Featured Post: communities

Love Letters to Movement Leaders: Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

As we vote on Election Day we remember Mabel Ping-Hua Lee who fought for women's suffrage despite racism and patriarchy preventing her and other women of color from becoming full citizens and voting for decades.

By Laura Li

  • A collage of three images: on the left, an old photograph of a young Native American woman in a white shirt, dark skirt, and tie. On the top right, a pair of women, one older and one younger, standing in a field, hugging. On the bottom right, a woman in a t-shirt and shorts holding a very young baby.

    Hot Summer Oklahoma Sun

    identities • Apr 13, 2014 • By Maggie Hundley

    Grandma would tell me who I was, even though I didn’t know it myself. Summer, Fall. Pumpkins, corn, beans, sofke. We are Creek. Lazy living room days. Picking biscuit dough from the tiny crevices of her silver-coral-turquoise rings on brown-skinned fingers. Looking at her Indian figurines, I wondered, is this me? Was I the vanquished Indian, riding the horse whose head hangs low in the painting on the wall? Or was I the one that sifted the corn through Great Grandma Susie’s charred basket? Read More

  • Two young teammates with backpacks, wearing sweatpants, smile in front of a school building.

    Why I Support Affirmative Action: One Asian American Perspective

    communities • Mar 19, 2014 • By Jason Fong

    SCA5 raised the ire of some Asian American organizations who felt it would hurt Asian American applicants by decreasing the available spots on college campuses. Some, such as the 80-20 National Asian American Political Action Committee, have gone so far as to say that 'SCA5 is a ‘Yellow Peril Act’, a 21st century version of the ‘Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882’, aimed specifically to impose a quota-like ceiling on the AsAm students. . . .' This sort of rhetoric might be effective in rousing up supporters, but it both misrepresents the intended purpose of SCA5, which is to work towards greater access for underrepresented groups in higher education, and minimizes the ugliness and racism of some aspects of U.S. public policy. Read More

  • A Filipina woman in a black tank top lights candles on an altar in front of lush vegetation.

    Stop the madness: Help the Philippines tackle climate change

    identities • Nov 10, 2013 • By C.M. Samala

    Filipinos know about extreme weather. It’s a republic of more than 7,000 islands that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it prone to earthquakes, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions. In America, they’re called “natural disasters.” In the Philippines, it’s “weather.” And then Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines) happens... Naderev “Yeb” Saño described the phenomenon succinctly and accurately — “madness.” When Filpinos start worrying about weather and commenting on it, it's time for all of us to take note and pay attention. Read More

  • An infographic. Title: 'Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders on Food Stamps.' Over 1 million Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders receive SNAP benefits. Today, SNAP benefits were reduced to a mere $1.40 per person per meal. SNAP BASICS section: SNAP stands for 'Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,' otherwise known as food stamps. 47,669,430 Americans rely on SNAP. The average individual gets $133.19 per month. The average household gets $275.42 per month. SNAP HOUSEHOLDS BY RACE section: a pie chart showing beneficiaries of SNAP by race, with the 2.2% AAPI figure pulled out. The caption reads 'AAPIs are only 2.2% of the households out of the general population who receive SNAP benefits...' AAPI SNAP HOUSEHOLDS section: ...but controlling for the number of households in each racial group, the numbers look much different. A series of bar charts show that overall, 11.9% of AAPIs receive SNAP. 7.8% of Asians recieve SNAP, which is disaggregated into 20.9% of Cambodians, 32.7% of Hmong, 16.3% of Laotians, and 11.9% of Vietnamese. 22.3% of Pacific Islanders receive SNAP. Separated, statics show not all Asian American communities are equally prosperous. Southeast Asian American families tend to struggle the most with food access. The footer reads: FOOD ACCESS IS AN ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUE, with the 18MR.org logo.

    Today, millions of Americans edge a little closer to hunger.

    communities • Nov 1, 2013 • By Cayden Mak

    The cuts are affecting Asian American & Pacific Islander families differently than you might think. Read More

  • A photo of a smug white man in a polo shirt with an overlay that reads, 'I want to buy an umbrella that comes with an Asian girl.' - Mke Babchik, SiriusXM Producer

    'Man Banter' Fails to Amuse

    communities • Oct 20, 2013 • By Cayden Mak

    Mike Babchik's Man Banter sexually and racially harassed women at New York Comic Con. The kicker? He handed out his professional business card. Read More

  • A photo of an Asian man with a mustache and goatee, in a yellow t-shirt, holding a sign that reads 'MISS(ED) SAIGON' against a red background. His eyes are cut off in the image.

    War Before Memory: a Vietnamese American protest organizer's history against Miss Saigon

    culture • Sep 16, 2013 • By Bao Phi

    Miss Saigon is a musical about Vietnamese women, who are all victims in need of rescue from the Third World. It is a musical about the inherent goodness of flawed white men. Vietnamese men are all abusive, sexist assholes who are so small they can't even expand to fit into two dimensions. Also, mixed race orphans will have it better in America but that goes without saying. The play is also, supposedly, about the Vietnam War. Read More

  • A photo of an Asian man with a mustache and goatee, in a yellow t-shirt, holding a sign that reads 'MISS(ED) SAIGON' against a red background. His eyes are cut off in the image.

    We Cannot Walk Alone: Remembering the March on Washington

    communities • Aug 27, 2013 • By C.M. Samala

    Our nation does not exist solely in black and white — and it never has. Today, we Americans come in an array of races, colors, religions, gender identities, sexual orientation and ethnicities. The diversity of our country doesn't only make us unique, it makes us strong. Asian Americans are some of the newest contributors to this nation's diversity (many of us arriving after 1965), and with this newness comes responsibility. Read More

  • A grid of portraits of the six victims of the Oak Creek massacre: five Sikh men in turbans and beards, of various ages, and one woman wearing a purple head covering. The bottom of the image reads: 'We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions - bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality.' - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

    Honoring the victims of Oak Creek

    communities • Aug 3, 2013 • By C.M. Samala

    When I heard the news of the Oak Creek shooting last year, my immediate reaction was fear for my friend and his family who regularly attended the gurdwara. Thankfully, my friend was safe. Sadly, his uncle and founder of the gurdwara, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was killed while trying to prevent the shooter from entering. Read More

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