Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller and educator. She believes in the power of story to amplify voices. Miko is lead producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio focused around AAPI activists and artists. She is Director of Programs for Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and on the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. Miko’s career has been rooted in the nonprofit world, first as a theatre actor, director and writer and then as an artistic director and as an arts education leader.

Miko was executive director of Youth in Arts for over a decade and prior to that was Director of Arts and Public Education at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to Teaching Artists Guild, Miko is an artsEquity BIPOC leader and serves on California’s Special Education + Arts Working Group and the Public Will Committee of CREATE CA. Miko’s extensive background in theatre includes working on shows at Berkeley, Seattle and South Coast Rep, Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and many others.

Annie Lee is the Director of Policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, CA. In her role, Annie advocates for systemic change that protects workers’ and immigrants’ rights and promotes language diversity and education equity. CAA is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, and Annie develops policy solutions to address discrimination against the AAPI community.

Annie previously worked as a Civil Rights Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the National Center for Youth Law, where she specialized in foster youth education rights, special education, and school discipline. Her passion for serving students stems from her experience as an 11th grade United States history teacher in the Bronx. Annie is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library.

Guests: Miko Lee and Annie Lee
Hosts: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by: Past Forward