Hoang Pham is a Research and Policy Fellow at the Stanford Center for Racial Justice at Stanford Law School, where his work focuses on education equity, public safety and policing. He is also a breakdancer and was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Through his experiences growing up in Portland as a Vietnamese American and being the child of immigrant parents, Pham developed a passion for creating systemic change in society through education and community involvement. After attending the University of Oregon, he worked as a teacher in South Los Angeles for six years before deciding to obtain his law degree from the University of California, Davis. His current goals are to create systemic change in the US education system, utilize his perspective to serve BIPOC youth and communities, and advance racial and economic equity across the nation.

In this interview, Pham begins by talking about his childhood growing up in Portland being involved in activities such as martial arts, music, and breakdancing. He talks about how breakdancing with his brothers was a form of liberating expression and resistance. Pham also recalls stories of trauma and intergenerational resilience present in first generation migrant families in the United States. He goes on to speak about his experiences at the University of Oregon and how he developed a passion for education as a vehicle for change. After that, Pham talks about the Vietnamese community in Portland and the ways he feels at home in this city. He shares about how his identity as a Vietnamese American intersects with the normative white society of the United States, as well as his feelings of his pride in the contributions of the Vietnamese community around the world. He also talks about the generational differences within the Vietnamese community and the importance of empathy between younger and older generations. At the end of this interview, Pham talks about his parents' stories of immigration, how they maintain ties to Vietnam, and the processes of healing and learning to understand who they are.