Inspired by Melinda accidentally posting a picture of mango sticky rice on the insta story
The weather has been lovely here - the springtime does lift your mood (plus the quicker vaccine rollout recently!). Anyhow, we're taking a break next week :) it's Melinda's birthday. Asking a friend to subscribe to Around the Table would be the best gift :’)
<3 Jamie & Melinda
News
💪🏽 Many Asian Americans are engaging in activism for the first time given the Atlanta shootings and year of rising hate crimes, e.g. attending a political rally or discussing race for the first time since they immigrated (both somewhat ring true for my parents!)
👊🏽 Today, we see the premiere of "Kung Fu," a reboot of the 1970s show of the same name but is now starring a strong, Chinese American female lead (Olivia Liang) instead of a white dude (David Carradine)! Olivia Liang is "an American college student who drops out and trains at a monastery in China." And of course, Tzi Ma is again the dad character 😌
😐 Sery Kim, a Republican candidate for Texas' 6th congressional district, received backlash for saying, "I don’t want them here at all," regarding Chinese immigrants. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.” California U.S. Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel rescinded their endorsements of her.
😥 TW: death, murder-suicide. Brothers Farhan Towhid (19 y.o.) and Tanvir Towhid (21 y.o.) struggled with depression for years. Earlier this year, Farhad wrote in a suicide note on social media, "if we can’t fix everything in a year we’ll kill ourselves and our family." On Monday, police discovered their entire family of 6 dead in their home in Allen, Texas. They were a part of a tight-knit Bangladeshi community. (Anyone considering suicide is urged to call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 24 hours a day/7 days a week.)
📮 The new voting law in Georgia, signed by the governor on March 24, is alarming - it places limits on when/where ballot drop boxes can be accessed, has new ID requirements, places restrictions on absentee ballot application mailing, and has a shorter deadline to request an absentee ballot.
This is especially worrisome for Asian American voters in Georgia, since they cast absentee ballots at higher rates than other racial groups in 2020, according to a lawsuit filed by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta.
TIL Colonization - Part 2.0
The link to part 1 is here. We are 10000% missing stuff, so if you have anything to add or any commentary, please email us at aroundthetablenewsletter@gmail.com!!!
The Netherlands (the Dutch)
The Netherlands isn't that big of a deal these days (sorry), so I don't think we talk about Dutch colonization as much. Other than the workings of the Dutch East India Company, I don't really recall hearing much about it growing up. However, at the time, they were a huge force in colonization.
The Dutch focused mostly on Africa ("Ivory Coast, Ghana, South Africa, Angola, Namibia, and Senegal) in their desire for empire. The Dutch were the first to establish a colony in now Cape Town around 1652. Much of their colonization was done through the Dutch East India Company (VOC) under the search for economic opportunity and trade expansion. There is a TON to say about Dutch colonization in Africa, but for the purposes of this newsletter, we are focusing primarily on Asia. If you want to learn about it, check out the source below OR email/DM to let us know!! (source)
The Dutch colonized Mauritius in 1638 and tried to establish a settlement on the island to organize ebony production, but the official colony was abandoned 20 years later. Mauritius was later claimed by France and Britain.
In 1641, following conflict with Portugal, the Dutch claimed control of Malacca, which it held until 1824. They also colonized present-day Taiwan from 1642 to 1662.
After the Napoleonic Wars and a series of small territorial advances in the region, the Dutch officially colonized Indonesia in 1815 (but they had been there since the 1600s). (source)
In 1942, Japan invaded Indonesia (then known as the Dutch East Indies) and occupied it through WWII. Japanese occupation dismantled the Dutch colonial state, and when they surrendered in 1945, Sukarno and Hatta, two nationalist leaders, declared independence.
The Dutch tried to reoccupy the islands, but after both military and diplomatic action, they were forced to recognized Indonesian independence in 1949. (For context, Joe Biden was born in 1942 and Queen Elizabeth at the time was 16.)
Colonial policies and practices around segregation still affect the country and its people today. Watch this video on the sinking city of Jakarta.
Also interesting that a lot of people in America (liberals especially) tout the amazing socialist policies of Scandinavian countries without really ever talking about their history and role in colonialism.
United States
In 1898, the Spanish-American war ended with the Treaty of Paris. In this Treaty, Spain ceded the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the U.S. for $20 million. Filipinos were not even consulted about this! In 1899, the Philippine War of Independence started and lasted for 2 years. 4,000+ Americans died, while 16,000 Filipinos died.
Finally, in 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established by the U.S., "granting Filipino independence within 10 years."
During WWII, U.S. forces, with the help of Filipino guerrillas, pushed out the Japanese who had invaded the Philippines. Finally, in 1946, the Philippines became an independent republic. (source)
Today, the US still retains 5 major territories: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. There are also 11 minor islands in the Pacific. We'll probably do a series on US territories at some point in time, but they have a fascinating history and political status. Read about some of them here and check out a book we read on them called "How to Hide an Empire" by Daniel Immerwahr.
Britain (cont)
TY to one of our readers who suggested this piece:
Churchill's policies contributed to 1943 Bengal famine – study (Source: Michael Safi for the Guardian)
Small Feelings
me when i see the 24 followers on our aapi Spotify playlist:
Also, I went to a really interesting talk that Scott Mills, president of BET Networks, gave. He was such an interesting character and gave some really good insight on the role of media and content in changing stereotyped narratives and talked about his view on supporting Black creatives. Food for thought. lmk if you want notes from that lecture...
✨ S P O T L I G H T ✨
Senti Sojwal
Writer, reproductive justice activist, co-founder of Asian American Feminist Collective
Source: Marion Aguas for Vice - 14 Portraits Showing the Diversity of Asian-American Feminism
I really admire Senti. She's literally doing the work I hope to do one day. This month, she became the Creative Director of Tia Clinic's Content Studio. But let's backtrack for a sec.
Senti was born in Nagpur, India but grew up in NYC after she and her parents immigrated there. She said she was "a rebellious teenager. Good immigrant daughters are not rebellious. They don’t smoke cigarettes in front of the high school or sneak out to go to basement shows in the East Village."
She studied Gender Studies & Politics at Hampshire College (2013) and later got a Masters in Public Health at NYU (2020). In between, she's done so much cool stuff - she worked at Sakhi for South Asian Women, wrote for The Feministing Five (where she got to interview Mitski and Lizzo!) and Mic, and led brand/marketing for Planned Parenthood of Greater NY.
In 2017, she co-founded Asian American Feminist Collective, which has since been doing amazing work and been written about in NPR, NY Times, Vice, and more. She says, "I came into feminism in many different ways, but always the most important one is that the women in my family, especially my mother, taught me what power and love look like."
Her writing on feminism issues and reproductive health has been published in The Huffington Post, Bustle, Rewire News Group, and more. I also really like this piece she wrote about Audre Lorde for Spicy Mag. You can follow Senti on Twitter and Instagram!
Chef's Specials
💫 Companies Started by East Asian Americans (by Dave Lu). Lowkey surprised to see so many companies with AAPI founders/cofounders? And well known ones too like YouTube, LinkedIn, Patreon, and Forever 21
🌶️ I should definitely bring sauces/seasoning for cooking if I go on another semi-long trip (DC has like no Asian grocery stores and it feels wasteful to buy new jars/bottles). Anyhow, I came across these sauces and wish I had them with me.
👗 Mindy Kaling looked SO GOOD at the recent Screen Actors Guild awards. Just perfect.
🕶️ Rihanna goes undercover to attend a #StopAsianHate rally. 😍
OUR LINKS
🐥 Twitter: @around_thetable
🌶️ Insta: @around_thetable_
Anonymous Feedback Form: https://forms.gle/198r2Tgu9ZYfTbCj7
SpotlightForm: https://forms.gle/AD5vGqgNbSYWn5wJ7
AAPI Artists Spotify Playlist: