"Go to China if you want communism. Go to China."

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



Anti-quarantine Protester Clashes with People in Scrubs
Over the weekend in Denver, health care workers clashed with anti-lockdown protesters, defiantly standing in front of the cars of demonstrators who flocked to protest against the state's stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19. Yeah, I'm going to be siding with the health care workers on this one -- not the white lady hanging out the passenger side window screaming "Go to China!"

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"Coronavirus reveals the chinks of our health care armor"
Actual headline from the Marin Independent Journal. (It has since been changed.)

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"Unprepared"
In the wake of Donald Trump's campaign attack ad accusing Joe Biden of being "soft of China," the Biden campaign has taken a similar page out of the anti-Chinese propaganda playbook. The presumptive Democratic nominee unveiled a campaign ad -- filled with menacing images of Chinese soldiers -- claiming that "Trump rolled over for the Chinese." The path to November has been laid.

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Stage 13 Studio Creates Campaign To Support Asian Restaurants
Stage 13 content studio has launched #stage13supports, a campaign to highlight the Asian restaurants and small businesses featured in season 1 of its original unscripted Asian cuisine and travel series Family Style (I was a guest on Episode 8), and recommend ways people can order takeout or delivery. Join the Facebook group here.

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Dumbfoundead & Satica - "Inside/Outside"
Los Angeles rapper Dumbfoundead has released a two-song collaborative quarantine project titled Inside/Outside with singer Satica. The two tracks, produced by Big Banana, explore the themes of being locked "Inside" during this unique quarantine era, and the excitement of finally getting through it in "Outside." Check out the trippy visualizer for "Outside."

Han Lives! Sung Kang Returns in 'Fast & Furious 9'

Things to Know From Angry Asian America



'Fast & Furious 9' Trailer: Sung Kang on Justice For Han
Justice for Han! The new trailer has dropped for Fast & Furious 9, the latest installment in what is now officially being referred to as "The Fast Saga," and holy shit, it is on. Not only has Justin Lin returned to the director's chair, F9 gives us the shocking return of Sung Kang as fan-favorite character Han. To everyone's apparent surprise, Han did not die in a fiery wreck on the streets of Tokyo, but was apparently just chilling and sitting out the franchise for two movies. He is alive and in good health. And let's be honest: Han's resurrection is nowhere close to the craziest thing to happen in this franchise, or even in this trailer. Watch it here.

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Could this be the chink in Trump’s armour?
This is an actual headline regarding Andrew Yang's run for president. There's a disclaimer at the end of the piece explaining that author, columnist June H.L. Wong, is well aware of the term "chink" and its derogatory associations, even in the context of this specific idiom. Basically, she knows that the headline can and will offend, and is okay with it, in an attempt to "own" the word. Its placement is deliberate. And I am tired.

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Census 2020 & Beyond: New AAPI Mapping Tool
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest-growing racial group in the country, yet apparently are the least familiar with the U.S. Census, and are the most reluctant to participate. Ensuring a complete count among AAPIs is crucial, which is why AAPI Data has launched a new research tool showing census-tract level maps for the 20 largest AAPI metro areas. The hope is to help journalists, decision-makers, and community organizations better understand the diversity and geographic settlement patterns of AAPIs.

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'Kung Fu' Reboot Gets Pilot Pickup from CW
The CW has ordered a pilot for Kung Fu, a reboot of the cult 1970s martial arts western. You may remember that show starred David Carradine, who is very much not Asian at all. This time around, the show is a contemporary take that centers on a Chinese American woman, with Christina M. Kim attached to write and executive produce. According to Variety, "a quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice, all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her." Let us hope for the best.

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Constance Wu Stars in the Sci-Fi Short Nine Minutes
Constance Wu stars as an marooned space explorer in the sci-fi short Nine Minutes, written and directed by Ernie Gilbert. In the near future, an experienced astronaut, Lilian, and her A.I. explore a newly discovered planet. After weeks of research, a malfunction during the return launch forces Lilian to choose between survival and completing the mission. Watch the 12-minute film here.

Wall Street Journal tweets "chink in the armor" joke about Chinese president

Can we please retire this expression?



Come on. COME ON. I'm going to say it again: can we all just mutually agree to retire the expression "chink in the armor" -- especially in reference to anything having to do with China/Chinese/Asians?

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal tweeted a link to a story about the perceived vulnerabilities of Chinese president Xi Jinping, and thought it would be clever to include the phrase "chink in the armor." Seriously? Is this somebody's not-so-sly attempt at slipping in a very obvious racial slur?

The tweet, which was posted on Sunday evening, was quickly deleted. A few hours later, the Wall Street Journal followed up the offending tweet with a perfunctory "no offense was intended" tweet, claiming that their use of a "common idiom" was nothing more than a huge coincidence.

U.S. Army deletes "chinks" tweet

Can we please retire this expression?



Folks, I've said this before, but can we please retire the phrase "chink in the armor"? I know this is a legit, centuries-old expression, meaning "a vulnerable area," but its usage today just does not look or sound right and makes for awkward moments, regardless of intent. Our latest offender: the United States Army.

Army expresses surprise about racism allegations over deleted tweet

On Thursday afternoon, the Army's official Twitter account posted a tweet referring "chinks" in the armor of its special ops capabilities. The tweet, which prompted several accusations of racism, has since been deleted.

"Chink of Hope" sounds like a bad Indiana Jones movie

There are about a thousand better ways to say it.



Come on. COME ON. There are about a thousand better headlines that The Economist could have used over the one they actually settled on for this article: Iran and its nuclear plans: There's a chink of hope.

Is this even an expression? As much as I hate it, "chink in the armor" is a relatively accepted colloquial expression, though sometimes used in the most inappropriate contexts. "Glimmer of hope" is also an oft-used idiom. Is "chink of hope" just an awkward attempt to mash up the two expressions?

Can we just all agree to stop using "chink in the armor"?

Aw man. Come on. All right, so you may have heard that News Corp/21st Century Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch is splitting with his wife of fourteen years, Wendi Deng. This is not news I give a crap about, but...

This week, during a segment of CNBC's Power Lunch, Robert Frank used the phrase "chink in the armor" to describe Deng and Murdoch's pending divorce. This did not sit well with the Asian American Journalists Association: CNBC Reporter's Use of "Chink in the Armor" Condemned By Asian American Journalists.

Okay, I understand that this is a legitimate phrase. And I can recognize when it's being used innocently enough... But of all the things you could say to express these particular ideas, and all the words you could use in this situation, "chink in the armor" is simply a really bad choice. Here's video of the broadcast:

jeremy lin meets with "chink in the armor" headline writer

While the craziness of Linsanity has somewhat faded since February, it's no secret that New York still loves Jeremy Lin. But now it's official.

The Knicks point guard was recently voted the most beloved sports figure in the Big Apple, beating the likes Derek Jeter, Eli Manning and other of New York's favorite athletes: Jeremy Lin is New York's Most Beloved.

So he's popular. On top of that, he's a class act. Remember ESPN's "chink in the armor" headline debacle from last month? Jeremy recently had lunch with the former ESPN employee who got fired for writing the headline. Apparently, there are no hard feelings: Jeremy Lin lunches with ex-ESPN headline writer.

espn fires employee for "chink in the armor" headline

Well, that was quick. I'd like to think that it was the collective fury of the internet and beyond that forced ESPN to take swift action and fire the employee responsible for writing that incredibly stupid "Chink In The Armor" headline on Friday night: ESPN fires writer of offensive headline about Jeremy Lin.

Some editor probably thought they were being clever when they it occurred to them to use a freaking racial slur in the headline. And if you're one of those people arguing that "chink in the armor" is a legitimate expression, you can suck it. The writer was invoking race and knew exactly what they were doing.

The headline was only up for 35 minutes, but it was enough to get screen-grabbed, shared and social media-ed like crazy. ESPN issued a short statement of apology the morning after, promising a review of editorial procedures and "appropriate disciplinary action." Not very reassuring, but it was a start.

By this morning, ESPN announed that they had taken action to address both the headline and a previous instance in which anchor Max Bretos used the expression during a broadcast, as well as a similar recent reference uttered on ESPN Radio in New York:

"chink in the armor"? really, espn?

What did I say? What did I say about using the expression "chink in the armor" when talking about Jeremy Lin? It's just best to avoid it. But here it is.

This was the actual headline on ESPN.com earlier this evening. It has since been taken down, but damn, some idiot editor was actually insensitive enough to think this was a clever idea? You lose, ESPN. That's racist! (Thanks, Kirk.)

UPDATE: Here's ESPN's statement regarding the headline: