Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. He is a 2008 USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the 2008 North Star News Prize. His first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop, garnered honors including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He has also edited the acclaimed anthology, Total Chaos: The Art & Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. Jeff was a founding editor of ColorLines magazine, and a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons' 360hiphop.com. He has written for the URB, The Bomb Hip-Hop magazine, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and Mother Jones, among many other publications. He covered the 2000 presidential elections for 360hiphop. In 2007, he interviewed Barack Obama for the cover of Vibe. In 1993, he co-founded and ran the influential hip-hop indie label, SoleSides, now Quannum Projects, helping launch the careers of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker. He has helped produce over a dozen records, including the "godfathers of gangsta rap", the Watts Prophets.

After being politicized by the anti-apartheid and anti-racist movements at the University of California at Berkeley, Jeff worked as a community, labor and student organizer, and as a lobbyist for the students of the California State University system. He received a bachelor's degree from Cal and a master's degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles and has published scholarly articles on culture and race relations in Hawai'i and Los Angeles. He was an organizer of the inaugural National Hip-Hop Political Convention and has served as a board member for several organizations working for change through youth and community organizing, media justice, culture, the arts, and hip-hop activism. In 2006, he was selected to participate in a conversation with Tom Hayden in the prestigious Mario Savio Memorial Lecture. Born of Chinese and Native Hawaiian ancestry, Jeff was raised in Hawai'i where he attended 'Iolani School. He lives in California. He is a big fan of Japanese curry and poi, but not at the same time.

Jigar Ashwin Madia, known as Ashwin Madia is an American attorney and Iraq War veteran who ran for the United States Congress in Minnesota's 3rd congressional district in 2008. He is a first generation American, whose parents came to America from India with $19 in cash and a dream that America would provide opportunities for their children. Ashwin's family settled in Plymouth, Minnesota. Ashwin is a graduate of Osseo Senior High School, the University of Minnesota, and New York University Law School. As a leader and advocate, Ashwin served as student body president at the University of Minnesota. He worked with fellow students, administrators, and faculty to keep higher education accessible to all by controlling increases in tuition and fees. He also volunteered as a tutor for children living in a Minneapolis homeless shelter. While in law school, he represented unemployed people in hearings to obtain their benefits, and he provided volunteer legal services for an organization that helped developmentally disabled children.

Madia then joined the U.S. Marine Corps and completed the Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. His first duty station was Okinawa, Japan, where he served as a prosecutor, defense counsel, and legal advisor to a Marine Corps commander. Madia was one of the first attorneys to successfully defend a fellow Marine from treatment under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Madia later served in Iraq from September 2005 to March 2006. While there, he worked in a non-combat role to strengthen Iraq's criminal justice system. This job included working with Iraqi judicial officers, U.S. military and civilian officials, and representatives of the European Union and United Nations, as well as briefing top U.S. generals on the status of the rule of law in the country. In July 2006, Madia finished active duty and returned to Minnesota, where he began to work at a local law firm.

Wong Fu Productions first began in 2003 on the campus of UC San Diego. It is now a growing independent production company with thousands of hits to their website from all over the world each day. With a fanbase of millions across the US and globe, they work fulltime creating online content, designing for their tshirt brand, and producing with other companies and artists. As emerging artists and filmmakers, we hope to continue to improve our craft, grow as a company, and reach people with our work.

Wong Fu was created on a saying that "If at the end of the day there's someone out there who has a better day because of us, then we've succeeded." To this day, that motto still stands. We believe we can have a positive influence in this industry, and on our audience...and if we can do this, then we know we're doing something right.

http://www.wongfuproductions.com/ShortsIndex.html
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The film Vincent Who? resurrects the meaning of the brutal death of Vincent Chin in Detroit and the ensuing campaign. Inspired by the 25th anniversary of Vincent Chin's killing, Curtis Chin, himself a Detroit native, begins with the premise that the meaning has been forgotten in the current generation of young Asian Americans. Vincent Chin was a Chinese American draftsman, who two white autoworkers, conflating all Asians with Japanese, beat to death with a baseball bat. When a white judge sentenced the two to probation and a $3,000 fine, his case became a rallying point for the Asian-American community. Nationwide pressure forced the civil rights trial and conviction of Ron Ebens and Michael Nitz. That conviction was eventually overturned

 

The speakers list has not been finalized yet, so keep checking back for updates!