History
Top Five Civil Rights Villains You Should Know About
February 19 will mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Executive Order eventually led to the unconstitutional incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. In previous articles, I have chosen to commemorate this inauspicious anniversary by writing about non-Asian American and Japanese American women civil rights heroes. But every hero needs a villain. And not all villains wear masks. Sometimes they are the people that either don’t [...] Continue »
I am Bruce Lee Documentary Trailer & Why We Should Remember His Legacy
Bruce Lee. Do I really have to write anymore? Those two words are worth more than anything I will write, mainly because there’s just some many different takes and angles on this incredible person who influenced the world in more ways than one. But too many people don’t realise, he was far more than the punchs and kicks, he was someone who was fully in tandem with how life incorporates both the body and the [...] 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 »
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 »
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 »
The Ruins of Calico’s Chinatown
In my research of Chinese Americans in the Old American West for my Cowboy Ninja book series, I’m digging up a lot of really interesting stuff, and here’s my latest find: the ruins of Calico’s Chinatown. Calico is a Californian silver mine ghost town, and it’s situated out between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, almost exactly at the halfway point between the two major cities, just north of where the city of Barstow is located. [...] Continue »
Bonnie Tsui & “The Changing Face of America’s Chinatowns”
Bonnie Tsui’s book The Changing Face of America’s Chinatowns is an analysis of the dynamics of Chinatown’s shifting population of immigrants of various Asian heritage origins, including the ones who are economically enticed to go back to their heritage countries. This book was covered on NPR. In the audio of Chinatown recorded in the NPR covereage, I even heard some Taiwanese/Fujianese spoken, and the book’s topic of study made me reflect on the role of [...] Continue »
“The Brady’s and the Dumb Chinaman” Dime Novel Review
In my research on Chinese Americans in the American Old West for a book series I’m writing, I came across a wonderful resource at Stanford University — digital collection of popular dime novels available online. [Editors Note: The book is also available to download for free as a Google eBook and for sale on Amazon.] Dime novels were basically the cheap pulp fiction popular mini-novels that were widespread in the Old West; they ranged from [...] Continue »
Papa John’s “Lady Chinky Eyes” Incident: What Does “Chink” Even Mean?
Minhee Cho made headlines after ordering pizza from Papa John’s and had her name misspelled as “Lady Chinky Eyes”. While I’m sure American Law gives the benefit of the doubt to the employee to defend herself as a mentally challenged and defective wart who ingested too much over-due pizza and had a cerebrovascular accident, myocardial infarction and carotid stenosis when typing it in, I’m more inclined to think it was somewhat slightly malicious in nature [...] Continue »
Internment Camp Musical “Allegiance” To Premiere Next Fall
Next September, San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre will host Allegiance, a New American Musical with Asian American all-stars Lea Salonga and George Takei. “Allegiance” is about a Japanese American family forced into internment during World War II. The writers, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Throne were inspired to write the musical by Takei himself, who related his own family’s experiences with internment.
Civil Rights Hero Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi Passes Away
Most people think that all the Japanese Americans went meekly into the concentration camps during World War II. But that’s far from the truth. In reality, there were some brave individuals that put themselves out there to test the constitutionality of the exclusion order. One of those people is Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi, who unfortunately passed away yesterday. Mr. Hirabayashi is my hero. I don’t use that term lightly. While most people are familiar with the [...] Continue »
70th Anniversary of the Signing of Executive Order 9066
2012 marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. For those of you who don’t know, 9066 was the order that eventually led to the unconstitutional incarceration of the Japanese American during World War II. It was signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Here’s a quote from the order: “…from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person [...] Continue »
Custom Search
Recent Posts
- Rolling Stone Releases List Of 10 Kpop Groups Most Likely To Break In The US
- Watch Yul Kwon’s “America Revealed” PBS Series Online
- LA County Supervisor To Announce Repeal Of 1942 Resolution On Japanese American Internment
- Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Gets A New Asian Wife!
- Koji’s Top 10 Favorite 8Asians Comments
- Nguyen Girls’ Yearbook Prank: No, We’re Not Related
- Long Delayed K-Town Reality Show To Be Released On YouTube In July
Recent Comments
- : i'm not surprised they removed peter le from the cast – Long Delayed K-Town Reality Show To Be Released On YouTube In July
- : one more thing - how dare you use the term foi-boi in the same paragraph you say you want to help break down stupid stereotypes. ... – Is The Social Network's Asian Fetish Acceptable?
- : Thanks to everyone that is truly colorblind.. Proactive Procreation - we just have to become one race so we can start hating on ppl for... – Is The Social Network's Asian Fetish Acceptable?
- : Hugh.. please don't help us. Your comments are actually offensive and not helpful at all. If you were a Korean woman you would know why... – Is The Social Network's Asian Fetish Acceptable?
- : ahaha this post is hilarious - my dad is white as a swan but he does the long pinkie nail thing too! He's a musician... – Asian Guys and that One Long Pinky Fingernail
APA Events
Oct 14: (Seattle, WA) From Fields to Family: Asian Pacific Americans and Food
Mar 1: (Atlanta, GA) The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946
Apr 26: (New York, NY) June 4, 1989: Media and Mobilization Beyond Tiananmen Square
Apr 26: (New York, NY) America through a Chinese Lens
Apr 27: (Seattle, WA) SEX IN SEATTLE 20: HAPPILY EVER AFTER. . . (the series finale!)
May 24: (San Jose, CA) Sake San Jose
May 24: (New York, NY) A Conversation with artists Arthur Ou, Hai Zhang, and Julie Quon in Conjunction with America through a Chinese Lens
May 24: (San Francisco, CA) Literasians 2012: Writers Converge on the APIA Literary Continuum
Staff and Contributors
- Editors
Moye Ishimoto
Co-Editor, Editorial
Jocelyn "Joz" Wang
Co-Editor, PR & APA Outreach
- Contributors
John L.
Edward Hong
Jeff S.
Mihee Kim-Kort
Koji Steven Sakai
Tina Tsai
Dino-Ray Ramos
Tim Chiu
Efren B.
- Founder
Ernie Hsiung
Founder
