Cover inspired by: aggressive quarantine snacking
It's already August...wow. We hope everyone's doing alright + wanted to give a big welcome to all our new readers!
We realized that until now we hadn't introduced our background re: our knowledge on and work within Asian American communities... so we wanted to share where we're coming from! Neither of us studied Asian American history or culture officially in college. But, we've been a part of programs during college that helped us become more conscious of our identity, verbalize, and learn more about important topics in Asian American communities. We're on a continual learning process. We can’t promise that any of our thoughts will be super sophisticated, but we can promise that they will be honest. :)
We are motivated by personal questions to make an effort at consolidating information and experiences related to Asian American identity. We never realized how much we lacked in way of related informal education, news, and content, and this is one of our many efforts to learn and build coalitions in a community that has personally felt rather fractured and isolating. To that end, we start each week with a prompt, and this week it is one from a close friend:
Who in your life or your family was an outlier whose actions or opportunities allowed them to do something that changed the course of their lives, and yours as a result?
If you have any recommendations, complaints, things you would like to see or have people and stories you want to highlight, please email us at aroundthetablenewsletter@gmail.com or fill out this form. If, for some reason, you actually like this, forward it to a friend and have them sign up here!
<3 Jamie and Melinda
🗽 South Asian Representation in Politics in NYC/NY
It's a bit baffling that of the >300,000 South Asian Americans living in NYC, in 2020, we finally might see the first one of them get elected to political office. Last year, Kevin Thomas, from Long Island and not NYC, was the first Indian American to be elected to NY State Senate. Since his achievement, there has been some momentum with South Asian candidates stepping up to run for office. Especially notable is Queens, where there's a concentrated population of South Asians. For example, Zohran Mamdani, Suraj Patel, Jenifer Rajkumar, Shaniyat Chowdhury, and Mary Jobaida are several South Asian candidates from Queens who ran for seats in both the NY and U.S. Legislature. However, given the way the districts are delineated in Queens, it has historically been difficult to consolidate the South Asian vote in that area.
Source: Sadhana (from left to right: Joy Chowdhury, Richard David, Shahana Hanif, Suraj Patel, Felicia Singh)
Some candidates had been doing quite well but commented that for so long, they've been told to "wait their turn" before running and getting support. Shaniyat Chowdhury mentioned, "There is this belief that as long as you work with the machine, and you wait your turn, that you will receive some kind of benefit out of it." But the belief doesn't seem to hold true... immigrants' challenging incumbents have proven difficult, but clearly there's a movement a-stirring. More people are seeking to represent the South Asian population, like Felicia Singh and Shahana Hanif, who plans to run for NYC City Council next year (they're both boss women who are only ~30 years old!). Anyhow, Mamdani reminds us, that even with representation, we must "ensure that we are not simply there to put a brown face in a white legislative body, but we’re there to advocate for people who have been left behind on the basis of their race and on the basis of their class."
Source: DiyaTV
While Mamdani and Rajkumar won in their respective districts in the primaries (for NY State Congress), Jobaida (who ran for NY State Congress), as well as Suraj Patel and Shaniyat Chowdhury (who both ran for U.S. Congress), did not. In November, it's almost guaranteed that both Mamdani and Rajkumar will officially win their seats and thus become the first South Asians elected to NY State Assembly.
*Also: Jeremy Akbar Cooney, who was adopted from India by an Irish family, won his district in Rochester for NY State Senate in the Democratic Primary. Maybe he'll become the second South Asian in NY State Senate after Kevin Thomas!
Federal-Level
🤝 Both Joe Biden and Barack Obama recently endorsed Sara Gideon, Maine's Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, against Republican incumbent Susan Collins. The current Speaker of the Maine House, Gideon is the daughter of an Armenian American mother and Indian American father. Besides Biden and Obama, Maine's governor, as well as 75 other leaders in Maine have vocalized their support for her within just three months since the start of her campaign. Apparently the most expensive race in Maine's history, this is one to watch! Her platform is in large part focused on access to affordable healthcare, tackling the opioid crisis, women's rights, and increasing economic and educational opportunities. (I wish I knew more about Maine to comment more, but I've only been once to Acadia National Park.)
In Other News…
🧳 The US House of Representatives voted on July 24th to repeal Trump's ban on travel from Muslim countries, but chances of passing the Senate are slim to none.
😠 Trump administration pauses new DACA applications. After rescinding the order to ban all international students taking online classes, a new rule is issued to prevent new international students from coming to the US if they are taking online classes only.
♿ Not directly Asian American related, but very important nonetheless! Recently it was the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Since it passed in 1990, it has dramatically expanded protections for people with disabilities and altered the very enviornments we live in. There is a storied history to the movement and the law, one that continues to this day. Read about it here.
Culture Segment
(Anyone have name suggestions for this second half?)
For our culture segment today, we're sharing a submission from 김형태 (pronunciation here) titled "A Yellow Feminist in Four"—it's quite different from what you’d usually see in this section. 김형태
chose the topic of the "yellow feminist praxis" (we weren't sure what it meant either). We are glad to share 김형태
’s work! You can find our thoughts on it at the end. (Below are screenshots but click here for the PDF.)
Small Feelings
(in re: above)
So immediately I thought oh this could be a zine (reminded me of my zine class from last semester). I looked up what "feminist praxis" meant: so praxis means "the performance of an action." I read this paper and it seems like "feminist praxis troubles theory and practice as dichotomous" and "intersectionality and social justice [is] central to accomplishing feminist praxis." Interesting... I also recognized that sometimes "yellow" has a negative connotation so I was curious as to what 김형태'd say.
You took a zine class last semester? Those exist?
I was fully scared to read and engage on this because I would not consider myself a super literary person, so processing work like this puts me very much out of my element. I was actually introduced to the word "praxis" freshman year but have always had trouble fully grasping the concept. A quick google search (and I don't know how credible this site is) yields that the idea of "feminist praxis" as action performed with a "belief system involving ideas of mutual nurturance, nonviolence, and small groups working for change, with attention to emotions, communal life, reciprocity, and the development of persons over time".
To that end, my initial thoughts centered around #2 and how I personally interact with other Asian women. Until recently, it didn't much feel like a communal experience, but I think that's something that's actively changing. Something I've always been hesitant about is using the right language in social activism spaces (in that I feel like if I'm not using the right words to describe something, it could be offensive - not exactly the right word, but I have few words in my brain's word bank today - and to some degree, always feel like I'm not educated enough or well versed enough to engage in conversations like this). My thoughts here are fairly unarticulated, but partially relate to exclusionary academia and a feeling that I should try to put forth a better effort to understand terms and concepts like this.
Re: the first page, I found a connection between womanist and lavender because there's a famous Alice Walker quote: "womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender." 😮 I guess throughout this I was wondering how 김형태 created this perspective if 김형태 isn't a woman themselves? I wonder where 김형태 drew inspiration from. I guess from the way it's written you can get the feeling that this is from an outside observer? Also, I wasn't too sure what 4 was referring to... Anyhow in general I liked the short sentences; each of them made me think!
I don't know the author, but also would personally hesitate to make assumptions about gender (and, I think - though this may not have been the intention - reading this from more of a lens of queerness is interesting). Also, I personally do not use the word "yellow" to describe myself (and have been uncomfortable with that usage).
Wondering also what 김형태 meant by with #4 and the "black feminist" line in the first one. There's a bit to unpack here - may come back for a closer reading. Also thinking about how this interacts with the idea of white feminism.
Re: Act Two, I smiled (also blank space does wonders!). "articulate silence" is like a paradox but makes sense. It’s also like hm where are the men re: yellow feminism??
This is interesting for me because in the past few weeks, I've gotten to know someone closely who thinks a lot on Asian masculinity (some good, some eye-brow raising) and there is a lot to be said here about that interaction with feminism and broader racial discourse?
Re: the third page, I definitely felt the urgency of the repetition, also as the letters got tighter together—there was an anxious feeling for sure. I was like "yeah I don't know what a yellow feminist praxis is either!!" Interesting to end with "what is a yello" twice 🧐
Acknowledgements? Who are the women in the picture? My initial thought is about Korean "comfort women", who were captured from Korea and China and brought to brothels as sex slaves for the Japanese imperial army in the earlier half of the 1900s.
Re: the Coda, I was trying to remember what Coda meant from piano class haha. Generally, I liked the imagery/sensory details. I thought that the pebble was the "yellow feminist," but then I wasn't too sure what/who the red canary represented... But I feel like this ended on a freeing/positive note for me.
I think it's interesting you processed this page by page because I found myself bouncing between the parts.
All in all, I’m leaving still wondering who is a “yellow feminist.” I mean it seems that the term refers to East Asian-passing women, but I’m guessing it’s more complex than that. It’s interesting because to be honest, I feel like not too many East Asians would outwardly declare that they are feminists or would feel comfortable with the word... hopefully I’m wrong? It also makes me wonder where East Asian women stand in the feminist movement (something I’ve thought about for a while and talked to a friend about after reading Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall).
No, to some extent, I would agree with that - at least in my experience, there's a lack of discussion on feminism in my household. RT to the last question, especially in an intersectional sense.
💡S P O T L I G H T💡
Prabal Gurung
Founder, Creative Director, Fashion Designer
Image Source: Hollywood Reporter
I recently finished the show Next in Fashion on Netflix. I won't spoil it of course, but one of the guest judges, whose name I'd heard about from Goldhouse, was Prabal Gurung. Born in Singapore, he grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal, later moved to New Delhi, then came to the U.S. to study at Parsons. In 2009, he launched his own collection named after himself: PRABAL GURUNG. The brand's philosophy encompasses "modern luxury, indelible style and an astute sense of glamour." I mean y'all can take a look at some of his pieces—they're spectacular and match that description. Anyhow, he's now a huge name in the fashion world. (His designs have been worn by Michelle Obama multiple times!)
He's talked a lot about his Nepali roots, his story as an immigrant, and the importance of representation (see the short video from Time here). He's also been vocal on various social issues, recognizing that he needs to leverage his platform. For his Pre-Fall 2020 collection, he cut the fabric use by 50% and upcycled materials, highlighting the urgency of the climate crisis. In the past, he's launched a $1M+ fundraiser for relief efforts after an earthquake in Nepal, spoken out about "male culpability in perpetuating sexism," sold his dresses to raise money for Time's Up, and challenged the industry's notion of beauty in his shows. It seems that he isn't afraid to proclaim that he's a feminist and call out issues of prejudice. Yes!
Chef's Specials
🇬🇧 British Vogue's September 2020 cover features 20 activists: they include Disability Visibility's Alice Wong, music artist Riz Ahmed, and Dr. Meenal Viz
📙 I recently finished *Sigh, Gone* by Phuc Tran—quite the enjoyable read about a Vietnamese-American kid who fled from the Vietnam War as a baby, grew up in middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania in the '80s, and latched onto punk rock and the Western canon for survival. It was awesome b/c I got to talk to Phuc Tran himself through a group call via a summer reading club I'm a part of! It was relatable and generally cool to learn about his story!
👑 We enjoyed this interview with Filipina-Canadian drag queen Kyne, who was recently on the show Canada's Drag Race.
💒 This thread of queer desi marriage photoshoots is 1. giving me life, 2. making me feel incredibly single, and 3. 🥺 (after it stops being a public health hazard)
Events
Today, August 5 at 6pm ET: Voting in the Time of COVID-19 - Facebook Live event with The 2020 Project, APIA Vote, AsAM News, and LAOS Angeles
Today, August 5 at 9pm ET: Asian Mental Health Project weekly virtual events: today's talk is with Jeanie Chang on having meaningful conversations with family about mental health and cultural stigma
Friday, August 7 at 1pm ET: Difficult Conversations About Race with Act to Change (Maulik Pancholy, Richard Leong)
Wednesday, August 12 at 7pm ET: Film screening & discussion hosted by Penn Global & Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH) at Penn: “9066 to 9/11: The Past, Present and Future of Anti-Asian Bias in America”