Harmful narratives, including mis- and disinformation, are one of the greatest challenges facing Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in today’s world. They are making communities less safe and trust in the election systems weaker. It is even tearing some families apart. To make matters worse, the issue of harmful narratives is often overlooked as it pertains to AAPI spaces – leaving AAPI communities at greater risk. 

Hear from Kyle Van Fleet, Strategic Communications Associate at Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), who monitors mis- and disinformation as it pertains to AAPI communities and elections, democracy, anti-Asian hate, and other related topics, on how the problem of harmful narratives looks in and impacts AAPI communities, what is being done to confront this issue, and best practices to combat harmful narratives in your own feeds.

About the speaker:

Kyle Van Fleet (he/him/his) is the Strategic Communications Associate at APIAVote, where he leads the organization's efforts to monitor mis- and disinformation regarding democracy, elections, and harmful narratives impacting or originating from AAPI communities. Kyle also manages APIAVote's social media strategy and supports the organization's overall work on narrative change among other duties. Prior to joining APIAVote, Kyle worked as a Digital Research Associate monitoring mis- and disinformation at GQR during the 2020 election cycle. Kyle is a graduate of James Madison University and is an accomplished professional photographer.

The GWC Reproductive Justice Team is launching a project to promote voter registration under the theme Reproductive Justice for ALL.

As you certainly know, the rights of all women to choose when and if to start a family are being taken away with over 26 States prohibiting or restricting the right to abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy even in the cases of rape, incest and the mother’s and/or the  fetus’ health. Texas has empowered vigilantes to sue everyone and anyone aiding and abetting abortion once the fetal heartbeat can be heard (eg at approximately 6 weeks and before most women know they are pregnant).

We cannot allow this to continue particularly with Roe v Wade in peril and the Women’s Health Protection Act stuck in the Senate.

Our project is a video launch via YouTube. We are asking all DA members to make a short (60 sec) video explaining why the right to abortion is absolutely necessary. If you come from a State where it is practically impossible to obtain an abortion, you can speak about the discrimination against minority and poor women whose lives are in jeopardy and who cannot travel. If you come from “good States” such as MA, CA, NY for example, you can speak to the injustice of access depending upon where you live. Make sure you mention in the video VotefromAbroad.org for expat voter registration and vote.gov for non expat voter registration.

We believe that many of our voters will be motivated to register when we roll out the videos.

Here are a few subjects that you could choose for your video:

• If you live/vote in a country that has “good” reproductive freedom laws, you could refer to the country and the liberal law(s) and how lucky you are to be in that country and how unfair it is for American women LIVING IN THE US who can’t benefit from such laws

• If you live/vote in a US State that has good reproductive freedom laws, see above. And you can say that living in a “bad” State is  discriminatory since women in “good “US States have rights that you are denied.

• You can share a personal experience. You don’t have to use your name or even mention where you live. The videos will be anonymous unless you do give details.

• You can make a statement about women should have the right to control their bodies. Period. There is no justification for the government to decide when, how  or even if women should have children.

If you can’t think of anything to say but still want to make a video, feel free to contact Salli at [email protected]. She will set up a call and walk you through some ideas and we can help you make the video.

Here is a link on how to make a video:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O7wGPrZmmXocOuMI5zZutc1w62nHlQWZOat8Srq_bFQ/edit?usp=sharing

For more information, visit our blog space here:

https://www.democratsabroad.org/wc_reproductive_justice_action_team

All videos should be sent to Salli Swartz at [email protected]

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN

Disclaimer: By submitting your video, you grant to Democrats Abroad a nonexclusive rights to use your video and your image only for the 2022 GWC Reproductive Justice Get Out the Vote video project. 

You therefore hereby waive all rights to any claims arising out of or in connection with Democrats Abroad GWC’s use of your video  and image in connection with the 2022 Reproductive Justice video project.