POTLUCK—How Asian American Groups Helped Warm the February Freeze

By Lionelle Hamanaka

If you were born in The Year of the Fire Horse, which according to the Chinese zodiac falls in 2026, you may possess qualities of vitality, freedom, speed, and perseverance. The combined celebration of the Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day was promoted by Potluck (an Asian American network) in Chelsea on February 10.

Julie Azuma, an organizer of the Potluck email newsletter, shared Potluck’s evolution. “The original inspiration was Chopsticks Magazine which was once free on street corners and in restaurants. I wanted to put together information of all things Japanese since Chopsticks was no longer available…and also expand it. A few months later, I met with John Eng and Sue Lee. In the 90s, they had put together an amazing newsletter called Asian New Yorker that covered all community news. Eng was on the verge of retiring, and it occurred to us that we ought to have a multi-Asian resource of events and news relating to the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in NYC.”

Potluck covers everything from book signings, film openings, food festivals, seminars, and forums that are sponsored by many of the dozens of New York’s Asian American ethnic groups.

Azuma continued, “In NYC there are about 1.5 million Asian Americans, so we felt it was important to let all of AAPI know what is happening around the city so they could pick and choose… with each Potluck event…where our community wants to connect. Potluck helps give them the sense of community and belonging.”

Melinda Chu, a social media expert with amazing information, combs the internet to find events both in person and virtual. Emails go out once or twice a week depending on how many events she finds.

Potluck is interested in reaching out to West Asian countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Yemen, and Bahrain.

“We haven’t made as many inroads as we have with the communities that are familiar to us. We are open to all of them. We want to bring our community together. We want everyone AAPI or not to know what is happening in the AAPI community in NYC. We want to expand and embrace our community. Everyone wants and needs a sense of belonging and we want to begin to provide it,” said Chu.

On February 16 Potluck sponsored the annual Day of Remembrance (DOR) for the Japanese American concentration camps established during World War II. This year marks the 80th anniversary of FDR’s Executive Order 9066. This order set up the camps using The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which dislocated Japanese Americans and detained them in concentration camps. In a relevant parallel, this year the administration also used The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport and detain current immigrants, a move relevant to NYC today because 3.2 million residents, or 44% of our workforce, were born outside the U.S.

After a 44-year campaign for restitution for concentration camp prisoners, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-383), providing a formal apology and $20,000 in reparations to each surviving Japanese American who was interned during WWII. The law acknowledged that the incarceration was based on “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”

The DOR Committee also held a Day of Remembrance meeting on February 19. It took place at the Japanese American Christian Church at 255 Seventh Avenue. Descendants of concentration camp internees lit candles in church and recalled their ancestors’ experiences.