Voting priorities of the AAPI community
Trotter Distinguished Leadership Series
Speaker
Ranjeev Puri, Rebeka Islam, Roland HangDate & time
Location
The Trotter Distinguished Leadership Series is designed to increase healthy discourse and learning throughout the University of Michigan by inviting speakers from the political and public service sectors of national and international note. Our goal is to bring together bright minds with talks that are idea-focused on a wide range of subjects to foster learning, inspiration, and wonder – and provoke conversations that matter to students at the University of Michigan. This panel will discuss a diverse range of priorities and voting patterns of Asian American & Pacific Islander voters and communities.
Speaker bios:
State Rep. Ranjeev Puri is a strong supporter of policies that lift up Michigan families and workers, strengthen our state’s economy, and provide protection and space for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He is the House Majority Whip and is serving his second term in the Michigan House, representing Canton Township in the 24th House District.
Before joining the Legislature, Rep. Puri worked in financial consulting and then went on to work for President Barack Obama. After completing his MBA, Rep. Puri began his work in Detroit’s automotive industry, helping solve complex business problems and developing innovative solutions to help prepare Michigan for the economy of tomorrow. He believes in holistic solutions to the challenges facing the automotive industry, from cultivating the required talent by investing in our public education system to fixing and modernizing our infrastructure and building a regional transit system to attract and retain the talent of tomorrow.
Roland Hwang is a co-founder and President of American Citizens for Justice and currently teaches Asian Pacific American history in the Department of American Culture, A/PIA Studies at the University of Michigan. Roland is a former Assistant Attorney General Michigan and chaired the Michigan State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He serves as Vice President for Public Affairs of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and previously served as president of the Association of Chinese Americans. Roland is an activist and lifelong Michigander, born in Detroit to parents who emigrated here from China.
Rebeka Islam is the Executive Director of APIA Vote-MI and serves on the board of American Citizens for Justice, as a voluntary director of the League of Women Voters of Michigan, and a member of the Voter Empowerment Project. Additionally, she spends time volunteering to assist with food and clothing drives off work hours, provides translation and interpretation services in voting, partners to provide COVID-19 vaccination distribution, and serves as a guidance counselor for intercultural matchmaking. She has been appointed as the Director of Vincent Chin 40th Remembrance and Rededication.