News
Breathin’ Premieres at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
» Action Items, Events, News
Join the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) and Asian Prisoner Support Commitee (APSC) to discuss this groundbreaking film and mark the anniversary of harmful immigration laws that eliminated second chances for people like Eddy Zheng. The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) resulted in the rise of mass deportations that have separated millions of families.
SEARAC will release a report, “Prosecutorial Discretion in the Southeast Asian American Community,†to highlight the issue of unjust deportations. This event will be in conjunction with their annual “Leadership, Empowerment, and Advocacy Fellowship†(LEAF) Training. Panelists will talk about their personal stories and highlight the local work they are doing to support AAPI prisoner reentry. The event is hosted by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).
Speakers:
Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27)
Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13)
Formerly Incarcerated Panel:
Eddy Zheng, Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC), Oakland, CA
Kristopher Larsen, Formerly Incarcerated Group Healing Together (FIGHT), Seattle, WA
Tung Nguyen, Santa Ana, CA
Date/Time:Â Wednesday, September 28, 4:30-7:00pm
Location:Â Rayburn House Office Building, Judiciary Hearing Room 2226
For the Facebook invite, click here.
To register for the event, click here.
Eddy Zheng Sworn in as Alameda County Juvenile Justice Delinquent Prevention Commissioner
» News, Photos
Being sworn in by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Smiley as the Juvenile Justice Delinquent Prevention Commissioner. #schoolsnotprisons#AsianPrisonerSC #servetheyouth
Colorlines’ Reported Comic about CAAMFest
» Engagements, Media
Colorlines writer Channing Kennedy and illustrator & comic artist Minnie Phan constructed a reported comic on CAAMFest 2016, which includes Director Ben Wang’s film Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story.
See below for their reported comic for the film.
To see more of their reported comic for CAAMFest 2016, click here.
Thanks, Channing and Minnie!
CAAMFest Audience Award for Breathin’
» Media, News
Happy new breath!
I’m excited to share that Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story won the CAAMFest Audience Award! Thank you to all those who watched the screenings and voted.
When I see you, I see me. Without you, there is no me. Thank you.
World Premiere of Breathin’ at CAAMFest 2016!
» Events, Media, Photos, Reflections
Happy new breath! Feeling so honored to premiere Breathin’ with so much community support at CAAMFest 2016.
Photos from CAAMFest 2016 at the Alamo Drafthouse at New Mission
Eddy Zheng and Director Ben Wang before the screening
Composer Scott “Chops” Jung signing the Breathin’ poster during our pre-screening meet-up/dinner
Cast and crew during Q&A
Eddy during Q&A post-premiere
Eddy poses with filmmaker Ben Wang, SF Police Commissioner Victor Hwang, SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi, and fellow activist Harrison Suega.
Breathin’ is given an Honorable Mention by CAAMFEST’s esteemed doc jury
World Premiere of Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story
» Action Items, Events, Media
CAAMFest Press Conference 2016 at Alamo Drafthouse San Francisco
Description:
Arrested at 16 and tried as an adult for kidnapping and robbery, Eddy Zheng served over 20 years in state prison. Ben Wang’s BREATHIN’: THE EDDY ZHENG STORY paints an intimate portrait of Eddy — the prisoner, the immigrant, the son, the activist — on his journey to freedom, rehabilitation and redemption.
BREATHIN’ moves with a deep, critical love, unafraid in confronting the hard truths of Eddy’s crime, the harsh realities of mass incarceration and the intertwined emotional hardships experienced by all involved. The film finds Eddy at many crossroads — in and out of parole hearings, organizing in the community, othered and at risk of deportation — his resilience and astounding compassion resounding throughout. In chronicling Eddy’s decades-long struggle for freedom, the film interrogates the complexities and hypocrisies of crime and punishment in the United States, raising the greater question: For whom are prisons for?
— Andrew Yeung
Co-presented by: Chinese for Affirmative Action & Asian Prisoner Support Committee
Credits
Director: Ben Wang
Producer: Christine Kwon, Ben Wang
Executive Producer: Deann Borshay Liem
Cinematographer: R.J. Lozada
Editor: Ken Schneider and Tina Nguyen
To purchase tickets, click here.
Dates & Times
March 11, 2016 6:30 pm at Alamo Drafthouse
March 19, 2016 8:10 pm at New Parkway Theater
2015 Justice Freedom Peace Award
» Articles, Events, Photos
My second trip of the year takes me to receive the Justice, Peace and Freedom Award from the 2016 AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference. ‪#‎1uMLK‬ I feel humble and honor to sharing the stage with Dorsey Nunn, Rachel Bryan and the ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ Co-Founders Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, Patrisse Marie Cullors-Brignac and different labor leaders. I couldn’t have be in this space without my Asian Prisoner Support Committee family and ‪#‎AAPIsBeyondBars‬ Coalition. Thank you for your leadership and support.
Eddy with Co-Founder of #BlackLivesMatter, Alicia Garza
Eddy, Executive Director of All of Us or None Dorsey Nunn, Community Liaison and International Representative of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Rachel Bryan and Executive Board Member and President of Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)Â Johanna Hester
Membership & Chapter Coordinator/Policy Analyst of APALA William Chiang, Eddy, Johanna Hester, and Executive Director of APALA Gregory Cendana
Eddy with Dorsey Nunn and Executive Vice President of AFL-CIO Teferi Gebre
Eddy with APALA crew
Eddy and William Chiang
Eddy and Johanna Hester
Breathin’ : The Eddy Zheng Story
» Events, Reflections
Breathin’ to show in San Francisco and Oakland in March 2016
Thirty year ago today, at the age of sixteen, I played judge and sentenced a family of four to a life sentence of trauma and suffering. As a result, the judge sentenced me to life in prison as an adult. I spent twenty-one years in prison, while my parents did twenty-one years with me in the “free world.†At the same time, I contributed to the violent statistics in the community.
We are never separated from the self, family and community.
I want to apologize to the family that I had harmed. I am sorry for the trauma I had inflicted on you. I had no rights to do so. I am forever grateful for the mother of the family for accepting the written apologies from me, my parents and community members.
It is timely that the film “Breathin’ – The Eddy Zheng Story†is completed as the country is focusing on criminal justice reform and de-carceration. Ben Wang and many people have created this space to highlight that transformation, redemption, and restorative justice are possible. My story is not just about me. It is about the narratives of many “Others†that do not have a voice to articulate the detrimental impact of the migration to the school-to prison-and-deportation pipeline.
I look forward to watching the film and engaging in dialogue with people on investing in solutions to mass criminalization, incarceration, deportation and dispelling the model minority myth.
In the meantime, I will continue to pay forward until the day I inhale my last breath.
AAPIs Behind Bars Congressional Briefing
» Engagements, News
Eddy speaking at congressional briefing “Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Behind Bars: Exposing the School to Prison to Deportation Pipeline”
Congresswoman Judy Chu with Eddy Zheng
AAPI Behind Bars Panel
Congresswoman Barbara Lee with Eddy
Reform the Criminal Justice System Town Hall
» Engagements, Events
Feeling honor and excited about sharing my thoughts with the leadership of Alameda Labor Council on the impact of mass incarceration and the importance of labor’s role in dismantling the prison industrial Complex through mass employment and investing in education.
