They Call Us Bruce: They Call Us Michelle Au

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. (Almost) 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.

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Michelle Au, who represents District 50 in the Georgia House of Representatives. She talks about her journey from medicine into politics -- from anesthesiologist to the first Asian American elected to the Georgia State Senate in 2020 -- how she's navigated some of the electoral shenanigans of her rapidly changing district, and the power of the Asian American vote in her swing state of Georgia during this extremely important and consequential presidential election.

Steven Yeun spotted helping out at the scene of a car crash

Yeun and 'Walking Dead' co-star Norman Reedus pull over to help out auto accident victims in Georgia.



He plays a hero on The Walking Dead, and he's apparently a hero in real life. Steven Yeun, who plays Glenn on AMC's hit zombie drama, was recently spotted with co-star Norman Reedus helping victims of a car crash.

Stars from 'The Walking Dead' help accident victims

On Thursday, Yeun and Reedus were apparently riding motorcycles in Peachtree City, Georgia when they witnessed an auto accident and pulled over to help out. A witness snapped a photo of the two actors, who appeared to be trying to help, next to wrecked cars at the site of the crash.

Badass cashier fights off armed robber with her bare hands

This guy messed with the wrong convenience store clerk.



File under badass. In Georgia, security cameras caught a fierce-as-hell convenience store clerk fighting off a would-be robber who pulled a gun on her. Punk-ass thief messed with the wrong woman.

VIDEO: Cashier fights back, slaps gun from robber's hand

Cashier Bhumika Patel was working alone last Tuesday at the Keysville Convenience Store when a hooded customer approached the counter with a can of Mountain Dew. (Really, dude?) The gas station's surveillance video shows him pulling out a gun, demanding the cash from the open register.

Not having any of that nonsense, Patel swats at the robber's hand, trying to get the point-blank gun away from him. After several attempts, she ends up hitting him over the head with the register drawer.

Sufficiently scared, the robber runs off. But Bhumika is not done. She pulls out a hammer from under the counter -- because, of course, she's got a hammer under there -- and chases him out of the store. You're damn right, she's got a hammer. Don't make her use it.

Cops: Toddler Disfigured By Grenade in "No-Knock" Raid a "Criminal", To Blame For His Injuries | #JusticeForBouBou

By Jenn Fang. Cross-posted from Reappropriate.


Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh. (Photo credit: Phonesavanh family)
(H/T @boygainvillea)

Last year, nineteen month-old Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh was sleeping peacefully in his playpen in Habersham County, Georgia. The Phonesavanh family had recently moved to Georgia from Janesville, Wisconsin after their home had been destroyed in a fire, and the family -- including the four young Phonesavanh children -- were temporarily living in a converted guestroom of the house owned by Bounkham Phonesavanh's sister.

At 2 am on May 28, 2014, Bou Bou and his three older siblings were asleep when a team of militarized Habersham SWAT officers -- conducting a "no-knock" raid of the family home -- broke down the door and blindly threw a stun grenade into the room. The grenade landed in Bou Bou's playpen and exploded just inches from the toddler's face. Bou Bou immediately started screaming from the injuries of the devastating explosion: the grenade detached Bou Bou's nose, permanently disfiguring him, and create a gash in his chest that collapsed his left lung and prevented the infant from breathing on his own.

SWAT officers prevented Bou Bou's mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, from approaching her child. Instead, they downplayed the injuries; in a later interview, Alecia Phonesavanh recollects:

School takes disciplinary action over bus bullying video

But they're not calling it bullying. It's apparently just "name-calling."



Last week, a Sikh student recorded and uploaded a video of kids bullying him on the school bus, calling him "terrorist." Now that the video has gone viral, Georgia school officials are taking disciplinary action.

Gwinnett County Schools takes disciplinary action over bullying video

Gwinnett County Schools and Duluth Middle School, where the students involved in the video attend, have reportedly taken disciplinary action. However, school officials could not specify what actions were taken, which students were disciplined, or if any students missed school after the incident, citing privacy laws.

The video was recorded on the school bus last week. The 12-year-old, who wears a turban in observance of his Sikh faith, can be heard explaining, "Kids being racist to me." He holds up the camera to show his classmates behind him, and a girl stands up, points at him and yells, "Terrorist! Terrorist!"

Sikh kid films bullying classmates call him "terrorist"

Just another day on the school bus for too many kids.



Some kids are great. Some kids are the worst. The kids in this video are the f*cking worst. In this cell phone video, a Sikh boy filmed himself facing racist abuse and bullying from classmates calling him "terrorist."

The Sikh boy labelled a 'terrorist' by his classmates

The boy is Sikh, and wears a traditional headdress in accordance with his faith. In the short clip, he can be heard quietly explaining to the camera, "Kids being racist to me." A female classmate can be seen pointing at him and shouting, "terrorist, terrorist!" You get the feeling that this is a regular occurrence.

A girl can be heard saying, "I never gave you permission to film me, you're going to court." When they tell him to "quit filming us," the Sikh student responds, "I can't if you're being racist to me, motherfucker." Like I said, this is probably not the first time he's had to deal with this shit.

County refuses to help child injured by SWAT team grenade

The Phonesavanh family faces over $1 million in medical bills for little "Bou Bou."



Remember the baby in Georgia who was severely injured when a SWAT team threw a "flash bang" grenade in his crib during a botched drug raid? The child suffered serious burns to his face and chest, and his family has been left with over $1 million in medical bills that the county has refused to pay.

Family of Toddler Injured by SWAT 'Grenade' Faces $1M in Medical Bills

18-month-old Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh and his family were sleeping at their relatives' house, visiting from Wisconsin, when a police team burst into the home and tossed a grenade that landed and exploded in the crib. They were acting on an informant's tip that he had purchased drugs at the house earlier in the day.

They were wrong.

Suspects arrested in home invasions targeting Asian families

Crew connected to robberies in New Jersey, Texas, Georgia, Michigan and New York



Last week Houston, four people were arrested and charged in connection with a recent series of New Jersey home invasion robberies that targeted Indian American families in Middlesex County.

4 charged in Middlesex County home invasions

Chaka Castro, 39, Juan Olaya, 34, Octavius Scott, 22, and Johnisha Williams, 19 -- all from Houston -- were charged in connection with five home invasions in which families were restrained, robbed at gunpoint and assaulted. They were arrested last week for robberies in Texas, and are believed to be involved in home invasions -- also targeting Asians -- in Georgia, Michigan and New York.

Tell the Department of Justice to #LetUsVote!

40,000 voters in Georgia have no idea if they'll be able to vote tomorrow.



Got this passed along to me from our good friends at 18 Million Rising... In Georgia, at least 40,000 people don't know if they'll be able to vote in tomorrow's election. Forty thousand new eligible voters haven't been added to the state's voter registration rolls, even though they turned in all their completed registration paperwork.

The majority of these 40,000 voters come from Asian, Black, and Latino communities.

Despite a lawsuit filed by national and local organizations against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp to speed up the processing of these "missing" new voter registrations, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Christopher Brasher failed to intervene on behalf of these voters.

It's being called "The Most Brazen Attempt at Voter Suppression Yet."

Last week, 18MR launched a petition demanding that the Department of Justice investigate Secretary of State Kemp's inaction, and to hold him and the state of Georgia accountable for these missing voter registrations. Today, with less than 24 hours until the polls open, let's turn up the pressure on the Department of Justice.

Are you active on Twitter? Here's 18MR's call to action:

City sells woman's condo over $94.85 overdue tax bill

Xiu Liu was never informed of the outstanding balance due to a clerical error.



What kind of bureaucratic nonsense is this? In Georgia, a woman is facing eviction after her home was foreclosed on and sold at auction -- unbeknownst to her -- all because of an unpaid tax bill of $94.85.

Woman's condo sold over $95 overdue tax bill

Last week in Norcross, Xiu Liu received a notice informing her that her condo, where she lives with her 4-year-old daughter, had been sold at auction and she would need to move out of the property by November 25. This was news to Ms. Liu, who paid for the two-bedroom condo with cash in 2011.

According to city and county records, Liu has paid taxes on the property every year except the year she moved in. So what gives? Turns out, letters about the outstanding balance never reached her because of clerical errors -- and incomplete address. So how was she supposed to pay the 95 bucks if the bill never got to her?

No criminal charges in botched police raid that injured baby

Bou "Baby Bou Bou" Phonesavanh was seriously injured when a flash grenade was thrown in his crib.


You've got to be kidding me. Remember that botched drug raid in Georgia, where police tossed a flash grenade into a crib, severely injuring a baby? A grand jury has declined to press any criminal charges against police.

Grand jury: No charges in drug raid that injured baby

Bou "Baby Bou Bou" Phonesavanh was hospitalized in May after members of Habersham County's Mountain NCIS Team, looking for a suspected drug dealer, threw a flash grenade into the playpen where the he was sleeping. The child's family, originally from Wisconsin, was staying at the home with a relative.

This week, a grand jury determined that while the team is guilty of shitty police work, there was "no evidence of criminal intent or criminal negligence" on the part of the officers. Really?

Sign up to help defend voting rights for Asian Americans

Volunteer as a poll monitor on Election Day

Do you want to help defend voting rights for Asian Americans?

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund is looking for volunteers to help monitor upcoming midterm elections for bilingual ballots under the federal Voting Rights Act and to document instances of anti-Asian voter disenfranchisement.

Volunteers Needed On Election Day, Nov. 4, 2014

They're looking for volunteers in to work 3-hour shifts on Election Day at polls in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. There will be a 90-minute training session for all volunteers.

Here's schedule of AALDEF's poll monitoring trainings:

First Cambodian American judge elected in Georgia

Meng H. Lim elected Superior Court judge for the Tallapoosa District



Last week in Georgia, voters in Polk and Haralson County made history, electing Meng H. Lim as Superior Court judge for the Tallapoosa district. The win makes Lim the first Cambodian American -- ethnically Chinese Cambodian, actually -- and the first Asian Pacific American ever elected to a Superior Court judgeship in Georgia.

Polk, Haralson voters choose Lim for Superior Court Judge

Lim was in first place but didn't win a clear majority for the seat in the May 20 election. In last week's runoff, he took a majority of the vote in Polk County -- 1,812 votes to 1,544 for Polk County attorney Chuck Morris. In his home county of Haralson, voters turned out 2,174 to 927 in favor of Lim.

Lim's family immigrated to the United States from Cambodia when he was 9. Here's a little more background on the newly elected judge, according to his campaign's Facebook page:

Toddler severely injured by grenade during police raid

19-month-old Bounkham Phonesavanh was sleeping when police tossed a "flash bang" into his crib



This is a horrifying story out of Georgia, where a toddler is in a medically-induced coma after being severely burned by a police "flash bang" grenade that was thrown in his crib during a late night drug raid.

Baby in Coma After Police 'Grenade' Dropped in Crib During Drug Raid

19-month-old Bounkham Phonesavanh and his family were sleeping at their relatives' house, visiting from Wisconsin, when a police team burst into the home early Wednesday morning. They were acting on an informant's tip that he had purchased methamphetamine at the house earlier in the day.

An officer tossed a flash bang -- used as a distraction device -- that landed in the child's playpen and detonated in his face. Bounkham, or "BouBou," suffered massive burns on his face and chest.

Authorities did not make any arrests, nor did they find anything at the house during the raid.

Early graduation ceremony fulfills father's dying wish

Tony Tran just wanted to see his son graduate from high school.


Over the weekend, Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia held a graduation ceremony -- caps, gowns, pomp and circumstance -- over half a year early. For one student. Seems like only a minor hassle to fulfill a dying father's wish: School grants dying father's wish.

Tony Tran is battling terminal liver cancer. According to doctors, he doesn't have much longer to live, and most likely not long enough to see his son David graduate from his school. With Mill Creek's graduation not scheduled until next May, school administrators made a touching exception for the Tran family:

Man clings to hood of moving car to stop hit-and-run

No, this is not a death-defying stunt from the latest Fast & Furious movie. This is real life, and that's a man trying to stop a driver from fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run accident... by hanging the hell on to the hood of her moving car: Video shows man clinging to car after hit-and-run.

This is the wild ride of Elton Kim of Roswell, Georgia. He took matters into his own hands when a woman backed into his wife's car in the parking of lot of their dry cleaning business, then tried to speed off. The woman drove for two miles with Kim clinging to her car, and the incident was caught on video by a passing driver:

Starbucks labels drinks with the "chink eyes"

Asian customers in Atlanta received racist caricatures on their coffee cups.



Oh, man. Not this again. Recent racist incidents involving employees at Chick-Fil-A ("CHING CHONG") and Papa John's Pizza ("Lady Chinky Eyes") have had me checking my receipts lately. Some ignorant-ass joker could be mocking you right in front of your face. But hey, why use words for your favorite racial slurs when you can draw them?

Last month at a Starbucks Coffee location in Alpharetta, Georgia, two Korean customers -- who are not native English speakers -- discovered that their barista had identified them by drawing "chinky eyes" on their drinks. You know, where they usually write your name? OH NO THEY DIDN'T. Yes, they did.

Here's the photo of their cups: