I met Andy Wong of San Francisco’s Chinese for Affirmative Action before Labor Day, and I’m so glad I did.
I will explain at the end why I value him so much.
But first, for you Tiger Asians out there who want some red meat,let’s begin with the obvious. Wong is one of the advocates trying to keep t...
When Kamala Harris–Asian American, African American, woman, and politico–made history by becoming the standard bearer for the Democratic Party, it became official.
There is only one relevant question in this election: It’s not just whether America will vote for a woman as president. It’s far more c...
If you’ve ever been underestimated, ignored, or generally made to feel invisible by others who simply assumed their superiority over you, the Democratic nominee for president just made a speech for all of us.
Kamala Harris gave that speech on Thursday night, and if there was ever any doubt she will...
Joy? It was in the tears of manchild Gus Walz as he looked up and saw his dad at the podium on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was just getting acclimated to the stage, the sea of totem-like banners and cheers all for him, when his son Gus on the conv...
“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it,” Michelle Obama said from the podium of the Democratic National Convention. “We’re feeling it here in the arena, but it’s spreading across the country.”
Michelle Obama said it was a feeling that had been buried for far too long in America. “It...
“This is going to be a great week,” Vice President Kamala Harris declared in an unexpected early appearance that brought down the house on day one of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Harris was the reminder it didn’t matter that most of the Asian Americans you saw on your TV screen we...
I have first name empathy with Kamala Harris. Emil, ee-mul, Aymul. Oatmeal. Email. I’ve heard them all. Sure, I get it. Honest mistake.
Until it isn’t.
And then you are witnessing an intentional act of disrespect, and sometimes even racism, when some Republicans mispronounce Kamala Harris’ name, “...
By Victoria Lin
In 2018, I was a legal assistant in Toronto, and my very first asylum case was with a Manchurian woman from northern China. She was working in the lobster industry in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia with the promise of $11,000 a year in wages. What she was not told was that the...
The closing ceremonies were the reminder how much the world needed the Olympics in 2024.
After the pandemic morphed into all the current hostilities in the world, our need was indeed Olympian. And where else but in an Olympics could we find that feel good unity we so desperately crave.
We needed t...
By Angela Li
Summer in New York City is an incomparable experience. The parks are verdant and filled with laughter; the streets are alive with pop-up events, outdoor cafe tables, and people from all walks of life. This summer, I’ve embarked on adventures around AALDEF’s office nearly every day afte...
By Stuart J. Sia
Last Wednesday, CNN’s Jake Tapper reported on journalist Catherine Herridge, the Fox News journalist who is appealing a court ruling holding her in contempt for refusing to reveal her source on a story.
Herridge’s appeal is the latest development in a case that the Asian American ...
Kamala Harris took a night to sleep on it. But she knew what to do.
And it comes just one week after Donald Trump–the twice impeached, 34-times convicted former president who has been found liable for sexual assault–inserted race into the campaign.
You’ll recall at a convention of the National Ass...
Not Black enough? Not Asian enough? I’ve always wondered why Kamala Harris didn’t give her Asian-ness equal billing.
But now, thanks to an angry Donald Trump, none of us will ever forget the day that Trump made race and identity politics the seminal issue in the 2024 campaign.
Inflation? The econo...
By Catherine Ho
As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, my childhood was filled with international time zone calculations and the familiar routine of punching in a string of numbers from a calling card to chat with our loved ones. Much rarer were the celebrations of aunts and uncles finally being a...
If you thought the dismantling of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs in higher ed and corporate America meant diversity as a value in America was dead, think again.
Kamala (as Harris says, “rhymes with mama-la”) just woke America back up using skills we all learned from the pandemic.
T...
By Annie Lo
A recent summer day in Manhattan’s Chinatown naturally led me to Columbus Park, where lush trees shade the benches lining one of the neighborhood’s few parks. I sat and ate my baozi as a pickup soccer game fanned out across the playing field in front of me. But despite the peaceful atmo...
By Ronak Patel
A week cannot go by without a headline reporting a new attack on our multiracial democracy. Politicians seeking personal and partisan advantage, aided by shadowy donor networks, have waged a ceaseless two front war against minority voting rights, chipping away at the Voting Rights Ac...
Joe Biden, still isolated with Covid, spoke via speaker phone to his campaign staff early Monday evening to tell them the truth behind his big decision.
“I know it’s hard because you’ve poured your heart and soul into me,” Biden told the campaigners who won him the nomination and then the presidenc...
You can stop praying for Donald Trump.
Since at least a third of all Asian American voters said they would vote for Trump, according to a recent Asian American national survey, I’m sure there were at least some Asian American Filipino Catholics saying an extra rosary since last Saturday.
Well, you...
I confess my optimism that all the calls for unity after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump could end the polarization that has crippled our nation’s politics for years.
And then I saw the first three days of the Republican National Convention, where Asian Americans were essentially… invisib...
