Category: Blog

Blurring Identities

Kaylie Tram

https://expectasian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Asian-Americans-Abroad.wav A podcast by Kaylie and Melissa on Asian American identity while studying abroad in Madagascar and China (Feat. Helen Mun)LA 92 2017 live streaming film YouTube Video Off the Great Wall – “The Asian Identity Crisis” Sound Effects from www.freesound.org  Music Deliberate Thought by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=deliberate+thought Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Rhodesia by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/ Ishikari Lore by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100192…

What you should know about Peter Liang & Daniel Holtzclaw

An Ha

If you know of these two names, then you know that they were involved very different situations. However, both were cops, and both have been convicted for horrible crimes against black victims. Both are Asian Americans. For those who don’t know these two men, here are some updates you should know with hyperlinks for the full story. On November 20th, 2014 in New York City, former officer Peter Liang opened fire on a staircase, and the bullet ricochet and fatally hit Akai Gurley, a 28 year black man. He was “found guilty of official misconduct…

Two Worlds, One Family

Melissa McKinney

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…

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