I remember growing up, I was a big fan of the TV show “That 70's Show." It had a catchy intro and featured a group of teenagers, one of them even a migrant like me! In one episode, one of the characters went ring shopping for his girlfriend. The store owner tried to help him choose a ring by putting it on and pretending to be her. However, the boyfriend was “thrown off” by the … [Read more...]
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Being an Immigrant
In the past year or so it has come to my attention just how little non-immigrants know about what being an immigrant is like. This is a serious problem, and its repercussions are becoming more clear as the world, fuelled by events like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, becomes more blatant in its anti-immigration sentiments. But knowledge is power, and I want to do … [Read more...]
Talking to My Asian Immigrant Family About Anti-Asian Racism
It took twenty-three years and living a continent away before I was finally able to talk to my parents directly about anti-Asian racism in the United States. It wasn’t that we had never spoken about discrimination or microaggressions before. It was just that it was mostly about non-Asian people of color — and often, the Asian community was the perpetrator. My siblings and I … [Read more...]
6 Lessons To Learn From Fathers of Color This Fathers’ Day
As I reflect on my father this Fathers' Day, I'm reminded of how I used to teach writing for freshmen at a community college. One of my regular reader-response assignments included an essay by San Francisco journalist Rose del Castillo Guilbault about how the word “macho” carries different interpretations depending on culture. She argues that to Americans, "macho" is a negative … [Read more...]
6 Formas de quererte cuando sos indocumentado en los EE. UU.
1 Recordá que tu existencia es valida Cuando sos constantemente objeto de leyes, enmiendas y especulación mediática, es fácil olvidarse que sos más que un número. Tu existencia es válida, sin importar cómo cruzaste la frontera, de donde sos o donde estas hoy. Los seres humanos no pueden ser “ilegales”, especialmente en un país cuyas leyes se construyeron sobre la esclavitud … [Read more...]
Wading Through Whiteness: Reclaiming My Identity as a Filipina Immigrant
My very first experience of shame (that I can remember) occurred in the third grade after my family had emigrated from the Philippines to Canada. We were asked what we had had for breakfast that morning, and I volunteered "Vegetable soup!" as an answer. In response, I heard a chorus of laughter and a "What kind of weirdo has soup for breakfast?" On the surface, this … [Read more...]
3 Ways Black People Have Shown Solidarity With Asians That We Don’t Talk About
Asians generally don’t participate in discussions about white supremacy. Even more rare from our communities are conversations about our own active part in racism, specifically the ways we let ourselves become weaponized to perform anti-blackness. We subscribe to white supremacy’s “Model Minority Myth,” believing that we do not share the same experiences with black … [Read more...]
