AAPI Heritage Month: Judy Chu

“We are sick and tired of Republicans’ relentless attacks on every aspect of people’s private lives. This proposed rule demonstrates a callous disregard for the wellbeing of American women and families. From pushing an ideological abstinence-only agenda and denying low-income families access to contraceptives, to completely ignoring the rule of law and precedents established under…

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time to highlight the achievements that of these communities in the United States. Initiated in the late 1970s, May was chosen due to the first wave of Japanese immigrants moving to this country, along with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Did you know that…

AAPI Heritage Month: Mary Chung Hayashi

Mary Hayashi saw a wide gap existing between Asian-Americans, healthcare and policy and sought to close it. She was voted to the California State Assembly in 2006 and represented the 18th Assembly District. As a fierce healthcare advocate, she authored multiple bills to ensure that the population of California was able to access the healthcare…

AAPI Heritage Month: Lisa Factora-Borchers

“Reproductive Justice has so many ports to enter and participate, and now more than ever, it is imperative for people of all genders and backgrounds to have access to and advocate for reproductive health care for all. My work focuses specifically on working with and advocating for women of color, particularly survivors of sexual abuse,…

AAPI Heritage Month: Eveline Shen

“Reproductive Justice is the vision that women and non-binary people must have self determination over our bodies, our reproduction and our family formations. During this current political moment, the  reproductive justice movement, led by women of color and TGNC folks of color, shines a guiding light on how to generate powerful policy and cultural solutions,…

Native American Heritage Month: Standing Rock Resistance

Our final feature for #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth honors the resistors fighting for their sacred land in North Dakota. After centuries of displacing and murdering the indigenous people of the United States, the U.S government have come into two different agreements with members of different tribes under the Treaty of Fort Laramie: 1851 and 1868. In 1851, the…

Native American Heritage Month: Coya White-Hat Artichoker

Our third feature for Native American Heritage Month is the Rosebud Sioux, queer activist, writer, and speaker Coya White-Hat Artichoker.  Born and raised on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota, activism came naturally for Coya, as she has been involved since the age of 15. A lifelong feminist, Coya delves into unlearning sexuality and bridging…

Native American Heritage Month: Winona LaDuke

Our second feature for #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth is the environmental and Anishinaabe activist Winona LaDuke. Growing up, she was raised in a town in Oregon where neither Jews (her mother’s heritage) nor Native Indians surrounded her, and began to understand what it meant to be “othered”. She wasn’t enrolled in the Ojibwe Nation (her father’s tribe) at the…

Native American Heritage Month: Wilma Mankiller

RHAP’s first feature of #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth is the resilient Wilma Mankiller (1945-2010), the first woman principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, which is the second largest tribe in the United States. Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, to a Cherokee father and Dutch-Irish mother, her family relocated to San Francisco under the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Relocation Program.…

Hispanic Heritage Month: Sylvia Rivera

Sylvia Rivera was an Afro-Puerto Rican and Venezuelan pioneer of the modern-day LGBT movement. Along with longtime friend and mentor Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera was one of the individuals leading the charge the night the Stonewall Riots began on June 28, 1969 (though her presence on the first night is still heavily disputed, her contributions…