Surprise, Racists! Your Slurs Are Streaming on Facebook Live

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



Retired Navy captain apologizes after racial slurs streamed on Facebook
A former member of the U.S. Naval Academy alumni trustees issued an apology Sunday for using racial slurs on social media. Retired Capt. Scott Bethmann was asked to resign as a trustee on Saturday after a live conversation with his wife that was posted on Facebook disparaged admission by the academy of African Americans, Asian Americans and women. The comments were made by Bethmann and his wife, Nancy, while they were watching TV news and discussing the Black Lives Matter movement. They were overheard using the N-word and making other racial comments while accidentally streaming live on Facebook. Gotcha, suckers. Private racism that becomes public is my favorite genre.

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Katie Leung Speaks Out For Trans Women Amid J.K. Rowling Backlash
If you were only Twitter over the weekend, you may have seen that "Cho Chang" was trending. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling stepped in it again, making remarks about transgender women that were widely criticized as transphobic. Twitter was there for the backlash, airing out old grievances about her work -- including the fact that she lazily named Harry Potter's only East Asian character "Cho Chang." I guess we've been holding on to that one for a while. It got so crazy that even Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the movies, weighed in on the matter, sort of. "So, you want my thoughts on Cho Chang? Okay, here goes..." she tweeted, before dropping a flurry of links in support of transgender rights. So yeah, I think we know where she stands on what matters.

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BTS Fan Army Matches $1 Million Donation to Black Lives Matter
As I've said before, don't mess with K-pop fans -- particularly the massive fan army behind BTS. When news came out Saturday that BTS and their record label Big Hit Entertainment had donated $1 million to support the Black Lives Matter campaign amid worldwide protests against racism and police brutality, their fans decided to match it. And match it they did -- in just over a day.

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How to Feed Crowds in a Protest or Pandemic? The Sikhs Know
"Since the coronavirus pandemic has halted religious gatherings in most of the country, including langar, gurdwaras like the Sikh Center of New York, in Queens Village, are mobilizing their large-scale cooking resources to meet the skyrocketing need for food aid outside their places of worship."

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Well Played by Beau Sia
"These poems began as an answer. In the face of the undeniable, they became a reckoning. Of the lies that are lived to feel belonging. Of the lies that are told to hide shame. Of the lies that are believed to maintain within illusions. Well Played is a warning to the present, a welcoming of the truth, and a poet working to earn his way."

Some of My Best Friends Are White

A Poem by Beau Sia, Banned From Facebook



The following poem was originally written by Beau Sia and posted to Facebook on July 6. Last week, given the state of things, Beau thought it would be appropriate to re-post it. But not long after posting it, Facebook took it down because the poem offended someone's sensibilities. Somebody apparently reported it, though nobody bothered to inform Beau why or how the piece was so unfit for Facebook. It was just reported and yanked.

So Beau posted it again. Within a day, not only was the poem flagged for removal again, but Beau was blocked from Facebook for a period of 24 hours, along with the warning that he could be blocked permanently if continued to violate "community standards." So Beau posted it again. But this time, he had the support of a community of Facebook friends who also started sharing the poem widely.

Because censorship sucks, and dammit, we need some poetry right now. And so, I share it with you.

Say it with a Bruce Lee Facebook sticker

Here is the Facebook sticker pack you never knew you needed.



Your Facebook chats just got a little more badass. Have you ever been in the middle of a chat or comment thread and thought to yourself, "How would Bruce Lee say it?" Now, there is a way.

Facebook just released an official Bruce Lee Sticker Pack. There's a unique illustrated, animated Bruce sticker for every sentiment. It's free, and you can use it throughout Facebook.

To all my Facebook friends: expect to see a lot of these from me. You have been warned.

School district claims kid wasn't bullied, hurt himself

First grader Jeremy Tsou suffered a fractured skull, requiring brain surgery.



More on the Southern California first grader who was bullied so severely, he suffered a skull fracture and had to undergo brain surgery. Thanks to social media shares, Jeremy Tsou's story has gained some traction -- over five months after the incident -- and now mainstream media outlets have started to pick up the story.

Parents Say Bullied Boy Needed Brain Surgery

Eli Tsou and Jenny Yang learned their son Jeremy, then a first grader at Baldwin Stocker Elementary School in Arcadia, suffered a head injury on May 19 when the Arcadia Unified School District sent them a "Notification of Possible Head Injury" letter. Jeremy says he fell and hit his head on a desk when another student tripped him.

While the letter said the injury "did not appear serious," it turns out that Jeremy suffered a fractured skull and brain bleeding, requiring surgery.

First grader suffers fractured skull in bullying incident

But his school claims he slipped on a pencil.



Got this story passed along to me via social media... This is a parent's frustrating, heartbreaking story of bullying and a school administration's refusal to take action or accountability for an incident that sent one young student to the hospital with a fractured skull. Ridiculously, the school claims the kid tripped on a pencil.

On the ironic occasion of anti-bullying week at her child's school, Jenny Yang (no relation to comedian Jenny Yang) shared a Facebook post about her son Jeremy's traumatic experience with bullying. Five months ago, Jeremy -- then, a first-grader -- was pushed and tripped by a boy in his classroom at Baldwin Stocker Elementary School in Arcadia, California. He suffered a fractured skull and brain bleeding, requiring surgery.

According to Jenny, the school not only refused to acknowledge that her son was bullied, but made up a story that Jeremy tripped on a pencil. Jeremy's parents are now sharing about his experience to raise awareness about bullying, and send a message to bullied kids "that there are still people who stand behind you and who will fight for you."

Here's Jenny's Facebook post:

Oh No! A turbaned, bearded Sikh dude is appearing across Facebook timelines talking about the Like feature. God save America!

Guest Post by Vishavjit Singh


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=315051235363542
Having the first black president has not settled well with the digestive tracks of many a folks in this great union of ours. And now with the overlords at Facebook deciding to feature me, a turbaned and bearded American in one of its 30 second newsfeed tips spot, it is creating a rumble in the mental bowels of some folks across the social network. The ad first ran in November last year and now is doing expanded rounds of timelines across the U.S.

There is no instant cure for these maladies. Passage of time with repetitive dose of reality is the best prescriptive course.

I am taking the extra step to intervene with 20 of these fellow Americans who spoke their mind in response to my countenance.

May this serve as a mental balm to the sporadic outbreaks of visceral ailments.

BuzzFeed turned to Facebook for questions to "Ask An Asian." You can probably guess what happened.

This comment thread is a big box of ignorance bust wide open.



I suppose this was inevitable. My good friend, comedian Jenny Yang is teaming up with BuzzFeed to produce an upcoming video called "Ask An Asian," in which she answers questions -- no doubt, with smarts and sass -- about Asian Americans. You know, the stuff you've always wanted to know, but maybe were afraid to ask.

Naturally, to gather some ideas to get them started, BuzzFeed Video posted a call for questions on its Facebook page. "Please reply in the comments with questions you have for Asians-Americans." Naturally, the comments were flooded with a truckload of predictably dumbass, ridiculous and/or racist questions.

Like I said, inevitable. Here is just a tiny sampling:

Facebook features Sikh man in video, racists can't handle it

Commenters call Vishavjit Singh "raghead," "terrorist" and "ISIS," among other hateful remarks.



Cartoonist Vishavjit Singh, known to many as his superhero alter ego Sikh Captain America, was recently featured in a video ad for Facebook Tips, which you may have seen popping up on your timeline. It's just a 28-second video of Vishavjit talking about how "likes" can help shape the content on your news feed.

No big deal, right? But Facebook users, you never let me down. Many seem predictably fixated on Vishavjit's turban and beard, offering comments calling him "terrorist," "raghead," "ISIS," and other hatefully ignorant references.

This is not a good way to respond to a negative Yelp review.

Bac Nguyen, owner of Ninja City Kitchen and Bar, tracked down and sent threatening messages to a customer.



Asians behaving badly... awful restaurant owner edition! From time to time, whether it's fair or not, even the best restaurants get hit with negative Yelp reviews. As a restaurant owner, what you probably shouldn't do is track down the reviewer, insult him and his friends, and threaten him with violence. But that's exactly what one Cleveland restaurateur did, and now he's being slammed with calls to boycott his restaurant.

Restaurant Owner Hunts Down Negative Yelp Reviewer

Last month in Cleveland, Ruchu Tan and a group of friends went out to dinner at Ninja City Kitchen and Bar, an Asian-fusion eatery located in University Circle. His meal was less than satisfactory, which he expressed in a critical one-star review posted to Yelp. All right then. But this did not sit well with owner Bac Nguyen.

Nguyen, who apparently did not know Tan, tracked him down on Facebook and sent him a multitude of intimidating messages, including threats of violence, personal attacks, allegations of promiscuity, and racist and sexist slurs against his friends and girlfriend. Tan posted the exchange:

"Silly asians... always copying shit!"

Silly assholes... always saying stupid shit.



This one comes courtesy of Justin Mateen, Co-Founder and SMO of the wildly popular dating app Tinder, who took to Facebook to offer his unsolicited opinion on "Silly Asians." Thanks for the insight.

And the sweeping generalization about an entire race of people. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be a joke. Funny though, after Valleywag pointed it out, the post in question seems to have been deleted or hidden from public view on Mateen's Facebook profile. Re-thinking that assessment, are we?

More here: Tinder Co-Founder: "Silly asians... always copying shit!"

Join the Thunderclap for Commonsense Immigration Reform

My fellow Americans! Do you support immigration reform? Asian Americans Advancing Justice is launching a Thunderclap campaign on September 17 to tell House Speaker Boehner that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders demand immigration reform now with family reunification and a path to citizenship.

"#SpeakerBoehner - AAPIs demand immigration reform NOW with family reunification and path to citizenship! #AAPIs4CIR http://thndr.it/1ad6H69"

Thunderclap allows everyone to send the same Twitter and Facebook message at once, giving us maximum impact. You can help with just a few seconds of your time. Just go here and select "Support with Twitter" or "Support with Facebook" and it's on. Some facts on immigration reform:

Love in the Age of Social Media: A Twitbook Proposal

Been seeing this sweet video making the rounds... Something about these proposal videos always gets to me. Meet the newly engaged Jon Park and Genevieve Wong. Last month, after several years of dating, Jon, a Facebook employee, popped the question to Genevieve, who works at Twitter. Naturally, the big proposal would have to involve social media tools from both companies. This video is the result: