This week, the banner is inspired by Simone Jacobson's reflections on opening and closing a Burmese restaurant in DC during a pandemic.
HEY FRIENDS. Wow, June went by really fast...
Thank you for staying tuned into our 3rd newsletter, and a super big shout out to all those who have given feedback and suggestions. Following that, we have decided to table some longer conversations mentioned in the last issue and have decided to make this one a bit more colorful than the others. But, one announcement before the actual content:
We are looking for more people to join us! If you or someone you know has thoughts on the AAPI experience and wants to write something about it, please let us know! We are preferably looking for people who don't come from the same background as us (i.e. 2nd gen Chinese American women). We have a NOMINATION form here for any suggestions of people for us to reach out to, and it takes ~34 seconds to fill out. We HIGHLY encourage self-nominations! 🥺
As always, you can email aroundthetablenewsletter@gmail.com or provide feedback through our anonymous form. If you actually like this, forward it to a friend and have them sign up on our website. THANK YOU <3
Jamie & Melinda
Some Asian American Millennials Running For Congress - East Coast Edition
Lately, news about politics has come once again to prominence as the past week kicked off several primaries in key states. One, we would like to say - VOTE. Two, if you can, try to vote absentee or mail-in vote because many areas are still prone to COVID infections, especially with crowded polling stations and long lines.
We recently realized that there are many 30-something-year-old Asian Americans running for U.S. Congress this year! Huge props... currently, the U.S. House of Representatives is 14/538 Asian (~2.6%) and the U.S. Senate is 3/100 Asian (3%). Asian Americans make up 5.6% of the U.S. population. There's a running list of AAPI folks running for office—not just federal—in 2020 here! Full disclosure, we picked randomly from that list, checked for their age (30-somethings), and these 4 below all happened to be Democrats... Let's learn a bit about them.
Qasim Rashid (pictured below), a 37-year-old Pakistani-American running for the House of Representatives, just won the Democratic primary for Virginia's 1st congressional district! Let's see how he does in November... He says, "As a human rights lawyer who has dedicated my life to support women who are survivors of domestic and sexual violence and serve children from vulnerable communities, I’m running to transform my advocacy into policy for the working families of Virginia’s 1st District."
Nabilah Islam, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi American, ran in Georgia's 7th District Democratic primary, but she lost, getting 12% of the vote. Nonetheless, she's been inspirational and made headlines for giving up health insurance to run for Congress. She said, "We’re a country that’s starving for representation. You can’t be what you can’t see. Women like Rashida Talib were pioneers and made me believe in myself. ...My name is Nabilah Islam. It’s an American name.”
Suraj Patel, a 36-year-old NYU business ethics professor and former Obama campaign staffer, was like <2% away from winning New York's 12th Congressional District Democratic primary. In 2018, he was defeated by the same opponent, who's more than twice his age. (In 2018, he also got some heat for "Tinder-banking" lmao) In a campaign video, he said "Far too many people on both sides of the East River are shut out of education and economic opportunity. We deserve representation with vision."
Joanne Mantilla, a PENN GRADUATE from the Nursing School, was running in Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District. On her website, she said, "I'm on a mission to improve our nation's health. We deserve to thrive, not just survive." Sadly, she withdrew before the primary on June 2. It seemed like she was the only Asian American running for a U.S. Congress nomination in Pennsylvania...
It's cool just to see that "younger" Asian Americans are stepping into politics on a national level :') (Of course state and local level races are super important too.) We don't know too much, but reading about their perspectives and races has been informative and encouraging. Stay tuned for a West Coast and a Middle America Edition. 🙂
⚠️‼️LOUD DISCLAIMER‼️⚠️- these are NOT endorsements of any candidate or their platforms. If anyone has insights or opinions on any of these individuals, we 100% invite you to leave a comment on this newsletter (I think you can do so on the website link). In fact, we ENCOURAGE looking deeper into their policy positions and their actions to see what you may support, not support, and where the candidate has and/or lacks potential.
Corporate Colorism
With the momentum of the Black Lives Matter moment, we the people 😤 have been calling out companies for how they perpetuate racism and colorism in their practices and products. The beauty industry is most definitely a culprit, convincing women for many years that whiter and lighter skin is "better," that dark skin is undesirable. My (Melinda's) mom admits to this—growing up she was taunted for her slightly tanner skin by adults and peers alike. Throughout her adult life, she has always bought foundation two shades lighter than her natural skin tone, having internalized that darker = being looked down upon. 😢
Last week, Johnson & Johnson announced it would stop selling skin whitening products in its Asian and Middle East markets. It's appalling—its Neutrogena "Fine Fairness" line was only sold in Asia and the Middle East, while its "Clean & Clear Fairness" line was only sold in India. !!! I can't (and can...) believe it took this long to realize this was BAD. After J&J's announcement, Unilever and its Indian subsidiary made the decision to drop words like "fair", "white", and "light" from their products. One of its brands is literally called Fair & Lovely (it also just so happens to have 70% of the skin-lightening market in India). L'Oreal also decided to drop these words for its Garnier products.
Removing these words and cutting products are just the start of trying to reduce the harm and discrimination that colorism has created for people-of-color around the world. But...how much change will happen? These companies didn't say they'd fully discontinue these products. 😨 After all, the skin-lightening market is apparently $8.3 billion... What's hopeful for me I guess is that we are having more conversations on how colorism came to be, how it's detrimental, and how we must change attitudes in our communities and be critical about how society perpetuates colorism. Change is slow but a-coming...
Other bits o news we wanted to highlight
Reopening plans in the US are getting put on a halt as new cases arise in several states. Of course, there are implications for everyone (literally everyone), but we wanted to highlight those working in healthcare, particularly Filipino Nurses. Vox just released a good video on this historical relationship between the Philippines and the US in the context of COVID-19.
APIAVote held a digital town hall with Joe Biden and Trump's stand-in, Former Guam Governor Eddie Baza Calvo where they addressed, among many things, AAPI issues. Coverage by NBC Asian America.
Following months of democracy protests in Hong Kong, China passes a new security law that allows mainland security broad investigative powers on the island.
India bans ~60 Chinese social media platforms after the worst Himalayan border dispute in decades left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
That class called "Human Geo" that I never took
In lieu of our regular programming (ie. those long articles that will return next week), we wanted to break the normal pattern with some demographic data and baseline definitions/statistics. I can nOT stress how badly geography is taught in American public education, and it's good to get a physical understanding of the countries and people that "Asian American & Pacific Islander" encompass. Saddle up, because this will also be our most illustrated newsletter ever. 🐎
What is Asia?
First and foremost, Asia is the largest and most diverse continent. Although conventional use of the term "Asian" is most often used to refer to those closer to the east (at least in the US - apparently "Asian" in the UK more often refers to South Asia), ALL these countries are in Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia (parts in Europe and Asia), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Turkey (parts in Europe and Asia), Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen.
What does "Asian American" mean (literally)?
According to the US Census, "Asian American" often refers to East Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Asians. What does that entail? (Note: The written terms encompass ethnicities, but the maps are primarily country-based. We tried our best to find exact maps, but there were few good ones that were fully labeled).
Southeast Asians - Bruneian, Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Timorese, Thai, Vietnamese
South Asians - Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Indian, Maldivians, Nepali, Pakistani, Sri Lankan
East Asians - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Okinawan, Taiwanese, Tibetan
Our classic understanding of "Asian American" often also leaves out those considered part of Central Asia and West Asia.
Central Asians - Afghani, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgians, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek (Mongolia featured in the East Asia map)
West Asians - Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey (straddles Europe and Asia) United Arab Emirates and Yemen. NOTE: "West Asian" is actually a contested term because people often do not self-identify as "Asian", instead opting for a closer association with "Middle Eastern". At Penn (where Melinda & I went/go to school), Penn Arabs are part of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition.
What does Pacific Islander mean?
Pacific Islander refers to "(in the U.S. Jurisdictions & Territories) Carolinian, Chamorro, Chuukese, Fijian, Guamanian, Kosraean, Marshallese, Niuean, Palauan, Pohnpeian, Papua New Guinean, Samoan, Tokelauan, Tongan, Yapese". Often also included are Native Hawaiians.
Why are they divided like this?
Like the continent of "Asia" itself, there is no historical consensus on the clear definitions of each "subregion". Historical accounts of the geographic determinations go back to Ancient Greeks and Romans, but the definition of "Asia" has changed over time. Some opt for a division based on tectonic plate configuration and others on the basis of ethnicity. For now, this is the dominant understanding of the continent and its regions. Make of that what you will...
What are our definitions leaving out?
There is an important distinction between the political/official states that are shown the maps and the reality of "Asian American" experiences. A lil bit of that good human geo vocabulary bank - states are "independent, sovereign government exercising control over a certain spatially defined and bounded areas" while nations are "socially constructed units". US policy refers to "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" on the basis of country origin, but within each country, there are a number of diverse individual nations based on religion, ethnic identity, language, or cultural practices. Not all of these nations have associated states, and they can exist within a larger state that is predominately controlled by a different group. China, for example, contains over 56 different ethnic groups (a fact I actually first learned when I was studying for this Chinese examination, of which I have forgotten 99.9% of the contents). These include Uyghurs, Hmong, Zhuang, Han Chinese, and many more. Likewise, this diversity exists within each country, and these differences are not trivial!
Tell me more about Asian Americans!
Now for some QUICK quick stats on Asian Americans. (Note: when we use this term from here on out, it is meant to broadly refer to the Pan-Asian American community including Pacific Islanders, but if there are important nuances, we will specify). In the US, there are over 20 million individuals of Asian American descent. The majority are from 6 countries - China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam - and people from Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar (Burmese) are the fastest-growing populations, primarily driven by immigration. From 2000 to 2012, Indians were the fastest-growing group at a 76% growth rate.
66% of Asian Americans are foreign-born, but not all Asian Americans are immigrants. Following previous waves of migration, many groups, primarily those with Japanese, Hmong, Filipino, Laotian, and Cambodian origins, are likely to have been born in the US or many generations in.
Asian Americans primarily live in California, New York, Texas, New Jersey, and Hawaii, and many Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians live in Hawaii, California, Washington, Texas, and Utah.
Asian American Refugees & Undocumented Immigrants
Quotes and graphs do better than we can here, so in the words of our source:
"At 62%, those from Asian countries made up the largest group of all refugee arrivals to the U.S.
At 44%, those from Asian countries made up the largest group of all persons granted asylum in the U.S., whether affirmatively or defensively.
At 26%, the largest group of refugees to the U.S. were from Myanmar.
At 24%, the largest group of those granted asylum, whether affirmatively or defensively, was from China."
Multi-Racial Asian Americans
As multiracial populations in the US grow, it's super important to acknowledge those within the Asian American community. Mixed-race identity can be complex, and it will be a topic covered more in-depth later, but we wanted to leave you with some people who have shared their own experiences navigating places in their communities.
"These interviews represent the stories of six multiracial Americans. Each story is important not because it is representative of a trend, but because of the validity of their personal experiences. That is what I think the true value is of understanding multicultural identity." - Katie Cunningham
According to the 2010 Census, among folks of two races, 1,623,234 people are of White/Asian descent, 185,595 of Black/Asian descent, 165,690 of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander/Asian descent, 58,829 of Native American/Asian descent, and 234,462 of "Some Other Race" (SOR) /Asian descent ("SOR" is the label the Census used). You can find the numbers for the populations of three or more races on page 6 of the report.
Addendum & Further Resources
There are so many intricacies, topics, and statistics we would love to dive into, but for the sake of keeping this newsletter digestible, we are going to stop here (for now). We would highly recommend taking a look at these different statistics and demographic trends, as they are important for providing context to the world around us.
AAPI Data is a BEAUTIFUL project with TONS of great infographics and breakdowns. We'll continue to highlight some of their best work throughout the course of the newsletter, but please check them out for yourself if you have the time.
We suggest you check out the Pew Research Study for facts on education levels, naturalization rates, income, wealth, etc. Truly sOLID data.
Small Feelings
A place for some thoughts and musings... (i.e. Twitter without the character limit)
I wish I had a better understanding of the differences in expressing affection and love between me and my parents. Growing up, I think the disconnect between me wanting more verbal support and physical connection and what I perceived to be their emotional isolation and desire for control (at the time, at least) fostered a certain level of mistrust and resentment. In college, I learned about different love languages and more or less worked really fuckin hard on rebuilding a relationship by actively trying to be more transparent (no matter how much it went against my instincts). And, it's something that both of us are working on but also something I've been thinking about a lot given COVID restrictions and my perspective on their views/actions.
💡 S P O T L I G H T 💡
Padma Lakshmi
Food show host, model, author
I followed Padma on Instagram for her advocacy around endometriosis, sexual assault, and gender equity before I knew the extent of her other incredible accomplishments. In short, she's the host of Top Chef and her own show Taste of the Nation, the author of 3 cookbooks and a memoir, and a supermodel (she paid off her college loans with her modeling/acting work!!). It's pretty cool how she pivoted from modeling to the food world. She also co-founded The Endometriosis Foundation of America!
Backtracking...Padma immigrated from India to the U.S. at age 4 and grew up in NYC and LA. I really enjoyed hearing her interview on the Asian Enough podcast, where she talks a lot about her identity and upbringing (e.g. feeling confused/lost as an Indian American teen in suburban LA). Growing up, eating, and making food was a way for her to connect with family in a "non-controversial" way. She describes this experience and so much more in her memoir, Love, Loss, and What We Ate.
From 2006 until now, she's been a judge on Top Chef. And on June 19, her new Hulu show Taste of the Nation came out, highlighting the richness of different cuisines and cultures across America. She said the show was "borne out of the frustration of hearing...other people define what it means to be American... or what is American food." She gives a huge shout-out to immigrants in her show. I just watched an episode, so please share thoughts as we vicariously go out for food. 🤤
~ Culture ~
🐻 We Bare Bears, created by Daniel Chong, is officially ending after the movie that was just released yesterday.
😯 This adorable animated film is coming out on Netflix in the Fall —it's based on a Chinese myth about the moon goddess. Please watch the trailer!
🍅 In light of many bankruptcies, here is an ode to my childhood favorite Sweet Tomatoes :( and its beautiful buffet spread. We spent many-a-massive-family-dinner here. RIP cornbread, blueberry muffin, and my dad's fav clam chowder.
🎸WE ALSO MADE A COLLABORATIVE PLAYLIST! Follow and add songs on Spotify to highlight your favorite AAPI Artists!
Events
Thursday, July 2 (and all Thursdays in July) - Wellness Workshops for high school and college students at bit.ly/CIFWIzoom—run by the Chinese Immigrant Family Wellness Initiative of Philadelphia
Thursday, July 2 - Mindful Activism workshop by The Cosmos (wellness space for Asian American womxn)
Up Next
PLEASE NOMINATE PEOPLE TO JOIN US. FORM IS HERE.
Topics we’re curious to eventually explore (let us know if you have any): why AA and PI are linked, sex trafficking, holidays, mental wellness, gender equity, the evolution of “pan-Asian” discussions, Islamophobia, domestic violence, migration movements/diaspora, religion, those weird dating game shows, anti-blackness in the portrayal of anti-Asian violence in news/media, Asian LGBTQ+ history/policies/communities, and so so many more…
Also, if you like this newsletter, please feel free to share! <3