asian-diaspora-history-heritage

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

I decided to watch it (coincidentally) the day after Korean American Day. Y’all... even though I’m Chinese American instead of Korean American, I resonated so much with the diaspora dialogue.

However, I have to give y’all a CW for sexual assault, some sexual scenes, racial slurs (n-word said by non-Black people included), and alcohol.

- Mod Spitfire

didn’t know I needed Seoul Searching until I watched it last night at 2am curled up in my bed. laughed out loud and bawled like a baby. first movie packed full with Asian actors that I could relate to on so many levels. just woke up with puffy eyes and a new respect. y’all should watch it

#I think I’ve reblogged a post about Seoul Searching #but I FINALLY actually watched it #y’all... I was laughing then SOBBING and then laughing again and crying #cannot recommend this movie ENOUGH for the diaspora and for those who want to understand a little of the diaspora experience #netflix #seoul searching #movie #asian american #asian identity #east asian #south korea #mod spitfire speaks #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

I’m so happy for them 💜 Our lives, our choice!

but meanwhile in texas….                                                

#congrats to korean women!!! #south korea #east asian #women's rights #abortion #prochoice #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

white people can rb but keep your comments to yourself

#aave

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

#food gentrification #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish followers. May the next several days bring you light and blessings.

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

Hello friends,

I am tryna make it through this last month until my new job goes full time in January🤞🏿. I’d appreciate any donations for gas and groceries, if you can spare or a reblog of you can’t 🖤

#boost #reblog #solidarity #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

#hi daily reminder that cops are bad #fuck the police #resources #ref #reference #references #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

*slides a plate of cookies to people from Disney*

please don’t whitewash the cast of Mulan

*offers them a glass of milk*

please cast Chinese actors to play Chinese people

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

A white: but saying Asians are naturally smart is POSITIVE discrimination:)))

Me: The model minority myth was invented by whites as a tool of antiblackness to create divisions between communities of color and prove that ‘anyone can succeed in America if they just TRY hard enough!!1!’ thereby implying that antiblackness is black ppl’s own fault for not TRYING enough. Additionally, it relies on false interpretations of data and hurts the opportunities of all Asians, particularly less privileged ones, and dehumanizes Asians by furthering stereotypes of us as some kind of innately robot-like monolithic-minded hive, devalues our individual accomplishments and uses us as a tool to further antiblackness

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

They Called Us Enemy (2019) //   Top Shelf Productions

George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father’s—and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.

In a stunning graphic memoir, Takei revisits his haunting childhood in American concentration camps, as one of over 100,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon—and America itself—in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love. 

Story: Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, George Takei, art: Harmony Becker

Get it here

#books #graphic novels #asian representation #Japanese Internment #internment camps #representation matters #asian american history #asian americans #george takei #amazing asians #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

Rest In Power Representative Elijah E. Cummings 10-17-19

#I'm going to straight up cry #elijah e cummings #senator cummings #a real hero #rip elijah cummings #us politics #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

On Asian "accents"

It started when I was in kindergarten, and I was so proud I did not have to go to Bingo class, unlike my friends, because I could speak good English -

although I had no idea what a yellow dog that could spell had anything to do with Chinese. 

(I figure out now that it was probably called Bilingual class)

I am lucky. I speak the fluent, accentless English of newscasters, the dialect spoken by the children of immigrants, that we learned not from our parents but rather from watching Sesame Street and other things on tv.

Last year, a white facebook friend of mine posted, “In order to celebrate Chinese New Year, me talk rike chinese man arr day.” 

And then told me that she was “sorry I was offended” and “she didn’t mean anything by it” when I (nicely, sweetly) told her that that shit was not okay. She said that she saw it the same as doing an accent, like Irish. Or British. Or Italian. (for bonus points, she even said that she has lots of Asian co-workers and friends, and LOVES Asian people, and so is not a racist.)

And when one of my white friends gets drunk, he thinks his “Asian accent” is hilarious.

And I was told by a coworker about the time my Asian coworker mispronounced “Barroway” as “Bwawwoway” and how hilarious it was.

Here’s the thing - can you guess how many Asian people I know who actually say

me rikey

me from _____

me so solly

(or, if you like, the fetishized versions: me so horny, me love you long time)

if you said ZERO, then ding ding ding! Congratulations, you have working brain cells.

No, my misguided fb friend, the “Asian accent” is not an actual imitation of an accent, comparable to your bad British/Irish/Italian - but rather a mockery of Asian people and their supposed inability to speak English. It is the perpetuation of the image of Asian people as perpetual foreigners in America.

Like that time when my family was at an Italian restaurant, and we were speaking to my father in Cantonese, and a drunken white lady said very loudly, “GOD when you come to this country at least learn the language!”

Or when my father was pulled over for speeding, and although he said “what’s the problem, officer?” the first thing the state trooper said was, “Do you speak English?”

Your fake “Asian accents” are not harmless and silly, because at the root of the joke, it says - you, you are stupid. You cannot speak English. You are Other. You do not belong.

my parents have been in this country for 30 years. They have been American citizens for 30 years.

And they are very self-conscious of their imperfect English, afraid that it makes them look ignorant, knowing that it marks them as immigrants. That, after 30 years, you can still be told (in not so many words) that you do not belong.

The Cultural Revolution started in China when my father was 13. He was pulled out of school and, later, sent to work in the fields. (He escaped to Hong Kong when he was 18, but that is another story for another time.)

When my father came to this country, he had a middle school education and did not speak a lick of English. He worked as a busboy at a Chinese restaurant, the evening shift that ran until 3 or 4 in the morning, and went to school during the day.

It took my father ten years to earn his bachelor’s degree. He is now an engineer.

Is this not your “American Dream?”

When my mother came to this country, she spoke very little English. She got a job as an entry level clerk. Over the years she earned one promotion after another. She is now management at a large federal agency, and manages funds for the whole state.

Is this not your “American Dream?”

And my father didn’t understand why his coworkers said, “flied lice, flied lice!” to him over and over and laughed.

And my father is still afraid to speak in a professional setting, even when he has ideas. 

And my mother still checks and double checks her professional e-mails with me, for fear of mockery from the same people she manages.

And people don’t understand why I can’t take a harmless joke. Why I don’t think that shit is funny.

No, I don’t “rikey.” 

No, I won’t “love you long time.”

And no, I’m not sorry.

So, please, kindly - FUCK OFF.

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

↖This blog does not tolerate colorism or anti-blackness!!!

#just so you know #mod spitfire

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

someone: *criticizes japanese media for its misogyny, racism, pedophilia, etc*

white people in the US: Have you considered that Japanese culture is different?

Japanese Americans: *talk about whitewashing Asian roles in Hollywood and cultural appropriation*

white people in the US: Here’s an article on what Japanese people in Japan think about this topic because Japan’s race relations are exactly the same as ours. 

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

‘just talk to them. they’ll understand’

whenever in the past I’ve sought professional help, they always just tell me to talk to my parents and have a calm discussion and that it would make everything better. it’s usually a caucasian male telling me that. I don’t think they understand the dynamic my parents and I have. there is no calm discussion or a compromise. it’s either my parents’ way or my parents’ way. when I told my mum that I had anxiety and depression, she told me that those things didn’t exist and I should just be happy, that I had no reason for being sad. 

my parents are asian. they’re the stereotypical tiger parents who think hitting a child is discipline and that it’s normal to never hug your child or tell them you love them. they think that they can get away with anything as long as they tell you ‘it’s because you’re our child that we do this. if you were some stranger we wouldn’t care. you should be grateful’. 

I use to think that all asian parents were like this, but I was wrong. my parents are just plain old abusive and I never figured it out til I was much older, but then again what child wants to think that their parents are intentionally being maliciously mean, that they get off on the power of being powerful over a child who can’t defend themselves. 

sometimes I forget. sometimes I’m still in denial. sometimes I pretend that they really do love me. but then I don’t answer them quick enough, loud enough or I’m dressing the wrong way and suddenly it’s world war 3 again and I just have to sit there and take it. because there is no other way. you have to sit there and take it and pray that you make it. that maybe down the track in a few years time, you can call yourself a survivor and not have to look back. but until then, you have to hold your breathe and hide in your room and hope that nothing pisses them off, because then they’ll come seeking you out and everything is your fault.

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

We are all equal. 

[asian-diaspora-history-heritage]

“nobody likes asian men”

ok so can we pls talk about asian american gender politics and how the media can shape our personal belief systems as well as what we believe are our own preferences

asian women have always been stereotyped as hypersexual, obedient, submissive geisha dolls and it’s incredibly damaging to have us fetishized and portrayed as this warped ideal. we already talk about this LOTS on tumblr and that’s a great step forward.

but on the other side of the spectrum, asian men are frequently stereotyped in the media as effeminate, “gay”, and less masculine. for example, whenever asian male celebrities DO appear on tv, the white media immediately attempts to shut them down by mocking them or using homphobic, gender-normative insults - just look at how white tv hosts treat BTS or any popular asian idols. asian men aren’t fully treated as men by society - they’re mocked as feminine, “lesser men”.

not to mention how even the liberal media stereotypes asian men as EXTREMELY misogynistic, perpetuating the myth that asian women need to be “saved” by a white savior from their “oppressive asian cultures”. when not being laughed at for wearing makeup or being good dancers, asian men are portrayed as wife-beating, patriarchal, assholes, and it isn’t fair. there are so few examples of positive representation for asian men in the media and it really impacts how people perceive them and how they value their worth.

lastly it pains me when i hear women, notably INCLUDING my own asian sisters, openly shitting on asian guys and saying things like “Lol I’d never date an Asian, they’re weird as fuck!” or “haha i only like white guys, yeah they’re just so much more manly you know?” you’re further hurting the AAPI community and contributing to the already significant insecurities, dysphoria, and lack of self-esteem plaguing us. you’re worsening the problem where asian women are hypersexualized and asian men are emasculated - take several seats. Asian women’s issues and Asian men’s issues are literally two sides of the same coin and we need to move forward together as a community.

psa everyone is welcome to their own preferences / ideals but please don’t further damage our community by pushing racist, sexist narratives. you benefit nobody when u crack an unoriginal, stale-ass small dick joke, or a shitty “LOL KPOP GAY!!!” joke, please see yourself out.