The L.A. Times staff includes more than 80 journalists with roots in Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Middle East and North Africa. We are coming together as the AAPI Caucus of the L.A. Times Guild. Here is our mission statement:
To: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong
Cc: Kevin Merida
We’re proud to work for the Los Angeles Times, a publication with the largest representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of any major newsroom in America — from our owner and masthead leaders, to editors, reporters, columnists, podcast hosts and assistants.
But we must aim higher if we are to succeed as a modern news organization.
Many AAPI staff members have come together in recent months in the wake of the Atlanta shootings to talk about our shared interests and ideas for improving our company. These are some of our main broad goals:
Solidarity: We stand in solidarity with the Black and Latino caucuses, which inspired us with their calls for necessary change, and want to collaborate with them on shared goals of correcting The Times’ past shortfalls, such as fanning the flames of racism, with improved equity and better coverage of communities of color.
Coverage: We call on The Times to invest in producing the nation’s best coverage of our diverse and complex AAPI communities. At a time when the "othering" of our communities has contributed to the rise in anti-Asian racism and violence, we need coverage of Asian Americans that is accurate, nuanced, comprehensive and fair more than ever. We also want the newsroom to strengthen coverage of the Pacific Rim, as our large diaspora communities continue to share deep bonds with their homelands. These are first and foremost civic responsibilities but they are also smart business strategies, as AAPIs are the fastest growing racial group in America who make up 15% of both the Greater Los Angeles area and California more broadly.
Representation: We want to help create a diverse and inclusive newsroom, staffed by more people with the critical language skills and the cultural understanding needed to cover our complex communities. AAPIs are composed of more than 50 ethnic groups with different languages, cultures, religions and histories in the United States, including those with roots in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands.
Community: We aim to build stronger bonds with our AAPI communities to understand their collective needs and develop trust, relevance and credibility so we can improve our coverage and better serve them.
Connection: We also want to create a support network for our AAPI staffers so we may build deeper connections with each other across departments, strengthen our collective voice and help advance our career aspirations through mentorship and retention activities.
To help accomplish these goals, we established the Los Angeles Times AAPI Caucus in November 2021.
We hope you share our goals and will commit to working with us on specific strategies to accomplish them.
Sincerely,
Teresa Watanabe
Shannon Lin
Ada Tseng
Seema Mehta
Aida Ylanan
Szu Yu Chen
David Pierson
Frank Shyong
Don Lee
Maneeza Iqbal
Samantha Masunaga
Jaweed Kaleem
Albert Lee
Ashley Lee
Jessica Chen
Phi Do
Michael Ordoña
James Kim
Justin Chang
Adrienne Shih
Richard Martin
Irfan Khan
Anh Do
Wendy Lee
Victoria Kim
Andrea Chang
Kevin Leung
Iris Lee
Sandhya Kambhampati
Kevin Ueda
Jie Jenny Zou
Jenn Harris
Suhauna Hussain
Rubaina Azhar
Kent Nishimura
Rosanna Xia
Amy Wong
Ken Kwok
Thuc Nhi Nguyen
Kelvin Kuo
Rahul Mukherjee
Lilly Nguyen
Cindy Chang
Denise Guerra
Asal Ehsanipour
Lucas Kwan Peterson
Calvin B. Alagot
Rong-Gong Lin II
Kay Lai Scanlon
Sarah Parvini
Christina House
Heba Elorbany
Alice Su
Ameera Butt
Adam Elmahrek
Dylan Hernandez
Thomas Suh Lauder
Katrina Ten
Gregory Yee
Alene Tchekmedyian
Matt Ormseth
Ashley Dunn
Nicole Vas
Calvin Hom
Robbin Nagatoshi-Goddard
Millie Quan
Taylor Le
Christian Stone
Craig Nakano
Gustavo Arellano
Erin B. Logan
Marissa Evans
Christian Orozco
Paloma Esquivel
Jevon Phillips
Arit John
Kurtis Lee
Priscella Vega
Jade Cuevas
Efrain Hernandez Jr.
Andrew J. Campa
Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
Brian Contreras
Jared Servantez
Eduardo Gonzalez
Eduard Cauich
Soudi Jiménez
Karen Garcia
Gabriel San Roman
Jad El Reda
Carolina A. Miranda
Dania Maxwell
Erika D. Smith
Martina Ibanez-Baldor
Jessica Martinez
Nancy Rivera Brooks
R. Marina Levario
Lorena Elebee
Vanessa Martínez
Andrea Castillo
Daniel Hernandez
Carla Hall
Alex Tatusian
Carlos Lozano
Terry Tang
Henry Chu
This letter was signed by members of the AAPI Caucus of the L.A. Times Guild, other non-Guild AAPI staff of the L.A. Times, and members of the Guild’s Black Caucus and Latino Caucus in solidarity. Media Guild of the West’s Executive Committee unanimously voted to support this statement.