18: Being a Polynesian Filmmaker and the Nuances of the Term “AAPI” with Conrad Lihilihi (Part 1)

You all have probably noticed that every week, I begin every episode of Homecoming with saying that this podcast features AAPI folx, but to be frank, you probably have also noticed that I haven’t had any Pacific Islander guests on the podcast yet, even though they are supposed to represent half of the phrase and the group of people that I’m trying to uplift. I really wanted to call myself out on that and apologize for that. To be quite honest, I’ve been pretty wary of the term AAPI for a while now, because I admit that I didn’t fully know or understand the history behind that term. I’ve also often found that organizations that tend to state that they’re all for supporting or featuring AAPI’s tend to be only or majority for Asian Americans rather than Pacific Islanders. Reading Conrad Lihilihi’s article “Dear Asian Americans: Stop Erasing Pacific Islanders,” was a big turning point for me in terms of how I saw the term “AAPI.” So I decided to reach out to Conrad to see if he’d be interested in being a guest on Homecoming, and I found out that he’s also an extremely talented filmmaker, director, photographer, and visual storyteller.

In this episode (part 1 of my full conversation with him), Conrad shares his background growing up in Hawai’i, his college journey and how he ultimately decided that he wanted to pursue film, some of his current projects (see links below), as well as his article and the pros and cons of the term “Asian American Pacific Islander” (or “AAPI”). In part 2 (to release in two weeks), Conrad will be talking about his new docuseries “Language of a Nation” (linked below), so get ready for that!

---

Follow Homecoming on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/homecomingpod/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/homecomingpod) to get to know our guests better, receive quick access to updates, and see behind-the-scenes content! You can also find resources from all of our episodes so far here: https://linktr.ee/homecomingpod

About Conrad and his work: http://www.conradlihilihi.com

Watch Conrad’s docuseries “Language of a Nation”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD1xmjbv548&list=PLAg164PfIkZ8SZvl9E8AU5mck2MXHrogw

Watch the trailer for Conrad’s new film “The Mainland” (to premiere later this year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzLFxRgo1a0

Find your state’s voter registration deadlines for various upcoming elections here: https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/PrimaryElections.htm

Ways that you can support the Black Lives Matter movement & resources/articles on Black and Asian solidarity: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P6mr1TFS-27MUAlYMg94XUMXxS0TnCWFTw85R0BX7v8/edit?usp=sharing