Asian American Issues [August 2021]

A summary of issues of interest to the AAPI community nationwide and on the Stanford University campus.

Leadership

Erika Moritsugu, Hawaiian-born and of Chinese and Japanese descent, serves as senior liaison to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. As The Washington Post reports, she was hired in the wake of AAPI frustration when President Biden “failed to name a person of Asian descent to his statutory Cabinet.”

The White House nominated Chantale Wong to be U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank, a multilateral financial institution. If approved by the Senate, she would be “the first out lesbian” and “the first LGBTQ person of color” with the rank of ambassador.

Andrew Yang came in fourth in the Democratic primary for the New York City mayor’s race, and ultimately dropped out. He has threaded the politics of representation, with some Asian American voters supporting his campaign, and others critiquing his approach to issues of identity and his policies.

The attorney general of New Jersey, Gurbir Grewal, will lead enforcement at the Securities & Exchange Commission. He is the first Sikh American to hold this post.

Earlier this year, the Rt. Rev. Diana Akiyama was ordained as the first Asian American female bishop in the Episcopal Church. Her father was a Japanese American imprisoned by the U.S. government during WWII for his identity.

Activism

Around 190,000 young people immigrated to the United States as dependents of their parents, who came to study. However, their visas are running out, as they are no longer “dependents” by age 21. NBC reports that “a coalition of 300 of these young people, 70 percent South Asian, are appealing to lawmakers to create a clear path to citizenship.”

Asian Americans make up two-thirds of Buddhists in the United States, but popular publications have been dominated by white voices. A new generation of Buddhist practitioners is speaking up for equal participation.

Representation

“Perpetual Foreigner”— see the full series by Andrew Kung and Kathleen Namgung here

Arts & Media: The PBS documentary “Asian Americans” unanimously received the Peabody Award for best documentary.

Megan Suri joins the cast of “Never Have I Ever,” a Netflix series starring an Indian American protagonist, played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. The story of the two Desi American teens forms the arc of Season 2.

A documentary celebrates music journalist Ben Fong-Torres, “the son of working-class Chinese immigrants from Oakland’s Chinatown” who became one of the “most respected writers and editors at Rolling Stone” magazine by deftly interviewing musicians such as Ray Charles and Bob Dylan.

Hawaiian fashion designer, kapa artist, and kumu hula [a master teacher in hula] Micah Kamohoali'i will have his designs on display at New York Fashion Week this year.

Sony’s new animated film “Wish Dragon” is set in Shanghai.

Chinese American photographer Andrew Kung and Korean American product designer Kathleen Namgung have created a photo series that "highlights Asian Americans in everyday American spaces," pushing back against the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype.

Sports & Competition: At the Tokyo 2020 Games, surfing featured in the Olympics for the first time. Originating in Hawaii with a history "spanning a millennium," the sport is considered a "spiritual art form and egalitarian national pastime that connect[s]" people "to the land and sea." Native Hawaiian activists hoped to highlight surfing's cultural connection with the islands, and petitioned the IOC to allow athletes to separately represent the Hawaiian Kingdom in Tokyo, but it was not considered. According to NBC, "outside of the Olympics, Hawaii is nearly universally accepted as an independent surfing entity by the international community," and many surfers compete under the Hawaiian flag.

Carissa Moore, the only ethnic Native Hawaiian on Team USA, won Olympic gold (video) in surfing. She and USA teammate John John Florence, usually represent Hawaii in international competitions. The Pacific Island of Tahiti will host the surfing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Abhimanyu Mishra, an Indian American, became the youngest chess grandmaster ever at age 12.

23-year-old Collin Morikawa, who turned pro only a year ago, won the PGA golf championship. Asian women have also “won eight of the past 10 Women’s PGA Championships,” and as The New York Times reports, the players are now speaking out about experiencing “microaggressions about their names, their appearance, even their success” because of their Asian identity.

Asian Masculinity & Sexuality: UCLA Professor Brian Keum describes common stereotypes of Asian men as “emasculated, effeminate, less attractive” as well as “unathletic,” explaining to the Washington Post that “these stereotypes date to the mid-1800s, when Chinese immigrant men were forced into jobs as launderers, cooks and domestic servants in retaliation for their efficiency in mining and construction jobs (from which they became banned), but linger in the 21st century, through, for example, racist online dating practices in which Asian Americans are the least likely of men to be matched.”

Efforts to reverse this prejudice include photography projects to reframe Asian masculinity and Simu Liu’s casting as Marvel superhero Shang Chi.

Gay Asian Americans wrestle with their identities in a feature by Esquire. Though they are seen as “more American” than other Asians, they still face discrimination within the gay community. As “double” minorities, LGBTQ Asians also find their stories missing from Hollywood productions, according to NBC.

Anti-Asian Violence & Discrimination

Violence & Hate Crimes: Hate crimes against Asians increased 107% in California, according to a State Attorney General report for 2020. The Virulent Hate Project delves into analysis why anti-Asian violence is rising. Writing in CNN, a female Asian American business leader recommends actions such as reflecting on feelings and internal bias, acknowledging the rise in hate, and creating "clear goals and strategies" within your organization to combat hate. She also suggests people speak out publicly and loudly. Many younger Asian Americans are doing just that when they stand up in protest.

Casual Racism: Beyond hate crimes, there is now a reckoning for the “casual, everyday racism” Asians face, including “racist, off-the-cuff remarks,” “culturally insensitive jokes” and late-night TV hosts pillorying Asian cuisines.

In business, while “Asian Americans are overrepresented in mid-level roles” they are “underrepresented in leadership” in part because one Asian is confused for someone else of Asian descent. This idea of the faceless “interchangeable” Asian is detrimental to individuals’ career progression, when they hit a “bamboo ceiling.”

Furthermore, because they are perceived to be a compliant “model minority” that have benefited from the existing racist system, “Asian Americans have often been positioned in a way that makes white people feel their racism is exonerated,” NBC News explains. “Microaggressions against [Asians] are more accepted because they’re not seen as people who are relatable or close to home,” Professor Van C. Tran of CUNY said.

According to Professor Nadia Kim of Loyola Marymount University, “much of America, including other people of color...have internalized this notion that Asian Americans”—especially “East and South Asian Americans”—are “doing so well.” People tend to assume that “socio-economic privilege” equates “with the lack of racism,” but this is a false assumption that “makes no sense, because actually groups that interact the most with white America tend to report the highest rates of discrimination.”

Reopening & Economic Recovery

After the “wave of animosity” during the pandemic, many Asian Americans around the country are reluctant to visit public places, including schools, public transit, and baseball games, The New York Times reports. Even as the pandemic eases, there is still “significant fear of discrimination or attacks,” experts shared with a Boston public radio station.

Beyond physical attacks, Asian Americans report that “rising incidents of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic are having a lasting impact on their mental health, well-being and future careers” in a GirlUp/Harris Poll survey. As previously reported, researchers from Boston University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital have found that Asian Americans “who experienced COVID-related racism” are now reporting “clinically elevated symptoms” of “anxiety, depression, and PTSD.” While Asian Americans are now seeking out more mental health resources, “language and cultural barriers, along with simple supply and demand, have prevented many of them from getting the help they need.”

An analysis by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth finds that Asian American communities were hit earlier and harder by the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovery in those neighborhoods has been hampered by lack of e-commerce opportunities. In comparing rates of digitalization, the company found “one-fourth of the transactions in grocery stores and restaurants” in New York City “were digital in 2020 [but] only 3 percent were digital in Asian American communities in the city.”

According to a new study, AAPI women are the demographic group experiencing the “highest rates of long-term unemployment during the pandemic” as "almost half have been out of work for longer than six months" The Washington Post also reports on economic struggles in San Jose, one of the nation’s most diverse cities, highlighting the disparities experienced by different groups of Asian immigrants even before the pandemic.

Who is AAPI? An infographic from CNN about the diversity that constitutes Asian America

AAPI Issues in Education

Asian American Studies: Students across the country are pushing schools to add Asian American history to the K-12 curriculum. Illinois became the first state to require this, and measures are in the works in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. In Wisconsin, the proposed bill would “require school districts to teach students about Hmong Americans and Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans (a term that includes people of East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander descent).”

At the university level, advocates say Asian American Studies Departments “could be transformative.” Join Stanford alumni efforts on this issue by visiting sapaac.org/asianamericanstudies

Books for Freshmen: The U.S. Air Force is distributing “They Called Us Enemy,” a book by George Takei on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, to new cadets. One of Stanford’s “3 Books” selections is “Know My Name” by Chanel Miller, whose mother is Chinese. Miller survived a sexual assault on the Stanford campus.

Programming for Kids: Sesame Street tackles anti-Asian bullying with a conversation between Japanese American and Filipino American characters about being called “slanty eyes” and a new song “Proud of Your Eyes.”

Pandemic Travel

As vaccination rates increase, and the U.S. opens up, some travelers are making their way to the Hawaiian islands. Before embarking, please consider pandemic safety and heed the governor's travel warning. Be sure to read the article "What Native Hawaiians Want You to Know Before a Trip to Hawaii", which quotes a Stanford alumna, and remember that there are native names for tourist landmarks.

Recommendations

Read: A comic from Vox explains the large Asian American wealth gap, where stereotypes about “well-to-do Asians” erases large numbers of working- and middle-class Asian Americans. A CNN feature explains how diverse the AAPI population in the United States really is.

Watch: AAPI chefs, celebrities and activists (including Hasan Minhaj, Eugene Lee Yang, and Michelle Kwan) dine together in “Recipe for Change” while discussing challenges faced by the AAPI community.

Listen: Check out the music of four Asian American musicians in Austin, where 80,000 out of nearly 1 million residents is of Asian descent. The lineup on Austin360 includes musicians of Korean, Indian and Filipino descent.

E-mail khsu@alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for future Advocacy & Education updates or to volunteer with the editorial team.

Asian American Issues [July 2021]

A summary of issues of interest to the AAPI community nationwide and on the Stanford University campus.

Community Activism

Chinese American activists gathered in San Francisco on June 4 to commemorate the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, when the Chinese military cracked down on student-led demonstrations advocating for democracy in China. Authorities in Hong Kong blocked the city’s annual vigil for a second year, forcing residents to remember history through other means.

In the wake of COVID-19, community organizers continue to raise money for Chinatown restaurants in New York, Oakland and San Francisco. Much-loved Asian businesses have been hit hard during the pandemic, particularly small establishments owned by older Asians.

Asian Americans in Leadership

Asian Americans substantially increased their turnout rate between the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections, as reported by NPR, rising from 49% to just over 59%—more than any other racial or ethnic group according to the census. Many civic groups hope to sustain the momentum and achieve “political representation at every level of public office.” Asian Americans hold government office at “disproportionately low rates.” The Reflective Democracy Campaign “found that in mid-2020, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders made up just 0.9% of elected officials across all levels of government despite making up over 6% of the U.S. population.”

AAPI voters had “highest rate of using vote-by-mail” [64% during the pandemic], so proposals in state legislatures to restrict voting by mail are generating great concern, according to Vice President Kamala Harris in a recent speech to the AAPI Unity Summit.

FTC Commissioner Lina Khan, Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud and Director-General of the Foreign Commercial Service Arun Venkataraman

Lina Khan, a Pakistani American law professor at Columbia, was appointed to the Federal Trade Commission, and is anticipated to advance antitrust action against large technology companies.

Anjali Sud, an Indian American CEO of online video platform Vimeo, recently led the company’s Nasdaq debut.

Arun Venkataraman was nominated by the White House to lead the Foreign Commercial Service and to become Assistant Secretary for Global Markets at the Department of Commerce. He is Indian American.

Anti-Asian Discrimination

John Oliver dismantled the “model minority myth” on Last Week Tonight. He explained how the stereotype “flattens Asian Americans into quiet, hardworking, ‘ideal’ immigrant caricatures,” whose apparent success has been used by Whites to conveniently “disprov[e] systemic racism.” Yet at the same time, Asians are “still perpetually treated like a foreigner, still asked where you’re really from, and Asian Americans always seem to be just one geopolitical crisis away from becoming the targets of violence yet again.”

Oliver began the segment by highlighting the extremely diverse heritage of people counted under the label “Asian American”—a political term coined in the 1960s—that encompasses more than 20 countries and “divergent” migration experiences across more than 150 years. He pointed out that the AAPI coalition “is not monolith” and still features “great disparity between subgroups” today.

Source: Twitter

The award-winning cast of “Kim’s Convenience,” a television show featuring the life of a Korean family in Toronto, has spoken out about disrespectful treatment by the producers, writers and show creators. Simu Liu called the cancellation of the sixth season a “slap in the face,” while Paul Sun-Hyung Lee said the cast were “blind-sided” by the decision. Jean Yoon, who plays the family matriarch, highlighted how “overtly racist” and “culturally insensitive” plotlines were barely avoided only after the cast lobbied to change them. Yoon wrote, “The lack of Asian female, especially Korean, writers in the writers room of Kims made my life VERY DIFFICULT & the experience of working on the show painful.”

60% of Americans say discrimination against Asian Americans has swelled compared with a year ago, including 71% of Asian Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 57% of Asian Americans say they feel unsafe in public “often” or “sometimes” because of their race. To highlight the ongoing violence, New York state lawmaker Yuh-Line Niou, who is Taiwanese American, shared a video of an Asian woman being punched and knocked to the ground in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Other recent stabbings and assaults have occurred in San Francisco and Culver City, California.

The Asian American Foundation produced an MTV special "See Us Unite for Change” hosted by Ken Jeong, with appearances by actors such as Daniel Dae Kim and Lisa Ling. The music director of the Milwaukee Symphony, Kurt-David Masur, who has both German and Japanese roots, declared “it's time for Asian Americans to stop putting their heads down and enduring discrimination.”

Mental Health Impacts of Recent Racism

Stop AAPI Hate, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Asian American Psychological Association published a joint report about the psychological toll of Asian Americans experiencing racism, finding that:

• Asian Americans who have experienced racism are more stressed by anti-Asian hate than the pandemic itself

• 1 in 5 Asian Americans who have experienced racism display racial trauma, the psychological and emotional harm caused by racism (Saw et al.)

• Asian Americans who have experienced racism have heightened symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and physical symptoms (Chuck Liu et al.)

• Experience of racism during COVID-19 is found to be more strongly associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms (Cindy Liu & Hahm et al.).

As reported by AAPA: “The long history of Asian Americans facing systemic racism and discrimination in the United States must not be forgotten,” said Dr. Cindy Liu, assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and research director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Cross-Cultural Student Emotional Wellness. “It’s important to consider how the negative effects of COVID-19-related discrimination on the mental health of Asian Americans build on their previous experiences of discrimination.”

In-Depth Feature: The End of the Kingdom of Hawaii

National Geographic ran a feature story of “How white planters usurped Hawaii's last queen” and ended the monarchy. Read an in-depth story in Pro Publica about the history and impacts of Native land dispossession in Hawaii.

Conversations with Creatives
For your monthly fix of creativity:

• A discussion with Vietnamese American writer Ocean Vuong, a MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner

• A conversation with the rising artist Olivia Rodrigo, a Filipino-American singer who released her new album “Sour” to rave reviews.

• An interview with British Chinese actress Jessie Mei Li, who stars in the Netflix show “Shadows & Bone.”

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Visit

House Beautiful compiled a short list of notable places related to AAPI history that are worth a visit, including the Kubota Garden in Seattle, the Yin Yu Tang House in Salem, Massachusetts and the Iolani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Seattle Asian Art Museum celebrated its reopening after being shut down for 15 months.

The National Park Foundation highlights a series of monuments, historic sites, national parks linked to the Asian American experience, including Tule Lake, Manzanar, Minidoka and Honouliuli, places where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during WWII, the Chinese Arch at Golden Spike National Historic Site (also connected to Stanford’s history); photographer Jun Fujita’s cabin at Voyageurs National Park; Sing Peak in Yosemite, named after Chinese USGS employee Tie Sing; and Angel Island Immigration Station in the San Francisco Bay.

Read

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), of Japanese descent, released her memoir “Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story” chronicling her life and political rise, and the importance of speaking up.

Stanford alumna Annelise Heinz (PhD History, ‘15) wrote a book on “Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture.”

NPR spoke with Chinese American poet Muriel Leung about “generational inheritance” and the impact of discrimination on Asian Americans in her book of poetic essays “Imagine Us, The Swarm.”

Watch

KQED’s “If Cities Could Dance” video series features the city of Honolulu and the “poetry of hula” this month.

Season 5, the final season of “Kim’s Convenience” about a Korean family in Toronto, Canada, is available on Netflix. Though hailed for featuring a mostly-Asian cast, the show’s producers now face controversy (see “Anti-Asian Discrimination” above).

Houston Public Library hosted a live conversation with writer-director-producer Kimberlee Bassford about her film "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" (2008). In 1965, Mink, a Japanese American, became the first woman of color and first Asian American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. The documentary can be viewed on PBS.

Listen

Elle magazine has curated a list of Asian and AAPI artists for summer.

Cat Zhang thoughtfully interrogates the idea of “Asian American music” and asks if there is a common lineage to be found in the political and sonic dimensions of Asian American musical works, rather than just “aggregating [lists of] music based on artists’ common racial identity.”

The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center invited AAPI community members to share their favorite songs to create an eclectic playlist of “music for affirmation and consolation” that serves as a “call to action” and a means to find joy.

E-mail khsu@alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for future Advocacy & Education updates or to volunteer with the editorial team.

Asian American Issues [June 2021]

SAPAAC presents news important to the AAPI community nationally and related to advocacy on the Stanford University campus.

Fighting Hate Crimes and Discrimination

Courtesy of Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom. Find her on Instagram and Patreon.

President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, the “first legislative action that Congress has taken” to address the rise in hate crimes targeting people of Asian descent during the pandemic. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Representative Grace Meng of New York, passed 94-1 in the Senate and 364-62 in the House.

At the White House signing ceremony, Biden shared that “we heard about [the Asian American community’s] pain, their fear, anger...feelings that they felt invisible, not seen. We heard how too many Asian Americans have been waking up each morning this past year genuinely...fearing for their safety just opening the door and walking down the street, and safety for their loved ones. Attacked, blamed, scapegoated, harassed during this pandemic.”

The “historic surge” in racially-motivated incidents over the past year includes more than 6,600 hate incidents according to Stop AAPI Hate. In the first quarter of 2021, there was a 164% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes compared to last year, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. In the medical profession, many Asian doctors and nurses have also reported an increase in incidents.

President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act as a federal response to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Source: Senator Tammy Duckworth (@senduckworth)

Community Responses

Within the AAPI community, there are differing views on how to address the challenge, with younger generations favoring more activism compared to older Asians. It has forced tough conversations about identity and belonging, and finding ways to challenge what U.S. Representative Andy Kim of New Jersey has called “feeling like we’re constantly thought of as being foreign in our own country.”

Nationwide, lawmakers and activists are calling for expanded data collection, widespread education for the public, and additional services targeted toward the AAPI community’s needs. In California, those who “believe Asian Americans were ‘frequently or sometimes’ discriminated against increased to 70%” an increase of 15 percentage points compared to last year. 

A new organization, The Asian American Foundation, has launched as a “convener, incubator, and funder for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.” It will focus on Anti-Hate initiatives to build “long-term solutions for measuring and defending against anti-AAPI violence,” Data & Research to “track incidents of hate and violence targeting AAPI communities” and “data-driven research that identify the needs of AAPI communities to inform future policymaking, advocacy, and philanthropy,” and Education to create “K-12 and higher education curricula that reflect the history of Asian American and Pacific Islanders as part of the American story” and “storytelling across the arts, media and film to include the AAPI experience.” As of late May, it had raised more than $1 billion for these efforts.

To spark your own conversations with colleagues and loved ones, check out the NBC News guide to “combating anti-Asian racism—from relationships to the workplace.”

Clear Need for Asian American Studies

The stream of racist attacks have “renew[ed] demand for Asian American studies programs” as reported by NBC News. “We can’t just hope for another disaster to get people to say, ‘You’re important,’” Prof. Brett Esaki of the University of Arizona in Tucson said. Prof. Pawan Dhingra of Amherst College notes that “fledgling ethnic studies programs decline because junior professors who aren’t full time or permanent have to carry them.”

At the K-12 level, a new law in Illinois, the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act, will “mandate comprehensive Asian American history in all Illinois public schools” starting in the 2022-2023 school year. California previously approved a “model ethnic studies curriculum” in March this year, focused on “illuminating the often-untold struggles and contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, Latino/a/x Americans, and Asian Americans in California.”

Support for Asian American Studies at Stanford

At Stanford, SAPAAC’s working group on this issue, the Asian American Studies Coalition, wrote an open letter to Stanford University leadership in support of strengthening Asian American Studies, which has been co-signed by more than 100 alumni. E-mail asianamerican.workinggroup @ gmail.com to join the effort.

Disaggregate the Data (Federal, State & Stanford)

President Biden issued an Executive Order on May 28 to create the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, which includes a call for “addressing the systemic lack of disaggregated data on AA and NHPI communities in Federal statistical systems.” UCLA researchers found that COVID-19 impacts AANHPI subgroups differently, and that failing to disaggregate data obscures the true impact of the pandemic.

At Stanford, SAPAAC members have called for similarly disaggregating data under the university’s IDEAL initiative dashboard.

Asian Americans in Politics

In New York’s mayoral race, candidate Andrew Yang, who is Taiwanese American, has been deemed a frontrunner. Some competitors have criticized his inexperience in the city’s politics, but political observers suggest there are troubling undertones when these attacks tap “racist tropes...playing on an idea of Asian-Americans as permanent tourists and outsiders” and giving “credence to the perpetual foreigner trope.”

A recent cartoon in the New York Daily News depicts Yang as an Asian tourist with stereotypically slanted eyes popping up in Times Square. Yang responded, “Every time you say that I’m not a real New Yorker, you’re telling another Asian American that they don’t belong.” Yang was born in Schenectady, New York, attended Columbia University, and has lived in New York City for 25 years. His wife Evelyn is from Queens.

Asian Languages & Cultures

Teaching languages on campus is a form of inclusion that pushes back against cultural erasure by helping students access their heritage. Languages at Stanford are at risk of having the number of course offerings reduced due to budget constraints, so it is important that students demonstrate continuing demand for Asian and Pacific Islander language instruction. This month, we feature:

(Cantonese) To support the campaign to Save Cantonese at Stanford, the ASSU Undergraduate Senate and the Graduate Student Council unanimously passed a joint resolution calling for the university to restore the Cantonese program’s full set of courses and bring back the full-time Cantonese lecturer.

(Hawaiian) Stanford is home to the first university-level Hawaiian language course outside Hawai’i, according to lecturer Kumu Kau’i Peralto. She started teaching the language full-time at Stanford in 2008. She hopes students will sign up for Hawaiian I (SPECLANG189) this fall—and alumni can help by spreading the word to new and returning students. It is part of an ongoing effort that began in the 1970s to revive the Hawaiian language.

The Stanford course develops language skills and cultural awareness through ceremony (hana pono, pule), songs (mele, oli), dances (hula), storytelling (mo`olelo) and projects (hana no`eau). It also explores Hawaiian value concepts such as responsibility/privilege (kuleana), hospitality (ho`okipa), reconciliation (ho`oponopono), and integrity (pono) in traditional and contemporary contexts.

Entertainment & Representation

Of the top 1,300 films from 2007-2019, only 44 films (or 3.4%) “featured an API lead or co-lead performer” and “only six films were led or co-led by an API woman.” Out of this handful of films, a third of them featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Read the USC study in detail here.

Hawaiian History & Culture

Vox recently produced a historical highlight about a group of Native Hawaiians activists who won their struggle against the U.S. Navy in 1976 to reclaim sovereignty and preserve their cultural legacy on the Hawaiian island of Kaho‘olawe. In May, two traditional Polynesian sailing canoes, Hokule'a and Hikianali'a, completed a two-week training voyage of 900 miles across the eight main Hawaiian Islands.

Keep Celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month

As we conclude AANHPI heritage month, here are a few more ways to celebrate:

• Visit 13 historic sites that tell the stories of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in US history

• View the “Native Voices” online exhibition from the National Library of Medicine, which “tells the story of Indigenous peoples and their health traditions” and includes features of Native Hawaiian practitioners. Access it online here.

• Share about a U.S. Supreme Court case where Asian Americans fought for Civil Rights. NPR has put together 4 of these cases.

• Read a work by an AAPI author. Check out the NBC News list of 14 notable books or NPR’s recommended collection of 10 works.

• The new non-fiction book, Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II was recently published, featuring the stories of the highly-decorated 442nd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army—composed of Japanese Americans volunteers—and a Japanese American conscientious objector, whose case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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E-mail khsu @alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for future Advocacy & Education updates or to volunteer with the editorial team.

Asian American Issues [May 2021]

Asian America, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
The White House issued a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to “recognize the history and achievements of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) across our Nation” and declaring May 2021 AANHPI month. President Biden also selected Erika Moritsugu, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, to serve as deputy assistant and senior liaison overseeing outreach to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Supporting Asian American Studies at Stanford
The newly-renamed SAPAAC Asian American Studies Coalition (AASC) aims to foster a community of alumni, students, and faculty who share a common passion to build awareness on the importance of Asian American Studies. The meteoric rise in racially-motivated incidents this past year underscores the need for Asian American Studies—a field of study that makes visible our community’s contributions and concerns. Asian American Studies affirms that we are an integral part of America’s narrative. Show your support by taking one or more of the actions below:

1. Sign the AAPI Alumni Letter: Investing in Asian American Studies
AASC wrote an open letter to the Stanford University leadership strongly communicating the need to invest in Asian American Studies. We invite you to sign your name in support of this letter to make clear to the University that Asian American Studies is a priority for our community.

2. Provide a testimonial
Did you major or minor in Asian American Studies (AAS) at Stanford? Would you have liked to take an AAS class, or generally want to support AAS at Stanford? We are gathering testimonials from alumni through a 10 min survey on how AAS has impacted their lives in order to catalyze support for increased AAS funding, faculty hires, and course offerings. We are also creating an alumni database to assist with outreach and programing for A3C and AAS. If you would like to support, please fill out the following Google Form. Responses may be utilized on various platforms, which may include but are not limited to the SAPAAC and A3C websites. We also invite you to join our groups on Facebook and LinkedIn!

3. Volunteer
Interested in volunteering on the AASC? Contact asianamerican.workinggroup@gmail.com for more information.

A Growing Population, Political Engagement
Asian Americans had the highest growth rate among all racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. between 2000-2019, according to the Pew Research Center. Based on U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the Asian population grew 81% from “10.5 million to a record 18.9 million” and is projected to increase to 35.8 million by 2060.

To better understand this fast-changing electorate, the AAPI Victory Fund political action committee will create a new nonprofit group to develop “greater understanding of the complex and nuanced population that has long been excluded from conversations about issues such as racial justice, economic disparity and politics generally.” As part of this work, they will seek to “dispel the ‘model minority’ myth that persists around the Asian population that they are well educated and successful and thus don’t require the same attention as other marginalized groups.”

At Stanford, SAPAAC is advocating for better data disaggregation of different AAPI groups, instead of lumping everyone under “Asian” and then placing this category with “Whites” as “not underrepresented,” as happens with the IDEAL dashboard. All Asians are POC who are not fully served by mainstream institutions; and many sub-groups under AAPI are still underrepresented at Stanford, particularly Southeast Asian communities. (IDEAL counts Pacific Islanders as separate from Asians and underrepresented).

Anti-Asian Violence: Communities Responding
The Sikh community came together to commemorate “those killed in an April 15 mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility...that took eight lives, including four Sikhs.” Prof. Seema Sohi writes in the Washington Post how White supremacists have targeted Sikhs since they came to the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but the community has maintained its resilience in the face of physical attacks and discrimination.

In a new Pew Research Center survey conducted in early April after the Atlanta shootings, 81% of Asian adults say violence against the group is rising. 45% have experienced at least one of five categories of incidents, including: (1) fearing someone might threaten or physically attack them (32%), (2) people acting as if they were uncomfortable around them (27%), (3) being subject to racial slurs or jokes (27%), (4) remarks that they should go back to their home country (16%), (5) remarks that they are to blame for the coronavirus outbreak (14%).

Unfortunately, Cornell University researchers found that among non-Asians, awareness of the increase in anti-Asian bias actually dipped last year, falling from June to October 2020, before increasing in March 2021 after the shootings. They link this not to deep-seated beliefs, but the prominence or lack of media discussion of anti-Asian bias.

Many Asian American business leaders have pledged to support Asian American organizations to combat anti-Asian discrimination and violence, launching a $250 million effort to fight hate.

Volunteer groups such as Compassion in Oakland and Japantown Prepared! in San Jose are seeking to accompany elderly Asians and ensure their safety in public spaces.

Cathy Park Hong appeared on a New York Times podcast speaking about anti-Asian racism. A SAPAAC book club with Prof. Christine Min Wotipka '99, PhD '01 and Angela Zhang ‘18 last year read Hong’s book Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning.

Asian Media Representation
The film Nomadland, written and directed by Chinese-born American Chloe Zhao, won Best Picture at the 93rd Academy Awards. Zhao also became the first Asian woman, first woman of color and second woman ever, to win the Oscar of Best Director. Her next film will be The Eternals, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Zhao was born in Beijing, and the Chinese government initially called her “the pride of China” after her Golden Globes win, but has since quashed mention of her triumph at the Oscars, because she previously critiqued the country as “a place where there are lies everywhere.”

Yuh-Jung Youn (see an in-depth feature here) became the first Korean to win an acting award at the Oscars, as well as the first Asian to win Best Supporting Actress since Miyoshi Umeki in 1957. Youn thanked the Minari cast and crew, including writer-director Lee Isaac Chung, in her acceptance speech, where she teasingly educated the audience about how to pronounce her name. Because Brad Pitt had presented the award, a reporter later inappropriately asked as a first interview question, “What did he smell like?” Youn dryly replied, “I didn’t smell him, I’m not a dog,” stunning the journalist.

In the aftermath of the Atlanta shooting, where six victims were Asian women, columnists continue to critique “racist and sexist portrayals” of Asian females as “sexually submissive...lotus blossoms” or “meek” individuals that can be “sexually objectified.” Writing in Variety, Professor Grace Kao and actor Peter Shinkoda suggest that the attacks reflect “historical and contemporary social forces shaped jointly by race and gender.” They consider images of “ultra-feminine” Asian American women and Asian American men “stripped of their masculinity” as troubling and potentially dangerous stereotypes “reinforced by Hollywood and other mass media.”

COVID-19: Connecting Across Oceans
The Atlantic featured a story about Indian Americans, who are deeply concerned about the toll of COVID-19 on India while they remain secure in the United States. They share about “oscillating between waves of emotions—anger, helplessness, and guilt” while searching for ways to help. Indian Americans in the technology sector and Congress have been mobilizing to “match Indian hospitals and other facilities with supplies of oxygen and other urgently needed medical equipment” and to donate money for aid. Separately, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also been collecting aid for India.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California has called for the U.S. to provide more assistance to India. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state said, “India needs our help—and it is our moral responsibility to rise to the challenge at the local, Federal, and international level.” She recently shared that she traveled to India because her parents were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

The state of Hawaii had strict controls on travelers during much of the pandemic, but is starting to lift restrictions to potentially allow negative test results from COVID-19 tests, in lieu of quarantine. The policy will first apply to inter-island travel before opening up to the rest of the continental United States and eventually international visitors. While the tourist economy will benefit, locals are concerned that an influx of “mainlanders” could overwhelm the islands’ health infrastructure. There are already reports that tourists are “crowding popular beaches without wearing masks or paying much attention to social distancing.” The New York Times reports that “the tension is especially prevalent among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, who face greater risk for Covid-19 and higher rates of chronic disease than average,” pointing to important equity dimensions in the public health debate.

Biodiversity as Part of Heritage
Governor David Ige, Governor of the State of Hawai’i, once more proclaimed April 2021 “Native Hawaiian Plant Month.” For the first time last year, April was designated Native Hawaiian Plant Month to recognize “the importance and urgency of supporting the work being done to protect and cultivate the endangered and threatened species of native plants in the Hawaiian Islands.” Nearly 90% of Hawai’i’s native plants are endemic (found only in the Hawaiian Islands), and 200 of these plant species have only 50 or fewer remaining in the wild.”

Recommended Books for AAPI Heritage Month [Added May 17]
NPR has a reading list for “engaging with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month” featuring Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander writers and works of fiction, poetry, graphic novels and nonfiction.

E-mail khsu@alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for Advocacy & Education updates.

[Board Statement] AAPI Alumni Letter: Investing in Asian American Studies

Dear President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell, Vice Provost Sarah Church, and Dean Debra Satz, 

As leaders of the Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club (SAPAAC), we are following up on an issue of high importance for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community: support for Asian American Studies. Over the past year, our community has been wrongfully blamed for the coronavirus pandemic, Asian-owned businesses have faced economic devastation, and more than 3,800 hate incidents have been reported nationwide. The meteoric rise in racially-motivated incidents underscores the need for Asian American Studies—a field of study that makes visible our community’s contributions and concerns. Asian American Studies affirms that we are an integral part of America’s narrative.

In May 2020, the SAPAAC Board of Directors wrote an open letter to Stanford’s leadership expressing concern about the diminished state of Asian American Studies. The same month, the Asian American Activities Center (A3C) supported a widely circulated petition signed by over 200 alumni to fund a multi-year, full-time lectureship in Asian American Studies. We were pleased to learn that these advocacy efforts contributed to the University’s recent commitment to fund a 3-year lecturer position. However, Asian American Studies still requires basic resources to become a thriving academic program on par with those at peer institutions and befitting a world-class university.

One year later, we continue to hear from AAPI students and alumni deeply concerned about Stanford’s lack of progress in strengthening Asian American Studies since its inception in 1997. The program has experienced strong student demand, yet struggles to offer core courses consistently—a problem linked to lack of full-time faculty and funding. We were also shocked by the recent decision to cut Cantonese language instruction—an allied program serving the AAPI community. Leland Stanford’s fortune was built on the backs of Cantonese railroad workers, and numerous students and alumni view courses in both Asian American Studies and Asian languages as vital to accessing our cultural heritage, building a shared community, and advancing equality and inclusion.

We applaud Provost Drell’s commitment to diversity through the IDEAL initiative and President Tessier-Lavigne’s recent statement in support of the AAPI community. While these are important steps, we hope the University will take concrete action beyond statements of concern to address our community’s needs. Specifically, we ask the University leadership to consider and act on the following:

• Establish in perpetuity several tenured faculty roles dedicated full-time to the Asian American Studies program. These faculty would advance education, research, and development of the program’s vision.

• Ensure “Introduction to Asian American Studies” and a broad array of other core and elective courses are offered every year, with a commitment to fund the associated teaching faculty and staff in perpetuity.

• Restore the Cantonese language program to its previous status of four courses per quarter, every year, taught by a salaried lecturer with benefits. Continue offering a variety of Asian & Pacific Islander language courses—including Filipino/Tagalog, Hawaiian, Hindi, Punjabi, Taiwanese, Tibetan, and Vietnamese among others—to reflect the diversity of the Stanford AAPI community.

• Consult SAPAAC as a representative of AAPI stakeholders. Engage with us in longitudinal discussions that include senior University leadership to develop a flourishing set of programs that enhance the Stanford AAPI experience.

Asian American alumni are the largest ethnic group of color among Stanford graduates. We care deeply about Stanford and ensuring it remains a leader in an increasingly diverse society. As past and present elected representatives of the AAPI alumni community, we welcome an ongoing dialogue with you to share how the hopes and aspirations of our community can be actively incorporated into Stanford’s vision—and recognized as integral to a truly inclusive campus. We look forward to your response.

With warmest regards,

Kevin Hsu ‘09 Asian American Studies Coalition (AASC) Chair & former SAPAAC President
Lan Le ‘10 SAPAAC President
Crystal Zheng ‘11 SAPAAC Advocacy Committee Chair
Ron Nakao ‘78 AASC Coordinating Committee Member
Nancy Tseng ‘00 AASC Coordinating Committee Member
Irene H. Yen ‘85 AASC Coordinating Committee Member

On behalf of the SAPAAC Board of Directors & Asian American Studies Coalition

Interested alumni can show your support for this letter by signing your name here

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Kathleen Ko Chin, Economics '80, alumni Multi-Cultural Hall of Fame inductee
Marsha Fong, Psychology '77, former SAPAAC Board Member, Co-Chair 2017 Stanford Asian Pacific Alumni Summit
Doug Chan, '76, President, Chinese Historical Society of America
Gloria S Kim, Chemistry '79, Director of Educational Programs at the Stanford Center for Asian Healthcare Research and Education (CARE)
Jacob Wang, Psychology '72, SAPAAC Board Member
Dr. John Chang, Human Biology '93, SAPAAC Board Member
Van Anh Tran '13, M.A. '14, former SAPAAC Treasurer and Board Member
Linda Tran, Asian American Studies '06, M.A. Sociology '07, former SAPAAC President
Mo-Yun Lei Fong, Chemical Engineering '95; M.A. Education '96, former SAPAAC Board Member
Katie Gee Salisbury, Interdisciplinary Humanities '07, M.A. Sociology '08, Chinese Language minor
Thuy-Van (Tina) Hang (formerly Duong) Asian American Studies & Biology '12
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu American Studies '92, A.M. History '93, Ph.D. History '98
Hope Nakamura, Economics '83
Takeo Rivera, CSRE '08, M.A. Modern Thought & Literature '09
Maria Deloso, Earth Systems '15, Stanford Alumni interviewer
Leslie Kim, English '98, Stanford staff
AnQi Yu, Film & Media Studies '21
Calvin Cheung-Miaw, Interdisciplinary Humanities '03; Phd Candidate, Modern Thought and Literature
Andrea Yung, Biology '12
James Li, Computer Science '19, M.S. Computer Science '19
Cynthia Liao Asian American Studies, M.A. Sociology '09
Roger W. Tang, Communications/Geology, '79
Ravi Chandra, MD
David J. Lam, PhD Psychology '70
Viet-Co Tran, History, '17
John W. Young, M.S. Statistic '86, PhD Education '89
Manoj Waikar, Biological Sciences '91
Jacqueline Ramos, Urban Studies '18
Vanuyen Pham, History '18
Melinda Su, MBA '95
Jude Leung, Psychology '02
Jeannie Shu, Psychology
Sabrina Yuan, M.S. GSB '16
Nina Loh, MD '93
Amy Chen, International Relations '01
Jean Lee, Urban Studies '93
Risa Shimoda, General Engineering / Product Design '77
Chester Day, Computer Science '00, Asian American Studies '00
Angela Zhang, International Relations, '16
Joanna Chan, MD
Elsa Tsutaoka, Biology '87
Aya Yagi, French, Music '14
Stanley N Shikuma, Biological Sciences '76
Kenneth Chiang, Political Science '84
Brian Cheu, Psychology '85
Evan Kratzer, JD '20
Sophia Kuo, PhD Cancer Biology
Prof. Jamie Tam, Biology, '10
Jason Pu, Psychology '95
Vivian Gee, '02, M.S. '02
Austyn Toshihiro Lee, Psychology '18
James C. Fong, M.S. EES '72
James Yan, PhD Chemistry '18
Munson Arthur Kwok, Mechanical Engineering '62, M.S. Aero & Astro '63, PhD Aero & Astro '67
Kenneth J. Hong, Anthropology '89, M.A. Sociology '90
Alan Chiu, M.S. GSB '11
Madeleine Lu Wang, Economics '95
Kathryn Han, Sociology '98
Masaru Oka, Physics '10
Steven Chen, Human Biology '95, MD '00
Michael Liu, East Asian Studies '83
Christopher Yeh, Computer Science '19, M.S. Computer Science '19
Meg Chan Feitelberg, Economics, '85
Yvette Yeh Fung, Psychology '82, JD '88
Ellen Lee '91
Colleen Jiang, East Asian Studies '11, International Relations, '11
Kairen Wong, MCS '12; M.S. Statistics '16
Dr. Kalei Inn, PhD Sociology of Education '75
Naoko Fujii, East Asian Studies '85
Amber Wong, Human Biology '77, M.S. Civil Engineering '78
Rosalyn Mahashin, '02
Jeremy Wang, '94
Gina Wei, Economics '16, M.A. Education '17
Jamie Kwan, Art & Art History '11
Joseph Huang, General Engineering '85, M.S. Aero Astro '86, M.S. Civil/Environmental Engineering '92
Karen Kurosawa '20
Elsa Tsutaoka, Biology '87
Emily Burton, M.A. Education '05
Shaw Yean Lim, Mathematics '07, M.S. MS&E '07
Girard D. Lau, Economics '81
Bernadette Cay, Management Science & Engineering '10
Bo-Gay Tong Salvador, Psychology '71
Rose Chan, Communications/International Relations '82
David Wang, Symbolic Systems '15, M.S. Computer Science '17
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds, Physics '19
Yang Lor, Sociology '08
Elizabeth Wong, M.A. Education '12
Sylvia Fan, Mechanical Engineering '92, MSME ‘94
Bill Shen, Public Policy '98
David Yoon, MBA '00
Kyle James Abraham, Asian American Studies '15
Niki Nguyen, Political Science, CSRE minor '21, M.A. Sociology '21

Asian American Issues [April 2021]

Nationwide Protests to Support Asian Americans & Stop the Violence

Demonstrations took place around the United States, calling for an end to anti-Asian violence. Deadly shootings in March killed eight people—six of them Asian women—prompting even greater outcry about ongoing attacks against the AAPI community. Women of color legislators have been the most forceful and active in speaking out on the rising violence. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties also hosted a hearing on the issue.

The shootings are only the latest in a much longer history of violent acts against Asians in the United States: during the 1800s, “hundreds of forgotten riots, purges and lynchings...left thousands dead, wounded or displaced.” The attacks were coupled with political marginalization, including the 1875 Page Act that allowed officials to bar women from “China, Japan or any Oriental country” by suggesting they were engaging in prostitution. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and later laws explicitly discriminated against immigrants from Asia, based on national origin. In response to this persecution, Asian Americans engaged in “boycotts, petitions, lawsuits and demands for reparations.”

Today in 2021, researchers are scrambling to document the rise in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic, which has reached at least 3,800 reported incidents, according to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition. A similar rise in attacks against Asians is occurring in Canada.

Hitting close to home, Stanford alumna Oranicha Jumreornvong, Human Biology ‘17, writes in The Lily about being spat at and physically attacked in New York. SAPAAC Advocacy & Education Chair Crystal Zheng, Biology & East Asian Studies ‘10, M.A. East Asian Studies ‘11 shares her experience enduring taunts of “coronavirus” in the streets of New Orleans, where she works as a doctor.

Representation in Politics, Media & History Education

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Dr. Vivek Murthy, an Indian American physician, will return as Surgeon General, a post he previously held under President Barack Obama. Taiwanese American politician Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate in 2020, is considered a frontrunner in the New York mayoral race.

Thai American Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Japanese American Sen. Mazie Hirono expressed frustration over the lack of AAPI representation in the executive branch. They threatened to block future Biden nominees until this problem is addressed, suggesting the administration’s response has been too slow. The White House quickly affirmed the issue would henceforth be a priority and that a “senior level Asian American Pacific Islander liaison” would be appointed.

Nielsen explores the role of media in anti-Asian bias, while highlighting the very limited number of roles for AAPI actors. East Asian and South Asian representation has been improving, especially on streaming services, and is a welcome step forward, but not a panacea for deeper issues of structural racism.

Prof. Michael Eric Dyson, a scholar of African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University, critiques how “Asian American history is often footnoted or compartmentalized...as a subplot” in the story of America. Writing in The Washington Post, he asks, “Why don’t we treat Asian American history the way we treat Black history?” instead of exclusively focusing on a “Black-White binary,” and suggests that as a nation, “until we do, we can’t reckon fully with tragedies like [the mass shootings in] Atlanta.”

Many K-12 educators are also deeply concerned that Asian American history is missing from the classroom. In Time Magazine, a number of them share their struggles to reverse the “invisibility” of Asian Americans in the curriculum and to fill the knowledge gap.

Dialogues on Hawaiian Sovereignty

Native Hawaiians are engaging in renewed debate about the pros and cons of U.S. federal government recognition of Hawaiian sovereignty. Since the violent overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii by American troops in 1893, its status has been in dispute. A century later, President Bill Clinton signed legislation that apologized for the annexation, but did not grant Native Hawaiians official status equivalent to that of Native Americans.

Books by and about Asian Americans

The Washington Post recommends four graphic novels that explain discrimination against Asian Americans through personal lenses in different historical eras: “The Best We Could Do” by Thi Bui (2017), “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker (2019), “Secret Asian Man: The Daily Days” by Tak Toyoshima (2009) and “Shortcomings” by Adrian Tomine (2007).

Paula Yoo has written a book for young adults “From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement.” In 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was killed by two disgruntled White American workers, who were angry about competition from Japanese auto companies. The perpetrators were initially only fined, leading to Asian Americans organizing nationwide in protest. The killers later still escaped justice in federal trials, but the incident and its infuriating aftermath spurred a generation of Asian Americans to stand up, struggle for their human rights, and push back against discrimination.

E-mail khsu@alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for Advocacy & Education updates.

Asian American Issues [March 2021]

Politics: Responding to Anti-Asian Violence

California passed legislation that will allocate $1.4 million to researching and reporting anti-Asian hate incidents, which have shown an alarming increase since the pandemic began. An elderly Thai man in San Francisco was killed, and multiple assaults have been committed against people of Asian descent in Oakland, New York, Los Angeles, and other cities. In response, several grassroots events aimed at cross-racial solidarity are taking place across the country.

Human Rights Watch, an international NGO, has called for federal action against the uptick in violence, which many believe is linked to incendiary language from the previous administration, suggesting that Asians are responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in the United States. Jeremy Lin, a Taiwanese American player who has played in the NBA, shared on social media that he had been called “coronavirus” on the court.

Both the Democrats and Republicans are seeking to recruit more AAPI candidates to continue activating the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate.

Entertainment: Film, Television and Books

Director Chloe Zhao became the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe for Nomadland. The film Minari, written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, also won a Golden Globe—but was forced to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film category, despite it being about a Korean family living in the United States. Chung based the work on his upbringing in rural Arkansas.

The upcoming release of “Raya and the Last Dragon” represents the first Disney animated film to be directly inspired by Southeast Asian cultures. However, it has been criticized for mostly featuring East Asian voice actors, other than Vietnames American lead actress Kelly Marie Tran.

The Netflix reality show Bling Empire, starring an ultra-rich Asian American cast in Los Angeles, has provoked discussion on whether it represents a step forward or reinforces model minority stereotypes, if it’s fun and frothy or tone deaf, and the intersection of race, class and human foibles. Watch for yourself to decide:

A live-action remake of Nickelodeon's “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which draws on East Asian mythologies, is also purported to be in the works, and has faced calls to avoid white-washing, by featuring Asian and Inuit actors. Eddie Huang, whose memoir inspired the television series “Fresh Off the Boat,” directs “Boogie,” a coming-of-age tale about a basketball-loving Asian American teen, played by Taylor Takahashi.

A number of books have already been published by Asian American authors this year, compiled by Shealea. National Book Award Winner Charles Yu established a prize for young Taiwanese American creative writers last month, with entries due April 18.

E-mail khsu@alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for Advocacy & Education updates.

Asian American Issues [February 2021]

Asian Americans Joining Government

Find out about some of the Asian American “firsts” among the Biden administration’s nominees:

• Julie Su (BA ‘91), who is Chinese American and a Stanford alumna, would be the first Asian American woman to serve as Deputy Labor Secretary.

• Katherine Tai, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan, would be the first Asian American to serve as Chief Trade Negotiator.

• Neera Tanden, an Indian American, would be the first woman of color and first Asian American to helm the Office of Management and Budget. Asian Americans, who represent the fastest-growing group of voters, have expressed concern her Senate confirmation could be blocked. UPDATE: On March 2, the Biden administration withdrew Tanden’s nomination as she came under fire for past tweets. The former executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum writes about the racist undertones and misogynistic double standards surrounding the debacle.

• Ali Zaidi, inaugurating the post of Deputy White House National Climate Advisor, would be the highest-ranking Pakistani American in the administration. He is also affiliated with the Precourt Energy Institute at Stanford.

Attacks on Asian American Seniors

On January 26, the Biden White House issued an order to federal agencies to combat “racism, xenophobia and intolerance” against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, a series of violent assaults against Asian American seniors in the Bay Area and New York, has raised fears about anti-Asian sentiment, just as many were celebrating the Lunar New Year. Community members have volunteered to walk with elders to ward off further attacks, while Asian American actors such as Daniel Dae Kim and Gemma Chan are also speaking out against these crimes.

Observers have suggested the violence reflects anti-Asian racism fomented during the pandemic and linked to inflammatory language by then-President Donald Trump. However, police have not filed “hate crime” charges in these cases, so other commentators have urged the public to distinguish between hate crimes, regular crimes, and “hate incidents.” Nonetheless, Vice President Kamala Harris condemned these incidents as “xenophobic attacks.”

E-mail khsu@alumni.stanford.edu with ideas for Advocacy & Education updates.

Asian American Issues [January 2021]

Save Cantonese at Stanford
Stanford abruptly terminated the contract of its sole Cantonese lecturer, effectively eliminating its Cantonese language program. The decision has upset many, who believe that Stanford University, built from wealth generated by Cantonese migrant workers, has a unique obligation to continue to teach Cantonese. The language classes also provided access to centuries-old cultural traditions and the ability to communicate with Cantonese-speaking elders. Interested alumni can learn more about the issue here, and may consider signing a student-led petition—both Stanford alumni and non-alumni are welcome to sign.

For those interested in getting more involved, please e-mail Crystal Zheng, SAPAAC Advocacy Committee Chair at zheng.crystal@gmail.com.

• Stanford cuts only Cantonese lecturing spot, putting future of program in doubt (Stanford Daily)

• Nearly 1,500 Sign Petition to Save Stanford’s Cantonese Course (College Post)

• Stanford Lays Off Only Cantonese Lecturer After 21 Years of Teaching (Next Shark)

Asian American Studies Working Group
Stanford created the Asian American Studies major in 1997, in response to student activism. Yet alumni are often surprised to learn that more than 20 years later, the program still has no full-time, tenured professors of its own, and certain critical courses are only offered occasionally. The program is striving hard to meet tremendous student demand, but needs alumni to join their voices with those of students and faculty, working together to create a stable home for Asian American Studies at the university.

To lend your support or to learn more, you are invited to join the Asian American Studies Working Group, an initiative of the SAPAAC Advocacy & Education Committee. The next meeting is January 23, 2021 4:30 - 6:00 PM PST. If interested, please e-mail asianamerican.workinggroup@gmail.com

Stanford Community Responds to Attack on the U.S. Capitol
The Stanford Daily reports that “Stanford professors from across the political spectrum forcefully condemned the mob of Trump supporters that stormed the United States Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, as well as Republican lawmakers who had objected to the certification of the presidential election.” In a letter to the Stanford community, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne called “the alarming scenes in Washington…shocking and deeply troubling.” Several scholars reflected on the events of this week, with political science professor Larry Diamond saying, “We need to rally in defense of our constitution across party lines.”

Students, faculty and alumni have all expressed concern about the actions of Senator Josh Hawley (Class of ‘02, History) who represents Missouri. According to the Stanford Daily, Hawley was the “first senator … to join efforts to subvert Biden’s win and object to the Electoral College certification” and later raised “his fist in support of the rioters outside the Capitol before it was stormed.” As quoted in the Daily, political science professor Jim Steyer said, “Shame on Josh Hawley—he has blood on his hands…he knew better as a Stanford undergraduate and he should know better as a senator.”

In response, a number of alumni have organized a Change.org petition “to condemn the open sedition against the United States of America by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri (Stanford University, AB, History, 2002).” Other alumni have come together by signing an open letter to the university. These efforts mirror those undertaken by Yale Law School students, faculty and alumni, where Hawley attended law school. More information on the aftermath can be found here.

Related Articles

• Petition From Stanford University Community Members Regarding Senator Josh Hawley (Change.org)

• Stanford Alumni Letter to SAA Board of Directors Regarding Senator Hawley

• Stanford leadership, professors condemn storming of Capitol by pro-Trump rioters (Stanford Daily)

• GOP Sen. Josh Hawley loses book deal, mentor, major donor after Capitol assault, gains 2 scathing editorials (The Week)

• Yale Law School Members Letter Regarding Senator Hawley

How to Represent Asians on Stanford’s Diversity Dashboard?
Stanford recently published the IDEAL Dashboard (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access in a Learning Environment) to reflect the Provost’s statement that the university will “strive to ensure a diversity of cultures, races and ethnicities...is thriving on our campus.” Despite racist incidents against Asian Americans on campus, distressing cases where Asian American faculty did not receive tenure, and only one Asian American in Stanford’s higher academic leadership, Asians are not counted as “Underrepresented Minorities” according to the IDEAL Dashboard’s definitions. This has prompted concerned faculty to point out that the dashboard fails to disaggregate extremely diverse Asian American populations and perpetuates the “Model Minority Myth” by assuming all Asians are high-performing and do not need or deserve support. Others have suggested presenting data on university leadership by race/ethnicity, or improving the categories of self-identification could be helpful. Alumni can provide suggestions on the IDEAL Dashboard Feedback Form.

No Cabinet Secretaries of Asian American or Pacific Islander Descent
President-elect Joe Biden has announced the final nominations for his Cabinet, and for the first time in two decades, “there will not be an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Cabinet Secretary serving in a presidential administration” according to the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. They Caucus stated: “The glaring omission of an AAPI Cabinet Secretary in the self-declared ‘most diverse Cabinet in history’ is not lost on us and sends a demoralizing message to our nation’s fastest growing racial group and voting bloc that AAPIs do not need to be counted the same way as other key constituency groups.”

Photo from the Office of Representative Marilyn Strickland

Record Number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Congress

There will be 20 members serving in the 117th Congress (16 Representatives, 2 non-voting Delegates and 2 Senators) who identify as AAPI, matching the previous record. A third senator, Kamala Harris, will soon become Vice President of the United States. Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Washington, the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress, wore a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress, during her swearing-in ceremony.

— Visit www.sapaac.org/issues-advocacy for other editions of Asian American Issues