SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Hello, everyone!

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and activist Amanda Nguyen, a sexual assault survivor who later championed the Survivor’s Bill of Rights that was passed in Congress in 2016, will be portrayed by actor and fellow Vietnamese American Kelly Marie Tran in her upcoming biopic.

The biopic will detail her assault story and the activism and recovery that followed. The film, as Nguyen says, is “not only my story, but also the story of billions of survivors across the world who are fighting to have our voices heard and our rights recognized,” explaining that because “societal stigma silences rape survivors,” her “hope is that this will make them feel less alone.

While the project is in its development stages, Cannes film award-winner Tang Yi has been reported to be in discussions to write and direct the project.

Spotlight 💡

In some areas, 911 does not offer text services which inhibit disabled individuals, who cannot communicate verbally, from utilizing emergency services when needed.

To mitigate this problem, Gabriella Wong created accesSOS, a text-based service allowing users who are unable to communicate verbally to write and describe their situation to 911 responders.

Wong’s parents, who are both deaf, are among the many who struggle with inaccessible communication methods in everyday life. For her father, whose gallbladder ruptured suddenly, trying to explain his medical condition to responders was near impossible. He had to text Wong, who in turn had to call 911 for him. At the time, Wong was not near her phone.

This experience led Wong to research emergency services and their capacity to accommodate for disabilities. Today, many cities in the U.S. do not have the infrastructure in place for people to text 911. AccesSOS aims to solve some of these issues by creating an app and web service that allows people to text their emergencies, which are translated into a call to their nearest 911 call center. 

Race in America 🌎

In San Diego, California, council members rescinded and denounced an 80-year-old resolution that supported the incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII.

Council members called the 1942 resolution unjust and racist, answering the request from the San Diego chapter of the Japanese American Historical Society to take accountability. Council President Sean Elo-Rivera supported the move, explaining that while the resolution is 80 years old, political entities like the city council “can acknowledge the wrong that the city committed.”
 

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Asian American communities have a hard time utilizing the healthcare system in the U.S., and in Philadelphia, Hepatitis B has become a prominent example of this reality.

Hepatitis B is endemic to Asian countries. Philadelphia is home to 80,000 immigrants from South, Southeast and Central Asia who are particularly vulnerable and susceptible to the illness, with 35% to 45% of the city’s new cases belonging to the AAPI community. In fact, the virus killed 1,700 people in 2020.

Despite this fact, vaccination and testing among AAPI communities is low. Culturally sensitive healthcare is vital to the health of diverse populations in the U.S. as it addresses the historical and geographical concerns that are carried across borders and generations.

In Other Asian News 🗞

In Cambodia, the U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal has come to a close as the final appeal filed by the last surviving leader of the regime, Khieu Samphan, 91, was rejected.

Samphan, a former head of state, was found guilty in 2018 for his complicity in the genocide of ethnic minority Vietnamese. His conviction was upheld this week and he will carry out his life imprisonment sentence. Over the years, the tribunal has led to three convictions, including Samphan, Nuon Chea, the second-in-command to Pol Pot, as well as Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Comrade Dutch, the head of the notorious S-21 prison.
 

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In Iran, after protestors gathered over the death of Mahsa Amini and clashed violently with police, residents experienced a near-total internet blackout.

With the loss of internet communication, many were restricted from continuing to connect and organize. As of now, Amnesty International, along with other human rights watchdogs, have reported excessive police brutality with documented use of tear gas, batons, birdshot and water cannons in their efforts to disperse groups gathered at the capital. While Iran has released information on three deaths from the protests, Amnesty reported at least eight deaths and hundreds of injured people.
 

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In Myanmar, the military junta authorized an airstrike in a village and took the lives of 13 people, 11 of whom were schoolchildren.

According to military authorities, rebels were hiding in the village of Yet Let Kone, which led to the calculated airstrike. The U.N. condemned the damage and murder in the region, citing that schools must be safe and never endangered. Since the attack, UNICEF has reported at least 15 children still missing in the rubble.

Film and TV 📺

Actor Belle Mariano made history at the 17th Seoul International Drama Awards by becoming the first Filipino woman to win the Outstanding Asian Star award.

She won for her lead role in the television series “He’s Into Her.” 

The film “Return to Dust” has become a sleeper hit in China.
 

In February, it was nominated for the Golden Bear, the top honor at the Berlin International Film Festival, but now it’s raked in over $7 million from over a million cinema goers. The story is a tragic love story between a struggling couple living through poverty in rural China.

What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

• President Biden called out Iran and China for their human rights record during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. 

• BTS has become the first Asian act to have 100 songs with 100 million streams each. 

• South Korean R&B artist Crush released a new collaboration single, “Rush Hour,” with BTS’ J-Hope on Thursday. This is Crush’s first new music project since completing his mandatory military service in August. 

• A profile on kasir, the luxurious private retreats of sultans in Istanbul.  

• Tinder has opened up a convenience store in Japan. 

• A profile on the pawn shop owner who found an album thought to contain photographic evidence of the Nanjing Massacre.