Guest Contributor

Why are YOU voting? And what are the conversations you are having with your family about this election?

Growing up Chicano and gay on the Eastside in the '60s and '70s, James Rojas often felt like an outsider. He found safe space and acceptance amid Black and Brown peers and disco music as "we blurred the L.A. redlining map and found identity, and community, in the fusion."

From March -- shortly after stay-at-home orders went into effect across the country -- to May, the National Domestic Violence Hotline recorded a 9% increase in calls. On Saturday, community members in South L.A. came together to advocate for resources for BIPOC survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

A Black Armenian Angelena reflects on her identity -- the discrimination she's endured because of her race and feelings of being excluded because of her ethnicity -- the legacy of the Armenian Genocide and the current conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In a series of recollections, Judy Jean Kwon reflects on what her Korean American family lost when they settled in the U.S. -- and what it's taken for her to reclaim at least part of it.

"I came to deeply embrace anti-racism in slow, sustained increments. To do so, I had to embrace my own identity as a Brown person -- and understand my own complicity in white supremacy."

Growing up in a family of New Orleans transplants in L.A.'s Jefferson Park neighborhood, Jervey Tervalon wasn't always appreciated by educators. It took some special teachers to take a deeper look and recognize his talents.

A racial slur was part of Omar Amr's first experience playing Division I water polo at UC Irvine. It wasn't the first time he'd heard racist comments. Growing up in East L.A., Amr was groomed to "behave appropriately" so that hate directed toward him would not turn into harm.

When he tuned in to a radio interview with a top law enforcement official, and the topic of racism came up, Keith Taylor was hoping to hear some sympathy for Black people killed by police. Or perhaps, "some idea of how to work in earnest to combat this pervasive issue." What he heard instead brought back painful memories from many years back.

Growing up in the mostly white Orange County suburbs, she felt safer staying quiet, keeping her feelings to herself whenever stung by subtle or overt racism. But over time, she found her voice.