OCTOBER 5, 2022

Hello, everyone!

Miss Texas USA, R’Bonney Gabriel, who we covered in yesterday’s newsletter, won the national competition on Monday and became the first Filipino American to win Miss USA.

For her, the win was an honor: “I'm getting messages on Instagram and just social media of Filipina girls and women telling me they're so excited, they're so happy. They're crying tears of joy because they are inspired to go after pageantry… I'm paving the way for them to just go after whatever they want no matter what it is. So it's an honor."

Gabriel will go on to represent the U.S. in the Miss Universe pageant on January 14, 2023 in New Orleans.

Spotlight 💡

A prominent critic of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was fatally shot in an ambush near his home on Monday.

Journalist Percival Mabasa was killed in the evening outside of Manila in the suburb of Las Pinas by two men on motorcycles. Mabasa was known to accuse top Philippine officials of corruption on his popular radio program in Manila, and his brother, Roy Mabasa, speculates that “those behind his killing are the persons he has been hitting on his show.” Mabasa’s work has criticized not only former President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, but also the Marcos government for distorting history and industrial corruption, referencing the anomalies in sugar imports in the country.

While officials have not offered an official motive, authorities are currently investigating the murder.

Race in America 🌎

A new obesity study of more than 70,000 Asian Americans found that as a combined demographic, Asian Americans had a 11.7% obesity prevalence.

Upon further analysis, researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the prevalence was 22.4% after accounting for hidden variations in Asian subgroups and adjusted the BMI threshold. In that percentage, researchers detailed that the range varied across ethnicities with 13.2% in Chinese Americans to 28.7% in Filipino Americans.

Using self-reported height, weight and demographic data of more than 2.8 million adults, the study attempts to quantify obesity prevalence in Asian American subgroups based on standard BMI standards ((BMI ≥30 kg/m2) and a tailored BMI standard for Asian populations (BMI ≥27.5 kg/m2).
 

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Smithsonian intern Katherine Parrilla details the Filipino history lost within her hometown of Stockton, California, and notes the forgotten locations of Little Manila and political stress suffered by early Filipino immigrants.

In her research, experiences and work, Parrilla narrates the local impact from international events in the 1940s, namely the annexation of the Philippines. Stockton, which had the largest Filipino population in the world by that time, housed young Filipino men looking for economic and educational opportunities. While they were deemed U.S. nationals, they still faced huge economic barriers and anti-miscegenation laws which kept them apart from their families or even starting a family. In Stockton, fraternities of Filipino men were formed to combat this loneliness and isolation, and even after the War Brides Act when more Filipinas started to immigrate over, these groups persisted and helped each other send the belongings of those who died back to their families in the Philippines. These trunks created time capsules and documented the lives and perspectives of Filipino Americans at the time.

In Other Asian News 🗞

On October 4, North Korea fired a ballistic missile far enough to reach into Japanese territory, causing alarm for residents in the area.

This is the first missile since 2017 that covered such a long trail, traversing 2,850 miles (4,600 km), making it the longest distance ever traveled by a North Korean missile. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke on the phone with President Biden after the event to condemn North Korea’s actions and reaffirm U.S.-Japanese defense relations.
 

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New measures imposed by the Biden administration may restrict Chinese companies and their access to high-performance computing.

In efforts to cut off China’s access to create next-generation weaponry and automate large-scale surveillance systems, the administration is building on Trump-era policies that dealt blows to previous Chinese companies. Essentially, any firm that uses American-made technology would not be allowed to sell to Chinese entities listed by the administration. While the names on that list remain unknown, it is just one of the many tools Washington plans to utilize in passing more restrictions.

Music and Film 🎶

“Squid Game” Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, John Cho, James Hong and Auli’i Cravalho are among some of the honorees for the inaugural Celebration of Asian Pacific Cinema & Television from the Critics’ Choice Association.

The actors will receive varying awards for their contributions and works in projects from this year. A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to supporting CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) to fund a film production grant for a rising filmmaker.

Seulgi of K-pop girl group Red Velvet has made her official solo debut with the mini-album and music video both titled “28 Reasons.”

The album includes five other side tracks such as “Sad Girl,” featuring rapper BE’O, and “Dead Man Runnin,’’ which Seulgi helped co-write, marking her songwriting debut. She is the third member of Red Velvet to make an official solo debut.

What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

• Thousands of Afghan refugees, some of whom include interpreters, lawyers and advocates who have assisted the U.S, are claiming they were “blacklisted” from getting Visas initially promised to them for their help.   

• Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games. 

• A new comedy special from Hasan Minhaj called “The King’s Jester” is out now on Netflix. Watch the trailer here. 

• Meghan Markle’s podcast is back and this time she was joined by Lisa Ling and Margeret Cho to discuss toxic stereotypes of Asian women.  

• The anticipated return of the anime “Bleach” will officially stream on Hulu and Disney+ on Oct. 10.