Discrimination
Help Fight Stereoptypes With Asian Crew Clothing
By Matthew I’m a member of Asian Crew Clothing, along with Hao-Kai Wu, Ryan Kwan, Kevin Han and Kevin Foo. I started this company because being Asian is cool. In history classes, Asian Pacific American history is overlooked, and hardly even discussed. Our ancestors who moved here from their homeland faced hatred and were subject to hurtful stereotypes. Somehow, they managed to work hard, earning minimal wage to make their children’s lives better. They instilled [...] Continue »
Pete Hoekstra’s Offensive Anti-Asian Super Bowl Ad
It seems like the new Super Bowl tradition of late is airing commercials which are racist, offensive, or at least racially insensitive toward Asians. In 2008, it was a set of offensive SalesGenie.com ads (written by an Asian, no less). 2010 gave us the Doritos Samurai Guy (who didn’t know the ways of the Samurai). Last year, Timothy Hutton using the plight of Tibet as a punchline for Groupon’s deals on fish curry, not even [...] Continue »
U.S. Education Department Investigating Harvard and Princeton for Discrimination against APAs
An Indian American student has triggered an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights into discrimination by Harvard and Princeton University against Asian Americans. Studies from Princeton itself conclude that Asian Americans need higher test scores in order to gain admission. Harvard “does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants” says Harvard spokesman Jeff Neal. Princeton spokesman Martin Mbugua states: “We make admissions decisions on a case-by-case basis in our efforts to build [...] Continue »
Some Skin Whitening Creams Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
Colorism, the bias that whiter skin is better, manifests itself in sales of skin whitening creams. This video from CNN shows how these creams are marketed to both male and female Indians. Filipinos are also plagued with colorism and are also consumers of skin whitening creams. I have always thought that colorism and skin whitening were damaging to the the psyches of people of color. It turns out that some whitening creams can be physically [...] Continue »
NPR Interviews Fred Korematsu’s Daughter On His Civil Rights Work & Celebrating Fred Korematsu Day
NPR recently interviewed Karen Korematsu, the daughter of civil rights leader Fred Korematsu, on her father’s legacy and how she discovered his role in Japanese American history: “I didn’t find out about my father’s Supreme Court case until I was a junior in high school. And it was in a social studies class when my friend Maya(ph) got up in front of all of us to give a book report, an oral book report, about [...] Continue »
Asian American Commercial Watch: Tempur-Pedic, WTF?
I was watching MSNBC the other day and caught this commercial, which apparently has been around (at least on YouTube) for almost a year. The commercial has testimonials from a wide, diverse group of Tempur-Pedic adjustable bed owners, who express, in English, their love for the product until 0:36 seconds into this this 1:00 minute commercial, where an Asian man speaks in what I think is Cantonese with his wife standing by his side. WTF [...] Continue »
Is The Portrayal of Ravi On Disney Channel’s “Jessie” Racist, Unfunny, or Both?
I have written before about the character of Ravi on the Disney Channel’s Jessie show and talked about how some wonder why this Indian American character has to have an accent. The reason why is apparent in this clip which makes Ravi’s Indian culture the entire joke. Not surprisingly, the clip has raised a stir in blogs like this and garnered many dislikes (I can see why Disney turned off comments). Some people don’t think [...] Continue »
Top Five Japanese American Women Civil Rights Pioneers You Should Know
In California, January 30 was officially Fred Korematsu Day. It is important to honor and remember Korematsu but I believe it is also a time to look back at some of the other Japanese Americans (JAs) who also fought for the rights of not just JAs but all Americans. Unfortunately, Japanese American women don’t get enough credit for their contributions to the civil rights movement. I want to change that. So I created a list [...] Continue »
How Standardized Tests Stunt the Intellectual Growth of Asian American Students
Standardized testing was pretty much invented by the Chinese. As an American of Taiwanese and Chinese heritage, this means that standardized testing is part of my ethnic and ancestral heritage. The fact that Asian Americans tend to score better than everyone else on standardized tests is not news to anyone. I mean, after 5,000 years of test prep culture (there’s even a god of testing), it’s not really a surprise right? But what are the [...] Continue »
Footballer Loses Spot at Georgia Over Immigration Issue
Here’s a sad story out of Georgia. By all accounts, Chester Brown, a current high school senior, loves the University of Georgia football program. Really loves. He had the date he verbally committed to the school tatooed on his arm. But Brown, the son of Samoan immigrants, won’t be going. Unfortunately, he got caught up in a controversial immigration policy at UGA which states that undocumented students can’t be admitted over a legal resident if [...] Continue »
The Top Non-Asian Civil Rights Heroes For Japanese Americans
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, there was only one national organization that was willing to stand up for the rights of Japanese Americans (JAs). They were the Quakers. Not only did they speak out against the unconstitutional incarceration of JAs they helped many of the Nisei (second generation) kids go to college. Even though the Quakers were the only national group, there were some brave individuals who spoke out for the rights of Japanese Americans. [...] Continue »
Do Asians Have the Smallest Testicle?
My 8Asians New Years resolution was to “continue to look for body parts on Asian Americans that I can objectify.” A friend on Facebook commented that she didn’t think I could find another body part to write about (since I’ve already written about Asian vaginas, breasts, penises, and butts). But she gives me too little credit. There are lots more body parts I can still write about! Today, I want to discuss the male testicle. [...] Continue »
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