Inspired by Hawaiian Spam Musubi
besties im tired as hell
(hi, a quick note from Melinda - thank you, JAMIE, for such a sweet surprise last week. π You got me. I was so touched - tbh I wasn't that excited about my birthday and still get a little squeamish (? is that even the right word) when someone goes out of their way to do something for me. I truly appreciate π)
also, while Earth Day should be every day, we hope you take a few min to observe and be in nature, or share this guide on climate justice terms (e.g. environmental racism), or listen to this (fun) Today Explained podcast, and think critically about who's causing damage, who's disproportionately impacted, and how we can take action to mitigate it!
thank you :) jamie and melinda
News
πΌ I (lowkey) think boba is overrated, but this was funny. Temporary boba shortage reported on the west coast as a result of Taiwanese government restrictions on water usage (tapioca comes from the cassava root). LA is safe, but if you wanted to read more about the issue, check this out.
π Rep. Pramila Jayapal pushes on the Biden administration to lift the refugee cap prior to May 15th. With refugee resettlement offices "decimated by funding cuts during the Trump administration", thousands of more than "100,000 refugees" have been waiting to join family members in the US and escape persecution and violence in their home countries.
TW: violence, acid attack, scars, burns, blood, video footage
π’ 21 year olds south asian Hofstra student Nafiah Fatima was attacked in her Long Island driveway when a random person threw acid on her, causing severe burns on her face, eyes, chest, and arms. The attacker has not been caught, but this is certainly a concerning incidence as acid attacks are a "huge issue in the subcontinent" and in the UK. (More information about her story and gofundme here).
π₯ Last week, 8 people at an Indianapolis FedEx, 4 of them members of the Sikh religious community, were murdered by a 19-year-old. The shooter was a former employee and was able to legally obtain the semiautomatic rifles despite a stint in psychiatric detention. He apparently browsed white supremacist websites in March 2020.
π₯ Not specifically AAPI related, but good news nonetheless. The USDA extended their universal free lunch policy through the 2021-2022 school year.
πͺ #Debate Andrew Yang, despite popularity and a level of optimism that is rare in politics, may not be the best fit for NYC Mayor. Check out this opinion piece on criticism of his policies, and we would love to hear back what you think!
π£οΈ And finally, a guilty verdict on all three accounts in the Chauvin trial:
Intro: Nationality, Ethnicity, & Race
Today, we're featuring excerpts from a blog published on Hello Prosper by Candace Schneider. Kelly, the founder of Hello Prosper, has been a great supporter of this newsletter, and we're so thankful!
Original blog written by Candace Schneider; edited by Andy Tang
(note: we added the images in between - these weren't in the original blog)
As a multi-racial person, Iβve become accustomed to answering the question βWhat are you? You donβt seem totally whiteβ from classmates to coworkers. Iβve also become accustomed to checking multiple boxes when filling out a survey, job application, or census. Occasionally running into the issue of deciding which part of me I represent when Iβm only allowed one box to check. Race, ethnicity, and nationality are fundamental parts to what makes you, you. But what do those questions truly mean? And how does this affect our day-to-day lives?
Defining Nationality, Ethnicity, & Race
Nationality is the most straightforward of the three. Merriam Websterβs first definition is simply, βnational characterβ but provides the additional definition, βNational status, specifically: a legal relationship involving allegiance on the part of an individual and usually protection on the part of the stateβ. There are also instances where nationality is used as a euphemism for your nation of origin or βthe place youβre really fromβ. Being born in America as a citizen, my nationality is American. ...Not all countries have βjus soliβ or birthright citizenship though, and people from those places may define nationality differently. There are currently just over 30 countries where a child is granted citizenship by the country they are born in, the United States being one of them.
Ethnicity tends to be less about the physical characteristics of someone and more about the culture and customs they were brought up in. Simply defined as βa particular ethnic affiliation or groupβ by Merriam Webster, the language you spoke growing up, the religion you were raised in, and the social customs you follow can each inform your ethnicity. βEthnicity, unlike race, is not visible on the surfaceβ says Robinson in her breakdown of Race and Equity for Prep Scholars blog. For example, Kurdish, Punjabi and Tibetan are ethnicities from various Asian regions, each with rich linguistic and cultural heritage. However, they currently do not possess their own nation states, and therefore, cannot be nationalities. Meanwhile, Arabs and Latinos are some of the most racially diverse ethnicities that encompass entire nations and span multiple continents. ...The sheer size of these broader ethnic groups means that they almost always overlap with nationalities or other ethnicities, such as Peruvian or North African.
Image from Unsplash of woman wearing Tibetan headdress in Washington, D.C.
Race is defined as βany one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestryβ (Merriam Webster). Typically, your race is assigned to you based on certain relatively unchangeable traits that most people within a racial category commonly have, like facial features and hair texture. Given the more βvisibleβ nature of race, you might be quick to think itβs the most straightforward. ...However, American history has shown us that where we draw the line in terms of racial groups is oftentimes arbitrary. ...Because they werenβt black, Asians were briefly considered white until the casesΒ Ozawa v. United States (1922)Β andΒ United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923)Β deemed these groups as βnon-whiteβ and therefore ineligible for citizenship at that time. Throughout history, race has been used to restrict access to resources, divide groups of people, or even incite mass genocide. One thing is clear: race is not a black-and-white issue.
Race versus Ethnicity
Despite being terms with different definitions, Jennifer Brody, the Stanford University's director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, claims that one cannot live without the other since they have a large influence with how we deal with race within the U.S. (Oprah Mag).
"You can't really define them separately because they are intimately related... Sometimes people mistakenly think that ethnicity is reserved only to whites or Europeans, but really it just means one's language or culture," she says. "This is why they're kind of interchangeable. There are two ways of understanding. You can think of one: the idea of race earlier in the worldβand sometimes nowβworks like ethnicity in terms of one's cultural ideas.
More often than not, ethnicity is used as a proxy for race in everyday communication and vice versa. For instance, when we refer to the Asian race in the U.S., you may picture a person of East Asian descent with a certain eye shape, hair texture or skin tone, whereas in the U.K. the term Asian is commonly associated with a person of South Asian descent. Now consider that this race would have to account for well over 20 very distinct ethnicities, some of which were mentioned earlier, with a wide range of physical features, religions, and languages. Then, we begin to see how βAsianβ in a way breaks the definitions of both race and ethnicity.
No matter what race and ethnic grouping you identify as, the intersectionality of these categorizations deeply affect how you view your world, make choices, and live your life. They also affect how others perceive you which can, in turn, affect how you view yourself and the groups you identify with. ...
Read the rest of Candace's blog on how these terms affect your daily life regarding race as a social construct (!!), nationalism, and the US Census here.
small feelings
trying to reconcile feeling grateful to have tbh the most "ideal" job among all the options after graduating, but also realizing i am very replaceable... i know myself that i've been contributing well / doing well in my role, but there's always a sense of worry that "i'm not trying enough" but at the same time, i don't really want to try that hard anyway? my definition of success is definitely not climbing the corporate ladder or even staying in corporate America for that long anyway, so why do i still feel anxious from time to time? sigh.
S P O T L I G H T
Kristy Drutman
a.k.a. "Brown Girl Green" (youth climate activist, environmental media host)
Given that it's Earth Day tomorrow, I wanted to spotlight someone in climate activism! I recently came across @ browngirl_green on Instagram (55K followers on IG wow!). Kristy is a Jew-Pina (Jewish and Filipina) American environmentalist who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2017.
In her freshman year, she realized how white the environmental movement is, saying, "We can't even begin talking about a clean energy future if we don't address economic injustice and racial injustice." On her podcast, she says, "It's time to put Brown back in the Green Movement." It seems like the year she graduated college, she started her podcast and media series, Brown Girl Green. Here, she interviews environmental leaders and advocates about diversity and inclusion and creative solutions for coping with the climate crisis.
Previously, she's interned for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and attended COP24 (2018 UN climate change conference in Poland) as a U.S. youth delegate. Recently, she was a digital campaigner for 350.org and started as an Assistant Lecturer at UC Berkeley! She's also currently a Board Member of the Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity.
π Chef's Specials π
π "I Tried to Filter Him Out". Dating a Hindu Indian man as a Pakistani Muslim Girl. (NYT Modern Love)
βοΈ Did you know that 1 in 5 Americans struggle with medical debt? Neither did we. Take a look at this podcast/article on getting out of medical debt (for individuals... systemic change is so so necessary) (NPR)
ππ» Model Liu Wen talks about career, Chinese-ness, and taking time off (WSJ)
π΅ Guapdad 4000, a singer-songwriter, opens up about discrimination growing up in Oakland as a Black Filipino artist (NextShark)
π BTS McDonalds Collab (NextShart)
Events
Today at 6pm ET on IG Live: Join Sikh Americans on IG to learn about the concept of seva and why it remains relevant today!
Saturday, April 24 at 9pm ET: Harvard Philippine Forum presents: Engaging Filipinx-American Activism: Unpacking Anti-Asian Racism in the U.S. (featuring Jia Tolentino!!)
OUR LINKS
π₯ Twitter: @around_thetable
πΆοΈ Insta: @around_thetable_
Anonymous Feedback Form: https://forms.gle/198r2Tgu9ZYfTbCj7
Spotlight Form: https://forms.gle/AD5vGqgNbSYWn5wJ7
AAPI Artists Spotify Playlist (pls add songs!):