Updates

I was a film critic on TV in the ‘80s so here’s my Siskel & Ebert take: Go no further than “In the Heights” for the feel-good movie of America’s gradual reopening. It’s the official gushing hydrant for the country’s summer street splash, exploding with song, dance, story. Not too heavy, not too ligh

Asian Americans as victims brought on the assault weapons ban 32 years ago in California, and now it could take an Asian American attorney general to lead the fight to make sure it stays the law. That’s my take after Federal Judge Roger Benitez overturned California’s assault weapons ban as unconst

We remember our war dead today– those who lost their lives in the act of duty. I don’t intend to diminish that. But most of us don’t have a direct personal connection to those men and women of valor. There’s a good chance, however, we may know someone who died in the current “war,” the American C

A year since George Floyd’s death, one is tempted to look for progress in the fight for police accountability. But only if you’re hopelessly optimistic. For the realists, any report card of progress would make one a bit delusional. Yes, within a year, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin

Hallelujah for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act? Of course. Now if it would only reduce hate crimes. But let’s stay positive for a moment. Yes, a legislative response for once is a good one. Offered up previously and then shelved, Atlanta was the catalyst to finally make it all work. Rep. Grace Meng an

Past the midway point of May, one must ask: Is our Heritage Month half-full or half empty? It all depends. We’ve done our part if most of us have started calling it by its new official name: Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Read my last column on how Native Hawaiians

Let me begin with a minor mea culpa before we get to the heavy duty one. If you haven’t noticed, this month is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPIHM), formerly known as APAHM, or Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. To show how woke you are, go ahead and correc

Here’s the pressing existential question so far this Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2021: Does America love Arthur Gunn more than Dibesh Pokharel? Or would it rather have Pokharel over Gunn? You know how America loves a gun. Answer like your AAPI life depends on it because it does. But first

Asian Americans can thank Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) for his unwitting gift to all Asian Americans. We aren’t the model minority anymore. He is. In the official GOP response to President Joe Biden’s Joint Speech to Congress, Scott offered up his childhood growing up with a single mother in

With Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” and Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” competing in the best director and best picture categories, and with actors Steven Yeun and Yuh-Jung Youn nominated, I was hoping the Oscars would have a slightly more Asian American flavor. But–and I say that purposefully–the 93rd Academ

I caught the verdicts while livestreaming. All I could hear were the key words: “ Guilty….Guilty….Guilty.” An astonishing triplet. A cop lost in court. You could hear the relief of an entire nation. Few were confident of the outcome. But I was hopeful, because of the absence of a long-standing en

In America, it seems we can’t stop killing one another en masse. Last Friday, the shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis claimed at least eight victims, four of whom were Sikh Americans. They were identified by police as Amarjeet Johal, 66; Amarjeet Sekhon, 48; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder

Hideki Matsuyama won the golf tournament this past weekend that really shouldn’t be called the “Masters” anymore. At least, not during a time when the homonym doesn’t immediately imply “masters of golf” but another group of “masters,” promoting the rollback of voting rights of African Americans and

Did you go to church on Easter Sunday? Did you feel like Vilma Kari? If you hadn’t heard, Kari, widely identified as “Asian American Woman, 65,” is the Filipino American who was viciously attacked as she walked to church on Easter Monday of Holy Week in New York City. Her attacker, arrested last

As an Asian American Filipino (that’s my new term, I’m an AAF), I’ve been fascinated by the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer accused of murdering George Floyd. All of the country has. It’s modern America’s racial reckoning. But I got distracted when I saw reports of two new vicious attac

Rob Bonta? Asian Americans around the country better get to know Bonta, nominated on Wednesday to be the first Filipino American Attorney General of California. Good timing, I’d say. Just when the focus in the news has drafted from Atlanta to Boulder, here comes the announcement that California’s

I’m all for recycling. The good kind. Paper. Plastics. Just not the hate. But what do we have with us in Atlanta? It’s Vincent Chin with the names changed. Soon Chung Park, 74, who worked at Gold spa. Hyun Jung Grant, 51, the single mother who worked at Gold Spa to support herself and her two so

Suddenly, they see us. We’re in the news. Six Asian American women are dead after a mindless, despicable killing spree in Atlanta. Even President Biden and Vice President Harris will visit the scene on Friday. Here’s how significant this all is. In Atlanta, the place where MLK is entombed, we’ve j

We wait for more details from Georgia. But what we know should put every Asian American on high alert—if you weren’t already. Eight people are dead in a shooting spree at three massage spas around Atlanta. Six of the victims have been identified as Asian women. Four of them have been confirmed by S

Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson may be the hope we are looking for. The part-Black, part-Filipino singer-songwriter–better known as H.E.R.–won a Grammy for song of the year for the George Floyd-inspired protest song, “I Can’t Breathe.” She is the embodiment of the harmony that comes when we take a love