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America has a fetish for Asian women. The conversation starts there. When the word ‘Asian’ gets added to ‘woman’ there’s a little extra stimulation to the wrong kind of men. Trophies to brag about, toys that don’t sass back, dolls that promise a happy time. It takes brass balls to be an Asian woman in America and I would not have the guts to walk in their Jimmy Choos. The consolation prize for tragedy is...

Most of us start out as liberals. Not a real liberal, or a leftie, or some kind of socialist, but the ideal kind. The kind where liberals are a special group that strive together to end racism, punch Nazis, and elect a black president. And then I realize that was a crock of shit. Of course, it wasn’t liberalism’s fault. I never bothered to look up the movement, only defined it as what it was...

America has a fear-based relationship with China and I blame America. For the longest time, we’ve been in denial about an unspeakable truth: China’s brand of communist-capitalism, as a government system has been more effective in modern times than democracy, or what America actually has in reality, a corporate oligarchy. It’s as ugly a truth to accept as the bad guy getting the girl or the rich kid getting off by the cops. Things shouldn’t...

I had this neighbor. We were never very close. We were civil, or even friendly, in a neighborly way. Now and then, we would get together over some drinks or a bite of food—until one day when he started to feel “apprehensive about the articulated levels of anger expressed” by me. Not at him, but at my then six-year-old daughter, who—on a dare—had decided to sprinkle candy all over her bed and top it off...

It was a scorching hot afternoon here in California when I picked up my cellphone and dialed the unfamiliar number. On the other end, a gruff but friendly voice answered, his Hmong accent thick but still had a touch of central-California mixed in, a throw-back to the state where he’d grown up. He’d been expecting my call, and though this was the first time we’d ever talked, he was warm and easily opened up. Under...

Those who know me, know I’m not one to open up and talk about my feelings easily. Sometimes, I hold in my thoughts and expressions for fear of being judged. I save those thoughts for people who’ve known me long enough. Sometimes, I have to put pen to paper (or rather, finger to keyboard) to express myself, so here it goes. The past few weeks have been rough. There has been some great stuff that’s...

Like millions of others around the U.S., on April 5, 2020, I put on a homemade mask and headed out to the grocery store to get some essential goods. This trip was just days after the governor called on all citizens of Pennsylvania to wear a face covering when leaving home. As I pulled in the parking lot and got out of my car, my stomach dropped with an unfamiliar feeling — fear. For most...

You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Vincent Chin. You’d also be forgiven if you’re Asian and don’t believe that racism happens either. Those two sentences are co-related. So many of us don’t know much about our own history and it will continue to happen until we begin conversations with stories like Vincent Chin. Thirty-eight years ago, Vincent Chin was murdered. It happened in Michigan during the collapse of the American auto industry, during...

A recent tweet by Candace Owens came up in a recent discussion. In it, she said: “If white privilege exists — why are Asian-Americans the most successful group in America? If we award people based on race, why are Asians the top-earners with [the] best credit and the highest educational achievements? It’s almost as if liberals are completely full of shit.” Here are my thoughts: Invoking racist stereotypes like the Model Minority Myth is bullshit...

Some of my Asian American friends have reached out to me and asked, “how can I help? I’ve realized my whole entire life that while I was not racist, I have not been anti-racist. How can I do better?” Given that the U.S. economy and political system are rooted in anti-blackness, claiming our place in America means that we must take a position when faced with the separate but unequal worlds of whiteness and blackness....