JULY 8, 2022

Hello, everyone!

The incoming first-year class at Harvard University is 27.6% Asian American, 3.6% Indigenous and Native Hawaiian and 55% women.

For Asian Americans, Indigenous and Native Hawaiians and women, these statistics are a record high for their communities. Previously, Asian Americans only made up 25.6% in previous classes, Indigenous and Native Hawaiian students made up 2.1% and women made up about 52% of the student population.

That’s not the only win for students this year. In fact, 19.4% of students this year will be first-generation students, 14.4% of students are Black and 11.9% identify as Latine.

Congratulations, Class of 2026! We wish you all success in your new educational endeavors. 

Race in America 🌎

In Minneapolis, Wone and Youa Vang’s Little Asia Market is returning this weekend, featuring 20 Asian American creators and artists.

The Hmong pair started the event to celebrate the community in light of the rise in anti-Asian hate. It takes place at Arbeiter Brewing Company, one of the only Asian-owned breweries in the U.S., and is free for everyone to join.

Wone and Youa will also showcase their pop culture designs with traditional Hmong embroidery at the event, along with many other new and returning small businesses and artists. There will also be a donation drive from all pint sales to the national Very Asian Foundation and a round-up cash bar donation for the local Hmong museum in Saint Paul. 



In Other Asian News 🗞

In Nara, Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated during a campaign speech.

While giving said speech, Abe was shot twice with a makeshift shotgun, once in the neck, which severed his artery, and once in his chest. His security detail detained the 40-year-old gunman on the scene.

Abe was transported via helicopter to a hospital, where he received large blood transfusions. He died that same day after he failed to resuscitate. The New York Times wrote an obituary detailing his political career from its inception as an ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic party member here.

Protests in Uzbekistan’s autonomous region, Karakalpakstan, over revisions to the national constitution, which may strip the area of its sovereignty and right to secede, may prove more detrimental to geopolitical balance than it may initially seem.

From those protests, 18 people died, 243 were injured and 500 were detained. After visiting the region, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared that order was restored and dropped the plans to revise Karakalpakstan’s autonomy.

While many consider Uzbekistan to be on the periphery of geopolitical importance, this op-ed finds this to be a significant oversight. Maximilian Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, explains that Uzbekistan sits at the center of Central Asian politics, a pathway to Russia and China from the West. Despite little effort from the U.S. and other European countries to invest energy and time into growing political relations, Uzbekistan, a former nation within the USSR, continues to be wary of and acts as a buffer between expanding Russian influence. To Hess, the Central Asian country has a lot of potential in globalization and can become a prominent ally in Eastern or Western politics. President Mirziyoyev’s decisions will also depend on the international response to the recent civil unrest in his nation. 
 

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In Thailand, Myanmar refugees living outside designated camps are not legally recognized as residents. This, among other issues, has stalled their resettlement into the country.

Since the military takeover in 2020, some 800,000 people have been displaced, and refugees who escaped to Thailand have been waiting for months, some even a year, for the screening and placement process to finish. Due to their ambiguous statuses, many do not move far beyond their current living quarters out of concern for their paperwork. However, the U.N. has not reported any Myanmar refugees living on the Thai side of the border.

Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights have reported that Thai officials have blocked refugees and refused asylum, but the Thai government denies these claims. In the last week of June, the situation worsened dramatically after a fight between the military and resistance groups at the border between Thailand and Myanmar caused many civilian and fighter casualties.



Film and Art 📺

“Minari” and “Walking Dead” star Steven Yeun is once again joining forces with “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho for an untitled film project for Warner Bros based on the novel “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton.

Yeun and Bong previously worked together on the film “Okja,” but this latest project will also be joined by Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo and Toni Colette.

“Mickey7” is a sci-fi story about titular character Mickey, a disposal worker on an expedition to colonize a planet. Mickey is sent on dangerous and even fatal missions, but with each death and each newly regenerated body, his memories are kept intact. The project will be the first of Bong’s since his acclaimed “Parasite” film in 2019.

The Bishop Museum in Hawaii is featuring an exhibit that illustrates the history of gender fluidity in Polynesia.

The installation showcases four stones that honor visiting healers from the court of Tahiti's king. These healers were the "mahu," which in Hawaiian language and culture refers to someone with dual male and female spirits.

One of the exhibit's curators, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, is mahu and says the display will teach children in Hawaii that "proper Hawaiian culture" does not judge people with "elements of duality." Wong-Kalu elaborates, saying, "They were respected and honored because the people knew that their male and female duality made them even more powerful a healer."



What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

• China is rebuking claims from top U.S. and British intelligence services that accuse them of being a global threat. In turn, China points the finger at the U.S., saying they are "the biggest threat to world peace, stability and development."

• Even though the web browser Internet Explorer was shut down by Microsoft last month, it is still needed for crucial banking and government-related tasks in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world: South Korea. 

• The Supreme Court's recent ruling impacting the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions could lead to worsening climate change, especially lower quality air, which directly affects the health of those with asthma or other lung issues and can lead to premature deaths for the general population.  

• A major trading house in Japan disclosed the average estimated birth rate among their female staff members, resulting in a mix of backlash and support over the maneuver.  

• The first polar bear cub to be born in a Hokkaido, Japan, zoo in 40 years is named Yume, meaning dream.