Chase Ingrande (He/Him) lives the best of both worlds. By day, he is a 28-year-old software
developer for Bravo. Whenever off work hours, he’s focused and working on his drag queen
persona, Chase Runaway (She/Her).

“Drag is a combination of all the things I love put together,” Ingrande said.

Ingrande grew up in Last Vegas Nevada, and was always a very artistic person. As a kid, his
interests included musical theater and painting, and he studied comedy writing in College.
Chase was introduced into the drag world by his first boyfriend as they performed as a duo
together. Once their relationship ended, Chase had to find his own identity and independence in
drag, and Chase Runaway was born.

“I was like okay, what does this look like to do on my own,” Chase says as he uncrosses his legs
and unclenches his coffee cup on the stoop of a random brownstone in his neighborhood.

Chase says that he is thankful that drag is not his full time job because he can rely on it as a
creative outlet rather than burning out and turning an enjoyable hobby into a job he has to do to
make a living.

“I have always thought of my drag as my art,” he said. “And if you are forced to do art it is barely art
because you are pulling it out of you rather than letting it flow out of you.”

Chase says that he feels the most vulnerable in drag because he is the art.

“I feel very much that I am using myself as the canvas,” he said. “And it is the art and the artist coming
together.”

The post A Day in the Life of a Drag Queen appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

The vibrant red walls, fluorescent ring lights and scattered photographs of legendary basketball scenes painted an upbeat atmosphere in Tha Illest Barber Shop, located in the South side of Racine. A black and white portrait of Marilyn Monroe sits next to a washed out wall hanging with slanted words that read, “dreams to reality”. It’s difficult to imagine that several of the employees are felons or that the barber shop itself had been the site of a stabbing just a few months ago. The incident occurred between the co-owner of the shop and a man who he says came and provoked fighting and violence. 

Some of the employees at the barber shop won’t be voting because they lost their right as felons. Others won’t be voting because they’ve lost hope that politics will lead to change. After growing up in poor areas with high crime rates and frequent discrimination, these residents feel like their government has failed them — and it’s turned them off from any kind of civic participation. 

Nov. 6, 2022 – Racine, WI: Scenes from inside Tha Illest Barber Shop. Photo by Tatiana Ramirez.

Ron Johnson, who won his campaign for re-election, has served as a US Senator representing Wisconsin for eight years. His campaign was largely focused on tackling crime and drugs, but not in a way that helps those stuck in the cycle of it, according to Michael Torres Peterson, a 39-year-old employee at Tha Illest Barber Shop. Rather than prevent crime in the Southern part of the city where violence is most prevalent, he believes politicans in the area have increased police presence and focused on keeping the safer areas secure from external threats. Peterson believes that the areas that need support from government services, have remained largely unaddressed.

Peterson says that he wouldn’t vote even if he had the right to do so. He feels that the tough on crime approach that Johnson has embraced, only leads to repetitive incarceration cycles with the same people in and out of prison. It also doesn’t help remediate the parts of Racine that are in need of crime reduction.

“Like you look at certain areas in Racine, it has looked the same for years,” Peterson said.  “Politicians that have been elected over the years that promise change in certain areas in Racine, and all they did was increase more police in the same exact areas. And the crime rate is still the same.”

According to Crime Grade’s estimates, Racine has a crime rate of 47.58 per 1,000 residents. To put that in perspective, 82% of cities in the U.S. are safer than Racine. 

Peterson says that in certain parts of the city, like the Northwest,which is considered safer, the streets look cleaner and feel safer than they did before — but they weren’t the areas that needed help. As someone who has been incarcerated three times, Peterson feels that increasing police presence in the south part of Racine only contributes to stagnant crime rates and increasing incarceration rates. He also says that sending people in and out of prison breaks up families, which leads the children of those in prison to follow similar paths. 

Peterson doesn’t only blame the current senator though. While Johnson, a conservative politician, has served for eight years, Governor Tony Evers has served since 2019 and represents the Democratic Party. When he looks at his community, Peterson finds inadequacy from both parties and believes both remain equally self-motivated.

“When it’s beneficial to politics, to, to utilize the black vote, that’s when black people become important, and that’s when minorities become important.” Peterson said. “But other than that, only time you’re important is when they put you in cups and chains and throw you in the system.”

He says that the Democratic party may build their platform on diversity, but they often fail to follow through on commitments. On a local level, the minority communities that need the most help often remain underserved. 

Nov. 6, 2022 – Racine, WI: Scenes from Tha Illest Barber Shop. Employee Germaine Spears styles a customer. Photo by Tatiana Ramirez.

“Now you try to contact that person who is just smiling in your face and shaking your hand. You get their secretary, you get a voicemail, you get an ‘oh, we’ll call you back’, you might get an email,” Peterson said. “I’s not coming from that individual that just shook your hand, smiled in your face, and made you all types of promises.”

Peterson isn’t the only one to feel like politicians care more about the race than they do about making an actual difference to the people voting for them. In fact, when Jamie Peterson, the Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), introduced Senate Candidate and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes at his Kenosha rally on Nov. 6, he brought up a story that raised this exact issue. While canvassing for the South Carolina Democratic party in 2014, he recounts knocking on the door of an African American man who said he had no interest in voting. He was more concerned about the dirt road that he lived on getting paved; the road had remained untouched for multiple election cycles. 

“Everybody has that proverbial dirt road,” Harrison said.”Because you have politicians who have made promises, but they don’t do them.” 

Harrison shares this anecdote as a reminder to elect politicians that will carry out their promises and serve all residents of the area they’re elected in, a standard that he feels the acting senator hasn’t done. The example from 2014 reinforces the same message that Peterson feels in 2022. 

“You all have something very different here in Wisconsin. You have leadership in folks like Governor Evers and Lieutenant Governor Barnes who have made promises,” Harrison said. “You all committed in 2020 because you all went to the polls and elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who made promises and they have worked hard to keep them.”

Peterson’s coworker at the barber shop, Germaine Spears, 31, shares a similar perspective. Spears has never been incarcerated but has been branded by other traumatizing experiences. He vividly remembers checking in with his friend after a shooting in the area that occurred in 2013. He says that as he was walking and talking on the phone, he says he was aggressively confronted by police who accused him of matching the description of the shooter. He recalls this instance as his first negative encounter with police. Then, at age 26, Spears’ friend, Donte Shannon, died after being shot by police in a chase. 

Even though he voted for Obama back in 2012, he’s lost all interest in politics in the years since. He’s seen too much suffering and not enough change to care about who gets elected next.

“Take Biden for example, he forgets what he says,” Spears said, referring to Biden’s promise to forgive student loans. 

Spears, like many others, made financial decisions based on the expectation of student loan forgiveness and says he now has $20,000 of debt that he has to pay off. At some point, when people are struggling, they stop caring about the petty arguments between parties and hope for improvement in their lives. 

Peterson and Spears, who have dealt with the same issues their whole lives, want to see visible change. For Peterson though, it feels like the two parties are more concerned with beating eachother down than with actually creating platforms that will make a difference for those in need. 

“Why do you have to always exploit somebody’s negatives to get what you want in life?” Peterson said. “If you come into it with a negative agenda of pointing out somebody else’s negative agenda, why would I even want to vote for you?” 

Peterson’s reaction to polarization is common among swing voters. According to a 2019 poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation that analyzed the 2016 election results, nearly a quarter of swing voters didn’t vote. This kind of turnout may explain why the election ended up being so close between Johnson and Barnes, a race that was expected to overwhelmingly lean conservative. 

As the country continues to become increasingly polarized, swing states like Wisconsin are losing voters by focusing more on exploiting their opponent. Even in Barnes’ rally, he focused heavily on Johnson’s faults. While he encouraged the crowd to vote blue if they want to see change, he didn’t explicitly get into his plan of action to make change happen. 

“There are no ads saying that, ‘Oh, thank you Ron Johnson for doing all this incredible work for us’, because he hasn’t, he hasn’t done anything for us,” Barnes said. “It is just wild to believe a person who’s been in office for 12 years doesn’t have a single positive ad about his campaign.”

Barnes even noted the fact that the speech primarily focused on Johnson and his failure to help communities in need.

“And I hate to go on and on and on about ’em, right?” Johnson said. “Because honestly, this should be about our values and our vision, and it is. That’s what the campaign is about.” 

Nov. 6, 2022 – Racine, WI: Scenes from outside Tha Illest Barber Shop. Photo by Tatiana Ramirez.

While Johnson focused less on his opponent, he also took part in shaming his approach to crime and mentioned that Barnes was ill-equipped for the job. Nikki Haley, who introduced Johnson, mainly discussed points in line with the larger party goals. Still though, she led a chant where she repeated the phrase, ‘not us, that’s them’, referring to all the shortcomings of the Democratic party platform. 

Without attending either rally, Peterson knows the kind of rhetoric that politicians were taking part in because he’s seen it many times before. He doesn’t want to contribute to the negativity from both sides — what he wants is a better economy and life for people in his community. 

With the exception of Trump, who gave out stimulus checks during the pandemic, Peterson says that he’s never received tangible aid from any politician. This is a factor that might change the way he views politicians. 

“At the end of the day, like he did something,” Peterson said. “He was delivering money to people’s front doors. God bless Trump.”

Peterson made it clear that he isn’t a fan of Trump but his perspective demonstrates the importance of government aid. He went as far as saying that drug dealers contribute more positively to his community than the government does, because they’re providing some kind of monetary relief. 

After years of stagnancy and financial qualms, people like Peterson and Spears have  given up. Moving forward, Spears said that the best he can do is educate his children and encourage them to stay out of trouble. 

“I don’t even want to have any type of encounters. I don’t wanna be stereotyped,” Spears said. “I lost all hope to be honest.”

The post Hopelessness in Wisconsin — where both parties have failed appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

That’s why leaders of the organization Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) said they knocked on doors, had personal conversations, and showed up to support the candidates that align with their values. 

BLOC was founded in 2016 by current Executive Director Angela Lang in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She chose Milwaukee because it is one of the most incarcerated and segregated cities in America. 

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. JoVonna Lue, the Community Organizer of the Racine branch of BLOC talks about the day-to-day routine her line of work entails during election season in her office in Racine. Photo by Lauren Peacock

“We’re building up what Milwaukee started, and we’re bringing it to Racine and Kenosha,” said JoVonna Lue, Community Organizer of BLOC. “We’re having those day-to-day conversations and making sure we are present in the communities where we live.” 

Lue said she got involved because she wanted to help people improve their lives. She emphasized the importance of having simple, genuine conversations in her line of work. 

“We want to build those relationships,” Lue said. “These are our communities so we really have to care in order to find solutions to work together.”

Kyle Johnson, Political Director of the Racine branch of BLOC, said that in the 2018 midterm elections BLOC contributed to the Democratic sweep of the constitutional offices as well as Tammy Baldwin’s win. 

“In the last midterm election in 2018, BLOC knocked on more than 175,000 doors in Milwaukee,” Johnson said.

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. Kyle Johnson the Political Director of the Racine branch of BLOC discusses their hectic schedule days before the 2022 midterm elections in Wisconsin. Photo by Lauren Peacock.

BLOC leaders are open about the candidates they support and endorse publicly. Johnson said they work to show communities how these candidates can help residents more than their opponents. 

“You can see the hostility through the policy,” Johnson said.

BLOC worked tirelessly for the 2022 midterm election by making phone calls, sending text messages and knocking on doors. 

“We sent over 620,000 text messages, and knocked over 55,000 doors,” Johnson said. “We reached out to people with a sense of education and an intent to inform.”

Johnson said the organization works this hard to ensure certain candidates don’t get voted into office —Candidates like Tim Michels, the Republican who ran for governor of Wisconsin and lost to incumbent Tony Evers on Nov. 9, 2022. 

Michels said that Republicans would never lose another election in Wisconsin after he was elected. 

“He’s willing to sacrifice democracy for his party,” Johnson said. 

Evers supports the work that BLOC does. 

“I don’t care what side of the isle you’re on, getting people to vote is what democracy is all about,” Evers said, just days before the election. 

Johnson says that some people of color in Wisconsin that he met expressed feeling shut out of specific areas by white people. 

“They’re trying to turn Wisconsin into a Sundown state,” Johnson said. “ Know your place, stay in Milwaukee, stay in Racine, stay in Kenosha. The rest of this is ours.”

Johnson believes that the Supreme Court banning ballot boxes in Wisconsin is one obstacle blocking people of color from having easy access to voting.

“We have so many barriers already to jump through,” Johnson said. 

Bryan Tanayo, a 23-year-old resident of Kenosha, believes the work that organizations like BLOC do is essential because voting is not as accessible in communities of color. 

“For example, limited access to voting places,” Tanayo said “Some voting places are put far away in communities where people rely on public transportation.”

Johnson said that BLOC’s support for the Democratic party in the 2022 midterm election was based on harm reduction for communities of color. 

If BLOC didn’t endorse Democratic candidates like Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes, Johnson  feels that it would run the risk of having a representative who doesn’t support people of color. 

“If Tim Michaels gets in, or Ron Johnson gets in, we’re the first person in line with targets on our backs and they’re coming for us,” he said.

The results of the 2022 midterm elections in Wisconsin showed that most of the candidates that BLOC endorsed ended up winning, including Tony Evers, Sara Rodriguez and Josh Kaul.  

“We saw Democrats maintain control of at least the Senate, bucking decades of the trend of midterms yielding large losses to the party that held the Presidency,” Johnson said.

The Republican candidate Ron Johnson won the senate seat over Democratic candidate Mandela Barnes by exactly 1% of the vote.  

BLOC openly supported Barnes and regardless of his defeat, Kyle Johnson said BLOC is proud of the work and role of Mandela Barnes.

“This was one of the closest Senate races we have seen in this state and it is a testament to Mandela that he lost by 1%,” Johnson said. “We need to continue the conversation around racism in this state and country if we want to truly understand many of the factors that played into this defeat.” 

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. A flier hanging on the front door of BLOC’s office in Racine lists the candidates the organization supports. Photo by Lauren Peacock.

Johnson and Lue feel that the chaos of elections brings distraction to important issues, such as getting justice for Black Lives Matter cases like Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake. 

“We need to make sure people don’t forget what we were marching for in 2020,” Johnson said. “That fight’s not over.” 

BLOC has an agenda with 10 points for issues that they believe need to be addressed on a federal level to create thriving black communities. 

These points include the creation of rent controlled housing, moving towards 100% renewable energies, raising the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour and various other reforms. 

“I like how they’re telling people what it actually entails, registering to vote,” Aidan Kiely said. “When I graduated high school at 18, they told me to go vote, but didn’t tell me what that actually entails.”

Kiely, 22, works at a cannabis shop in Kenosha and firmly believes in the importance of voting in the midterm elections. He applauds BLOC for teaching specific details about the voting registration process. 

Lue described what BLOC specifically outlines for voters what the voting registration process entails. 

“Sending out information on how, when and where to register, request ballots, vote early and times and locations on Election Day,” Lue said. “We also made phone calls from home on Fridays reaching out to voters and potential voters.”

Outside of election season, BLOC focuses on asking people of color what a thriving community looks like to them. Johnson said that these conversations can go anywhere. It may be about adding a stop sign at the end of a street or ensuring more public safety in areas that see a lot of gun violence. 

Johnson believes that voting should mean more to people than carrying out a civic duty. 

“You care about climate change, you care about student loan debt, you care about legalizing Marijuana, you care about incarceration,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason why you vote,” John said. “When it becomes personable, it becomes real. Voting is the last step.”

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. The back of the flier on the desk at the BLOC Racine office next to another flier, an ipad and Mandela Barnes stickers. Photo by Lauren Peacock

Lue and Johnson believe that work doesn’t end after one midterm election in one state of the country, and there’s a long road that follows.

“We have to shift the culture and reframe the conversation,” Johnson said. “It’s not going to be a fight to get justice and liberation tomorrow.”

The post Black Leaders Organizing for Communities encourages people of color to get out and vote appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

“We have to take a part in educating our people why it’s important to make their voices heard through voting,” Moua, who is now the executive director of Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, said. 

The Hmong lived in China for centuries, but they had their own culture and language separate from the Han majority. In the 1800s, they left due to increasing conflict with the Qing Dynasty. They settled in what is now Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma, where they would end up embroiled in various conflicts over the centuries.

During the Vietnam war, the C.I.A. organized a “Secret Army” composed of Hmong people to fight for the United States. The war ended in 1975 after approximately 50,000 Hmong men and boys were killed or wounded. When the Laos Communist Party seized control of South Vietnam, they attempted to genocide the remaining Hmong soldiers and their families. A wave of Hmong people fled the country to Thailand and immigrated to the United States and other countries as political refugees in the following decades.

Nov. 7, 2022- Milwaukee, WI: Scenes from Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. Mayhoua Moua, 53, is the executive director of Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. She is working in her office. Photo by Leying Tang.

Vang and Moua were part of this wave of immigrants. In 1998, there were around 200,000 Hmong people in the United States.

Vang was a 24-year-old soldier who had been living in a refugee camp in Thailand for three years. He was forced to flee Laos with his wife because he had worked with the C.I.A. during the Vietnam War. 

Moua’s father had also worked with the C.I.A. during the war, and he brought her and the rest of their family with him when he fled the country. They lived at a refugee camp in Thailand for one year, and when they finally arrived in the U.S. Moua was only 7 years old.

Wisconsin has the third largest Hmong population in the U.S. with over 62,000 Hmong people as of 2021, accounting for just over 1% of the state’s population of 5.9 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Most Hmong Americans here have similar experiences to Vang and Moua.

However, it’s challenging for senior Hmong Americans to get involved in politics. They didn’t grow up in the U.S., so they face a language obstacle. 

“In Laos, I did have educational training, but in America, I understood only a little bit of English,” Vang, a retired machinist, said. 

Vang still thinks he’s not good at English even though he has received training here. Amoun Sayaovong, Vang’s nephew and the elderly services specialist for the Hmong American Friendship Association helped translate.

Hmong Americans are also not familiar with politics in the U.S. because they grew up in a  different political environment.

“We come from a background where we didn’t have very much choice in politics,” Moua said. “That is not because we don’t want to, but we’re just not used to it, and we don’t fully understand it.” 

This is also why the institution where Moua works often holds workshops to provide education to the local Hmong Americans and share information on different political candidates and their platforms. 

Often, the attention to politics depends on individuals. Cherkao Vang doesn’t like getting involved in politics, instead, he tries to focus on his family.

“A lot of my friends say that I am a young man because I don’t deal a lot with issues that cause people headaches,” he said. 

Vang did pay some attention to politics when he felt they impacted his life. This is why he says he used to support the Republican Party. When Vang and his wife first arrived in the U.S., he made very little money. He was paid $8 an hour as a worker shaving wood. Then he graduated with a Certificate of Machinist, which grants him the credentials to work at a machine shop, but he still couldn’t find a job. At that time, Jimmy Carter was serving as the U.S. president. Once President Ronald Reagan came into office, Vang felt the economy improved and there were more jobs available. He also got a job after graduating from the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

 “I think that he is a great president,” Vang said of Reagan.

Now Vang is an independent voter and doesn’t pay much attention to politics. He voted for Democrat Tony Evers for governor and Republican Ron Johnson for senator in the midterm election, and he says he chose them because he’s familiar with their names.

“Hmong voters don’t get their information from traditional media outlets,” Sayaovong said. “If a candidate is made known to them, through a meet, or a greet, or through friends and family, just hearing that name from a trusted source will often make the difference in voting for a candidate.”

Sayaovong introduced his uncle to Governor Tony Evers when he asked him to attend a meet-and-greet event for the then-candidate. Although Vang was unable to attend, just hearing the name made the difference in voting for Evers. As for Ron Johnson, Vang said he didn’t know who Mandela Barnes was, and Ron Johnson is the person he voted for in the last election.

Moua has also already cast her vote. She declined to share her decision because she runs a nonprofit organization, but she said that affordable health care for Hmong Americans was her deciding factor in the voting booth this November. 

She said cancer and chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes are very prevalent in the Hmong community, but it’s hard for the Hmong people to fully conceptualize western physical therapy in their minds. 

“When you talk about operations or surgery, the only vision that we can understand is how we butcher animals for food,” Moua said. “Cancer to us is like a death sentence.”

When Moua’s family first came to the U.S., they had never been exposed to western medical practices. The only way to cure diseases for Hmong people was to look for a shaman to perform spiritual healings, a traditional religious practice in the Hmong culture. It’s a gradual process for the Hmong people to trust western medicine. 

Nov. 7, 2022- Milwaukee, WI: Scenes from Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. Mayhoua Moua, 53, is the executive director of Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. Photo by Leying Tang.

When Moua’s father-in-law had appendicitis, his relatives didn’t understand. He chose to undergo surgery because he felt there was no other option. The procedure saved his life. And now he encourages people around him to trust western medicine. Moua also uses her own experience receiving medical care to educate other Hmong Americans and encourage them to do screenings for early detection of cancer and chronic diseases.

A major challenge in addressing these issues is that the Hmong Americans are a minority within a minority. There is not enough data to demonstrate why they need to educate the Hmong people, so it’s hard to find grants to support their educational programs.

Moua and her colleagues attend research conferences to bring attention to Hmong people’s healthcare and medical issues. They also go to churches, organizations, festivals, and different community events to expand their network and reach out to people in the community.

Although Moua and Vang came from the same origin and cultural background, they still vote for different reasons. Neither votes for a certain party. 

Politicians in Wisconsin know about Hmong Americans’ preference for voting and they take action on that. Tony Evers, the governor of Wisconsin, often goes to the Hmong community in person. He signed a bill to order the U.S. and Wisconsin flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Hmong-Lao Veterans Day this May. And he won his re-election campaign for governor earlier this month.

“For causes, not for parties,” Moua said, “If they want our votes, they need to come to us. ”

The post Wisconsin’s Hmong Americans in the 2022 election: how community issues and familiarity affect their vote appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Old-style duplexes and cottages are neatly located in quiet neighborhoods and children’s toys are scattered on front doors. Political signs are scattered across lawns throughout the area and most of them have: “Tony For Wisconsin” and “Mandela Barnes For Senate” written on them for the election season. This is the neighborhood where the largest group of Hmong people, used to be a Chinese ethnic group, live in Wisconsin. 

Ever since the Hmong began coming to the United States around the late 1970’s as refugees after the Vietnam War, they brought diversity into the local political opinions, business models, and community cultures. In the past few years, Hmong people are more and more seen in the public sphere. Peng Her, the CEO of the Hmong Institute in Madison, Wisconsin ran for lieutenant governor as a Democrat last year. The Hmong community just had their first Olympic gold medal winner, Suni Lee, back in the Tokyo Olympics. Since Hmong people have been actively engaged in local and national affairs, their votes were also valued by this year’s candidates . 

When Amoun Sayaovong first came to America, he was only about four years old. He was born in Laos and his family was one of the first Hmong people who fled to the United States in 1978. As he grew older, he found his passion in law and practiced it for more than 15 years after graduating from law school at University of Michigan.

Hmong people in this community tend to maintain a tight connection with each other. Even if some of them leave their community to pursue careers, at some point in their lives, they always come back to the community to give back. Just like Sayaovong, he came back to Milwaukee and assisted in the local community center, the Hmong American Friendship Association, after his  law career. 

“I think it’s because of the collectivistic and communal traditions of Hmong people,” Sayaovong said, recalling memories of his community.

Nov. 6, 2022- Milwaukee, WI: Scenes from Hmong American Friendship Association. Andrew Xiong, aged 30, is the Milwaukee County Comprehensive Community Services Administrative Assistant. Photo by Helena Cheng.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, Milwaukee County had the largest total Hmong population in Wisconsin with 12,566 people, which makes them the largest Asian American ethnic group in Wisconsin. Some of the senior family members, like Sayaovong’s uncle, fought in the Vietnam War. However, most of the Hmong people who currently participate in community affairs are between the ages of 18 to 40.

According to a Pew Research Center fact sheet about the Hmong population in the U.S., Hmong people aged 50 and over are only 11% of the whole Hmong population while over 46% of them are aged 18-40. 

“So the Hmong community is actually very young if you think about it.” Sayaovong said.  “Most of the older generation have passed and the younger population tend not to pay attention to politics as much.”

Andrew Xiong, however, demonstrated that the younger generation does preserve their own interests in political campaigns. 

Nov. 5, 2022- Milwaukee, WI: Scenes from Hmong American Friendship Association. Amoun Sayaovong, aged 50, is the assistant director at the HAFA. Photo by Helena
Cheng.

As the 30 years old Milwaukee County Comprehensive Community Services Administrative Assistant, Xiong has been exercising his voting right since he turned 18. He had a normal American childhood and later found his passion in Anthropology in college, with a special focus on the history of the Hmong community.   

Xiong has a history of favoring the Democratic party’s policies on critical issues. He mentioned how Gov. Tony Evers announced back in May that stimulus money of $86 million will be used to support small businesses and community businesses in underserved communities. 

“​​Historically here in Milwaukee, we have had great support from the Democratic party,” Xiong said of the reasoning behind his vote. “We haven’t received a lot of support from the Republican side.”

Traceable and consistent support from Democratic candidates was rendered to the Hmong community to address specific issues that they are facing. Many veterans like Sayaovong’s uncle have been suffering from mental traumas and they need more proper guidance on treating mental health. In 2021, Gov. Tony Evers issued a $2 million investment to the Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Association, Inc. (WUCMAA). This funding supports mental and behavioral health services for underserved communities like Hmong and other Southeast Asian Wisconsin residents. 

When asked what kind of campaigns work the most effectively for local Hmong people, these two different age groups gave similar answers while they shared different emphases on local issues during the election. 

“Hmong tend not to pay too much attention to regular media, they are an insular community,” Sayaovong said. “​​So the politicians who come into the Hmong community and shake a Hmong hand, that’s automatically a vote for that person.”

To the elders in Hmong community, the language barrier and their reliance on word of mouth communication impacts how they get information. Seniors in the community do not watch TV often and mostly listen to the Hmong language radio. So they are influenced by events like Mandela Barnes’ visit to the Hmong community, where he greeted the community representatives. Very often they cast their votes based on perceived familiarity with candidates. 

The younger generation, who are more exposed to social media, also appreciate the gesture of candidates coming to the community in person. Still, most of them are the main labor force and support for their families, so they tend to pay more attention to practical policies and actions.

Tony Evers showed up at a Hmong’s Golden Egg Rolls cafe in La Crosse in August to support small businesses, just two months before he signed an order to lower the flags of the United States and the state of Wisconsin to half-staff in honor of Hmong-Lao Veterans Day.

“We value those individuals who can show up when we call them to show up,” Sayaovong “And that’s what garners our friendship and our lasting support.” 

The post This is how Hmong Americans decided their votes in 2022 appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

The post The Campaign Trail appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

The Peacocks are a 15-seed in this year’s tournament, and on Thursday they were set to face off against a team that many predicted as this year’s champion, the 2-seed Kentucky Wildcats. Saint Peter’s went on to pull off the biggest upset of the first round in this year’s tournament by beating the Wildcats 85-79 in Overtime. They were led by their star guard Daryl Banks III, who scored 27 points, and their sixth man Doug Edert, who added another 20 points.

The St. Peter’s Peacocks celebrating their win against the Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Courtesy of Rich Behan

“Our guys stepped up to the level of competition, so hats off to them. Proud of my guys for battling, like we do all year,” said Head Coach Shaheen Holloway after the win against Kentucky, “No disrespect to anybody, but we wasn’t coming down here just to lose. We came down here to fight and we did.”

Although the players entered the tournament with confidence, they were still aware of how much was at stake, since it is something they have dedicated their whole lives to get to.

“I felt like every basketball player’s dream is to play in the NCAA Tournament and make a run in it, and it felt amazing to get this first win and we are looking to get more,” said Edert, when asked about the emotions that he felt as he sank the game-winning free-throws. 

On Saturday, the Peacocks were matched up against the 7-seed Murray State Racers in the second round of the tournament. Although Saint Peter’s was coming off a huge win against Kentucky, the Racers were still favored by 8.5 points going into the game. That didn’t matter to the Peacocks, as they went on to win 70-60 in a game where forward KC Ndefo scored 17 points and tallied 10 rebounds as well. 

“I got guys from New Jersey and New York City. You think we’re scared of anything? You think we’re worried about guys trying to muscle us and tough us out?” said Coach Holloway, when asked about the lack of strength and size that Saint Peter’s had compared to Murray State. 

The team continued to preach that although they are enjoying what they are doing, they are focused on the task at hand and will continue to handle the preparation for each game with maturity.

“As far as the Sweet 16, again, it’s another quick turnaround. And we’re not going to get too high. What we did is amazing, but it’s already in the past, and we’ve got to move on and start preparing for the next team,” said Edert. 

With that win, the Peacocks became only the third #15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 in NCAA Tournament history. The other two teams to do it were the FGCU Eagles in 2013 and the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in 2021. 

With a game against the Purdue Boilermakers coming up in the Sweet 16 on Friday, fans have one question on their minds, what is it that makes this team so special? 

Rich Behan at Gainbridge Fieldhouse prior to the game between the St. Peter’s Peacocks and the Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Courtesy of Rich Behan

Rich Behan, a Digital Media/Communications Graduate Assistant at Saint Peter’s, believes that coach Holloway is one of the main reasons for their success. 

“Watching these guys at practice almost everyday, there isn’t a coach in the country that’s as tough on his guys but genuinely cares about them the way Shaheen Holloway and this coaching staff does,” said Behan, “You have to grind for everything here at Saint Peter’s, and you can tell this team is a labor of love from everyone involved.”

Saint Peter’s became the first team from New Jersey to reach the Sweet 16 since Seton Hall in 2000. The point guard for that team was Shaheen Holloway. His work-ethic, along with the culture that he fosters for his teams, is quickly making him a New Jersey basketball legend. With a chance to become the first 15-seed ever to make the Elite Eight, Behan knows that although victory is far-fetched, this team can get as far as anyone with their hard work and commitment. 

“I’d be selling the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in this program short if I didn’t say they could go out and win the whole damn thing,” said Behan.

The post A Cinderella Story From New Jersey  appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Staten Island is only a short ferry ride south of Manhattan, but when it comes to Superstorm Sandy recovery, the distance feels great. Since the storm, the hardest hit borough is stuck in a slow recovery.

Last week marked the two year anniversary, and Staten Islanders are still mucking out homes along the Island’s Eastern shore. And with a critical midterm election looming, the issue of recovery is more political now than ever.

2 Years Later: Staten Island Sandy Recovery from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

The post In an election year Superstorm Sandy still a political issue on Staten Island appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Bay Ridge Brooklyn’s The Third Rail Classic Rock Band from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

Marathon runners passing the 4th avenue and 88th Street corner in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn threw up rock-out symbols, air guitars, and even stopped to dance to the ripping tunes of rock-and-roll street band, The Third Rail.

The four Bay Ridge locals of The Third Rail have become friendly faces to locals and marathon runners alike, now playing for the third year in the New York City Marathon, with 4th avenue and 88th Street becoming their official stomping grounds.

Guitarist Matt Daus, 45, put on an “electrified” show, slinging his guitar behind his head to jam out the chords of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, and pay homage to the Bay Ridge music community he calls home.

“We have a lot of local people we know and they know us back from playing in the 80’s and 90’s to playing The Third Avenue festival every year,” said Daus, “Bay Ridge is one of the last true communities in the city of New York.”

Drummer Derek Rushton, 44, threw his drum sticks into the air in between bashing his drum set to Led Zeppelin, hoping his co-workers running in the marathon caught his beats.

Named after the third rail in the subway, the band has been playing for 25 years. Starting as a home band in the basement of guitarist and bass players Matt and Paul Daus, the band began opening for Brooklyn rock bands in the 80’s and 90’s. Of all the arenas they’ve performed, the New York City Marathon is the most captivating.

Paul Daus, 42, feeds off the energy of the Bay Ridge marathon audience, which he said has made playing music after 25 years worthwhile.

“When the audience gets involved, you get an adrenaline kick,” said Paul Daus, “That’s the exciting part about it, when you have somebody coming and saying ‘wow you sound really good’ it makes you feel good, and all the time you spend rehearsing or in your room playing guitar for hours on end actually pays off.”

For Matt Daus and lead singer Rob Delcastillo, 47, the combination of the audience interaction and the event itself is an invigorating experience.

“Here you’re one with the people and you’re part of a bigger event, an ancillary part of it where as when you’re on stage, everybody is looking at you as the event,” said Matt Daus.

The Third Rail guitarist Matt Daus of Bay Ridge, plays with high intensity at the New York marathon. Photo by Talia Avakian

The audience is just as much a part of the band as the members themselves.

“We have an open door policy,” said Delcastillo. “Anybody who wants to come and be part of the show, it’s more than fine.”

The lively interaction goes both ways. With wireless capabilities, the band members sailed into the marathon crowd and got spectators to sing on the microphone.

Third Rail Singer, Rob DelCastillio high fives marathon runners while belting a song in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. Photo by Talia Avakian

While tighter security measures this year meant ropes guarding the band off, that did not stop them from getting up close with runners and onlookers alike, jutting their hands out to high-five runners and drawing their legs over the ropes to rip guitar shreds as close as possible to the action.

The band’s continuous involvement in the marathon was due to Matt Daus’ involvement in running two marathons, one in 1996 and the other in 2011.

“I saw the bands playing there and said, ‘we’ve got to do this one day,” said Daus.

For DelCastillo and Paul Daus, running the marathon was always a goal.

Bay Ridge rock band The Third Rail’s band members Paul Daus, 42, Rob Delcastillo, 47, Matt Daus, 45, and Derek Rushton, 44. Photo by Talia Avakian

“I was very much into running when I was younger and it’s always something I wanted to do but never got the chance,” said Daus. “Now my knees are shot and I don’t think I can.”

While bad knees made participating in the event difficult, the band members paved their own way into the event, showing that no matter the age, you can still rock out.

“I was cursed to have the knees of a 90 year old man afflicted with arthritis, but I’m lucky and blessed to have the lungs of an athlete,” said Delcastillo. He gripped the microphone before getting back to belting Freddie Mercury’s “Another One Bites the Dust”.

The post NYC Marathon: “Electrified” show at Bay Ridge greets runners appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

It’s not quite an art gallery, not quite a language school, and not quite a music venue.

But El Taller Latino-Americano is a little bit of all those things, and most of all it has become a cultural institution on the Upper West Side over the last two decades. With rising rents, it’s about to be driven out of the area.

“Despite the fact that we are a not-for-profit educational organization, the rent which we engage in with the landlord is commercial,” said Bernardo Palombo, a founder of El Taller.

It’s expected to rise from $8000to $22,000 per month next year.

“What for us is human space is for others mathematics and numbers,” said Palombo.

This is not the first time Manhattan’s property market has forced them to move.

El Taller: language, culture and community on 104th Street from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

They started out on 19th Street and 7th Avenue almost 35 years ago, before moving a little further uptown, then across to the basement of a Russian cathedral in the Lower East Side. They’ve been in their current space on 104th Street and Broadway for the last 22 years.

“Now we are here, and probably next year we will be in Canada, because the whole history of gentrification pushes people to el norte, so we are going to el norte again,” said Palombo.

He has a plan for El Taller – to develop an urban garden, community kitchen, centre for immigrants’ rights and a three-penny university – if he can find a way to stay in the building.

The three-penny university would include workshops from current and former Columbia University professors and community members.

“Dona Maria, a Puerto Rican woman who lives next to my house, will teach handy 22 point crochet,” said Palombo, “And the younger characters that are selling drugs in the avenue will teach texting to the old farts like me.”

El Taller has submitted the proposal to two different arts foundations, suggesting they buy the building and help expand the organization.

But if the rent rises as expected, it is likely Palombo and El Taller will have to find a new home for these big ideas to unfold.

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