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JULY 1, 2022
Hello, everyone!
The FBI reports that organized burglary rings are targeting Asian American businesses in New Jersey.
According to the FBI office in Newark, Asian American business owners are being targeted statewide due to certain stereotypes. These include keeping cash and storing valuables at home.
The burglars stalk Asian business owners back to their residences or break into their cars to find out where they live. When the owners are at work, their houses are ransacked. The FBI has been receiving two to three reports of theft every week, not counting those that go unreported. Agents are warning Asian business owners to be alert, change their commutes and routines, keep their cars locked, secure their private information, utilize surveillance technology and use other safety measures.
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Race in America 🌎
Mahjong is a nostalgic Asian American family pastime, but before it became a household staple, it was an intergenerational connection that transcended cultural barriers.
The game was popularized in the 1920s after WWI, when Chinese intermediaries introduced the game to military allies in social clubs. Men from these social clubs brought the game back to their hometowns, and one in particular, Joseph Park Babcock, began marketing it to white Americans in California.
Soon after, the reputation of the game both in Chinese communities and elsewhere started to shift to a more positive light. Even in times of strife, residents in Chinatowns would play together and keep the game alive with their neighbors, families and friends. As young Chinese Americans ventured further away from Chinatowns, they brought the game with them as a way to connect with both their Chinese and American heritage. Today, many cultures have adapted the distinctly Chinese game to their own households, but the game and its legacy remain Asian American.
In San Luis Obispo County in California, Filipino American artist Camille Hoffman is bringing attention to the lost Filipino history of Morro Bay.
Hoffman details a 1587 historical account when the first documented Filipinos arrived in Morro Bay, which was Chumash (Indigenous) land. As the Spanish attempted to conquer the area, they were attacked and crushed by its inhabitants.
Throughout Hoffman’s exhibit, a theme rings loud and clear: “See and Missed.” Hoffman explains that this theme, which is also the title of her exhibit, is a play on words for how Filipinos were brought across the sea and through the mist, and how Filipino American history is generationally forgotten and neglected.
Hoffman shows through her art that “the Filipino and Chumash story is interconnected,” bridging a lost history with the real legacy of a “very violent colonial past that continues to impact us.”
In Other Asian News 🗞
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which vote on Oscar nominations, welcomed 397 new members, including stellar Asian creatives for their Class of 2022.
The full list includes artists like Billie Eilish but also Asian icons like directors Isabel Sandoval and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, among many others.
Personally, hearing that Sandoval was included in this year’s class was a phenomenal joy. Sandoval made history in 2019 as the first Asian trans woman to direct and star in a film screening competition in Venice with her piece, “Lingua Franca.” Currently, Sandoval is working in the U.S. on several projects and continues to advocate for more diversity and inclusion in the film industry.
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North Korean state media KCNA expressed that the U.S., South Korea and Japan have a “sinister aim” through their joint military drills including next month’s missile testing near Hawai’i called “Pacific Dragon.”
Primarily motivated by the U.S.’ historical and recent negotiations and political involvement in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as little opposition from Japan and South Korea, Pyongyang accused Washington of hypocrisy and of fostering a new Cold War with the U.S.-Japan-South Korean alliance. Kim Hyo-myung, a researcher at North Korea's International Society for Political Research, added that “NATO is nothing more than a servant of the realization of the U.S. hegemony strategy and a tool of local aggression.”
When asked about Bejing’s stance, China’s foreign military spokesman Zhao Lijan responded with certainty that “NATO's attempts to provoke confrontation between blocs and to form little cliques will be rejected by everyone and are doomed to fail.”
Entertainment 📺
Pop-opera K-pop band Lioness made history with their debut as the first openly queer K-pop group. The group consists of four members, leader Damjun, rapper Foxman, vocal Kanghan and maknae Malrang. Their first song “Show Me Your Pride” sets the anthem they want to represent.
Pride Month is wrapping up, but it’s been a busy one for the group as they performed at events all over South Korea, including the U.S. and Canadian embassies. Named after female lions, their fandom name is aptly Den. They’ve been making their mark and they’ll roar even louder in the future.
Once called the most talented kid in the world by Oprah, Jake Zyrus is trying to find his sound again after coming out in 2017 as a trans man. He says, “Whether It’s Charice or Jake Zyrus, I’m a singer.”
Zyrus has plans for a U.S. tour and can’t wait to sing for people onstage as who he is. Zyrus says America feels more like home, even though the Philippines will always be his home, because of the acceptance he feels. Once considered a golden child star with accolades like being the first Asian soloist to have a Top 10 album on the Billboard charts back in 2010, Zyrus has abdicated some of that fame after transitioning but is now a hero to many that find courage and relatability in his story.
What else is on our minds? 🧠
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