Our Vision
The Vision of the Coalition for Asian Justice is to achieve racial justice for all Asians residing in the U.S. by standing in solidarity with all marginalized groups to eradicate structural racism and oppression and to enact concrete changes towards justice through education, local activism, support networks, and advocacy.
Core Members
Gloria Dan Yuk-siu Ipson Gloria Dan Yuk-siu Ipson was born in China, grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a degree in Chinese literature. She taught Cantonese at Stanford University, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was a family planning counselor at the Chinese Community Clinic in Boston, and executive director of the American Field Service student exchange program in Hong Kong. She lived in Beijing from 1986 to 1988, and 2005 to 2010 where she volunteered in a care center for orphans with medical conditions. Gerry Low - Sabado Gerry Low-Sabado is a fifth generation Chinese American who grew up unaware about her family's Chinese fishing village history on the Monterey Peninsula. After learning about that history when she was an adult and that her Great Grandmother, Quock Mui is the first documented Chinese woman born in the Monterey area, she began a journey to research and tirelessly tell their story. She has been interviewed by historians, university students, school aged children, and newspaper reporters about her family's story. She has also been interviewed in several YouTube clips, TV news segments, and on radio programs. Her work has helped to teach about the relationships between the Chinese villages and the towns where her ancestors thrived and have continued to live and contribute to their communities in Pacific Grove and on the Monterey Peninsula! Kathy Biala Kathy Biala is a third generation Japanese American, born and raised in Chicago, whose extended family was interned in the WW II relocation camps. Kathy is a retired Master’s prepared nurse with a long career in healthcare, spanning clinical roles, faculty positions at both public and private universities, and executive administration in hospital and healthcare agencies. Kathy has served for 4 years on the City of Marina Planning Commission and is the current Mayor Pro-Tem of Marina. She has been an advocate for environmental justice protecting Marina’s natural resources, founded Asian Communities of Marina (ACOM), and is a co-founding member of the Coalition for Asian Justice (CAJ). |
Angie Ngọc Trần Angie Ngọc Trần was born in Vietnam, from where she escaped by boat in 1980, settling in California. She obtained a doctorate in political economy at the University of Southern California and has been teaching at CSU Monterey Bay for the past 25 years. Her 2022 book, Ethnic Dissent and Empowerment: Economic Migration between Vietnam and Malaysia, integrates ethnicity, class, gender, religion, and cultural resources with worker resistance and empowerment. Her research interests are on the precarities of transnational migrant workers: Mexican H2A agricultural guestworkers in the US, and Vietnamese domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. Her publications are at: https://works.bepress.com/angie-tran/ Michael Ipson Michael Ipson was an exchange student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong 1966-68 and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1969. After pursuing advanced degrees in Chinese and Vietnam history, he pursued a career in international banking, both as a commercial banker and a senior staff of the World Bank team in East-Asia Pacific. He lived in Hong Kong, China and Vietnam for more than thirty years with colleagues and clients in Hong Kong, China, Mongolia, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, as well as the Middle East and Africa. Larry Oda Larry Oda was born in a Justice Department Internment Camp in Crystal City, Texas during World War II and lives in Monterey, California. He was educated in Monterey City Schools and earned his bachelor’s and master's degrees from California State University, Fresno. His family immigrated to the United States at the turn of the last century to work in the fishing industry. Larry served as the National President of the Japanese American Citizens League, is Chair Emeritus of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation and is currently a Trustee of the Big Sur Land Trust and the Community Foundation for Monterey County. |
Jason Galinato Agpaoa Jason Galinato Agpaoa is a museum enthusiast and board member for Asian Cultural Experience (ACE), general member for Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), Monterey Bay Chapter, and advisor for the Filipino American Youth Club of the Filipino Community of Salinas Valley. Inspired by his experiences as an Asian American Studies student at San Francisco State University and a decade of museum experience in the Bay Area and Central Coast, his dream is to practice and implement an Ethnic Studies Museum Education program at the future site of the Salinas Chinatown Museum and Cultural Center. Laurel Lee-Alexander Laurel Lee-Alexander is a third generation Chinese American, born in Boston and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is Vice President of Community Impact for the Community Foundation for Monterey County where she leads grantmaking and community engagement. She has experience in philanthropy, nonprofit fund development and corporate marketing. Laurel was educated at UCLA and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and has studied and worked in Hong Kong, Norway and the U.K. She has served on numerous local and national nonprofit boards and is currently Secretary of the Community Foundations National Standards Board. She is the immediate past President and first Asian-American President of the Association of Junior Leagues International. Eric Tao Dr. Eric Tao is a professor of Computer Science at CSUMB for over 20 years. He is the founding director of the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development at CSUMB. In 2021, he co-founded Coalition for Asian Justice in Monterey Bay. He is passionate about innovation, technology, and global economics and regularly speaks in international forums on these subjects. Dr. Tao is born and raised in Taiwan and come to the US for his graduate studies. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. |
Lewis Leader Lewis Leader earned a B.A. in history from UC-Berkeley followed by 27 years as a newspaper reporter and editor at the Monterey Herald, San Francisco Examiner, Toledo Blade, and Los Angeles Times. He was one of 12 journalists – six each from Asia and the U.S. – selected as Jefferson Fellows by the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, jointly studying Pacific Rim issues. He went to China, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and South Korea while the Asians toured the U.S. Lewis later worked in the same program, accompanying seven Asian journalists around the U.S. He runs non-partisan election campaigns, is a free-lance writer and has hosted an interview show on NPR. His mother emigrated from Romania. Hojin Song Hojin was born and raised in South Korea and came to the US to pursue her graduate degrees. She earned her Ph.D. in Media Studies at the University of Iowa and is currently a faculty member in the School of Humanities and Communication at California State University Monterey Bay. Her research interests focus on the interplay between media, popular culture, gender, and youth identities, with a specific emphasis on how digital media is shaping and being shaped by these factors. Her current research project centers on the branding of motherhood in South Korea through digital media. Klarity Coleman Klarity Coleman has Finnish and German heritage, grew up in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in California. She was previously known as Kaye Coleman in her peacemaking. She witnessed the twin towers collapse on 9/11/2001 and attended her first peace protest in New York City on 9/16/2001. She worked as a mental health worker in the Brooklyn Women’s Shelter serving women diagnosed with mental illness and chemical addiction. She began her restorative justice activism in January 2016 when she first met and began speaking with Gerry Low-Sabado about how to change the Feast of Lanterns. Klarity publicly apologized for her personal racism in participating in the FOL and called the City of PG to action. |
Phuong Nguyen Phuong Nguyen is a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American who grew up on the Monterey Peninsula since age 4. Beginning in college at the University of California, San Diego, he has lived in a variety of locations across the country such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Ithaca. In 2017, he was fortunate enough to be offered a teaching position at California State University, Monterey Bay, where he is now Associate Professor of United States History. He is also the author of "Becoming Refugee American: The Politics of Rescue in Little Saigon," a pioneering social and cultural history of the largest overseas Vietnamese community. He lives with his wife and two daughters. Tuyen Nguyen Tuyen Nguyen was born in Da Nang City, Vietnam and arrived in California in 1986. He received his AA in 1990 at Monterey Peninsula College. He got both his BA in 1992 and his MA in 1994 in Mathematics at UC Santa Cruz. He has been a full-time mathematics instructor at Monterey Peninsula College since 1999. Prior to that, he was an adjunct instructor at Hartnell College, Monterey Peninsula College, and CSU–Monterey Bay. He is also the faculty adviser for the MPC Asian Student Association and a member of Monterey County Buddhist Association Uu Dam Temple in Marina. Ajit Abraham Originally from Bangalore, India, Ajit Abraham received his Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies in religion from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), Berkeley, CA, before coming to teach at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in 2013. Prior to coming to the United States, Ajit worked with the International Services Association and Ford Foundation in the areas of community health and development and HIV/AIDS prevention education in the Indian sub-continent from 1995-2000. Presently, he is a lecturer faculty in the Division of Humanities and Communication and in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Global Studies where he teaches courses in the areas of philosophy, ethics, global studies, and sociology. |
Randy Sabado Randy Sabado is a second-generation Filipino American who was born and raised in Salinas and Soledad California. He graduated from Hartnell Junior College and California State University East Bay with a BA degree in history. Randy worked for 5 years as a Filipino Community Worker/Social Worker for Asian Community Mental Health Services in Oakland working with immigrant families. He also worked as a Social Worker for Alameda County and later worked in the Real Estate field with Caltrans, Valley Transportation Agency, City of Fremont, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. He retired in 2014 after 35 years of public service. Randy has been involved in several bay area organizations including the South Bay Chinese Club, Citizens for Better Community and the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project. Sue Parris Sue Parris has English, French and Dutch heritage, grew up in Southern California and has lived in Monterey County for many years. A consultant and facilitator, she helps organizations address issues of race and social equity, diversity and inclusion. She recently retired as Director of National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) Monterey County. She is currently Board President of NCBI Intl. and leads its White Affinity group. She is also co-founder of Whites for Racial Equity, a local group of white people who are committed to dismantling racism. |
CAJ Speakers Bureau
Michael Ipson - on Social Justice / Asian history of Monterey / global finance
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Larry Oda - Japanese American / Asian in Monterey
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Lewis Leader - Media / Asian issues
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Laurel Lee-Alexander - Asian American / Chinese America culture and history
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Phuong Nguyen - Social Justice / Ethnic relations / Vietnamese American
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Angie Ngọc Trần - Social Justice / Vietnam Economics and Labor / Vietnam American
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Kathy Biala - Japanese American / Civil Engagement / City of Marina
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Eric Tao - Chinese American History / Innovation and Technology
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