Neal Katyal is a lawyer and a former Acting U.S. Solicitor General. According to the ABA Journal, he has argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any minority lawyer in American history, breaking the record of former Justice Thurgood Marshall.
In other words, Katyal knows how to talk to Supr...
Whenever I hear the term affirmative action, I breathe.
On the in breath, I say “Affirmative.” On the out breath, I say “Action.”
It’s calming. I’ll tell you how I’m applying it in a bit.
But first…. The breath is a vehicle of mindfulness. The in-breath. The out-breath. Conscious breathing. You c...
Joe Biden’s presidency is a year old today. And all I can think about is Michelle Go.
To make things go, he should think Michelle Go.
But first.
The real news after that special news conference at Biden’s one year mark is that he wants to run again—for now.
Of all the questions asked, that one q...
The family of Martin Luther King, Jr was adamant about MLK’s birthday. There would be no celebration without legislation.
At this point, we may not get either. But we will have time to reflect. The fight isn’t quite over yet, which is why later in this column, I want to remember an Asian American a...
President Biden’s speech in Atlanta on getting voting rights legislation passed by the MLK holiday may as well have been his “I Have A Dream” speech.
He just doesn’t have the votes, at least not yet.
But it may have been his best civil rights speech ever.
He was personal and direct, and with our ...
The masked man in the Capitol Rotunda wore an American flag cape and waved a Filipino broom. Known as a “boi-boi” or a “Walis Tambo,” the handmade tool made for sweeping was a tell-tale sign on Jan. 6.
Asian Americans were not exactly wallflowers at this party.
For Kene Brian Lazo of Norfolk, Virg...
Hope you took my suggestion and rebirthed yourself as the New Year’s baby for 2022. You deserve a fresh start!
And that’s why I’m not going to talk about Covid and Omicron to kick off the year. You’re living that story.
Instead, let’s talk ethnic studies. Not “critical race theory,” mind you. Ethn...
My New Year’s Resolution for 2022? To be negative, and stay that way—until the CDC figures things out and everyone gets access to not just an antigen rapid test, but one of those better PCR tests.
In New York, It shouldn’t be easier to find a parking space than a Covid test.
But this is where we a...
I’m in a negative mood to end 2021, and I hope I stay that way forever.
At least, on all my Covid tests.
Have you been able to get your hands on any of the so-called rapid antigen tests? They’re not as rapidly available when you need one. The 500,000 free ones promised by the government probably w...
Hello all ye “Yellow people.” Are we yellow people? Or is it just the light?
When it comes to Christmas, I’m always moving toward the light if I want to get into that holiday mood.
That’s tough when the obstacles this year are lumps of coal from a senator of a certain coal producing state. Or anot...
It will be a Merry Christmas for 7.9 percent of the 9,406 people who applied early to Harvard, and the largest group of early admits were Asian Americans.
Even though the normal admissions deadlines aren’t until Jan.1, the early admits were announced at Harvard this week.
For the Class of 2026, As...
Lady Liberty is smiling broadly on New York City. Her torch, seeming dimmed, was forever shining as always.
What the New York City Council did on Thursday to give noncitizens voting rights should make everyone in our country proud.
The pro-democracy movement has finally come to America, and it’s a...
Try Harder” is the name of a fascinating film by filmmaker Debbie Lum about five students at an elite public high school as they try to get into the elite college of their choice.
We aren’t quite at documenting the ravages of competitive nursery school–but we are close.
Three of the students are A...
Hana St. Juliana. I didn’t know her. I was drawn to her lyrically poetic name. And of what ethnicity? It was a saint’s name. She’s with the sainted now.
Hana St. Juliana was one of the four students killed at Oxford High School in Michigan this week.
America is so diverse these days that whenever ...
Here’s why I was grateful this Thanksgiving. Big-time justice was served in America.
We all got a helping of it because a jury found Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Roddie Bryan all guilty of felony murder in the Ahmaud Arbery case.
It almost didn’t happen. Remember, when no arrests ...
The Kyle Rittenhouse Kenosha embarrassment technically is over, but the enduring impacts of the trial are just beginning.
Time to start paying attention to the change that’s happening in America. It’s going to affect every person on the wrong side of a gun.
For AAPIs who’ve been accosted or mistre...
You’d think after nearly two years, it would subside. The virus? No, the hate AAPIs of all ethnicities still feel after being scapegoated by the disgraced and impeached former president–the one who birthed the term “China Virus” and who still retains power and influence over a vast number of America...
Every one in the greater AAPI community has a Veterans Day story. I encourage you to email me, emil@amok.com, to share it, and I will post and talk about as many as I can.
For example, I am constantly reminded about the 442nd Regiment ,the “Go For Broke” Japanese Americans that fought heroically in...
I started going to rock concerts in earnest when I was a teenager in Houston. I had taken a gap year from college and was the all-night DJ on the biggest rock station in town. But whenever I saw “festival seating” on a ticket, I knew it was more than just a warning. It was an invitation to disaster....
Michelle Wu. Not “Michelle who?”
She was the tip of a trend that could be the secret of America’s diverse political future. I call it the “Asian American difference” and Wu was just the first sign of something that could be seen coast-to-coast.
On a night when pundits looked to the Virginia gubern...