Corky Lee (@corkyleeee), the self proclaimed, “Undisputed, Unofficial, Asian-American photographer laureate” captured this moment (photo 2) when my athlete, Leland (@misturlee) completed his second 12 hour run challenge of the year back in December 2020 fundraising to get money directly back into the pockets of struggling local businesses in Chinatown due to #xenophobia . Ben Chan (@malerunner) tagged me in a photo Corky posted on Facebook. Corky suggested that the next fundraiser should be run through the AAPI enclaves of NYC (photo 3) - and that’s exactly what Leland and I are doing THIS SATURDAY (photo 5). We didn’t have enough time to train for this, but we will take on this 50 Mile Run for Representation run challenge in honor of Corky Lee and to help him and his friends Karlin Chan (@chinatownmuralproject) and Victor Huey kick start their dream project, C.O.M.A. (Chinatown Organization for Media Awakening) to combat negative stereotyping of Asians in media and cinema and to promote and ensure true representation in media and to celebrate #AAPIHeritageMonth. COMA, Leland, and I are asking if you can please do one of the follow for us and the community: 👉 Click the link in my bio to DONATE. All proceeds will go towards establishing an initial operating budget for COMA, installing a mural to honor Corky Lee, and produce a documentary about his life. 👉 Come out and SUPPORT us by biking or running a couple of miles with us or cheer us on. Click the link in my bio for the route map. 👉 Or, if you can’t do any of the above, we ask if you can please SHARE or REPOST this with your friends and family and let them know why representation is important to you. Thank you all for your support! _ #corkylee #aapirepresentation #asianrepresentation #runchallenge #ultramarathon #stopasianhate #stopaapihate #asianheritagemonth #chinatownnyc #runforchinatown #teamaltra (at Chinatown) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPTj_DLHv7w/?utm_medium=tumblr
