A crazy-funny friend of mine blogs about the ways that Korean moms are environmentally conscientious and — to use the word creatively — “green.“ Hilarious, but there’s much that is frighteningly true to life here in terms of saving the environment being more about consistently being overly-frugal. Growing up in the hippie-granola state of Colorado, I remember not being aware of environmental issues; in my home church, we definitely didn’t do much besides the occasional weeding or cleaning up trash around the building. A few years ago, I heard a story from another pastor-friend about a woman at his church gathering some interesting plants to put in a soup… which put her in the hospital. (They weren’t plants from a community garden on the church site, but rather some weeds she found growing in the parking lot.) This is a little extreme, but somehow familiar — the bizarre ways that our first generation and immigrant APAs are being environmental. There has to be some logic or reasoning, even if I don’t get it.
Nowadays, “creation care” and “going green” are buzzwords in Christian faith communities, particularly in my denomination with websites like Eco-Journey, Food and Faith, and Enough for Everyone. And yet, I don’t hear much about dialogue or awareness-raising in older generational APA churches. I bring it up periodically with my dad who ministers primarily to this older APA group as a pastor, and it sounds like there’s not enough time to do anything beyond recycling, if they even do it. This is also the case with the local Korean American churches I keep some contact with here, although there is one that participates in a co-op community garden.
I’m not sure if the lack of engagement in these issues comes from the possibility that most of these churches have a more “conservative” theology, and therefore, a somewhat entitled view of creation and its resources. At the same time, while questions about the validity of global warming is relatively pervasive in these same communities, I think the language and theological perspective is shifting in all spheres a bit to include conversations about being good stewards of all our resources: not just financially or materially, but environmentally.
Either way, I think it’s important to have this push towards environmental responsibility in all our communities. I appreciated Justin Fung’s question, “What are ways that we are trying to be environmentally faithful?” in his response to the image of Gulf Coast oil spill at Sojourner’s Blog. Whatever language — faith-based or not — we use to present compelling reasons to be more green is necessary. We are all on the same planet, and one that, no matter what group or community, no doubt requires our attention and care.
(Flickr photo credit: foldablebags.com)
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Today on May 22nd, California will honor Harvey Milk with the First Annual Harvey Milk Day for his courageous leadership and conviction. Some of my friends will be celebrating his legacy in San Francisco at the Castro District where he got his start. Suffice to say, this event is going to be huge and I can only wish that I was with them celebrating this momentous day.
“But who is Harvey Milk,” some of you may ask.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected in 1977 to public office in California and thus making him one of the nation’s first openly LGBT elected officials. This achievement is absolutely incredible because if you thought being gay was tough now, it was a whole different world over 30 years ago. During that time, politicians would publicly declare on national television that being a homosexual was a disease and it was because of these homosexuals that the American family structure was being jeopardized. These opinions were widely accepted by the American public and severely placed a burning magnifying glass over the LGBT communities across the nation.
Harvey Milk decided that someone needed to step up and fight back against the prejudice and hatred America was enveloping itself towards the LGBT communities. From his passion to make a change, circumstances would propel Milk to become that voice to fight back. In the next few years, Milk would take advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood to promote his interests in running for office. Despite growing support, he ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. On 1977, Milk finally won a seat as city supervisor in 1977 and held office for eleven months. During this time, he worked tirelessly to pass a gay rights ordinance for the city and the passion and fire that he possessed was only just beginning to unfold. But on November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk was assassinated and his dreams were cut short.
Despite his death, Harvey Milk inspired countless people to stand up against injustice. His legacy will live on and with the First Annual Harvey Milk Day, his fire still burns brightly as ever.
Harvey Milk was a man who spoke and fought for the people who helped put him in office, “the gays, the blacks, the Asians, the seniors, the disabled — the us’s,” he called them. One of his closest advisors was Michael Wong, a Chinese American activist and friend of Harvey’s. One time, Wong had a huge argument with Milk over Harvey’s declared intention to endorse Wong’s political nemesis, an old-school leader of the Chinatown machine. Wong demanded to know why and Harvey responded:
“You gotta look at the big picture, Michael,” explained Milk. “If San Francisco’s Asian and gay communities can just find a way to work together, we’ll hold all the cards. Give us 10 years, and we’ll control politics in this city.”
Which brings me to why Harvey Milk is so important, not just to the LGBT community but to all minorities across the nation. Too often, our communities are guilty of preaching to the choir and only supporting our own people without reaching out to build bridges with other communities. Yes, our communities are different but each and every single one of us have ties that bind us together. Once we start focusing on building support, we will be a force to be truly reckoned with. This is important more than ever now with the recent turn of events in our nation.
Harvey Milk fought for his LGBT community and all who have been mistreated and suffered by society. His scope expanded beyond just his own community and it is something that I take tremendous inspiration from. For me, I know that my love will always be toward my Asian American community (and quite a huge family as I wrap my arms around the West/East/Southeast/South Asian diaspora) but I am continuously reaching out and learning from other communities to make me a better social justice activist and ultimately, a better person.
With that being said, happy Harvey Milk Day everybody.
Shopping With GASP!
Some of the earliest portrayals of Asians on TV that I remember were done by professional wrestlers. These Asians were heels, as bad guys in professional wrestling are called, and played the role of evil scheming Japanese. I loved to hate one wrestler on Big Time Wrestling named Kinji Shibuya (also known as Kenji Shibuya), who was famous for his “nerve” holds and his deadly “karate chop.” Kinji Shibuya passed away on May 3rd at the age of 88. In the wrestling video above, he portrays the devious and treacherous Asian, blinding his enemy by throwing salt into the eyes, a schtick made popular by another Japanese-American wrestling heel, Mr. Fuji.
Why should we note the passing of someone who played what would seem to be overwhelmingly negative stereotypes of Asians? Kinji Shibuya’s life reflects what many Asian-Americans of his time endured, from discrimination to stereotypes. While his wrestling persona claimed to be from Japan, Shibuya was really born in Utah. He was a standout football player at the University of Hawaii and even played some semi-pro football. The Washington Redskins were interested in him, but he didn’t get a chance at the NFL (unlike Eugene Amano and Ed Wang) because of his ethnicity. Instead, he found that being typecast as a Japanese heel was the best way to make a living. While he was quite good at it, he didn’t always like it:
L.A. was about the only place other than Honolulu where a Japanese wrestler could be himself, be a babyface. It started with Rikidozan, then Toyonobori and these guys got an amazing reaction. I was sometimes jealous that they didn’t have to play the World War II sneaky Japanese heel. But I don’t think anyone ever did it as well as me.
This article about him says that he was a masterful technician in the ring, and that despite his evil character, he was well liked by his peers. He didn’t crash and burn either, unlike so many in professional wrestling. Outside of the ring he was known as a gentleman and as his kids reminisce, just a regular dad.
After retiring from the ring, he did some acting, appearing in Kung Fu and Mr. T and Tina. He also became known for raising champion koi. It is said that he strolled his Hayward neighborhood with a pair of garden shears, trimming people’s shrubs just so he could spark a friendly conversation. Despite discrimination and stereotypes that forced him from a football career caused him to play a negative role, he never became embittered and was by all accounts, fun loving yet thoughtful and gentle person. Says Michele Shibuya, Kinji’s daughter: “he had one of the richest lives anybody could ever want. Externally, he portrayed himself as this very mean, tough guy. But internally, he was a very kind, gentle spirit with a great sense of humor. He could engage people in a way that was nonthreatening and loving, too.”
Yesterday, I attended the CW network upfront, which is a major annual event where the TV networks reveal their fall schedules. The CW was the last of the Big 5 networks to present and as you have probably heard by now, the network has two new shows for the fall: Hellcats, a college cheerleading drama reminiscent of Bring It On, and Nikita, a remake of the 1990 action thriller La Femme Nikita.
We saw previews for both and I was surprised at how action-packed Nikita was. The show was definitely no-holds-barred when it came to violence. It was like watching a female Jack Bauer. After the preview, lead star Maggie Q came onstage to greet the audience and talk a little about the show. She was the only actor to not read off the teleprompter, and she was funny, self-deprecating, and genuine. I think all of us in the audience fell a little in love with her, particularly after she said, “I don’t think any of you understand how good-looking it [the other CW stars] is backstage. It’s really intimidating. I had to push the A-cups up a little bit.”
If Maggie Q’s charm isn’t enough of a reason to check out Nikita (airing Thursdays this fall at 9PM), check out a sneak peek at the series above.
- Korean Americans are 3x more likely to binge drink than their Chinese American counterparts.
- In Search of Adorable, as Hello Kitty Gets Closer to Goodbye. (NYT)
- Gay men in the Asia-Pacific region are being denied HIV care. (BBC)
- An Outspoken Swinger Tests China’s Sex Morals. (NYT)
- Akufuncture Releases a new season of clothing.
By Amanda
As my first year of college has just ended, I’m taking some time to reflect on how much I’ve changed over the course of just one year. I’ve learned how to manage my own spending. I’ve learned how to manage my own time. And most of all, I’ve learned that no matter where I go, I am always bound to that ever-present entity lovingly called Mom, who asks me why I don’t call her everyday like her friend’s son at such-and-such Ivy League college and insists that I must have some boyfriend distracting me, despite the fact that I attend a women’s college and have not seen a single guy in days.
The moral of the story: call your parents.
Tonight, I called my mom and the conversation turned to how I’ve changed since I left for college. She said something along the lines of, “I’m so glad that you’ve grown up! Now you’re able to see that I was right all along, but in high school you were just too stubborn to listen to me.”
Slant Film Festival is proud to present a free salon with award-winning filmmaker PJ Raval.
Known for his success in both the Asian American and GLBT film community, filmmaker and cinematographer PJ Raval will host a discussion on his experiences with niche markets of the indie filmmaking world. PJ’s films have screened at Slant over the years, most recently Lead Role: Father in 2007. Named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s ‘25 new faces of independent film 2006′, PJ just completed Trinidad, a feature documentary about Trinidad, Colorado’s transformation from Wild West outpost to “sex change capital of the world.”
This event is free! Visit our website for more information about the festival.
As previously blogged about by Linda this past February, everyone previously bummed out about Jin [POSSIBLE SPOILERS DELETED FOR THOSE WHO WATCH LOST ON TIVO, BUT SERIOUSLY DIDN'T THAT SUCK FOR THE BOTH OF THEM WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE] on Lost and Grace Park, uhm, just sitting around and looking hot in magazines and not on a television set, fear not — the remake of Hawaii Five-O is coming to CBS this fall, and a preview has just been released to YouTube.
True to a mainland TV show that takes place in Hawaii, there looks to be no Filipinos, no one eating spam musubis or speaking pidgin. On the flip side, the preview shows Grace Park punching men in the face while in a bikini. Twice. We’ll call this a wash.
So, question to you, 8Asians readers: will this re-imagining of a classic series be more like Battlestar Galactica, or more like that really awkward remake of Knight Rider?
I mean, it looks like some serious calories are getting burned here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtkSVCd4JSo
Want more? I present to you: いちごましゅまるを踊る！？ Ichigo Dance!
Original videos: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7765190
The channelAPA.com East Coast Tour footage continues to roll out. We sat down with a couple members of Jersey based Triangle Offense. Learn more about these up and coming artists and their dance infused hip hop music, and get a taste of their music from their latest mixtape, The Courting.
Today marks the birthdays of two incredible people, one who is still amongst us, and the other who passed away over 35 years ago: Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X.
Although they have lived very different lives, the hardships they faced and their passion in fighting against the injustice of the American system was the same, and to tie that connection even further, they share the same birthdays. Yuri Kochiyama and her family were amongst the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Her camp was located in Jerome, Arkansas and there, she came face to face with the segregation of the Jim Crow South. Not too far from Arkansas, Malcolm Little’s childhood experiences in Nebraska consisted of his father’s lessons concerning black pride and self-reliance and his own experiences concerning race. When he was 6 years old, his father was murdered by white supremacists. When he was 13, his mother fell into a nervous breakdown and was sent to a mental asylum.
Both Yuri and Malcolm were no strangers to the extreme difficulties they faced during their early years. From the racism, hardships, and lessons these two individuals went through, these factors became the fuel to spark their life-long quests to redress the injustices done towards them and to all who have suffered in the same way.
Yuri Kochihyama found the parallels between the oppression of Black people and the treatment of Japanese-Americans were striking and became determined to do something about it. She then moved into a housing project in Harlem along with her husband and became fiercely involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Through her involvement, she became part of the major struggles of the ’60s and ’70s and along the way, developed a close friendship with Malcolm X when they first encountered on October 16th, 1963. Two years later, on February 21st, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated. As he drew his last breaths, Yuri Kochiyama held Malcolm in her arms.
As I write this, I can’t help but feel their presence and know that whatever I’m doing, as an actor, social justice activist, and 8asians writer, would not be possible without people like Yuri and Malcolm.
So I wish you both a happy birthday. Your legacy has inspired people like me to keep on fighting, to keep on loving, and to never give up.
My name is Charlton McIlwain. I am a professor of media, culture & communication at New York University and co-director of the Project on Race in Political Communication.
I am interested in the ways that children and parents talk about issues of race, ethnicity, racism, etc. and am conducting a survey primarily geared to collecting funny, interesting, alarming, or challenging anecdotes that parents have about a time when their child, themselves or other children they knew made a statement or asked a question about race.
I wanted to inquire if you might be able to share a link to a survey with the members of your community.
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Feb 16: Adam WarRock and Kirby Krackle: West Cost Tour Dates!!!
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