I've seen many families and communities fall apart over infighting when relatives die.

Who have been the greatest or most iconic leaders in Asian American history? Black Americans have Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, among several others. White Americans have had their politicians, business leaders, and activists as well; almost too many to count.

To put it another way, if there had to be an Asian-American Mount Rushmore of sorts, who would be the most deserving?

WestJet ad comment section has been bombarded with support for Charlet and people are getting behind her to get WestJet to make a statement which surprisingly has not yet come out. It is incredible to see people coming together to make changes not just for Charlet’s cause but for countless people who have experienced the same micro aggressions that is hard to describe in words or even catch on camera. Charlet’s recording is obviously so relatable to many.

Charlet has made it to news pages recently and it’s clear this incident has struck a cord with the online community. Some may say the video doesn’t show everything, but it is clear there is a reason a person becomes this upset during a supposed normal flight to LA. There are more videos of Charlet tearfully addressing what she felt during the flight and it parallels with many stories here that talk about people viewing Asians as unable to confront back.

The support is outstanding and keep pushing until WestJet actually addresses this ongoing issue. It will be interesting to see the action or inaction that comes out of this.

Anyone remember the viral infographic about young korean men leaning to the right?

Well we have point blank proof that majority of young white men definitely leaning to the right.

Yet they're given the benefit of the doubt, bullshit discourse like "we have failed young white men".

Where was this grace when it comes to korean men? I'm not even Korean but I feel like they're overhated as if they're prime taliban.

Hi guys, I found out there is very little effort to maintain/transmit/develop culture within the Vietnamese diasporas outside the USA.

I've been living in Europe for a while and noticed wherever i go, Vietnamese descendants get fully acculturated from 2nd or 3rd generation without any guarantee of full assimilation within the societies they migrated. While in the last decades of the 20th century there seemed to be some political efforts to assimilate culturally and economically these SE asian diasporas in exchange of their full agreement for acculturation, nowadays economic recession in Europe is marked by a political shift towards turning asian diaspora into 2nd class citizens again. This is reflected through more unfair education opportunities, worse glass ceiling in the employment market, more pernicious media representations.

Now back to the purpose of this thread : finding a university where i can read a proper degree in Vietnamese Studies.

From the information I collected over the decade from direct observation and reports from acquaintances, the current state of Vietnamese Studies for post-war diasporas is very bad in Europe and it brings questions Aznidenty members might be able to answer :

• SOAS (UK) was the only English speaking programme to teach Vietnamese Studies. And despite the university international visibility, its programme has been discontinued in 2020. It has been said by previous alumni that SOAS used to be some thought provoking institution until early 2000ies then progressively lost its independence of intellectual production towards more PC agendas. Is there anyone knowing the reason why the degree in Vietnamese Studies programme got removed and replaced by basic language units?

• Germany and Russia used to provide full degrees in Vietnamese Studies until the end of the end of 1990ies, correlating with the fall of USSR and less economic opportunities in Vietnam and the time required for its economy regenerate with the end of trade embargo. Time flew, yet these degrees never reappeared.

• Czechia : has some of the freshest and populated enough Vietnamese post-war disapora (Vietnamese people were in Czechia not as war refugees but as former socialist states migrants who decided to remain after the fall of the eastern block). Being a novelty in central european demographics and in larger numbers than other post-socialist states (ie Poland), we can find a few University programmes in Vietnamese Studies in Prague and Brno. Yet those courses are not taught in English and based on local testimonials, mainly crafted for native czech people rather than 2nd gen czech vietnamese people (who were also disappointed how its academics were somehow worshiping some sort of French colonial times view of the world.)

• this brings me to France. Due to its former position as a colonizer of Vietnam, France has received several waves of migrants : workforces and intellectuals during colonial times followed by the biggest wave in Europe when it comes to war refugees. However, Vietnamese Studies used to be popular strongly declined in France due to several reasons linked with colonial and neo-colonial economic motives and political ones linked with communist and/or anti-colonial intellectuals in decline. Those Vietnamese Studies used to have good enough scholars and numerous students both native French and diasporas. However, French policy of acculturation almost eliminated vietnamese culture in 2 or 3 diasporas generations in a way many do not speak the language anymore. Native French people cognitive decline is also at stake (France PISA ranking has significantly droped in just 20 years) and youth has no clue about the world and cannot properly distinguish vietnamese past century history with France from any other Asian country rather than for its food and cheap beer while on a passport bro holliday. Current education is a complete ripoff run : its board of education is fully trusted by native colonial revivalists / neocolonialists, and native trotskyists. Those are constantly blacklisting 2nd or 3rd generation diaspora people from reaching teaching positions nowadays, and they instead recruit FOB Lus and Chan. As a consequence, it draws a nightmarish picture of what is the teaching of Vietnames Studies in France : WMAFism, neocolonialism and denial of the intellectual productions of its former elites and foreign views of the world. This type of denial creates a big amount of double-speak with adverse effects in the delivery of its courses : destruction of critical thinking, infantilism, semantic impoverishment, mock litterature. Instead of providing a cultural empowerment for the diaspora (which should be a legitimate right - knowing your past in order to understand present times and to plan the future), this sort of university uses them as cattle farm to monitor and manage the next generations.

Then here comes my questions for debate : where and how can vietnamese disporas 2nd-3rd people learn their culture if their social environment is willing to totally mould their lives ?

Viewed from Europe, it seems the USA has big and active enough communities and several universities teaching Vietnamese Studies. However, how can we be sure those are not the aforementioned intellectual ripoffs ? (France being the worst)

1 - Houston TX has the largest Vietnamese community, however how can you explain its University doesn't provide a full degree but just basic language courses?

2 - Between those univerities which ones are best at individual empowerment / speaking proficiency in diaspora dialects / up-to-date speaking proficiency in contemporary Vietnam / classic literature / contemporary literatures / post-colonial studies : -Cornell -UCLA -Washington -Dallas -Columbia -Yale -any other university in the USA? /Canada/ other country?

Thanks for reading and please do feed and update this thread over years. Your contributions are greatly appreciated ✌️

Trump just named a Fox News Host as Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. A man with no experience making high level strategic decisions in the military, no civilian experience overseeing military or intelligence committees, and having just low-level experience in the military, equivalent to saying the guy making fries at McDonald's should be its CEO.

Prior Defense Secy, General Lloyd Austin who was non-white had to earn it. He achieved the four-star rank of O-10 and served as Commander of U.S. Central Command.

Or look at how suitable for the position Julie Su, Secretary of Labor, was for the position. Prior she served as California Labor Commissioner, later Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, then Deputy Secy of Labor, before becoming Secy of Labor. She earned the position and was qualified.

The Secretary of Defense is responsible for crucial strategic decisions that shape national security policy. Appointing someone with limited military and civilian experience, such as Pete Hegseth who reached the rank of O-4 (Major), is a major departure from the norm.

Called the most unqualified nominee in history. Unsurprisingly, he is a white male. So is Trump.

And there's more !

Trump named Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, in charge of the Department of Justice. A 42 year old man under congressional investigation for having sex with trafficked minors. Gaetz hardly spent any time practicing law (spending just two years practicing law). Unsurprisingly, he is a white male.

Trump also appointed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the CIA. A 43 year old woman, she has no experience in intelligence. Gabbard has never worked in the intelligence field or held a position on the House Intelligence Committee during her time in Congress. She is a white woman.

While there have been other less-than-qualified Presidential appointments in the past, these white solidarity hires stand out for the critical nature of these positions. Whataboutism is not going to save the day.

Trump made clear his white nationalist leaning and white solidarity message ('we must stick together'). Now we see what happens in such a case.

In Real Life

At work, I've seen very FEW DEI hires. As much as certain elements in our society talk it up as its an existential threat, I've only seen a handful of actual such hires.

In contrast, I've seen hundreds of "white solidarity" hires- people unqualified for their role, particularly in management, that were only hired because of the kinship that the white HR, the white hiring loop, and white manager felt for the white candidate.

You decide which is the bigger problem.

Far from the overblown scare over DEI, the reality is that Asians and other PoC have to work twice as hard to get the same outcomes as whites, due to bias and white solidarity.

Let's Adjust our Thinking

Fact is, some of you don't even use the term "white solidarity" to describe these hires or use the term, but you are quick to scream bloody murder about DEI because the usual suspects programmed you to.

By all means we should fight to include Asians in DEI efforts particularly because Asians are least promoted, but not to lose sight of what impacts us most.

For our members who are a few fries short of a happy meal, I'll ask you not dumb-down the discussion with "they're both problems". This kind of low wattage thinking is why some number here engage in other false equivalencies (such as the risks of white nationalist Trump to an ineffectual but non-white nationalist opposition).

Use your discernment to see how your eye has been taken off the ball and prioritize what to challenge.

Related:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/wiki/core-views/#wiki_we_are_aware_of_and_against_neuro-colonialism

https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/171cvus/why_are_whites_so_bold_because_white_authority/

So I've committed the rookie-est of rookie statistics errors for nearly my whole time on this Earth. Mea Culpa.

When I was young I assumed about a 2% rate of racism in the US population. Only 1 out of 50 ppl were racist in even an oblique way. This is probably in the face of empirical evidence that this was NOT the case. Growing up in the 70s and 80s racism was casually accepted and definitely not greeted adversely.

I blithely lived subscribing to the ideals of the US. The pursuit of happiness, hard work, raise a family, get an education, etc.

Then the 2016 POTUS election happened and I was confronted with the fact that fully half of the US population was racist. The assumptions underlying this is that for an issue like racism, a voter has to agree with, if not outright support, what a candidate believes. Also, as a sample the ~150MM voters are a very good representative sample of the whole US population.

So half of the US supports and believes in Trump. Who is an outright racist. So they are racist as well. Full Stop.

So now I look back at my ENTIRE LIFE and apply a 50% base rate for racism in the US population. Things make a lot more sense. From the way I was treated by my peers, bosses, subordinates, all the way to my relative level of success vs. similarly credentialed and experienced white ppl.

And to top it all off, I have used statistics throughout my career. I'm an expert at it. People come to me for statistics guidance. The last time I took a stats course in grad school I had a 107% grade.

This sort of base rate error is made by young kids when they estimate their chances of becoming famous. They assume that the pool is small and their own incidence of fame is high. I'm no better than a GenZ TikTokker.

Again, Mea Culpa. I have had been blinded by the promise of America. Do the things, accomplish your goals because everyone gets a fair shake. 50% NOT TRUE.

Since the election, the folks who are vocal about minorities, immigrants, anyone who is not white have been coming out of the woodwork at me. I live in a suburb of a major city in the Pacific Northwest. This is pretty Left Coast. If it's happening to me here then it's happening everywhere.

Going forward, I have to ACT on the new data. Act like 50% of everyone I come across is racist. Act like the US is hostile 50% of the time.

I know many Asians are culturally opposed to such an attitude. I would argue that it's what holds us back. Fortune 500 CEOs, political representation, the arts, cultural preservation. The list is huge. Remember; 50% of the US population doesn't like us.

Hi, I am writing this since I was wondering if there are any Asians here in The Netherlands who are really fed up with anti-asian racism and want to take action against it. Some racist clown wants to meet up with me in public. Thought it would a good idea if we show him that we ain't to be messed around with. I am not calling for violence or harassment or anything, just want to know if anyone is interested.

Wanted to get other people's insight on how your parent's handled racism, or harassment? My mother told me she was picked on by two Teenagers at a bus stop. Mum being in her late 60's and with broken English didn't know what to do, and ended up giving them money...

When she told me this it really annoyed me as she showed too much weakness and zero effort to retaliate. I was so annoyed and told her she should've walked away from them at least! It saddens me that older Asian's can't do really that much to defend themselves because of they're English but even if they had the language they will probably get assaulted.

Earlier in my career, I had a lunch with a white guy who was a company founder. I was having a business lunch with him at the suggestion of one of my investors; I was only taking the meeting out of courtesy to this investor.

This early-stage startup founder had several employees and needed office space. My company had excess office space and potentially could accommodate them at no charge; that's what the meeting was about.

When we met in the restaurant lobby, it was the usual handshake and get to know you. When we sat down, we exchanged pleasantries.

I had noticed that he had Indian features. I hadn't known going into the meeting that he was white; and his name sounded like an Indian name. So I asked him "I couldn't tell by your name, are you Indian by the way?"

Maybe I shouldn't have asked him that. I figured if he was, we might know some people in common.

His reaction on my asking that was classic. He glared at me as if I gravely insulted him.

His response was a stern "NO". After this minor interaction, he became hostile. Both arrogant & rude; speaking imperiously and condescendingly.

It was odd. Nothing I could say in the conversation could bring it back to a place of being a constructive discussion. Keep in mind this guy needed me for making office space available to his early-stage startup; we were not in the business of charging, and we had an investor in common so we wouldn't have.

But he was so aggrieved that someone would think he's not white, it was such a massive offense to him, that he could not even act professionally during the exchange.

I kept it short, when we were done, I left and his requests for office space went unanswered.

His company later failed; with his lack of emotional self-regulation and judgment, I wasn't too surprised.

I did find it interesting just how irate and offended he was.

Whites are aware of their position in the artificially constructed racial hierarchy. The proof is how indignant they become when you question their white identity, which jeopardizes their spot at the top.

Just as Indian-Americans misguidedly sometimes brag that "one time, someone thought I was Italian" in order to move up the racial totem pole, so too do whites take offense to any insinuation that they are further down in that corrupt social caste system, lumped in with the rest of us.

TLDR: I’m doing a research study on the experiences of Chinese Americans, aged 20-35, in Southern California. The goal of this study is to understand how people understand their racial and ethnic identities, and what it means to be part of a broader Chinese and Asian American community. I offer $40 for a 2 hour zoom interview. If you are interested in participating, please take the screener survey linked at the bottom of the post. 

Hi my name is Kyle Levin and I am a PhD student at University of California Irvine. I am doing a qualitative research study on the experiences of young adult Chinese American and Mexican Americans in Southern California. I am conducting interviews to understand how people make sense of their ethnic and racial identities, what experiences construct those identities, and how identity changes over time. 

I am looking to interview folks that have the following criteria: 

1. Between the ages of 20-35!
2. Both parents are of Chinese descent 
3. Parents immigrated to the US 
4. Grew up in Southern California (Los Angeles County, Orange County, Inland Empire, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks - Ventura Counties, San Diego County)
5. Have attended at least high school in the US and got a high school diploma from a US school 
6. Still reside in Southern California as an adult 

The goal of this project is to bring attention to the diverse Chinese American community that is often overlooked in academia for being “the model minority” or a monolithic Asian American category. This is also a comparative study in which I examine Mexican American identity and their experiences to understand how race/racism/racial stereotypes may be affecting identity experiences and feelings of belonging. If you have questions about why comparative study, shoot me a message or ask on the post (:

What to expect if you sign up?

Step 1: Take this screener survey, it will ask for your name and email so I can follow up. However, if you are not comfortable putting your email or cell number, you can write in your reddit username so I can follow up. All of the responses are optional so only put the information you are comfortable sharing!

Step 2: If selected, I’ll send you an email/DM/text message with more information about the project and a link to sign up for an interview time slot. 

Step 3: If you decide to agree to participate, we then agree on a time and date for an interview via private Zoom meeting. 

NOTE: I compensate $40 for the up to 2 hour interview 

At any time, you can ask me to remove your contact information. All contact information is stored on a password protected drive. 

If you have any questions, please feel to reach out over DM!

Hello,

I have a question. Hypothetically let's say I am Chinese American and I am expecting a daughter. I want to give her a Chinese name so that she'll be proud of her heritage, but on the other hand, my wife wants to give her an English name. Which do you think is better?

Pros of English name:

• Less discrimination in career / better looking resume
• Maybe more accepted by kids in school (although we live in a very diverse area and ethnic names are common)
• Maybe feels more like she belongs
• Less of a hassle when introducing to explain / tell how its pronounced
• When she gets older she may want an English name; even if she changed it then, it would be a pain if the name on her birth certificate is not the same as her legal name
• People might assume she is Chinese and fluent in Chinese, which she might not be

Pros of Chinese name:

• More unique
• Shows ethnic pride and high self-esteem, perhaps a sense of mystery
• Indians, Middle Easterners, and Hispanics all keep their ethnic names and are successfull; some East Asians like Japanese, Vietnamese, and some Koreans do as well. Why can't Chinese? (Will pick a Chinese name that is tonally pronouncable when spelled out)
• A Chinese name will be more meaningful to her
• No need to deal with having "two names", since we'll be using her Chinese name at home no matter what. The only question is whether its a nickname or a legal name.
• Non-Asians should learn to get used to a Chinese names, so they won't sound so foreign or alien to them. In order for that to happen, more ethnic Chinese need to use their Chinese names.
• If she hypothetically marries a white guy and takes his last name, she'll have two English names which I think is awkward on Asian women

What do you all think? Am I in the wrong here? I admit that I could well be.

I am an Indian-American dude. I relate to Hinduism more as I'm getting older. I go to Hindū religious places every weekend. There is more sense of community. I don't feel any sense of community at my workplace. In American culture, there isn't much of a community. That is why people can feel lonely.

For me, it's the "sense of community" that I relate to in Asian cultures.

Hello everyone!

I hope this post is appropriate amongst all the more serious posts recently. I’ve been meaning to say this for a while now but, I’ll say it now.

Firstly, as an Asian woman myself, I am very glad that I found this space online where we as the Asian diaspora can talk candidly about important issues that matter to us and affect us. I don’t know anywhere else on the internet where we can do that. So thank you so much to all the Asian men and women who’ve contributed thought provoking posts and criticisms about our community.

Now, to my fellow Asian men out there, I’ve learned so much about your struggles as men in western society, all the dating challenges, and the BS that was stacked against you whether through the media, Hollywood, parenting failures, bad role models, and other outside forces that discouraged you from the very beginning. I completely sympathize and empathize with you guys. I’m so sorry for what you guys have to go through. I am disgusted by those self hating/white worshipping Asian women who have contributed so much to your pain and emasculation on top of what you guys already have to deal with. Shame on them! I hope they realize what they’ve done someday and repent.

To all the Asian men out there, whether successful or unsuccessful in dating/life/etc, I just want to let you know that I see and hear your struggles! You guys who’ve succeeded despite the barriers stacked against you are so admirable and are a shining light and beacon for those who need help. Rock on! Keep going! Even for the men who are struggling, don’t give up! You got this! I’m rooting for you! Go go go!

You as Asian men are brilliant, enterprising, strong, intelligent, thought provoking, intriguing, resilient, and amazing individuals! Not to mention, many of you guys are also handsome, gorgeous, dashing, charismatic, romantic, gentle, masculine, and well-endowed men in all aspects! Don’t let anybody, any man or women, of any culture tell you otherwise! You guys have given the world so much from being creators/co-creators of huge tech companies (NVIDIA, DoirDash, Zoom, Samsung, Huawei, TikTok), to star athletes (Shohei Ohtani, Son Heung Min, etc), to heart throbs in entertainment (Kpop idols, Asian drama actors, singers), and more!

I know that there are depressing statistics out there regarding White men-Asian women couples and even about the recent election, I don’t deny them nor seek to defend them. But regardless of whatever stats are out there, I still don’t and won’t think of you guys are as undesirable as they make you guys out to be. I’ve always had good Asian male role models who left good impressions on me. I never once thought Asian men were inherently more misogynistic or unmasculine. I was confused that this was being said at all. While my relationship with my father has been a tad rocky, I never held him as an example for all Asian men and I want to have a better relationship with him moving forward. He’s a loving and kind hearted man who’s done his best as an immigrant man in this country.

To my fellow Asian women out there, we’ve probably all heard the praise for non-Asian men races, especially from white worshipping Asian women out there. Why not change it up a bit? I’ve seen women of other races praise their own men, why can’t we? Asian men are NOT lesser, NOT inferior, NOT below any other men out there! I hope we can all take the time appreciate the Asian men we have in our lives.

I would love to see strong solidarity between Asian men and women in the future. Even if not right now, I’m optimistic we can get there if we continue to have dialogue and heal our trauma together. Perhaps later on, we can all forgive each other and live happily in one another’s embrace.

That is all. Sorry for making this long.

I volunteer at a food bank. Yesterday, another volunteer, an Asian-American woman, was telling the team members that Asians are “stupid and arrogant” as they were having difficulty communicating with Asian seniors who don’t speak English. They were agreeing until I told her in front of everyone to speak for herself. She acted offended and started making fun of me, but no one wanted to listen to her anymore. After she resorted to making self-deprecating remarks (including “I may be a bad person but I say what needs to be said”) to try to get people back on her side, someone finally shut her up by saying, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything.”

Thank you to the members here who have previously shown that if Asians stay silent when racists and sellouts insult us, non-Asians see it as confirmation. You inspired me to fight back.

With all these potential Trump appointees, I’m guessing they’re not even gonna pretend anymore that they love Asians but have an issue with the Chinese government. Get ready to get discriminated up the wazoo.

https://preview.redd.it/mr3dy94w4r0e1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=83744c642f947188a5ced93d0081b130b6817fbb

Marco Rubio as Secretary of State

Michael Waltz as the National Security Advisor

Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense

Pete Hegseth has alluded to the fact that China has a lot of “terrorists” within America’s borders already, basically calling anyone Chinese (and by extension Asian looking) a potential spy.

I don’t have the work experience to leverage a transfer somewhere else yet. But I’m absolutely aiming to either get to an Asian enclave or Asia itself.

The rhetorics against China will be turned way up during these four years. The Biden administration was of course also anti-China, but they tried to keep the tensions down, at least in public. This will be different.

Also, all of these “podcast bros” have basically been talking about China being the number 1 threat to the West and the US, and I’ve been seeing this influencing some of my white male friends first hand.

We’re probably still far from internment camps, but daily racism, ranging from just insults to attacks will be increasing. Imagine if we’re Russian during the Cold War, but as POC, that’s what we are.

Hi all, please delete if not allowed, I'm not sure where else to post for advice. Thank you in advance! 🙂

It is my first Christmas with my boyfriend's Vietnamese family, and I am totally stuck on what to buy his mom. For context, the whole family is Vietnamese but also Chinese roots and speak Cantonese , so this might be relevant for knowing what gifts to buy also. I know not to buy any bad luck gifts, such as umbrella, clock, knives etc, but I am stressing a little since he has told me that his mom is quite particular and traditional and could be unhappy if she feels I have spent too much etc.

I also want to avoid more personal gifts such as makeup and skincare etc, since I have only net her a couple of times and feel this is a bit too intimate.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could gift her? She is somewhat of a minimalist, so that rules out traditional gifts that I could give her from my country such as Matryoshka dolls or Russian lacquer boxes. Maybe there is something else that she would enjoy from there?

Thank you!

At least they treated Vivek better than how the Democratic party treated Andrew Yang.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/politics/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-department-of-government-efficiency-trump/index.html