Why should we care even about Asian American legal history? Who is Wong Kim Ark and what did he ever do for us? To put it briefly and simply, in 1898 he challenged Congress’s discriminatory policies against the Chinese and won. To read the landmark court case, check out Cornell University Law School’s break down of the case and decision. In case reading long court records isn’t your thing though, here are the facts: Wong Kim Ark was born to two Chinese parents in the United States in 1873. In 1882, Congress passed…
Author: Melissa McKinney
Part 3: “Perpetual Foreigner”
Immigration is a hot button topic right now, but much of the dialogue centers around Latino immigrants even though Asians are outnumbering Latino immigrants coming to the US. Remember when most people in the US were first or second generation immigrants? They came from places besides Latin America. How have we forgotten where we came from? That we were all once foreigners. Some of us haven’t had the luxury of being allowed to forget though. What is the perpetual foreigner stereotype? It is one of the longest persisting Asian stereotypes.…
Dreamy and Asian
When ABC announced the cancellation of Selfie after only 13 episodes, I was heartbroken. Okay, maybe not heartbroken, but there was definite disappointment over the decision. As an avid television watcher, I’m constantly on the prowl for new shows. Although network comedies aren’t really my thing (I’m a sucker for pretty much any show on CW though), I was really excited when Selfie began airing. For the first time ever on prime time American television, John Cho, an Asian American male, was cast as the romantic lead. It’s not exactly a secret that Hollywood…
Two Worlds, One Family
I didn’t grow up with apes or completely isolated by society by any means, but I did grow up with a white dad, a Taiwanese mom, and three brothers who were half-white, half-Taiwanese. I am none of these things. When I was three, I was adopted from China. It’s rarely something that I like to open with even though it’s probably one of my most defining or at the very least more interesting aspects of my life. As I was growing up though, I avoided it as much as…
Chinese New Year with the Huangs
Imagine trying to celebrate the biggest holiday of the year with a bunch of strangers instead of family. Imagine instead of a traditional lion dance, you got a high school alligator mascot and a bunch of peppy cheerleaders. Imagine instead of eating delicious pork steam buns you get jelly donuts. Confused? Can’t even begin to picture it? Check out last week’s episode of Fresh Off the Boat. For those of you unfamiliar with ABC’s hit show, Fresh Off the Boat, the show centers around a Chinese family, the Huangs,…