Statewide Asian American equity and justice group launches in Bloomington, one year after bus attack

Melisa May Borja, co-chair of HAAP. (Jan. 18, 2024)

HAAP logo. (Jan. 18, 2204)

Helen Zia and Michell Waugh Dahl at the HAAP launch on Jan. 18, 2014.

Helen Zia speaks with HAAP launch attendees. (Jan. 18, 2024)

From left: Melanie Castilo-Cullather, Katherin Chi, Helen Zia, Michelle Waugh Dahl, and Rachel Tomas Morgan.

Helen Zia addresses the crowd at the HAAP launch in the I Fell Gallery on Jan. 18, 2024.

On Jan. 11, 2023, an Indiana University student was stabbed as she rode a Bloomington Transit bus, because she looked Asian.

From the city council dais this past Wednesday, District 5 representative Shruti Rana mentioned the incident, calling last week “a poignant one for our city, in that it marks the one-year anniversary of the racially motivated attack on the Asian American IU student who was stabbed while riding a city bus.”

Last year, in the wake of the attack, an early February solidarity rally in Dunn Meadow was organized by the Asian Pacific Islander Public Affairs (APAPA) Indiana chapter. At the rally, IU neuroscience student Katelyn Wo told the crowd, “Even our little bubble at IU Bloomington is not, and never has been, a safe place for Asian and Asian American people.”

Giving remarks this past week that supported the “never has been” part of Wo’s statement was Helen Zia, a journalist and activist for Asian American and LGBTQ rights, who was visiting from California. Zia recalled the shooting of IU student Won-Joon Yoon on July 4, 1999, by a white supremacist who had singled out minorities in two states.

Zia’s remarks came as part of an event that re-launched AAPA Indiana as Hoosier Asian American Power (HAAP).

The relaunch was held in the I Fell Gallery on 4th Street, the same building that is home to Rainbow Bakery. Continue reading “Statewide Asian American equity and justice group launches in Bloomington, one year after bus attack” →

Rally in support of Asian community: “Our little bubble at IU Bloomington is not and never has been a safe place for Asian and Asian-American people.”

Rally in support of Asian community at Dunn Meadow (Feb. 4, 2023).

From left: Katelyn Wo, Parnsasi Bandyopadhyay, Wenxi Lu.

Rally in support of Asian community at Dunn Meadow (Feb. 4, 2023).

Wenxi Lu.

“Thank you for not stabbing me.”Rally in support of Asian community at Dunn Meadow (Feb. 4, 2023).

Dunn Meadow, Indiana University. Rally in support of the Asian community (Feb. 4, 2023)

On Jan. 11, an Asian student at Indiana University, who was riding a Bloomington city bus, was repeatedly stabbed in the head by another passenger.

A fact that emerged later, in the probable cause affidavit submitted to the court, was the suspect’s description of her motivation: It was based on the victim’s race—she was Asian. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, about 250 people gathered in Dunn Meadow, on the IU campus, to show support for Bloomington’s Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander community.

The reason for the rally was evident in a sign held by one man, which read “We should be able to ride the bus SAFELY.”

A woman wore a T-shirt with a message written in cursive: “Thank you for not stabbing me.”

Among those addressing the crowd were: Linda Shi, president of the Asian Pacific Islander Public Affairs (APAPA) Indiana chapter; deputy mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael, assistant dean of the Hamilton Lugar School Shruti Rana; IU alum Hiromi Yoshida; Joy Basa-King, vice president APAPA; and Michelle Waugh Dahl, co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Indiana Chapter.

Three more women, who are all Indiana University students, delivered remarks. Continue reading “Rally in support of Asian community: “Our little bubble at IU Bloomington is not and never has been a safe place for Asian and Asian-American people.”” →

Photos: Science Fest achieves Dunn Meadow liftoff

(Science Fest Oct. 9, 2021)

IU professor of physics Paul Sokol. (Science Fest Oct. 9, 2021)

Launching his rocket was Tommy Rasmusson. (Science Fest Oct. 9, 2021)

Covering her ears is Grace Johnson assisted by her dad Bo Johnson. (Science Fest Oct. 9, 2021)

In Dunn Meadow on Saturday morning, Indiana University’s Science Fest provided touchdowns aplenty despite the football team’s bye week.

Every 20 minutes or so, a model rocket or two, sometimes four at a time, were sent soaring 800 feet or more into the clear skies, undisturbed by much of a measurable breeze.

After its engine backfired (by design), to pop off the nose cone and deploy the parachute, one of the rockets landed just a few feet from the launch pad. Others landed a bit farther away, towards 7th Street.

Supervising the activity was IU professor of physics Paul Sokol and lecturer Dilara Sultana, along with a handful of graduate students in the department.

Science Fest activities were planned for much of the campus. The B Square confined its coverage to Dunn Meadow.

More photos are included after the jump. Continue reading “Photos: Science Fest achieves Dunn Meadow liftoff” →

Climate scientist on last weekend’s Bloomington rain: “It’s not like this was an absolute fluke…”

Looking south on Grant Street from Kirkwood in the early morning hours of June 19, 2021.

bordered R OUT plot 2-day IU-B rainfall data

bordered R OUT plot number of 2-day rains more 2 inches

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance: Statewide Time Series, published June 2021, retrieved on June 23, 2021 from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance: City Time Series, published June 2021, retrieved on June 23, 2021 from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/

Forecast for June 24 to June 30 from National Weather Service.

As of Wednesday, the National Weather Service is predicting 4 to 6 inches more rain for Bloomington, from Friday afternoon through Tuesday evening.

That follows 5 to 7 inches of rain that fell over a shorter period last weekend, which flooded a downtown Bloomington street, overtopped a county bridge with debris, and caused the floodwaters to sweep up one car, leaving its driver dead.

Based on the daily rainfall data in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Climate Center database, last weekend’s two-day total rainfall of 6.1 inches, recorded by the Indiana University campus rain gauge, ranks it the third-worst storm, since daily rainfall totals have been kept, which starts in 1895.

The 6.1 inches measured on IU’s campus was the highest two-day total in the last century.

Does last weekend’s single event prove the case for climate change?

When The B Square spoke on Wednesday with Gabriel Filippelli, professor of earth sciences at IUPUI, he said, “Each given intense rainfall event does not mean that climate change has descended on us.”

Filippelli continued, “However, when you look at the regional records and you see the number of days Indiana has had extreme rainfall events, it has gone up substantially from about the end of the 1980s on.”

The amount of extreme rainfall in central Indiana has gone up by about 15 percent since 1990, Filippelli said. He continued, “The projections are, it’s going to go up another 15 percent by 2050.”

That means extreme rainfall will continue to be likely in this area, he said. He added, “Whether climate change will make them worse or not, it’s hard to say, ”

In the context of a 15-percent increase in extreme rainfall, Filippelli assessed last weekend’s storm like this: “You know, 15 percent isn’t a lot, but it’s not like this was an absolute fluke that we’ll never see again.” Continue reading “Climate scientist on last weekend’s Bloomington rain: “It’s not like this was an absolute fluke…”” →

Photos: “Enough is Enough”

On Friday, June 5, 2020, a peaceful protest against police brutality, organized by Black student leaders at Indiana University, wound its way from Dunn Meadow westward to the courthouse square. Demonstrators numbered in the thousands. Here’s a mosaic of images from the event, which was promoted with the slogan “Enough is Enough.” (Click on any image to enlarge and start a slideshow through the rest of the images.)

Photos: June 5, 2020