We are all Immigrants
“Of course, we couldn’t all come over on the Mayflower. But I got here as soon as I could, and I never wanted to go back.”
Anton Cermak
We are America
“Speaking different tongues, we nevertheless meet here today as brothers…Henceforth we have one country, one hope, one destiny”
Justice Nathaniel Bennett
These are our Stories
“One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say,
You’re not as alone as you thought.”
John Steinbeck
Latest Stories
What Color is Freedom
TK grew up an exile in his own home country of Rhodesia. Under white minority rule, Black people weren’t allowed in certain schools or movie theaters
An Artist with Many Voices
For Dao Nguyen Strom, identity is no simple concept. Raised in the California countryside, Strom was originally born in Vietnam—a country she escaped as a baby
Beyond the Familiar Summit
Although Ang Pemba Sherpa was born in 1982 in Namche Bazar, Nepal, a small village nestled at 3,500 meters in the highest peaks of the world
Featured Stories
How Music Became Her Life
Wu Man was just 16 when she attended a master class led by the celebrated violinist Isaac Stern. The room at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing
Opportunity in Every Hurdle
Ng Lai Goon, eager to fit in with her American grade school peers, chose her American name, Sally, from an elementary school reading primer,
Following Music to Freedom
It has always been music that has guided Ahmad Fanoos’ life. “My whole family liked music,” he explains. “And it was part of my life from a very early age.”
Live! Stories
Behind the Mountain: A Story
Naw Abikaila Ki (Nawbi) started life in a refugee camp in Thailand. As members of the ethnic minority, the Karen, Nawbi’s family has no territory to call their own
I Am An American: I Do Belong Here
Growing up in Vietnam, Thao Nguyen always felt like an outsider. As one of 23,000 mixed-race children left behind by US servicemen,
A Love Worth Fighting For
It took sneaking out of school for a coffee date, countless phone calls, a year of opening just one love letter a day, getting two families to agree
Latest Podcast Episodes
What Color is Freedom
TK grew up an exile in his own home country of Rhodesia. Under white minority rule, Black people weren’t allowed in certain schools or movie theaters
The Courage to Begin Again
Mohsin Jamal is a quick learner. It was an essential survival skill for a young child from Afghanistan’s Hazara minority, a persecuted ethnic group
Valley of War with no Peace
Fifteen year-olds can be… a lot. It’s often when a rebellious streak first emerges, when a kid might start sneaking out, breaking curfew or perhaps,
Latest Conversations
It Takes a Yes from One Person
This episode brings together two remarkable women, both public servants. Sophorn Cheang is the director of Business Oregon, the economic development
Life is a Work in Progress
What does a mental health journey look like? How can art, music, and therapy bring us to better self understanding and self love? In this episode, Portland Community
I Am An American – Panel Discussion
Panelists explored their experiences as Asian American women, offering personal reflections as well as highlighting current xenophobia and intolerance against
Featured Movies
To Bear Witness: Closure
On a journey to come to terms with their losses, a group of Holocaust survivors from Portland, OR, travel together to six of the locations where concentration camps
To Bear Witness: Reconciliation
A survivor of the genocide in Rwanda when he was a teenager, Emmanuel Turanturanye has a theory about why he is alive: to tell rest of world what happened
To Bear Witness: Building Community
After the Khmer Rouge killed her husband, Saron’s mother gathered her three small children and made her way to a refugee camp in Thailand and, finally,
Live! Music
I Am An American Live II
This unique music, a fusion of ancient Asian traditions and Western harmonies, celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Asian Americans.
A Transatlantic Journey Home
Mimy’s composition traces the history of Afro music as it accompanied its people, who were enslaved and transported to the Caribbean
Rimbognala: Echoes of Eden
“Rimbognala,” a Malagasy term, translates as “the leftover remnants of the forest.” This title serves as lament etched into the soul of the song and its composer, Mimy.
What We Carried
My First Pipa: Wu Man
This is the first pipa I ever owed owned. Crafted by the finest maker in China. It journeyed with me to the US in 1990, and since the
Painted Letter #2, Berlin, Germany
Eva Rickles: This is the second letter from Peter, expressing the joy he felt to receive my parents’ response to his first letter written from Shanghai.
Painted Letter #1, Berlin, Germany
Eva Rickles: Jou and Peter’s Departure (Text below the letter) This picture depicts the exodus of friends of my parents who had to flee from Germany in 1938