I just got the news that a newlywed couple in our community were the target of hate crime. The guy has a broke nose, among other injuries, and the wife is in the ER and needed to get stitches on all of her face. They were merely were out to walk around the neighborhood and this happened to them within the comfort of their neighborhood.
These sort of hate crimes happen all the time, not too long ago, and old man was selling shoes/other little things in front of his house and was beaten up by 3-4 young men. In front of his house. On his porch.
I want to stress that these both cases (among others) weren’t carried out anyone other than the precious ~PoCs~. This is exactly what I mean when I talk about hierarchies, because in people’s little perfect theoretical worlds, everything is created into simple categories, where the Pakistanis/Asians have privilege and can’t be target of hate crime/racism when carried out by Black or Latin@ people because of the apparent political power we hold.
These hierarchies are created by White supremacist thought, and as long as we don’t move away from them, and go on about false sense of power dynamics (in which everything is depicted as one sided) we will not get to the root of the problem.
When people speak on Asian or Pakistani privilege they are completely removed from the reality we live in, and want a simple cookie-cutter theory when in fact reality is much more complicated than that.
I know this is supposed to be “controversial” because I’m going against whatever is held to be the truth on here, that Pakistanis/Asians hold certain power over Latin@ or Black communities and that whatever crime done against us, the constant spying, living under the security/surveillance apparatus is a mere form of “prejudice” without any sort of power behind it, the anti-islamic and anti-pakistani hate crimes exist in some sort of tight limited space of “privilege” but that’s not the reality many of us live in and I would rather not follow some removed-from-reality theory for others convenience.
Of course, I shouldn’t have to stress this as it’s obvious, that I don’t mean if X doesn’t have power than Y obviously does. But this is to complicate the simplistic approach to race most people have where the hate crimes carried out by people who fall into the PoC category get unchecked and unnoticed. White crimes on PoC exists in various forms, but that’s not the start and end of the conversation and racial dynamic.
Simply put, these hierarchic sand faux “privilege” politics distort reality.
For all the hype about Asian American success and Asian Americans as the model minority, the reality is much more complicated. Even though the stereotype is that Asians are “smarter” and more “academically-driven” than non-Hispanic whites (honestly, this distinction is really insensitive, and I just want to say that), in reality, Asians are actually morelikely to get a bachelor’s degree, but less likely to have a high school degree, indicating that Asian Americans who do “succeed” academically may do so to a greater degree than their “white” peers, but that those who do not achieve academic success are worse off than their white peers.
As a whole, they still seem “better off” than other minorities. There is a marked difference when we break down the statistics by country of origin, however.
Most of these differences are very clear when we consider history – returning to the(condensed and incomplete) timelines from my second post, that America signed immigration treaties with these different nations at different times under different circumstances. Yet in the simplification of the term “Asian American,” most people really only notice the most prominent countries:
Ignorance of the “lesser” populations, the smaller ones, hides a lot of startling differences in the narratives we see. Furthermore, a substantial percentage of immigration comes from those seeking refuge, and I have had friends whose families were torn apart in the hope that one or two might receive a better fate. A friend of mine from high school never saw her parents and two older sisters after a decision for her to come to America with an aunt, yet the hope is that a reunion may come someday. For those who come without fortune, connections, any understanding of the language, ready employment, for those who have lost their family, home, and often, all that they own, America can be a very different place.
Even within a single country of origin though, there are still many wide achievement gaps, depending on what generation “American” you are, as well as the time period of your immigration. I speak from the Chinese background, which I have seen the most of.
The first immigrants that gain a lot of public attention are the cheap migrant workers, such us those on the Continental Railroad. Much like the early Irish immigrants or our contemporary Mexican immigrants, they had poor education, but had come to seek a better living and to provide for their families.
The next wave of immigrants from mainland China were not until much later. Even with the Immigration Law, the People’s Republic of China placed strict restrictions on emigration until 1977, so much of the immigration in the 1960′s and 1970′s were from Taiwan. This early immigration accounts for why when Taiwanese are statistically “more prosperous” in demographic studies relative to individuals from mainland China (NOTE: if you do not know the complicated history and politics between Chinese and Taiwan, please Google it, as it is important, but not enough that I will entail it in this short blog entry.)
At the same time, the Cultural Revolution “destroyed” and “redistributed” wealth – at least in theory. There is much that could be said about the ideological shifts that happened and their impact on current history, but in the interest of time, I will simply conclude by saying that many of the immigrants which came next were generally not wealthy. Once the immigration barriers were first lifted, most of the next wave of individuals who arrived were scholars and businessmen. Many, like my parents, and the parents of a lot of my cohorts, became fairly well established by the time I was a teenager. However, there were also many undocumented immigrants, without offers at institutions of study, who forged their own way through manual labor, often in places like Chinatown. In many Chinese grocery marts, there are advertisements for English lessons, which are the rare opportunities for education and advancement that many of the “older” citizenry may have, if at all.
This contrasts heavily with the latest generation of immigrants, which contain a much larger percentage of students from wealthy backgrounds sent to America for study and stimulation. As Asia has prospered, education has become extremely competitive, with heavy fees for the best schools and extracurricular classes in every imaginable pursuit.
In short, there are very strange contrasts set-up in today’s Chinese American population, primarily in a publicly largely unrecognized class divide. There are, as I see them, three large categories which exist today:
Chinese Americans whose parents have “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps” and made many sacrifices to ensure the access of their children to a good education
Chinese Americans whose parents were disadvantaged, and whose children are now given the opportunity of the parents of those in group 1
Chinese Americans currently immigrating from China from relatively successful families (this has also been aided somewhat by the one-child policy, which allows for a greater concentration of resources into single individuals*)
That is to say, there are two populations of Chinese Americans which are generally more affluent – but even that is a wide range, and the class differences that apply to other populations are just as evident in this population. Yet many of the stereotypes of Chinese American behavior, their stinginess and bargain-shopping comes from the past generation, where smart spending was a necessity of survival, a lifestyle that many families still have to live by within the Chinese American community but that for others is just a funny caricature of their parents. And to the influx of Chinese immigrants, some of these stereotypes don’t hold any cultural relevancy.
There is so much more that could be said dissecting the different cultures of these groups, where they intersect and where they don’t, but as this is already rather lengthy, I will simply conclude with this thought:
Race is NEVER a stand-in for class. The more we make generalizations by ethnic and national categories, the more we obscure the struggles of many within these populations, and hold them to expectations that are as impossible to them as someone who is a “true minority.” While national and cultural pride is something that should be honored and often becomes a key component of understanding one’s identity, while languages and traditions connect individuals of diverse backgrounds, it is also alienating for individuals whose realities are not understood or represented in the large understandings of racial demographic patterns. The statistics about Chinese American affluence do nothing to alleviate the struggles of those living in Chinatown, who are visited by the affluent, but who often live in squalor, whose stories are never told though their accents are laughed at and whose communities only come to light in reports about suspicious meats being served. American media has upheld the model minority standard while remaining suspicious of the impoverished within the community, never stopping to recognize a problem exists in their definition of the category of race.
I speak about the Chinese because they are not a minor, obscure minority that we have forgotten about. They are a large, over-generalized racial category that does not work.
*Granted, for said individuals, the financial burden is much greater on them to provide for two sets of parents by themselves, and would exponentially increase over time if everyone followed the laws properly, and life was mathematical, but given that this isn’t really relevant to the point at hand, please just store it away as a consideration for a rainy day.
Sociological Imagination is an approach to the world around us at the intersection of the world and person, history and biography, and creating an understanding such that renders one better equipped to navigate the structures around them. This is the first blog post in a series of three wherein I have elected to investigate the Asian-American identity from different perspectives. In my first blog post, I’ve approached the idea from an individual autobiographical standpoint, drawing from my personal experiences and struggles with identity. In my second blog post, I examine the idea from a historical perspective, while this, the third, draws some concluding thoughts from the intersection of history, biography, and social trends.
Graphs and diagrams taken from “Asian Americans” from Pew Social Trends, 2010-2012 and “A Community of Contrasts” released by Asian American Center for Advancing Justice about the Asian American community in 2011.
Chinese American Actress’s Story Illustrates ‘Othering’ of Immigrants
Recent acts of violence against Asian Americans across the country have underscored the notion of being perceived as a “perpetual foreigner” in one’s home country.
But this is nothing new. The “othering” of immigrant groups is long rooted in American history.
Some of my past posts about Chinese names seem to have become popular among people in the writing community (writeblr???) as references. I’m very happy that people are interested in learning about Chinese names to name their original characters! However, I’m sure some people are also interested in creating characters of the Chinese diaspora. The diaspora is HUGE, but I wanted to shed some light on Chinese American names.
Disclaimer: I am just one Chinese American drawing on the stories of my family, friends, and classmates. This can’t certainly represent all Chinese Americans, so keep that in mind. My focus is primarily on people born and/or raised in the US as opposed to adult immigrants. I imagine a lot of this post also applies to Chinese Canadians, Chinese Australians, etc.
Name Formats
Our lovely “model” for today will be the fictional character of Jane/Jiayi Wang (王佳怡). Here are some basic name structures I’ve encountered throughout my life:
Jane Jiayi Wang One very typical name format would be Western first name, Chinese middle name, last name. I don’t have any actual data on it, but if you told me that this format was the most common for US-born Chinese Americans, I would believe you. Today, it feels like I’m seeing more and more people use their Chinese middle names alongside their Western first names professionally or on social media.
Jiayi Wang Some Chinese Americans do not have a Western-style name. This could be the case for someone born in the US or someone who immigrated. Often people with this name format may go by a Western name like Jane even if it’s not part of their legal name. They could also go by an abbreviation of their Chinese name or a nickname derived from their Chinese name.
Jane Wang / Jane Amelia Wang Not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name as part of their legal name. Some might have Western first and middle names. Someone without a Chinese name as part of their legal name might still have a Chinese name that just isn’t “official,” or they might not have a Chinese name at all.
Jiayi Jane Wang I don’t think this name format is as common as the ones above. I’ve definitely seen people who immigrated as adults use this format, maybe if they adopted a Western name for convenience but still want to use their native name. However, the name they go by may not reflect their legal name.
Jane Li-Wang / Jane Li Wang These examples (which are rarer in my experience) incorporate both parents’ surnames, one by hyphenating and the other by making one parent’s surname the middle name. I’ve read that recently in China, a growing number of parents (but still a small number) are passing on both surnames (like 李王佳怡).
While I don’t personally know many people who fit this description, sometimes parents will select Chinese and Western names that are similar. This could be a loose similarity like Jane/Jiayi or a closer similarity like Lynn/Lin(g). Take for example the pair Eileen/Ailing, as in Eileen Chang (张爱玲) or Eileen Gu (谷爱凌). Another example of a close match is Wilber Pan/Pan Weibo (潘玮柏).
Another option is a Chinese name as a first name that was picked to be easy for English speakers to pronounce. Names like Ming or Kai are short and easy to pronounce.
More on Chinese Names
As I said, not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name. For some, this might not be a big deal, but for others, it could be a sensitive issue.
Some have a Chinese name but may not know how it’s written, what it means, etc. A lot of Chinese Americans are mostly illiterate in Chinese and may not feel very comfortable speaking the language either. In my experience, it’s not uncommon for Chinese Americans to only be able to write their Chinese name and nothing else. There’s literally a whole song about this phenomenon.
Sometimes one may not know their Chinese name at all. Some Chinese Americans rarely if ever use their Chinese name. They may even feel little or no connection to the name. If their parents were born in the US or immigrated at a young age, it’s likely the Chinese name was given by grandparents. In this situation, it’s possible the parents don’t know the Chinese name of their child either.
Some Chinese Americans are interested in reclaiming their Chinese name. I’ve seen people add their Chinese names to their social media or even consider switching to going by their Chinese name.
Others don’t like being made to feel like a Western name such as Jane isn’t their real name (perpetual foreigner stereotype, anyone?). Acting like Jane isn’t someone’s “real name” and you must uncover their “more authentic” Chinese name is very icky. Jane and Jiayi are both real and valid.
Important: Due to some of the reasons above (and probably others) some Chinese Americans may not like it when others ask them about their Chinese names. It may be something very personal that they prefer to keep private, something they feel no connection to, something they don’t have in the first place, etc.
Also, someone isn’t turning their back on their heritage because they prefer going by Jane over Jiayi. While it’s true that some people feel pressured into going by a Western name that’s easier for others to pronounce (and this SUCKS), no one should be forced to go by their Chinese name if they don’t want to. People should respect and learn to pronounce others’ names, but as I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter, some people would rather go by Jane than have to hear Jiayi butchered day after day. So always respect personal choice and don’t pressure others to adopt a Western name or go by their Chinese name against their will.
Adopting Mispronunciations: Liu, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, etc.
I know Chinese Americans who pronounce their names or surnames “incorrectly” to conform with American English pronunciations of these names. For example, take Bowen Yang (杨伯文) or Lucy Liu (刘). I’ve also observed bearers of common surnames Wang, Zhang, and Zhao going by the Americanized pronunciations of their surnames.
Sometimes this can be a little confusing because I’m honestly not sure if I should pronounce their name the Americanized way or the native Chinese way. For instance, I had a classmate who reluctantly pronounced her surname Liu more like Lu but wished people would say it more accurately. But I also had another classmate with the last name Wang who didn’t seem to care about the pronunciation.
Romanization
This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that Chinese American names are diverse when it comes to romanization system used. First of all, there are many Chinese languages. Secondly, you have people immigrating from different countries with different romanization standards. Additionally, practices change over time, so people whose ancestors immigrated decades ago might have a name that uses a romanization system no longer in use. I’m sure there are even people whose full names contain traces of multiple romanization systems.
After writing most of this post, I came across an interesting piece by Emma Woo Louie, Name Styles and Structure of Chinese American Personal Names. (She also has a whole website about Chinese American surnames!) The article is almost 30 years old, but it was an interesting read and still relevant today. It includes a discussion on the different ways to write two-syllable names.
Separated by a space
With a hyphen between
No separation
For our example Jane Wang, you might expect to see:
Jane Chiayi Wang
Jane Chia Yi Wang
Jane Chia-yi Wang
Jane Chia-Yi Wang
I used Wade-Giles style romanization above because that’s what I typically see used alongside hyphens. Learn more about it by reading another post of mine!
Emma Woo Louie’s article also mentions the use of initials (like J.Y. Wang/C.Y. Wang for our example). I initially did not think to include this name format—I think it’s less in style now and it didn’t occur to me—but I have encountered it before.
I have also met Chinese Americans whose surnames were altered accidentally during the immigration process, thus leaving families with “misspelled” surnames. Certainly makes for an interesting family story!
Adoptees
Disclaimer: I’m not an adoptee and do not want to speak over adoptees. But I wanted to add a section on adoptee names. Thinking back, most Chinese adoptees I’ve met do not have anything in their legal name that is Chinese, but there are exceptions to this—I do know some who have names of the format Jiayi Smith or Jane Jiayi Smith.
A former classmate of mine knew the story and meaning behind her name (it was given by the workers at the orphanage she was adopted from), but I don’t know how common her experience is. My assumption is that most adoptive parents don’t know Chinese, so they probably won’t know much about their child’s Chinese name, and thus the child might not know much either.
I’ve read some essays and other thoughts by adoptees about their relationships with their Chinese names that I’ll link below. I encourage you to check them out!
For multiracial Chinese people, there is a whole world of other possibilities for names, but a lot of what I wrote above can apply as well. Every person and family is different! Here are just a few general trends I’ve observed:
Non-Chinese first name plus legal Chinese middle name *
Has Chinese name that isn’t part of legal name *
No Chinese name at all *
Has mother’s maiden name as a middle name +
Hyphenated surname
I’m sure there are multiracial Chinese people with Chinese given names, but in my experience, it’s not common here
*Surname may or may not be of Chinese origin +If mother is Chinese and father is not
Following typical naming conventions here, it’s more likely someone has a Chinese surname if their father is Chinese, but this isn’t true in all cases. In the case that someone has their father’s non-Chinese surname, they might use their mother’s Chinese surname in situations where they are going by their Chinese name. Like Jane Jiayi Smith might use her mother’s surname 王 and go by 王佳怡 in Chinese class, even thought Wang doesn’t appear in her legal name.
Fellow Chinese diaspora folks, feel free to add on with contributions about names of the diaspora in your country/community/family/etc.!
Today, In the United States, this nearly amounts to heresy. For all of the wastefulness of the idealized middle-class American lifestyle, to endorse wasting time is to question our centuries-old national reverence for hard work, bootstrapping, what millennials might call “the grind.” Every moment is one in which you could — should! — be launching your own consulting brand or picking up Uber shifts, forging your own path through this late capitalist hellscape.
But for Zhang, a poet, essayist and fiction writer, squandering those moments should be a basic human right.
“I think wasting of time is something that truly every single human should be afforded and should be allowed,” she told me over lunch at an East Village diner. She’s soft-spoken, exuding a calm, understated warmth. “One of the indulgent and also cool aspects of art,” she said, “is that it is wasteful with language and it resists function.”
Zhang published her debut short fiction collection, “Sour Heart,” in 2017. Each of the linked stories follows a young Chinese American girl, a daughter of immigrants, growing up in New York City in the ‘90s. She shares certain broad biographical details with these protagonists, as many writers do with their characters, but she draws each with vivid specificity, from the spoilt princess who knows the boys at school want her to the shy, eczema-plagued girl who clings to her unreliable but adoring parents.
We are now accepting applications for the 2015 National Fellowship Program for Asian American Organizing and Civic Engagement. Applications are due online on February 15, 2015. Apply here.
The National Fellowship Program for Asian American Organizing and Civic Engagement is an intensive 10-week, full-time volunteer program that develops the leadership of a new generation of activists and organizers who are deeply invested in building the power of and improving the lives of working-class Asian immigrant communities. In its pilot year, the fellowship program brought together 17 fellows who spent their summers working with 7 organizations in 7 cities across the country.
The fellowship program will run from June to August 2015. Fellows will be placed with a community-based organization, where they will spend at least 10 weeks, working with the organization, immigrant leaders, and the local community. Check out the 2015 host sites.
Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their skills from grassroots fundraising, outreach and education, organizing, and language skills. Fellows will also deepen understanding of community organizing and civic engagement. At the beginning of the program, fellows will also participate in a week-long training and orientation in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Please share this widely! OCA-Greater Los Angeles<http://oca-gla.org/> is hosting an APIA U Leadership Training at UCLA on February 7th for college students. All college students are welcome. The training focuses on self-awareness, team-building, and direct action organizing.
The interior of a large 1930’s Georgian house which sits on 26 acres in Locust Valley, Long Island, New York, was designed by Christopher Maya for a Chinese-American family’s first home in the USA. Here, the foyer is decorated with a green, hand-painted Chinoiserie wallpaper from du Gournay.
MILCK(fka Connie Lim) signs to Atlantic Records, joining the major label that is home to such artists as Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson and Ed Sheeran.
Milck Announces New Music and Atlantic Records Deal in Letter to Fans
“A couple months after our hike, Lim calls to confirm news she wasn’t ready to divulge earlier: MILCK has inked a deal with Atlantic Records. She plans to announce this development to her fans via a handwritten letter (which you can read here).”
When I was eleven, I was called a Chink by three boys at a water park. I was wearing my favorite blue Nike suit, had just gotten my first period a month before, and adored my fish tank of silver guppies, which swam mercilessly back and forth through a sleeve of cool water each night.
I didn’t understand race, and I didn’t understand love.
What I understood was that on Multi-Culti Day in the sixth grade, my mother had made six containers of dumplings for my class. The moisture had condensed on the Tupperware lids in shameful, wet circles; Casey had wrinkled his nose and asked, “What’s that smell?”
What I understood was that I smelled differently. I wasn’t allowed to shave my legs, I didn’t know how to translate “deodorant” into Mandarin, and my favorite meal involved pouring cheddar cheese Goldfish crackers on top of a bowl of rice.
Still, I waved the American flag. Still, I loved comic books and strawberry popsicles. At home, my mother spoke to me in Mandarin and I responded back in English. As an American-born girl of eleven, we had a system. In public, I became the mom — checking out our library books, enunciating English words for her at Kroger’s, translating Mapquest directions so she’d swerve left onto Newport Road. I was the one who taught my mom how to make macaroni and cheese. I told her what to write to my teachers when I was sick and couldn’t come to class. We fell into familiar rhythm. Eventually, she stopped using her Chinese-to-English dictionary and started resorting to me: “You’re the expert,” she’d say, “I don’t know anything.”
At some point along the way, I lost my Chinese.
Chinese, my first language, gradually became my lost language. Born in Seattle to parents who had emigrated from China, I attended preschool in Ann Arbor with almost no knowledge of English. I was placed in a toddler’s ESL class, where we bound picture books in sparkly pink wrapping paper, and I learned the language through flashcards: A IS FOR APPLE, M IS FOR MILK.
At home, then, the rules were softened. As a kid, I’d persuade my mother into buying us “normal” food: vanilla wafers drenched in icing, chicken nuggets, wide hunks of pepper jack cheese. I reprimanded her for braiding my hair with Hello Kitty elastics. All the white girls at my school used simple hair bands of neon blues, pinks. My mother went to Meijer and bought me a jumbo pack of black hair scrunchies the next day. I called my mother a bitch when we fought, mostly out of cruel spite. I knew she wouldn’t understand the curse word. After all, I was the wise, cultured American. She was just the Chinese mom who listened out of love, out of a desire to see her kid not get bullied in a school system that was predominantly white. In retrospect, the games I played as a kid must have been humiliating for my mother: a brilliant woman who’d studied agriculture in college, mastered Japanese, loved butterflies and the smell of lavender perfume.
With my mom, I cultivated a sense of authority that I couldn’t fully grasp in the classroom. Placed next to my all-American friends with mothers who understood that mustard was not a salad dressing, but a condiment; that hot dogs were not literally heated animals with tails; that tampons were more popular than pads … I’d never be the expert.
In school, I was shy. Ate white breads, tossed dumplings in the trash can, raised my hand only when I was sure I could pronounce unknown words exactly right. Played it safe, partly because I was afraid to lose the wicked sense of authority I’d cultivated at home.
Growing up as a minority, I found independence in these mottled, urgent ways. At a water park, at age eleven, being called a Chink was just another new occasion for me to disassemble and learn the English language. To claim it in all its pricking points of ugliness. To be bullied and loved, relentlessly, by the alphabet. Chink, Chigga. Banana. Twinkie. F.O.B. What my Chinese mother could never teach me, I had to learn and seize on my own. What’s more, I felt fiercely protective and embarrassed by her. In the U.S., she was vulnerable, sometimes timid, girlish. Couldn’t hold the language. My job as her American-born daughter was not only to teach, but to also defend.
In middle school, “Yo Mama” jokes infuriated me. My mother was so Chinese she couldn’t eat a hamburger without pinching her nose. She was so Chinese she wore bamboo slippers, pickled sea cucumbers, fried rice. But she was also a badass. Mowed our lawn every week, fixed the broken roof herself. Knit scarves, baked bread. Climbed ladders. Sacrificed her Chinese citizenship for an American passport — not out of duty to the country, but out of duty to my sister and me. “I want to live in the same country as you when I’m older,” she said. At my high school graduation, she recited the Pledge of Allegiance with her left hand over her chest, beaming.
I’ve often been told I’m a part of the “nice” race, the “model minority.” At times, it’s assumed that what I do well, I do because I’m Asian — not because I was raised by one of the strongest, most intelligent women I know. It’s frustrating when I find myself settling into these expectations. Annoying when I find myself hyper-aware when breaking out of them. I am a daughter of immigrant parents, and I am infinitely dimensional, in-love, in-pain, exhausted, roaming. Growing up. Chinese is my blood, and in a way, it defines many of my decisions and my movements through this world. But it does not lay the entire groundwork for what I choose to chase, demolish — what I choose to give, or give up.
At Pizza House last year, I was told half-jokingly, “You’re like our token Asian friend!” Pepperoni circles swam in rainbow grease, and I sizzled. I’m not — and will never be — anybody’s token anything. I’m my mother’s daughter, and I’m my own brain, my own bossy heart. In high school, I was encouraged to pursue a career as an English professor because “You’ve got that whole Asian thing going for you. You stand out!” As a Chinese-American woman, I have been exoticized, categorized and stereotyped by friends, peers, strangers, teachers, co-workers, crushes. My Chinese mother has been called “cute” when she stutters in English. We’ve both been sliced up.
Being angry about racial inequality is easy. Navigating, processing, and articulating race — that’s hard. It’s a project I don’t know how to undertake without stammering, fearful to offend … even as a woman of color, talking about my race feels bulky and terrifying. As a Chinese-American, I feel frequently caught in liminal space, floating in-between myth and a self-inflicted series of rules.
I am frequently asked, “Where are you really from?” and I’m always quick to respond, almost heatedly, “Here.” I was born on American soil. I love this country, with its chocolate creams and dirty politicians and bodies of saltwater. But I am also indebted to my mother, and to hercountry, which both is and isn’t my own. As my mother’s daughter, I am built with her history of red stamps, her girlhood during the Cultural Revolution, her brick walls. Our sacrifice, our shame. I am American, plus Chinese. That identity is plural, stretched. Beautiful weight. And that love. It’s plural, too.
Order our UNMASKING YELLOW PERIL zine and all funds will go to CCED’s mutual aid work in Chinatown Los Angeles and beyond! CCED is supplying hundreds of hot meals and care packages with groceries and cleaning supplies to elders and community members in critical need.
Unmasking Yellow Peril is a colorful zine full of archival images, forgotten histories, and critical analysis about Yellow Peril. With this project, we seek to ground ourselves in the long history of Yellow Peril, uncover its main forms, and resist it in the time of COVID-19.
CCED is an all volunteer, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization based in Los Angeles Chinatown that builds grassroots power through organizing, education, and mutual help. Learn more and sign up to volunteer at ccedla.org!
Unmasking Yellow Peril was created in collaboration with the Asian & Asian American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, and Jason Oliver Chang, Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut.
During the pandemic, anti-Asian hate and COVID-19 disinformation are putting lives at risk. Coronavirus opportunists are using the internet to spread their dangerous lies and fuel xenophobic and racist violence.
Asian Americans are being blamed for spreading COVID-19, particularly those of us who are of East Asian descent. Asian Americans are now experiencing over 100 hate crimes per day related to the virus.
Millions of people are sheltering in place and dependent on social media for up-to-date, truthful information about how to keep themselves safe. It’s urgent that social media companies crack down on the hate and disinformation spreading across their platforms.
You’re invited to ANTIDOTES 4 YELLOW PERIL! From Filipino nurses on the COVID-19 frontlines, to Chinatown businesses closing due to xenophobia, Asian Americans are challenged to heal and be the freedom fighters our communities need right now. That’s why we’re teaming up with Spenta Kandawalla of Jaadu Acupuncture and co-founder of generative somatics to bring you a virtual healing practice space, in the time of pandemic and Yellow Peril.
The event, on April 25 at 1 pm ET, is FREE with sliding scale donations and open to all. Register here.
Participants will be guided through somatic practices and learn how Traditional Chinese Medicine can build our resilience and immunity.
Accessibility: ✿ We will have ASL interpretation for the event. ✿ The practitioner will share adaptations to each somatic practice to meet participants’ diverse physical needs. ✿ Participants who register will have unlimited replay access to the event, even if they do not attend it live. ✿ Unfortunately, we are unable to provide live closed captioning.
SAN FRANCISCO— As hundreds of thousands gathered in San Francisco’s Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar New Year, #Asians4BlackLives used large-scale artwork to share their wishes for safety, justice, and resilience for Black communities.
To maintain the Chinese tradition of hanging red scrolls and handing out red envelopes to extend blessings, #Asians4BlackLives members lined the parade route with 10-feet-all lanterns decorated with red scrolls reading “Everyone benefits when we value black lives.” They handed out over 1000 red envelopes with blessings in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
“Lunar New Year celebrations are about setting the foundation for a prosperous year,” said Sydney Fang of #Asians4BlackLives. “Black communities nationwide have been standing up to state-sanctioned violence and fighting for their liberation. As Asian Americans, we have the power and responsibility to stand on the side of justice. We are passing out red envelopes here to share our wishes for safety, justice, and resilience of Black communities, so that all communities can prosper.”
Another Chinese New Year tradition is that of repaying debts to start the new year on a positive note. #Asians4BlackLives recognizes the debts owed to their ancestors who have sacrificed for them and protected them, as well as the debts they owe to Black movement activists and leaders. “Many of the rights that we enjoy as Asian Americans were fought for and won by Black liberation movements, including voting rights protections, desegregation in schools, and an end to Asian immigration bans. We stand on the shoulders of Black organizers who have fought against racial inequality and institutional oppression. Their organizing has benefited Asian American communities in America. And it is our duty to honor and recognize it. Paying this debt means continuing to fight for Black lives because our struggles are connected,” said Sydney.
“Often times, Black and Asian communities are pitted against each other. Asians are seen as the “Model Minority.” We are here to say that we are not a wedge, and we are not each others’ enemies. This is why it is important for Black and Asian communities to stand together during this time,” said Navina Khanna of the activist group.
San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar also demonstrated support for the actions during the Parade by wearing a “#BlackLivesMatter” sweatshirt.
#Asians4BlackLives is calling on other Asian Americans to join the struggle in solidarity with Black lives. “We need our communities to join us in challenging anti-black racism by talking with your family and co-workers or supporting organized direct actions to call for an end to the war on Black people,” said Navina Khanna. “Our communities’ liberation depends on the liberation of Black people. As we wrap up the Lunar New Year celebrations and welcome the year of the Ram, we will make this the year that we stomp on injustice”
#Asians4BlackLives is celebrating the Year of the Ram by supporting safety, justice, and resilience for Black communities.
We’re passing out red envelopes at the San Francisco Chinese New Year parade to ask our communities to reflect on Black Lives Matter and their relationship to the movement.
One of the traditions we honor today is repaying our debts in order start the new year on a positive note. Today, we are paying homage to the great debt we owe to Black struggle. As Asian Americans, we enjoy many rights that were fought for and won by Black liberation movements, from civil rights to immigration reform. Today, we too have the power to stand on the side of justice.
The act of giving red envelopes is a way to share luck, well wishes and prosperity. We wish you and your family a happy and safe Year of the Ram, and hope you will join us in the Black Lives Matters movement and conversation by collectively wishing the same for Black folks as well.
