Month: February 2016

Our “Good” Stereotypes

Kaylie Tram

Let’s talk about stereotypes, “good” ones. I don’t mean ones that accurately generalize a group of people, if that is even possible, but ones that universalize populations with desirable features or skills. For example, all Asians are good at math. In fact, Asians are just all smart. Most of us have heard something similar about Asian intelligence directed at us in school. Asians being smart is a “good” stereotype. Rather then a stereotype towards being criminalized or greedy, we are characterized as talented. It’s a stereotype some do not see the harm in and maybe…

The Myth that Killed Akai Gurley

Helen Mun

A conversation between myself, Evan Yi, and our guest Jaela McDonald. Jaela McDonald is a Sociology major at Davidson College who also serves as a Student Health Advisor and Secretary of the Textures Healthy Hair Club. We discuss the recent conviction of Chinese-American police officer Peter Liang, who killed African-American Akai Gurley in a housing project in Brooklyn, and the problematic protests that reveal the rampancy of the model minority myth and anti-blackness in the Asian-American community. Read about Akai Gurley here. Length: 25 mins (worth every second though!)

Does Yellow Skin Burn?

Helen Mun

I realized I was Asian when my family moved from Los Angeles to Charlotte, North Carolina. I realized it in my third-grade classroom when my teacher conflated my culture and language with those of Kazuhide, a Japanese-American student and the only other Asian kid in the class besides for me. I’d wanted to be his friend, maybe if only for the fact that he looked like me, but after that interaction with our teacher I felt like I had to keep a distance, draw a line, remind everyone that Korean and…

“Asians Do Poetry Too!” Vol. 2

Iqra Tabassum

Part 2 of the ExpectAsian Poetry series, I’m bringing you some Asian flames in the cold white winter of Poetry Land. Thanks to Evan for kicking off the series, but I’m here to add some more fire. The piece below is titled “My Mother’s Accent” and it discusses assimilation and anti-Asian sentiments. What inspired me to write this poem is a small conversation I overheard at Walmart. My mother: Excuse me, vair is the milk? Employee 1: Oh it’s just right over there ma’am. *My mother walks away and when…

“Asians Do Poetry Too!” Vol. 1

Evan Yi

I think there’s an unfortunate assumption among younger Americans that poetry is from and for old, dead, white men when, in fact, poetry has such a rich history. With that in mind, I want to kick off an ExpectAsian series titled “Asians Do Poetry Too!”, where I upload recordings of my reading both my own poetry and the works of great Asian American poets. This first one is an original piece titled “Sleeping Dog”. I’ve included the text of the poem along with a photo of the Ozarks, where I…

Can We be White Washed?

Kaylie Tram

  A short podcast addressing the topic of “white washed” Asian-Americans. Music YouTube Audio Library What True Self, Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/reappear/ Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/ Sound Effects www.freesound.org Video Clip YouTube: Anna Akana – “Am I White Washed?” Image http://www.diet.com/info/img/nwaz_01_img0029.jpg

Hong Kong – The Televised Revolution Nobody is Watching

Philip Yu

In February 2016, Hong Kong made the headlines again. The words “fish ball revolution” flooded the internet and news media for a few days and disappeared into the news cycle.  The Western community  scoffed at the thought that this bunch of kids are up in arms again, this time for the sake of food. Skeptics roll their eyes and dismisses the notion that fish balls are worth fighting over. Yet, a couple thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean, the Hong Kong people are up in arms and on the street, facing down…

What It’s Like Beneath the Bootstraps

Evan Yi

The conversation is incredibly familiar. Your white friend said any of the following: “If you people stopped seeing race everywhere, then it wouldn’t be a problem.” “Stop being so sensitive.” “The American Dream is possible for everyone who is willing to work for it; nobody deserves handouts.” From there, the conversation becomes a series of frustrated attempts to convince them that the experiences are valid. Almost always, your friend maneuvers around their own whiteness while you emerge from the conversation with the same exasperation. Why do conversations about whiteness always…

Yellow Peril and the Docile Chinaman

Helen Mun

It is winter 2015. Venice Beach, California. A group of street performers, an elderly Chinese man, and a crowd of eager onlookers. What could go wrong? I am relishing the sight of black and brown and yellow faces surrounding me, the comfort I feel at simply being one of many faces in a crowd rather than one of the few colored faces in a sea of white. But then the unmistakable “Kung Fu Fighting” starts blasting from the speakers. And then the performers, a group of black and Latino men, chant,…