Eileen Gu has become one of the most watchable Asian Americans in our day.
Only she isn’t. Or she is. Asian American.
Gu is what my old pal Corky Lee would call an ABC, “American Born Chinese.”
I call her an ABC-T, “American-born, Chinese Team.”
What we need now is clarity. From China and from G...
Christina Yuna Lee died tragically, violently, unexpectedly on Sunday morning. She screamed her last breath.
Last night, my friend Jose (Joe) Ganoza died in peace.
I’ve known Joe for more than 50 years. I didn’t know Christina at all. And yet I feel her loss far more. We had many slivers of affini...
Nathan Chen. Chloe Kim.
Both Asian Americans, Americans in Asia, pure Olympic gold.
But the question remains. Will someone find a way to make it to feed a new stereotype, a model minority myth of Olympic proportions? Tiger Moms are hungry.
More on that in a bit.
First, let’s celebrate America’s ...
Eileen Gu is the Asian American to watch at these 2022 Winter Olympics, but not so much for her twisting, flipping, and spinning through the air in multiple 360s during a 90-second freestyle ski run.
Gu’s gaining notoriety by applying her athleticism to the geo-political nature of these “Xi-Putin G...
We all want to see the Winter Olympics in China, the Lunar New Year treat. But before we marvel at the freedom of Nathan Chen as he performs his revolutions on ice or feel the big air of snowboarder Chloe Kim’s gravity defiance, remember the Uyghurs first.
They don’t feel any of that freedom.
The ...
Before we all celebrate the calendar’s happy coincidence–the Feb. 1 start of both the Lunar New Year and Black History Month– there’s still time to mark the importance of the end of January.
Sunday, January 30 was the 103rd birthday of Fred T. Korematsu, remembered in legal history as the man who s...
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 ...
