Japanese American elders attended alongside their families and the public.   Then the group gathered at the ICE Northwest detention facility in Tacoma to raise their voices in support of the detainees inside. 
 
 Listen in on some of the speakers and sounds from the event.
 
Producers: Kasumi Yamashita and Yuko Kodama
 
Photo: Pictured are Kennedy Philbrick (left) and Erin Matsuno (right). Photo taken by Kasumi Yamashita