ATLANTA — Metro Atlanta's Asian population is booming.
According to the Census Bureau, more than 400,000 people who identify as Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) call metro Atlanta home, with Southeast Asian and Vietnamese populations leading the charge.
There's incredible diversity among the area's Asian-American populations. Lao, Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees came to Georgia after the Vietnam War and have grown their families in the decades since. Chinese Americans settled in Georgia after helping build the Augusta Canal. Then, there's metro Atlanta's incredible array of universities that are welcoming international students and businesses helping the local economy flourish. A drive down the cultural corridor that is Buford Highway or a visit to Atlanta's Chinatown can offer perspective on how the diversity among the metro's AAPI community has changed the city's landscape.
To help get a scope of what it's like to be an AAPI Georgian, 11Alive brought together five people to learn about their cultures through the lens of their lived experiences.
Meet our panelists:
Rayanne Williams
Rayanne Williams is a Korean American adoptee hailing from Vermont.
After attending college in Atlanta, she decided to call the Peach State home. She has since been involved in the Korean-American community in Atlanta and is an advocate for adoptee rights. She helps lead Korean language meetups so people can learn and practice.
Though sometimes faced with not feeling "Asian enough," she's worked to embrace her Korean heritage and has even visited five times.
Justin Settah Rodriguez
Justin Settah Rodriguez is an experienced lifestyle public relations professional and a Georgia native.
By day, he dabbles in the lifestyle and social media industry, and in his free time he raises Lao and AAPI culture awareness. He's a leader in Georgia's Laotian American Society, having served as the PR and marketing director since 2018. Growing up around a vibrant Lao community, he's passionate about his Laotian Mexican American heritage.
Anar Parikh
Dr. Anar Parikh is currently a senior policy associate at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, where she focuses primarily on language rights and advocacy. She has a Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from Brown University and is a self-described "inconsistent writer, killjoy, and anthropologist" in the world.
In her professional work and beyond, Parikh is a South Asian American southerner invested in building toward an anti-caste and abolitionist world.
Tai Nguyen
Tai Nguyen is a California transplant and certified "yappie" (Young Asian Professional) who now calls Atlanta home.
Identifying closely with his Filipino and Vietnamese heritage, Nguyen has kept his culture close by advocating for awareness, especially during his college years. He is passionate about promoting public health and the culinary arts and can typically be found in the kitchen. It's all part of his love to learn more about the world, believing that even across differences, everyone has common ground.
Victoria Fuxin Register
Victoria Register is an Atlanta-based poet and organizer passionate about the intersection of art and collective liberation. They are a creative who strives to practice the ultimate art form: community.
By day, they save lives as a nurse, and by night, they hold poetry fundraisers to support local causes that serve the people of Atlanta. They have performed their poetry with Southern Fried Queer Pride, Atlanta Chinatown, and Corazón a Corazón.
