Read These Blogs

20+ Allyship Actions for Asians to Show Up for the Black Community Right Now
This was posted several weeks ago in response to Ahmaud Arbery's murder, but it's worth re-sharing because, unfortunately, ongoing police violence continues to make it relevant. How can the Asian and Asian American community show up for our Black siblings?

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South Asians and Black Lives
"For South Asians committed to ending state violence against Black people, it has always been clear that our work goes further, that we must also work to undo anti-Blackness within our own communities. The hard conversations with our parents and our uncles and aunties about white supremacy, anti-Black racism, and solidarity are not usually easy or fruitful. But there are moments of clarity and windows of possibility."

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Trump's encouragement of racism against Asian Americans is an affront to all Americans
Deflecting blame for his own failure to heed the warnings of experts to prepare for this crisis, Trump has stood in the White House briefing room day after day and pulled from the same cynical playbook he's relied on so many times before, toking grievances and using the same politics of division that helped him get elected in the first place, this time by casting Asian Americans as the "other."

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'Family Is Just Not Replaceable': How COVID-19 Ravaged One Family in LA's Koreatown
Hannah Kim chronicles her family's journey with COVID-19 in a series of essays and audio diaries.

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Teens Are Helping Their Family Businesses During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Asian American small businesses have had a particularly rough time.

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Hopes for a quick recovery fade in NYC's Chinatown
"The road to recovery for New York City's Chinatown looks fraught with challenges: restaurants at half-occupancy, landlords attempting to collect on months of deferred rent, banks increasing loan-loss provisions. Add in worries over xenophobia and foreclosures, and a picture starts to form over how uphill a battle the community faces."

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Talking to kids about xenophobia
As you know, hate incidents against people of Asian descent are up since COVID-19 was first reported. Here's some advice from the experts on how parents can help kids make sense of that.

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Am I the Enemy or the Hero?
An allergist and immunologist in San Francisco ponders caring for patients in the midst of anti-Asian racism.

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Mixtape features alluring sounds of Asian Americans
A mixtape of artists who navigate the complex space between Asian/Pacific Islander American.

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In 'Be Water', Bao Nguyen looks at the giant shadow cast by Bruce Lee
Filmmaker Bao Nguyen's ESPN 30 For 30 documentary Be Water is a tribute to Bruce Lee, whose martial arts classic Enter the Dragon played an important role in Nguyen's childhood.

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I play Anna May Wong in ‘Hollywood.’ Her invisibility as an Asian American actress mirrors my own.
The new Netflix series tells the story of Wong, played by Michelle Krusiec, trying to prove her worth,

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Aneesh Chaganty Is Living in His Parents' House, Contemplating a Searching Sequel
Filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty shares how he's been spending quarantine.

"Let my buildling burn. Justice needs to be served."

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



Their Minneapolis Restaurant Burned, but They Back the Protest
A restaurant caught in the crossfire of unrest in Minneapolis has sent a powerful message to its followers on social media. Gandhi Mahal, a family-owned Bangladeshi-Indian restaurant, was severely damaged by fire on Thursday night amidst protests over the arrest and killing of George Floyd. Hafsa Islam, whose father owns the restaurant, wrote a Facebook post sharing about the destruction, but then shared something she heard her father say over the phone: "...let my building burn. Justice needs to be served. Put those officers in jail."

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Can You Identify the Suspect Who Assaulted This Elderly Woman?
In Metro Vancouver, police are searching for a suspect who assaulted an elderly Asian woman last month. The RCMP released video of the incident, in which a woman walks toward an elderly woman using a walker, comes up from behind and trips her leg. The woman then quickly walks away as the 84-year-old victim falls to the ground. Fortunately, the victim wasn't seriously injured. It's unclear from the video, but police say it's "possible" the suspect, who has dark brown hair, could also be Asian. Whoever the hell it is... what kind of shitty person does this?

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Trump Courts Asian American Vote Amid Coronavirus
Hilarious. Donald Trump's re-election campaign is debuting its "Asian Americans for Trump" initiative in a virtual event tonight... as if his destructive, racist rhetoric hasn't had a major role in the rise of anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Americans for Trump? That's a no from me. That's a hell no.

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Couple Who Met in Japanese Incarceration Camp Die Within Days of Each Other at 90
Joseph Yamada and Elizabeth Kikuchi were born two days apart, but they didn’t meet until they were 11, when both were sent with their families to a World War II incarceration camp in Poston, Arizona. Then they became mostly inseparable. After the war, they went to San Diego High School together, then to UC Berkeley. They married, raised a family, and left their marks on San Diego in landscape architecture and community service. They both died this month just days apart. They had each recently turned 90.

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A Salute to Asian Pacific American Filmmakers
In celebration of Heritage Month, IMDb created this cool video montage taking a look back at cinematic history and celebrating Asian Pacific American filmmakers and their visionary work. Lots of great films in there.

Angry Reader of the Week: Jasmine Cho

"I try to make people pause, and I use sugar to do it."



Heyyyyyy everybody! It is time once again to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Jasmine Cho.

Why Don't They Just Call it Chinese Exclusion Act II?

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



GOP Senators Introduce Bill to Deny Chinese Nationals Student Visas
What a great way to close out AAPI Heritage Month! On Wednesday, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) unveiled the Secure Campus Act, incredibly xenophobic, destructive legislation that would prohibit Chinese nationals from receiving visas to the United States for graduate or post-graduate studies in STEM fields. The bill would also place restrictions on participants in Chinese foreign talent-recruitment programs. Do I have remind folks that student visas are how so many Asian American families' immigration stories began?

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A YouTuber Placed Her Autistic Adopted Son From China With A New Family — After Making Content With Him For Years
This is beyond fucked. A YouTuber with hundreds of thousands of followers who has shared her family's experience of adopting a toddler from China recently announced that she and her husband had permanently placed their child with another family after unspecified behavioral issues. This kid, who had absolutely no say in being a prop in an "influencer's" content stream, has been re-homed like a difficult puppy.

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He was part of Amazon’s coronavirus hiring spree. Two weeks later he was dead.
"Thousands of businesses have had to close and more than 38 million Americans have lost their jobs since the lockdowns began. But Amazon is hiring. The company has put new measures in place to make its warehouses safer for employees, but the number of cases at its facilities keeps rising. As consumers continue to minimize their own risk by shopping from their couches, workers have to decide: Is working for Amazon a lifeline, or a life-threatening risk?"

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Be Water
Check it. Here's the official trailer for ESPN's Be Water, a 30 for 30 documentary that intimately chronicles Bruce Lee's life and complex journey, directed by Bao Nguyen. The film premieres June 7 on ESPN.

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Spelling the Dream
The new documentary Spelling the Dream explores Indian Americans' decades-long success at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, chronicling of the ups and downs of four students as they compete to realize their dream of winning the iconic tournament. The film premieres June 3 on Netflix.

When Food Was Just Food

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



Comfort Food
Artist Victoria Ying offers a comic on finding comfort in the food of her people, the food she grew up with, the food that reminds her of a time when her world was simpler, and food was just food.

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This image literally & metaphorically depicts how we Asians reinforce anti-Black racism & systemic white supremacy. #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/CV5C8G7dBr

— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) May 26, 2020

Literally and Metaphorically
"This image literally & metaphorically depicts how we Asians reinforce anti-Black racism & systemic white supremacy." Painfully agreeing with this observation by Hari Kondabolu.

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Seattle Man Says Online Troll is Hurting Family's Business
Eric Chan, whose family owns Jade Garden in Seattle's Chinatown International District, says an online troll is targeting him with harassment and trying to tear down his restaurant's good name. It started with racist attacks on Instagram, telling Chan to cook a dog and it eat with chow mein. When Chan called out the commenter, he got slammed with retaliation. Someone Photoshopped Chan's handle on to racist comments and disseminated the screenshots to social media. Now Chan is getting hit with a wave of hate -- including death threats -- from folks falsely accusing him of anti-black messages, and it's taking a toll on his business.

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Project Voice 2020
Project Voice is a podcast spearheaded by the voices of the womxn/women and nonbinary folx/folks of the Asian diaspora. They are currently offering a scholarship opportunity to receive a one-time $1000 scholarship and join the Project Voice team as a podcaster mentee. Individuals selected for the scholarship program will work one-on-one with qualified mentors from the podcast community, learning how to become proficient podcasters, as well as explore what it means to engage in this increasingly popular digital medium. The deadline to apply is June 12. For further information, go here.

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Right To Reunite!
Kay Kay, China, Tone, and Chantha were separated from their families by ICE. They came to the U.S. as refugee children fleeing from the U.S.-backed genocide in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge. Now, ICE has ripped apart their families because their refugee status put them at risk for deportation. 18 Million Rising is raising funds to reunite these four Cambodian deportees with their families and community. They're raising $3,000 to pay for their legal defense so they can all return home. You can help them by ordering one these cool shirts, designed by Raychelle Duazo. All proceeds from shirt sales will support the work of Asian Prisoner Support Committee.

Stand Back, Move Along, Nothing to See Here, Just Murder

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



What We Know About the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis
"I can't breathe." George Floyd died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer's knee. By now, you've seen or heard about the video of the incident. Let's not pretend that an Asian American officer wasn't one of the cops who stood watch while Floyd was murdered.

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Kumail Nanjiani, Lulu Wang, Hasan Minhaj, More Get Candid About Success, Failure - and Abs - in Hollywood
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Variety gathered prominent AAPI creatives Kumail Nanjiani, Hasan Minhaj, Jon M. Chu, Ally Maki and Lulu Wang for a lively discussion about what it means to be successful in the entertainment industry, how their parents and family regard their careers, who their industry role models were as they came up and what what being successful means for AAPIs in the industry going forward.

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Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You is Being Adapted for TV
Annapurna Television has won the rights to adapt Everything I Never Told You, the bestselling debut novel from Celeste Ng, as a television limited series. The book explores the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle to understand each other over a lifetime. Set in a small town in 1970s Ohio, protagonist Lydia is the adored but put-upon child of Marilyn and James Lee. When her body is found in a local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, sending them into chaos.

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I Will Make You Mine
The movie I Will Make You Mine, written/directed/produced by and starring Lynn Chen, is now available on DVD and VOD. The semi-sequel to Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings, the indie feature centers on three women (Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani, Yea-Ming Chen) who wrestle with life's difficulties while confronting their past relationships with the same man (Goh Nakamura). It's a bittersweet story of growing up while continuing to reach for the familiar, all set to the real-life soundtrack of Goh Nakamura and Yea-Ming Chen.

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Fresh Off the Boat & Kim's Convenience Live Table Reads
This is going to be fun. Fresh Off the Boat and Kim's Convenience were breakthroughs for Asians on prime time television. Now, the casts of both shows are uniting for one night only -- to read their historic pilot episodes live, to raise support for Asian American / Asian Canadian arts during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The live stream is happening Saturday, May 30, 8pm PT / 11pm PT, on Seed and Spark.

This Is, As They Say, Some High Effort Racism

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



Woman Arrested for Posting Racist Notes on Homes
On Friday, a Bay Area woman was arrested for posting racist notes on homes in San Leandro. 52-year-old Nancy Arechiga is accused of taping up messages on trees and the doors of at least five homes in the Heron Bay neighborhood. The full-page hand-written notes begin with the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, then demand that the recipient "go back" to their country of origin. One of the notes ends with a very specific ultimatum: "You have until the day May/23/2020 Saturday 10:30 AM to leave this country. In this country no Asian allowed. My country U.S.A." Arechiga was arrested for distributing threatening messages that "instilled fear and intimidation upon those residents," according to police. Like I said, this is some high effort racism.

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Seattle Police Search for Suspect in 3 Bias Incidents targeting Asians
In Seattle, police are investigating three separate incidents of bias targeting people of Asian descent that were reported on Saturday, possibly all committed by the same suspect. Two of the incidents occurred at Golden Gardens Park: a woman was accosted by a man who demanded her identification and yelled, "Chinese disease.. they bring it here!" Later, a couple was targeted by a man who yelled, spat on them and demanded to know where they ere from. In another incident at a restaurant, a man yelled racist remarks about Asians, knocked on the restaurant's windows, kicked a sign inside the business, then threatened to throw a table at an employee. Yeah, these all sound like the same guy.

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CNN's Natasha Chen Describes Beachgoer's Racist Taunt
CNN correspondent Natasha Chen says a man yelled racist comments at her while she was on location working on a story about people headed to the beach on Memorial Day, despite the coronvirus pandemic. Chen was filming a segment at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when a man approached her and started "yelling expletives" about her wearing a mask and blaming her for the pandemic. By blaming her, of course, he meant Asians. Honestly, given the circumstances, I would have been surprised if she didn't encounter some racist bullshit.

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100 Writers Call for an End to Anti-Asian Hostility
More than 100 prominent writers, including several top Asian American authors, have called for an end to a surge in anti-Asian hostility in the US which they say has been “egged on” during the pandemic by the Trump administration’s pandering to racist tropes. The authors of the joint statement, coordinated by Pen America and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, say that "the time to turn back this wave of hate is now. Reports of any individuals being spat on, stabbed, beat up, or verbally assaulted are disturbing enough when they are isolated incidents. When such attacks are collectively driven by hate, in such large volume, the onus lies heavily on civil society and our elected representatives to condemn them."

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Lion's Share Live: But Where Are You From?
Heads up. I'll be moderating a panel, "But Where Are You From?" as part of Lion's Share Live, a week-long live-streamed experience celebrating culture, creativity and community during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We'll be talking Asian stereotypes with Eugene Lee Yang, Tracy Chou, Kayvan Daragheh, Jenny Yang. It's happening Friday, May 29 at 12:00pm PT on Twitch. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the American Immigration Council.

Read These Blogs

Lucky Grandma Is a Love Letter to Chinatown, Its Matriarchs, and Their Rule-Breaking Style
The new film Lucky Grandma shines a spotlight on the strong-willed, badass matriarch played by the legendary Tsai Chin, while underscoring the inherent swag of the elderly residents of New York City's Chinatown.

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The Rise of Anti-Asian Hate in the Wake of Covid-19
Coinciding with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Jennifer Lee and Monica Yadav chronicle the rise of attacks, harassment and bias toward Asian Americans as the Covid-19 pandemic has unfolded as part of our "Covid-19 and the Social Sciences" series.

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Asian-American studies, more vital than ever: Coronavirus is a moment we should be learning
Incidents of hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen during this pandemic, but this is far from an isolated event. Asian American studies provides important context for racism in the United States.

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An Asian American doctor's perspective on being viewed as the solution and the problem
"I don the mask of a health care hero at work, only to doff it as the villain outside"

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The Pandemic Forced Me Into a Multigenerational Home
But the arrangement does work.

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A Season to Celebrate Asian American Theater Is Lost to Pandemic
Briefly this spring New York theaters featured a stunning array of plays by writers of Asian descent, showing diversity and adventurous experimentation. Then the COVID-19 pandemic aborted their moment.

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In A Racism-Fueled Pandemic, Asian Americans Find Healing Through Art And Storytelling
As the coronavirus continues to ravage the globe, Asian Americans are using their creativity to tell their own stories and find validation in their communities.

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Overlooked No More: When Hazel Ying Lee and Maggie Gee Soared the Skies
Hazel Ying Lee and Maggie Gee never met, but as the only two Chinese-American women pilots during World War II, their lives ran a strikingly similar course, and both thwarted layers of prejudice.

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Elegy for the All-American, Asian-American Buffet
Why the loss of buffet chains like Sweet Tomatoes and Hometown Buffet hits hard for Asian Americans.

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A Vacation that Led to an Unexpected Arranged Marriage Proposal
Monica Luhar tells the story of her parents' union, an unexpected arrangement for both of them.

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In Conversation With Harvey Weinstein's Former Assistant, Rowena Chiu
"He could sue me for every single interview I've ever done for breaking my NDA, but in practice, he's probably not going to. He's got bigger problems."

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How Yuri Kochiyama Inspired this Young Oakland Artist
Kathy Liang painted a mural inspired by a quote from late civil rights leader Yuri Kochiyama.

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Poet and author Bao Phi: 'It felt like the hate was cranked up to 11'
An interview with Vietnamese American poet and author Bao Phi, whose theatre adaptation of his children's book, A Different Pond, was postponed due to COVID.

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Why Yo-Yo Ma Would Invite Socrates to Dinner
The New York Times asks renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma about what books have influenced his artistic development, what books are on his nightstand, and the three writers he'd invite to a dinner party.

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What K-Pop's Beautiful Men Can Teach Us About Masculinity
K-pop's rise in America is forcing many to confront long-held stereotypes they have regarding masculinity — especially when it comes to Asian men.

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14 Asian American Stars Recall When They First Felt Represented in TV and Movies
Asian American entertainers dig deep into their memory to talk about the first time they felt represented while watching a mainstream Hollywood movie and TV show.

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Linsanity, Redux: Jeremy Lin's Star Is Shining Bright In Beijing
After injuries derailed his NBA career, Jeremy Lin took a step he always knew he would: Playing in China, where he remains a megastar -- even as play is suspended.

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Fast & Furious Is the Greatest American Blockbuster Franchise. This Is How it Happened.
Before COVID-19 pushed the release of F9, Justin Lin explained how he turned a series about stunts, cars, and family into Hollywood's most inclusive and beloved franchise.

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Hong Chau Doesn't Need Your Approval
"I don't task myself with changing minds or being understood anymore."

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Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani on the Real Challenge of 'The Lovebirds'
Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani say their new Netflix movie The Lovebirds, which starts where most rom-coms end, needed to acknowledge their characters were people of color.