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Calling all Asian Americans: We Need to Engage and Not Erase the “PI” in “AAPI”

If you’re going to use “AAPI” you need to include Pacific Islanders

By 18 Million Rising Staff

  • The cover of Jeff Chang's 2014 book, 'Who We Be,' with the autho's name at the top, citing him as 'American Book Award-winning Author of 'Can't Stop Won't Stop'. The title is in big white block letters in the center. At the bottom, the subtitle 'The Colorization of America' is in red and pink.

    We Read: 'Who We Be' by Jeff Chang

    ideas • Oct 20, 2014 • By Cayden Mak

    People in my internet circles have been talking a lot lately about what white people think. Whether it's the Whiteness Project, the new video interview series from Whitney Dow, or Bill O'Reilly, who adamantly refuses to acknowledge that white privilege is even a thing, it seems like we're constantly critiquing, agonizing over, and scoffing at what white people think when it comes to race. For many young people of color, it's so readily apparent that they're wrong, even as people of all races are quick to claim a colorblind, colormute stance. Yet I'm pressed to find as much discussion about why these came to be dominant ideas about race and power. Read More

  • A handpainted banner reading 'Asian America Against Police Brutality NAKASEC KRC...' Part of the text is cut off by the cropping.

    Ferguson, Asian America, & Performative Solidarity: Showing Up, Staying Shown

    ideas • Oct 20, 2014 • By PaKou Her

    What is more difficult to exercise than public performative solidarity is living into sustained, long-term solidarity that doesn’t exist in front of a television camera or behind a mic on a large stage. This is the challenge to us, Asian Americans. This is the opportunity to think hard and thoughtfully about resource redistribution; about shared powerbuilding that doesn’t rely on our lowest common denominators; about continuing to bring all we can to moments that demand our presence; and about finding other ways to address whatever shame or guilt we have about being the model minority wedge. Read More

  • A stylized silhouette of a Black man on a pink background, with his hands spread in the air, wearing a t-shirt reading 'HANDS UP, DON'T SHOOT.'

    #FERGUSONOCTOBER: It's Time to Get Real, Asian America

    identities • Oct 5, 2014 • By PaKou Her

    Today, I’m getting into the car and driving 4 hours across the state of Missouri to participate in #FergusonOctober. I’m anxious, nervous, hopeful, and scared. To tell the truth, I’m intensely scared after Wednesday’s police-related shooting that ended in the death of Vonderrit Myers Jr., and which contributed to last night’s protests, tear gassing, and shameless police intimidation. Read More

  • A collage featuring Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, a green tank with the text 'Ferguson 2014', protestors in the streets, and a drawing of a Black man with his hands up is overlayed with the text 'But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word - even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.' - Ai Weiwei. 'Protect the internet. #Fight4NetRights'

    18MR.org's Organizational Comments to the FCC

    ideas • Sep 14, 2014 • By Cayden Mak

    Net neutrality is a crucial protection for the economic, civic, and creative lives of Asian American communities. There are few racial demographics so well-connected, for everything from commerce and the arts to political expression to keeping up with family. For these reasons, we believe Title II reclassification is in the best interests of our community, and for the preservation of key rights as emerging players in the American political landscape. Read More

  • Two selfies: both of a 6-year-old, a 4-year-old, and an adult with glasses and red lipstick. In the top image, they gaze seriously at the camera. In the second, they grin with open mouths, like they just heard a hilarious joke.

    A Conversation About Race, Identity, and Discrimination With My 6-Year Old

    identities • Sep 12, 2014 • By PaKou Her

    It's not always easy talking about racism and discrimination with young children. PaKou Her, 18MR Campaign Director, shares one such conversation with her own child. Her willingness to talk with me about her experiences with race and identity is a lesson to all of us in openness and truth-telling. Read More

  • A Mary Engelbreit illustration showing a Black mother seated at a kitchen table, shedding a tear and holding her young son, who has his hands in the air. In front of them is a newspaper with the headline, 'Hands Up! Don't Shoot.' The text reads 'No one should have to teach their children this in the USA.'

    Three Ways AAPIs Can Help Seek Justice for Michael Brown

    communities • Aug 20, 2014 • By PaKou Her

    As Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Ferguson is a call to action and solidarity. While our experiences with racism are not the same as the trauma of racism lived by Black people, there are plenty of reasons to be enraged about the damage being wrought by institutional racism. If we as AAPIs fail to act, if we remain silent and choose to fill the shoes of the “model minority,” we have chosen the side of oppression. Read More

  • A Sikh basketball player wearing a turban and an Indian national jersey mid-flight, towards the rim, with a basketball in hand.

    What's the Real Threat?

    culture • Jul 15, 2014 • By Balpreet Singh

    The highlight for India’s citizens and fans at the Asia Cup this year has been India’s leading scorers, Amrit Pal Singh and Amjyot Singh, who are both turban-wearing Sikhs. They led their team in a win over China at the Asia Cup, a true upset, as China was ranked 12th in the world. In fact, Amjyot Singh’s exciting alley-oop dunk went viral on YouTube. He has been dubbed the 'Indian Kobe', credited for helping inspire the rapidly growing interest for basketball in a nation of 1.3 billion. Read More

  • A grave reading 'Forever in our hearts beloved son Vincent J. Chin May 18, 1955 - June 23, 1982.' In front of it is an offering of incense and oranges.

    In Search of Justice: Another Way to Remember Vincent Chin

    ideas • Jun 29, 2014 • By Cayden Mak

    Vincent Chin has been on my mind a lot lately. It's not just because he passed away 32 years ago Monday, or that I'm the same age now that he was when he was murdered. It's not just that we both have deep ties to the Detroit area, and that ever since I heard his story I wondered what he and his family thought and felt about race here. It's not that I was born just five years after he was killed, to a Chinese father and a white mother, the daughter of auto workers. It's not even that Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin wrote a revisionist editorial not two months before the anniversary of Chin's death this year. Read More