Read These Blogs

The soft bigotry of having to change your name. Because somehow Tchaikovsky is easier. What's in a name? A ton of discrimination if your name doesn't "sound white."

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How the Graham-Cassidy Proposal Would Hurt Communities of Color: There have been repeated efforts by Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The newest iteration has been the Graham-Cassidy proposal. Here's how it could hurt communities of color.

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If You're Undocumented in Trump's America, Mental Health Matters: For many, the realities of the undocumented experience in America today rival the stressors that brought them here in the first place.

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Against "Fire and Fury": As tensions with North Korea continue to rise, Korean American voices are often left out of the conversation. Hyphen presents twelve responses to the ongoing crisis.

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It's called the 'Pao effect' - Asian women in tech are fighting deep-rooted discrimination: Ellen Pao's Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change delves into the legal battle against her former venture capital form. Her case has brought attention to discrimination against women, and in particular Asian women, in Silicon Valley. Since her lawsuit, many Asian and Asian American women in tech are speaking out about their own experiences.

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Where have you gone, Tim Lincecum? In search of beloved Giants ace: Tim Lincecum, once considered one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, has seemingly gone AWOL, now nowhere to be found.

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The Exorcist: How John Cho is changing American horror: 'I had not seen Asian faces in American horror, and it kind of tickled me to want to change that visual vocabulary a bit,' the actor says

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"The Tiger Hunter" star Karen David on embracing her multiracial identity and auditioning in Hollywood: An interview with Karen David, who can be seen in The Tiger Hunter, a film about an immigrant form an Indian village trying to make it as an engineer in 1970s Chicago.

Angry Reader of the Week: Simran Jeet Singh

"I can no longer hide behind the "One day, I will..." I'm here, and I'm here today."



Hey, everybody! You know what time it is. It's time 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 Simran Jeet Singh.

Asian American family receives hate mail for posting Black Lives Matter sign

San Francisco home targeted with racist, threatening hate letters.



An Asian American family in San Francisco has been the target of racist, threatening hate mail since putting up a sign in support of "Black Lives Matter" in their window. But they're not backing down.

San Francisco Couple Threatened Over 'Black Lives Matter' Sign Display

Debbie Lee says she has had the sign up in the front window of her Forest Knolls/Twin Peaks home since 2015. But over the summer, she started receiving threatening letters about the sign.

The first letter showed up in her mailbox in July. Postmarked with no return address, it declared "BLUE LIVES MATTER! Get rid of your sign or WE will!" By the way, that's a threat.

The second letter said, "It's time to replace your BLM sign. How about CHINK LIVES MATTER."

When Asian Parents Retire... and Start Cosplaying

Steven and Millie Tani are having a blast dressing up as their favorite pop culture characters.



They say that the couple that cosplays together stays together. Meet Steven and Millie Tani, a retired couple that spends their leisure time getting dressed up as their favorite pop culture characters.

The couple, who have been married for 27 years, caught the cosplaying bug three years ago when they needed costumes for Halloween event at Disneyland. They went as Carl and Ellie from Pixar's Up.

Since then, the Southern California couple has suited up as everything from Captain America and Agent Carter to Han Solo and Princess Leia, traveling to events and conventions around the state.

Their daughter, a veteran cosplayer herself, suggested they document their newfound hobby on social media. You can view fun photos of Steven and Millie's costume exploits on CosplayParents.

Brazilian tennis player fined for making racist gesture

You know exactly what gesture I'm talking about.



A Brazilian tennis player has been fined for making a racist gesture while playing against a Japanese opponent during a Davis Cup match in Osaka. You know exactly what gesture I'm talking about.

Guilherme Clezar: Brazilian tennis player fined for 'offensive' gesture

Brazil's Guilherme Clezar made a gesture during a match against Japan's Yuichi Sugita on Friday. Clezar stretched his eyes in the direction of a line judge after successfully challenging a line call.

Because that was definitely the mature, sportsmanlike thing to do.

Actually, no. Clezar was fined £1,100 (about $1,500 US) by the International Tennis Federation for "unsportsmanlike conduct." Yes, at minimum. I would actually characterize it as "racist as shit."

A Call to Action by Jay Hirabayashi, Holly Yasui, and Karen Korematsu

By Jay Hirabayashi, Holly Yasui, and Karen Korematsu. Cross-Posted from Stop Repeating History!


Karen Korematsu (left), Holly Yasui (middle), and Jay Hirabayashi on a panel at the 2013 JANM National Conference. (Photo via DiscoverNikkei.org.)

A Call to Action: Reject the Shameful Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration and Call Upon the U.S. Supreme Court to Fulfill Its Role as Defender of the Constitution

Riz Ahmed is the first Asian actor to win an Emmy

Other notable winners include Lena Waithe and Aziz Ansari for 'Master of None.'



On Sunday at the 69th annual Emmy Awards, Riz Ahmed won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his starring role as an accused murderer in HBO's limited series crime drama The Night Of.

That makes Ahmed the first man of Asian descent to take home a trophy at the Emmys, and only the second Asian performer ever to win, following Archie Panjabi's win for The Good Wife in 2010.

The Night Of is an eight-part miniseries that follows the intricate story of a murder case in New York City. Ahmed received critical praise for his star-making turn as Nasir "Naz" Khan, a Pakistani American college student accused in the grisly murder of a mysterious young woman after a night gone wrong.

"Wow. This is a tremendous honor to be recognized along so many actors who I've watched for so long." Ahmed said in his acceptance speech. "If this show has shone a light on some of the prejudice in our society, Islamophobia, some of the injustice in our justice system, then maybe that's something."

The Pakistani British actor and emcee also specifically credited the organizations South Asian Youth Action and The Innocence Project for helping him prepare for the role.

Read These Blogs

Lessons From the World War II Experiences of Japanese Americans for Today's Muslim Americans: "Our political leaders should listen to Americans of Japanese ancestry who have personal experience with the dangers of racial prejudice and wartime hysteria. Our family stories contain profound lessons that must be retold to safeguard the constitutional liberties of all Americans."

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Just Like My Mother: How We Inherit Our Parents' Traits and Tragedies: My-Linh Le is discovering the ways in which she has inherited and manifested some of her refugee parents' spoken and unspoken traumas.

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A lot of white supremacists seem to have a weird Asian fetish: From David Duke to Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, a lot of white supremacists seem to have an unlikely Asian fetish. What gives?

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Two Asian-Americans On Growing Up In The Midwest vs. Chinatown: What it's like being one of a few Asian-Americans in school, contrasted with having a whole community you relate to.

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Remembering Betty Ong: On September 11, 2001, flight attendant Betty Ann Ong heroically notified the American Airlines ground crew of the hijacking situation on board Flight 11, relaying vital information until the plane crashed into the World Trade Center.

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We Need More Filmmakers Like Justin Lin to Explore Asian-Americana: Justin Lin is going back to his Asian American underdog roots with his new Chinatown bank prosecution picture.

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"I've Always Been Political": Celeste Ng and Nicole Chung in Conversation: On transracial adoption, social media and Ng's new novel Little Fires Everywhere.

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Michelle Yeoh Sheds Light on Captain Georgiou, Discovery: Michelle Yeoh, who plays Captain Phillippa Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou, talks about taking on the captain's chair on Star Trek: Discovery.

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TOKiMONSTA Lost Speaking and Musical Abilities After Brain Surgery. This Is How She Regained Them.: Last year, Jennifer Lee, AKA TOKiMONSTA, had two brain surgeries that left her temporarily unable to comprehend language, walk, and -- worst of all to her -- understand music.

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Marjorie Liu on the Road to Making Monstress: Acclaimed comic book writer Marjorie Liu discusses working for Marvel, the loneliness of novel-writing, and why her epic-fantasy series Monstress is mostly populated by women and characters of color.

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Dream Casting: The All-Asian New Super-Man: Syfy's "Dream Casting" imagines who they'd like to see starring in a hypothetical movie version of Gene Luen Yang's New Super-Man, aka the "Chinese Superman."

They Call Us Bruce - Episode 22: They Call Us #ExpressiveAsians

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

This week, we talk TV and #ExpressiveAsians with Nancy Wang Yuen, author of the book Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism, and co-author of "Tokens on the Small Screen," a comprehensive new study on the state of AAPI representation on television.

The Great Failed Spam Heist of Ewa Beach

Thieves thwarted while attempting to steal 18 cases of Spam from a Hawaii drug store.



It wasn't exactly a fool-proof plan, but you have to appreciate the audacity of these thieves, just a little bit. This week in Hawaii, three women were thwarted while trying to steal 18 cases of Spam.

3 women attempt to steal 18 cases of Spam at Ewa Beach Longs

According to KITV, the attempted Spam heist occurred at a Longs Drugs store in Ewa Beach, where a trio of shoplifters tried to roll off with 18 cases -- that's 216 cans -- of everybody's favorite canned cooked meat.

The thieves were thwarted when a watchful customer noticed the shopping cart full of Spam while hanging out in cereal aisle. He got suspicious and staked out the store's exit to see what was up.

"I didn't say anything. I just stood by the door and the person that was trying to steal all the Spam just pushed the wagon and said 'Here!'" Kurt Fevella told KITV.

Angry Reader of the Week: Lena Khan

"I'm all about trying. I don't know if everything succeeds, but I try a lot."



Greetings, good people of the internet. It is time 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 Lena Khan.

Breaking Stereotypes When It Matters Most

Heroes from Houston's restaurant industry step up during Hurricane Harvey. Guest Post by Thomas Nguyen.



Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on August 25, 2017, and is likely to be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rainfall in Houston, Texas, causing catastrophic flooding and damage to over 200,000 homes and businesses.

With over 12,000 restaurants that include everything from Ethiopian, Pakistani, barbeque, Viet-Cajun, Tex-Mex, to South African, Houston has unofficially become the most diverse city in America. But what makes Houston unique isn't just the diversity of cultures and people, it is seeing everyone come together in times of tragedy, catastrophe and chaos. Among the overwhelming number of inspirational and heroic stories during Harvey these past few weeks were chefs, owners and volunteers from Houston's burgeoning restaurant industry.

A handful of these stories involving Asian Americans stood out to me. Not because they were more significant than any others, but because they demonstrated traits that went against typical Asian American stereotypes. These individuals were not weak, silent or passive. They were leaders, they were compassionate, and they wholeheartedly contributed to those who needed help.