#MyAsianAmericanStory: Speaking Out Against Political Nonsense

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens in American politics anymore especially since presidential politics in the U.S. has entered a new level of silliness, but I was taken aback by Jeb Bush’s use of the derogatory and inflammatory anchor babies label against Asians.  I get his desire to out-Trump Donald Trump these days, since he is lagging in the Republican primary polls under the scorching heat of Trump-Ra.  But let’s call it as it is: he probably didn’t want to offend (perhaps even further) Latinos/as who he will need to have a chance in hell to be elected president, so he picks on Asians and Asian Americans thinking (in a not so well-thought out way) that maybe no one will care–after all, Asians are pretty quiet and compliant, aren’t we?#MyAsianAmericanStory is one small way of expressing that Asian Americans are no longer willing to let such slights go by unanswered.  Asian Americans: Invisible no longer– let’s hope so.

For more on the #MyAsianAmericanStory, take a look at this L.A. Times piece.

And today’s New York Times editorial is one of the better ones I’ve read in a long while.  The editorial board provides an insightful critique of the Asian anchor babies comment.  Good for them.

What Should Students Read After Ferguson?

Los Angeles Times reporter recently asked me and a couple of others which two books or essays students should read regarding race and racism in the Ferguson era.  Whittling it down to only two was almost impossible, but I managed–it was an interesting exercise.  I pared it down to James Cone’s A Black Theology of Liberation and a Harper’s Magazine interview between Cornel West and Jorge Klor de Alva.  You can read more about these two texts in the L.A. Times article that came out yesterday.