BOARD

Kristina Wong

Kristina Wong is a performance artist, comedian, writer and elected representative in Koreatown Los Angeles who has been presented internationally across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. In the pandemic, Kristina founded Auntie Sewing Squad, a national network of volunteers sewing masks for vulnerable communities. Their book “The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care and Racial Justice is published by the University of California Press. The experience of erecting this remote factory turned national mutual aid collective at the start of the pandemic is the subject of “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord”– a “New York Times Critics Pick” that premiered off-Broadway at New York Theater Workshop. Kristina also devised and directed last season’s “From Number to Name” at East West Players with members of API RISE, a support group for individuals who have been impacted by the criminal justice system.

Ven. De Hong, Ph. D.

Ven. De Hong, Ph. D., one of the co-founders of the Engaged Buddhist Alliance since 2013, has volunteered in several California state prisons teaching Buddhist psychology and mindfulness meditation as well as conducting daylong meditation retreats. He has corresponded with incarcerated individuals out of states offering correspondence courses on Buddhism and meditation.

Ven. De was fully ordained as a bhikkhu in the Chan/Zen Tradition in 2006 and the Theravada Tradition under Sayadaw Khippa Panno in 2014.

He holds an MA and Ph. D. in Buddhist Studies from University of the West in 2010 and 2014 respectively. The topic of dissertation is, “Development of Buddhist Repentance in Early Medieval China.”

Ven. De has recently retired from teaching at the University of the West to focus on his monastic life and prison ministry. He is fluent in Vietnamese and three Chinese dialects.

Kirn Kim

Kirn Kim was a former honor student and son of a prominent physician in the Fullerton Korean community. However, at age 16, he was sentenced as an adult to life in prison as part of a high-profile case that became known as the “Honor Roll Murder.” He earned parole after serving 20 years. Kirn became active in justice reform advocacy, leading to his hiring as the first formerly-incarcerated employee of The California Endowment. Currently working as a software developer, Kirn continues speaking on issues of criminal and juvenile justice reform, and the culture of shame and the model minority myth in the Asian/Pacific Islander community. Kirn is also currently on the board of directors at the National Juvenile Justice Network.

Godfrey Santos Plata

Godfrey Santos Plata (he/him) is a queer Filipino immigrant and renter whose north star is a racial justice, and whose tools of choice are political education and building people power. He unapologetically works toward a world in which Black Lives Matter. Plata was born in Marikina, Philippines, and is a teacher-turned-organizer currently living in LA's Koreatown. After beginning to meet API RISE members in 2019, he was proud to support API RISE members in East-West Players' production of FROM NUMBER TO NAME, a collection of members' stories and experiences theatricalized for a Zoom audience. In his civic life, Plata sits on the boards of LA Forward and Pilipino American LA Democrats; and represents almost half a million LA residents as a member of the LA County Democratic Party's Central Committee. In 2020, Plata ran for California's State Assembly and won 50,000 votes (44% of the vote) as a first-time political candidate running against a 3-term incumbent, without taking any corporate PAC money and with 7 times less funding than his opponent. State-wide, he serves as Regional Vice-Chair of the Filipino-American Democratic Caucus of California and steers the California Progressive Alliance. In his organizing work, Plata supports community members in multiple LA-based organizing groups, having worked on issues of Sheriff's Department accountability alongside Black Lives Matter; immigrant supports and services at LA Unified School District; and protections for Asian Americans in light of recent waves of anti-Asian violence.