8 Asians

So if reporter Seth Rosenfeld was seeking tons of press attention for his new book about the FBI’s war on student activism during the 60s & 70s, he achieved his goal. One day before his book was published, Rosenfeld released an article stating that former Black Panther Richard Aoki had worked as an FBI informant after graduating from high school. My first reaction was to deny it. I’m still not going to fully accept this allegation [...] Continue »

It’s been 67 years since the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th 1945 respectively. I’m usually with my family in Japan during this time, watching the ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on the news. The Peace Bell rings, followed by a moment of silence. Speeches are made by politicians as well as primary school students. The whole nation remembers and mourns our losses. Never again, we pray.

From NPR: “Deep inside the National Archives in Washington, D.C., old case files tell the stories of hundreds of thousands of hopeful immigrants to the U.S. between 1880 and the end of World War II. These stories are in the form of original documents and photographs that were often attached to immigrant case files. Many of them are part of a new exhibit at the Archives, called ‘Attachments’.” There are photos of the immigrants at Ellis [...] Continue »

Queen B is – and forever will be – my inspiration. She’s fierce, independent, beautiful, confident… everything that I want to be. Ton Do-Nguyen shares my idol and aspiration, but is infinitely more closer to her. He’s a 16-year-old high schooler from Pennsylvania who nails every single move in Beyoncé’s video, “Countdown” — all in his marvelously blue Snuggie. I’m so enchanted by the way he embraces her whole persona and makes it his own. Beyoncé apparently loved [...] Continue »

Compelling stories and powerful images allow us to remember or learn our histories. Here are three different narratives of the Vietnamese diaspora experience, expressed through three different mediums: a memoir essay, chlorophyl prints, and a novel.

Sometimes when the world seems just a little bit too overwhelmingly racist, I sit myself in front of the computer and surf the internet for good stand-up comedy. Because sometimes, when you encounter kinds of racism that seems to be incurable, the only thing you can do is laugh at it. And hope that eventually, those racist people who are being laughed at will feel ashamed enough to stop doing whatever racist thing they’re doing. [...] Continue »

Artists who put their music out there for free are the most kick ass. They give us ways to appreciate music without buying into the consumerism/capitalism/monopoly that surrounds the music industry. (Here’s a great infographic about how the monopoly controls the radio, and why we always hear the same 5 songs over and over… but this is a whole other discussion for later). But to get to the point, here, I proudly present some of [...] Continue »

Back in December 2011, Congressman Trent Franks (in photo above, R-AZ) proposed H.R. 3541, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PreNDA). This bill would have imposed fines and prison time (up to five years) on doctors who perform abortions that are decided on based on the fetus’ sex. It would have also obligated doctors and nurses to report women who they suspect are getting an abortion for this reason.

Jeff Chang (one of my heroes) showed to us that the world of commercial rap isn’t pretty. He once wrote with Dave Zirin that media oligarchs “twist an art form into an orgy of materialism, violence and misogyny by spending millions to sign a few artists willing to spout cartoon violence on command.” Even worse, American popular culture “has trafficked in racist and sexist images and language for centuries and provides all sorts of incentives for [...] Continue »

According to this article from the Wall Street Journal, May 11th is Adoption Day in South Korea. The article interviews Jane Jeong Trenka, who was adopted from South Korea to the US. She currently works in South Korea as the president of Truth & Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK), where she envisions changing societal prejudices against single mothers raising children on their own – because 92% of adoptees from South Korea are born to [...] Continue »

So it looks like Jeremy Lin keeps his promises. Remember when he tweeted in response to the video that the kids at Stuyvesant High School made for him? In the video, the students had invited our beloved Jeremy to speak for their graduation, and this was his response: “Stuyvesant High! Awesome video…so honored to have been invited. I cant make it BUT im making a response video and will visit if possible!” Get ready to swoon. [h/t: [...] Continue »

April 29, 2012, marked twenty years after the LA riots. It’s been said that the media coverage at that time played a part in worsening the violence. In an interview about his documentary, Clash of Colors: The LA Riots of 1992, David Kim describes that the media’s focus on the tension between the Korean American and African American community exacerbated the conflict. Twenty years later, most of mainstream media is still choosing to remember only the [...] Continue »