10-23-2022 W2W - Flipbook - Page 26
Jodie Wang
co-chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander Workgroup
in Howard County
Jodie Wang stepped into her new role in Howard County’s Asian American Pacific
Islander (AAPI) Workgroup in February 2021. Her first order of business: responding to criminal acts she believed targeted the community she’d just been chosen to
represent.
Shortly after the work group was formed by County Executive Calvin Ball’s executive order, six Howard County businesses were burglarized on the first night of Lunar
New Year, according to county police. Four of the businesses were Asian-owned.
“We felt like we needed to say something,” Wang said. “We formed during the rise
of the [anti] Asian hate.”
The AAPI work group, made up of over 20 members from various communities,
serves as a channel between local AAPI organizations and Ball’s office, Wang said. The
work group advises local officials on how to better uplift and empower AAPI residents,
who make up more than 20% of the county’s population.
Last May, the group helped put on the county’s first Asian American heritage festival, which was wildly successful according to organizers. The group also organized
a rally against anti-Asian hate, which was attended by more than 1,000 people and
drew participation from over 40 local organizations, Wang said. It was organized in
response to the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, in which six people of Asian descent were
killed, and included a candlelit vigil.
“We want our voice to be, not only to be heard, but also to … be treated seriously, by
the legislative level or executive level,” Wang said.
An immigrant from China, Wang previously served as executive director of the
Chinese American Parent Association of Howard County; she still helps with community outreach.
Richard Ning Li is Wang’s co-chair on the AAPI work group.
“I like Jodie because she’s great, open-minded,” Li said. “It’s not like, ‘You have to
listen to me.’ She’s more like, ‘Yeah, let’s work it out.’”
Wang works full time as an artist out of a studio in her basement. She teaches art
classes to students ranging from kindergarten through high school.
Wang and her husband have an 11-year-old daughter and live in Clarksville. In her
free time, Wang loves going to museums.
— Maya Lora
Niesha McCoy
member, Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition
Niesha McCoy is a civil rights and social action activist and
a member of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, a public
transit advocacy group. She said she wants equality for all:
“Whether Black, white or Latino, they should all be treated
with respect and dignity.”
Recently, McCoy used social media to raise awareness of
BTEC’s efforts to get a petition proposing the creation of a
Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority on the ballot.
The proposal, which the Baltimore City Board of Elections
said fell short of earning the required number of signatures,
would have removed the governor’s authority over regional
transportation decisions, and put the power in local hands.
— Billy Jean Louis
PHOTOS BY KIM HAIRSTON
26 | 2022 | WOMEN TO WATCH