It’s been a big summer for Simon Tam, musician and founder of the Slants, now trademarked, reappropriated, and unanimously affirmed by the Supreme Court.
He also got married recently in his native state of California, so there’s been much to celebrate.
And yet it seems there still some who aren’...
When I first heard about Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park leaving “Hawaii Five-0,” I couldn’t believe it.
The stars of the long-running TV crime procedural based in the 50th state simply asked for pay equity. They got the cold shoulder instead. Their exit leaves CBS with what it deserves. Hawaii Five-...
Tonight, Thursday, June 29 at 10:30 pm PT, is the last night of “Amok Monologues” at the San Diego International Fringe Festival. The one-man show got a great review in San Diego Story, a local arts publication.
Coming next week after the San Diego Fringe Festival: podcast interviews with Asian A...
We have now arrived at the 35th year of these essential Asian American facts:
On June 19, 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin, 27, who was with friends at his own bachelor party, was mistaken for being Japanese by two white auto workers, Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz, at a Detroit strip...
Say Asian or Asian American, and people think “Chinese.”
Most people know that’s not the case, but that tends to be the prevailing stereotype. And not just among whites, blacks, and Latinos.
It’s harder when even Asian Americans believe in the stereotype.
“East Asians need to recognize that South...
Too much terror, too much news. And the really important event of last week–Trump’s nose- thumbing at world unity on climate change by pulling out of the Paris Accord– is practically forgotten.
Not that Trump would like us to dwell on that.
That was a classic Trump communication boner.
The Washin...
Memorial Day always winds up the annual observation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
And what better way to remember the one story (along with the Japanese American Internment) that lingers as the moral compass of the community.
For that reason, this Memorial Day will be a special one for...
On Emil Amok’s Takeout, I corner Randall Park at the gala dinner of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS). a/k/a Asian Prom.
Listen to my short conversation with the “Fresh Off the Boat” star, as well as an excerpt from his speech accepting the 2017 APAICS Vision A...
Among Filipinos, “Lola” is used out of respect for an older person, regardless of relation.
It is a term of endearment, not a term of enslavement.
Still, I was more surprised that Alex Tizon had died in March than that he had a family slave.
May he rest in peace–though he has left many of us in a...
I wrote an essay about my mother that was in my collection of Emil Amok columns in my book Amok back in 2000.
I read it here, along with a preamble on the podcast, because I’ve too often given short shrift to my mom’s story, in favor of my dad’s.
But my mother’s story was pretty incredible too. Sh...
Donald Trump’s classless firing of FBI director James Comey, just days after Comey reportedly asked for more money for an investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia, elevates the situation to historic levels.
There is only one word to describe Donald Trump going forward.
Nixonian.
Nixon’s t...
My late mother, the wise Filipina, would always say, “Your health is your wealth.” And when her health failed, she was thankful for her health care through Medicare. And now after today, we’re a step closer to the danger zone. I talk about #TrumpNoCare on the podcast.
But we won’t let the threat to...
I guess Dr. David Dao didn’t want to drag it out.
He didn’t need 100 days. Neither did United. CEO Oscar Munoz continues his apology tour in the media with a new report that heralds changes in service, including an increase in fees from $1,350 to $10,000 for bumped passengers. Dao’s settlement amou...
While you’re marching on Earth Day at a science march near you, take your earbuds and listen to Emil Amok’s Takeout.
I mean, you’re going to march, aren’t you?
If you’ve doubted that the environment is a racial justice issue, listen to Miya Yoshitani of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APE...
When the U.S. drops the “mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan as a worldwide message, it’s time for a little sobering perspective.
Maybe we could take a little more time to treat all people with a little more respect, fairness and dignity in our everyday lives. Person to person. And certainly, corpo...
It is the unmistakable screech heard round the world.
By now, you’ve surely seen that looping video, strung together from the good citizens with cell phone cameras who have learned that video doesn’t lie (below via Washington Post).
It loops on all your newsfeeds and on TV like a modern Zapruder f...
Mr. America First, Donald Trump, the man who never met a wall he didn’t like, has no compassion for the undocumented. Same for the 24 million people he’d gladly lop off Obamacare, or the countless others impacted by his pro-military budget. He’s never shown any real concern for Syrian refugees. But ...
Art Shibayama, 86, was in Washington, DC and stood by the “Unfinished Business” display at the National Museum of American History. He was there with his friend, Blanca Katsura, also 86.
Both were just 12 when they became part of a shameful and little-known episode of U.S. history. Shibayama and ...
We already know how hard it is to get justice in America. It might get even harder.
In my AALDEF podcast, I talk to two Asian American professors who have filed a discrimination suit against the University of Michigan.
The professors filed in Michigan state court. But where federal laws are conc...
I admit I wasn’t sure if Islamophobia was going to be beaten back and stopped this time around.
But now a Native Hawaiian judge in the nation’s most Asian American state has spoken for all. Maryland piled on for good measure after the Hawaii court’s decision. But the effect is the same.
Trump’s re...
