Brandon Lee was a handsome actor on the rise in Hollywood, continuing the legacy of his father, Bruce Lee, as an action star. But in 1993, during the filming of the movie "The Crow," he suffered a tragic accident -- a gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks in a scene shot a live bullet that killed him....
Denver's Medal of Honor recipient Joe Sakato is second from the bottom on the left; the late Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye is second from the top on the right. (Courtesy USPS)[/caption]
At our local supermarket the weekend before Veterans Day, veterans were handing out little red poppies to pin on passersby’s lapels as tributes to generations of war dead (it’s a reference to John McCrae’s 1915 WWI poem, “In Flanders Fields”).
I thanked the vet for giving me one and was heading in to shop when a scruffy-looking guy came up and growled that I was supposed to pay for the poppies.
I stammered as he walked away that I was going to give some change on my way out, but the man who gave me the poppy shook his head and said there was no donation required. He apologized for the second man’s behavior.
I realized that the scruffy guy was probably reacting to my ethnicity. Sigh. He probably thought I was a “Damned Jap” or a “Gook” and didn’t deserve to be wearing a poppy.
I should have yelled back at the scruffy guy that my dad was an American soldier and I was wearing this poppy for him.
On Veterans Day, I was happy to see a TV news report about George “Joe” Sakato, a 92-year-old Nisei from Denver who traveled to Washington DC to be honored as part of the release of a set of stamps paying tribute to World War II Medal of Honor recipients.
In 2012 when the US Postal Service announced the new stamps, the plan was to have portraits of the 12 WWII veterans who still alive featured on the sheets surrounding the stamps, and the men would attend the unveiling this year. Three have died since the project was announced, including another Nisei soldier, the late Senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye. An accompanying booklet lists all 464 WWI Medal of Honor recipients.
Both Joe Sakato and Daniel Inouye fought in the celebrated 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe. The combined battalion, made up mostly of Japanese Americans, many conscripted from the American concentration camps where their families were still imprisoned, remains to this day the most highly decorated unit of its size and length of service in the history of the U.S. military. So take that, scruffy guy!
Inouye went on to an illustrious public career and passed away last December. Ironically, Sakato is a retired US Postal Service employee.
This is why Asians are kicking butt on YouTube: We have a bunch of talented Asian Americans cutting loose with hilarious videos online. This latest from the Fung Bros had me cracking up throughout, and drooling with hunger at the same time. Comedians Andrew and David Fung had the brilliant idea of buying 400 pieces of Mighty Wings from McDonald's...
NOTE: I have no idea why I saved this as a draft and never published it live, but here 'tis. My friend Emil Guillermo has a solid piece about Chen's surgery that chides Chen for selling out to "the man" and getting the surgery. I know a lot of people think that way, but I'm not so sure it's as easy...
I was lucky enough to see Judith Hill perform during the 2010 convention in Los Angeles of the Asian American Journalists Association, when she played a set for opening night. Hill had a unique story as a performer: The daughter of an African American father and Japanese mother who are both professional musicians, she earned a degree in music composition. She woodshedded in France in 2007. Hill's professional breakthrough was supposed to be as Michael Jackson's duet partner for the "This Is It" tour.
Yes, that's the tour that never happened because of Jackson's sudden death in June 2009.
Although she was unknown at the time, Hill caught the attention of the world when she sang the lead on "Heal the World" during Jackson's televised memorial service. Her remarkable talent as a singer was also showcased in the October, 2009 release of the film "This Is It" documenting the rehearsals for the tour.
Then she went largely off the grid.
Asian American actress Susane Lee has had a number of roles mostly in theater and television, including series such as "Gilmore Girls" and "Young and Restless." She's also performed in a handful of indie films and had a supporting role in "The Soloist," the 2009 feature film starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. Now, she's made a very funny and...
Yeah, it's three minutes long, but why can't more TV commercials be this inspirational? Brilliant...
Recently a Seattle sushi restaurant, Mashiko, posted an open letter on its website saying that people who criticize the restaurant for having non-Japanese employees sushi are bigots.
“Stop being an ignorant racist,” the letter said, after noting that the restaurant is Japanese-owned and there are Japanese as well as non-Japanese staff. The letter also defends one of the restaurant’s most popular chefs, a Caucasian woman, who’s worked there for 12 years and has a loyal and devoted following.
“Should you refuse her fare based on her gender or race, you are an absolute fool,” the letter states.
I feel for the staff and owners of Mashiko, and I’m surprised that diners in such a great foodie town as Seattle would be so unsophisticated that they’d make decisions on food quality just on a racial basis.
Still, I think this is a much more complicated discussion than just bigotry (though that's part of it, for sure).