AUGUST 09, 2022

Hello, everyone!

Gong Cha, a bubble tea chain, is getting a new CEO and yes, he’s white.

To clarify, nothing is wrong with his race, but the choice to replace a white man with another white man as CEO for a Taiwanese company manufacturing a distinctly Asian drink is just a little ironic. (Just a little.) 

Formerly the CEO of Five Guys, Paul Reynish was named the Global CEO of the company to expedite its expansion into U.S. markets. With bubble tea growing in international popularity, Reynish hopes to make Gong Cha one of the world’s largest franchised brands for the drink.

Reynish also has experience in Pacific Asian executive positions in various food and drink companies like VP of business for Dunkin’ in Japan, board member of Baskin-Robbins Japan and Korea, and other global executive roles for Burger King in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Spotlight 💡

Raja Kumari, a South Asian American artist, is bringing West Coast rap to India, fostering musical talent under her new label, Godmother Records.

Kumari has written for big artists like Gwen Stefani and Iggy Azalea, but at 36 years old, she wants to use her expertise and talents to expand the music industry in India. Relocating to the South Asian country, she hopes to continue releasing music that mixes Hindi and English, work with young musicians and help South Asian artists have their own voice.

Race in America 🌎

A new publishing merger is becoming the new worry for authors and bookstore owners in the U.S.

Saira Rao, a South Asian American author working in Richmond, Virginia, expresses that throughout her interactions with publishing companies and staff, it has all been one demographic: white. As an author of color, her stories and her writing, as well as the overall experience, is something that deserves and yearns for publishing companies that understand and reflect her identity.

She emphasizes that there is a need for more diversity within these industries because traditionally, her works, like many other authors of color, have been shunned and excluded. Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are asserting their dedication and mission to uplift creatives from marginalized communities, but the concerns remain the same and they question the dwindling number of executives making decisions for a diverse group of customers, clients and people.

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Ten years ago, a shooting at a Gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, rocked the Oak Creek community in Wisconsin with great tragedy. Today, that legacy of senseless white supremacist violence rings a historical truth, that targeted brutality against the Sikh community has not stopped. 

The shooting that took place in Oak Creek killed seven people and injured three others, and 45 days later, familly members of those who were murdered testified in front of the U.S. Senate. Only in 2015 did the FBI begin officially tracking the hate crimes committed against the Sikh community. Recent data shows that the Sikh community is one of the top five, if not top three, most-targeted communities for religious-based violence.

In Other Asian News 🗞

Last year, the Thai government raised the national minimum wage by almost 2%. Today, they’re planning to raise it by 5-8%, aiming to become one of the Southeast Asian nations with the highest minimum wage.
 

In hopes of combatting previous and ongoing pandemic struggles, Thai officials are planning to introduce the initiative later this month for approval. If the Cabinet approves, the bill would move forward to increase the daily wage between 329 baht and 353 baht ($9.19-$9.86). The Labor Minister confirmed with Reuters that the government hopes to implement this new measure later this year rather than delaying it until next year.
 

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As a British Iranian woman, filmmaker Ramita Navai was able to enter into Afghan society and investigate the lived reality of Afghan women after the Taliban takeover, and what she found was shocking and intriguing.

Her new PBS Frontline documentary, “Afghanistan Undercover,” records women and girls being unofficially imprisoned for moral crimes, and because of their lack of documentation in these systems, these women and girls have essentially disappeared. The documentary also covers nonconsensual bride abductions that are occurring across the country to young women and girls as they’re forced to marry Taliban fighters. Despite these incidents and the overall strict management within Taliban rule, women are rebelling through daring clothing options – choosing to wear high heels and exposing their ankles even when they’re terrified.

Perhaps the most intriguing are the safe houses for young women who are being tracked by the Taliban. Families have created an underground safe house network for those who are on the run.

However, the suicide rate for women in Afghanistan is also continuing to rise. In the case of these women being family members of Talibs, their deaths are not recorded. Hospital staff are reportedly threatened and physically beaten if they choose to document them.

Entertainment 📺

August 8 is BLACKPINK’s 6th anniversary, and they have gifted fans with the announcement of their world tour and title of their next comeback song, “Pink Venom,” out on August 19. The world tour will start in October in Seoul and take the YG Entertainment quartet to over 25 cities in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
 

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Chinese dissident artist and activist Ai Weiwei will curate an exhibit this fall called “Freedom.” It will feature works from incarcerated people in London. The project comes from the Koestler Arts charity, an organization that amplifies and sells work from incarcerated people.

Ai Weiwei himself was incarcerated and spent 81 days in jail for tax fraud. He was detained in 2011 in Beijing for his outspoken criticisms of China in the wake of the government cracking down on human rights lawyers, writers and bloggers.

What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

• NYC executives would like folks to return to in-person work, but a growing number of employees fear the risk of attack on public transit.

• A piece from The New Yorker analyzes some new books that are posing questions about feminism’s stance on toxic masculinity. 

• Over the weekend at the 77th memorial of the Hiroshma bombings, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a vow to ban nukes.

• Feng Tianwei, ranked no. 16 in the world, has emerged as the new women's table tennis singles champion at the Commonwealth Games.

• A small town in Japan has around 70 restored and functioning vending machines from the Showa era of 1926 to 1989. 

• Star ice skater Yuzuru Hanyu started a YouTube channel and amassed 30,000 subscribers in an hour.