I’m still not a fan of how Saturday Night Live portrayed Chinese factory workers with black wigs, black-frame glasses and ching-chong accents two weeks ago.
But the program may have redeemed itself by unveiling a tour-de-force performance by the unbelievably talented Bruno Mars.
Make that Asian Am...
I called it the “New Charlie Chan-ism” when it surfaced on Saturday Night Live two years ago with its depiction of Chinese President Hu Jintao at a mock press conference.
But this past weekend SNL’s “Charlie Chan” style is back, and it’s actually worse.
Did you see the SNL skit where they show the...
After the Supreme Court hearing earlier this year on the Affordable Care Act and this week’s hearing on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin and affirmative action, I have a new appreciation for tea leaves.
They have far greater predictive powers compared to any actual courtroom hearing if you’r...
If you’re one of those undecided Asian Americans out there (32 percent nationwide, according to the recent National Asian American Survey), you really only have one question that should tip the scales for you: Where do the candidates stand on affirmative action?
That’s right, for Asian Americans th...
Who is the choice of Asian Americans in the 2012 presidential election?
Forty-three percent of likely Asian American voters support President Obama while just 24 percent back Mitt Romney, according to the new National Asian American Survey, the most comprehensive political look at Asian American po...
If the Democrats had answered the Republicans’ Clint Eastwood star-turn by going Gangnam-style at its convention (imagine a hybrid donkey-horse dance and the repetitive phrase “Hey, Sexy Lady”), who knows the kind of bounce the president would have had.
As it is, most polls are putting Obama’s post...
How good was President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention? In many ways, he’s hurt by the same thing that hurts all exceptional people of color who have done extraordinary things. You’re always hampered by such high expectations. And no one is expecting you to get there, aga...
Everything the Republicans did last week, the Democrats appear to be doing better than their counterparts in just about every way this week.
From day one, the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina seemed to have a different energy and look. The convention floor was filled with...
You can add “Eastwooding” an empty chair as a new phrase in the political lexicon, but did Clint Eastwood make Mitt Romney’s day? The GOP’s? Obama’s? (Uh, sorry, I can’t do that to myself.)
This was intended to be a wrap-up of the four-day distraction to Hurricane Isaac known as the Republican Nati...
Are you watching the Republican National Convention? Or does the sight of Chris Christie make you want to go on a diet from politics?
I’ve covered my share of GOP conventions and have been scarred by having witnessed such diversity moments as the O’Jays singing “Love Train” as an homage to compassi...
Ever read a poll and ask, “Did they bother to ask any Asian Americans?” I’ve been asking that for as long as I’ve been in journalism. I remember one so-called “comprehensive” poll taken years ago about sex. Everyone was represented but not Asian Americans. Don’t we have sex?
We need better polling....
Abigail Fisher seems to have done remarkably well for someone who claims to be so victimized.
From a receptionist, she’s risen to a financial analyst position at Xerox.
Far from destitute, she’s a young person with a decent job. A success.
And if you link to her, maybe she’ll show she actually be...
On Twitter, I saw pictures of the national day of solidarity with Sikhs on Wednesday night, just days after the temple shooting in Wisconsin.
The best sources? Once again, it was the social networks, Twitter and Facebook. I didn’t see any mention of it anywhere in the mainstream media.
There was a...
This morning as I drove to my office, I saw turbaned Sikhs out for a morning walk in my neighborhood. When I arrived at my destination, I saw our mailman drive by in his UPS truck. He was also a Sikh, wearing a bright colored turban. I waved and smiled. These are my neighbors and friends.
Sunday wa...
Like the Olympics, it happens every four years. But you won’t see a lot of spandex at the convention of minority journalists called Unity, happening this week in Las Vegas.
You won’t see a lot of black journalists either.
Unless they’re gay.
For the first time, the National Association of Black J...
Get a good look. On Monday, the Joker appeared.
James Holmes, the alleged gunman at the Aurora Batman viewing, made his first appearance in court and through the media, the world stage.
He was silent, except for his red-dyed hair, and a flurry of facial expressions in response to a judge’s reading...
What’s up New York? In two weeks, the most marketable and best known Asian Americans in the country–hoop star Jeremy Lin and TV anchor Ann Curry–are given the boot from their Big Apple perch and we’re not supposed to take it personally as an affront to our sense of diversity?
It’s insanity.
That’s...
It’s one thing to celebrate patriotism and freedom on July Fourth. But by July 13th, patriotism has all the currency of your fireworks’ spent gunpowder. When the boom, the beer, and watermelon are gone, for most of us, our Fourth of July thoughts go back to being taken for granted.
If that’s not th...
After 30 years, the killer of Asian American icon Vincent Chin told me in an exclusive interview that the murder known as a hate crime, wasn’t about race, nor does he ever even remember hitting Chin with a baseball bat.
Incredible as that sounds, there is one thing Ronald Ebens is clear about.
Ebe...
Call it a cosmic coincidence that Rodney King–a victim of the most infamous police beating caught on video tape–died on Sunday. His death comes just a few months after the 20th anniversary of one of the main outcomes of his case–the six-day people’s uprising in Los Angeles, one the worst race riots ...
