Top Asian American News Stories
This month's news stories contain a mix of serious and more lighthearted fare. Anti-Asian racist incidents continue to soar, and last night's terrible news about the six Asian American women killed in a mass shooting in Atlanta is the latest escalation of increasingly violent anti-Asian hate crimes. At the very least, we see more and more people speaking out against this violence, from President Biden to Dave Roberts, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Long viewed as the quiet model minority, the ability to use our cellphones to document cases of racism and prejudice against us and post them on social media is the latest example of "receipt culture," showing the world what we've long experienced when traditional media is less focused on this issue. Lastly, two recent films produced, directed, and written by, and starring Asian American actors, Minari and Boogie, continue to highlight the artistic talent of our community. We invite you to read these curated stories and share your thoughts.
President Biden: Hate crimes against Asian Americans must stop
During his first primetime address to the nation, President Joe Biden denounced violent attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic as un-American, calling on the attacks to end immediately. Read more here.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts speaks out on rise of violence against Asian Americans
"Over the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans and the Pacific Islander community," Roberts wrote in an internal email to the Dodgers organization. "In recent months, those attacks have intensified and have targeted the elderly in California and New York – such bullying is cowardice," said Dave Roberts recently. Read more here.
Steven Yeun, Yuh-Jung Youn react to Minari making Oscar history for Korean performers
Shaking off the controversy around the Golden Globes where it won the Best Foreign Language Film, Minari makes history with six Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score. Steven Yeun and Yuh-Jung Youn share their thoughts on their nominations. Read more here.
In Boogie, Eddie Huang tells his own 'definitive Asian American coming-of-age story.'
Eddie Huang continues to shatter ceilings in Hollywood in his directorial debut, a coming-of-age tale about a teenage Asian American basketball player balancing on-court and family pressures. Despite the success of the TV show Fresh Off the Boat, Huang has expressed dissatisfaction with the sitcom. "I thought that when I wrote Fresh Off the Boat, I had really busted this ceiling, not just for myself, but also for immigrants and Asian Americans," he said. While he wanted to write, direct and have some creative control over the show based on his life, the studio wouldn't allow it. "They just put another ceiling over my head. And it was quite frustrating," he said. So he went off and made his own documentary TV show, called Huang's World, and wrote the screenplay for Boogie, again inspired by his own life. Read more here.
Asians were thought to be the "model minority." Then came "receipt culture."
Fueled by former President Donald Trump’s anti-China rhetoric, the Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed an onslaught of hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Yet news outlets and federal agencies have been slow to recognize the threat and enact policy changes. Amid institutional indifference, social media and other digital tools have allowed Asian Americans to prove the various forms of discrimination they’ve long experienced, organize mutual aid groups and pressure authorities to respond. Experts say "receipt culture," or showing evidence of a wrongdoing typically on social media, has helped change the way people see challenges for Asian Americans, long thought of as the "model minority." Read more here.
