Author Archives: Gil Asakawa

Edward Hong’s powerful declaration of identity, “I Am Korean American”

Asian Americans as a group share identity issues being stuck between cultures — not quite accepted by the country of our heritage, and not quite always accepted as “American” either. We’re still finding our place in society. Each culture can have a specific spin that colors our identity. Japanese Americans carry baggage from internment and […]

Support Asian American filmmakers by donating through Kickstarter.com website

I’ve known about Kickstarter.com, the fundraising site for creative startups and projects in a variety of categories including film, art, dance, technology, design, journalism, comedy and others, but I’d never really looked into it. This week, though, I’ve come across several very cool films by Asian Americans that are using Kickstarter to ask for donations. […]

Justice Dept.: Philadelphia schools reaches agreement on harassment a year after Asian students were attacked

Asian students may walk with a little less fear next semester, now that the US Justice Department reached an agreement with the Philadelphia School District over a series of assaults that occurred a year ago. The agreement is similar to one that South Philadelphia High School reached with the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission, and requires […]

Comcast & NBC sign Memo of Understanding to be more inclusive of Asian Americans

JACL sent out an announcement this morning about an agreement that’s been reached between NBC Universal, Comcast (which is trying to get regulators’ blessings to buy NBCU) and a handful of Asian American Pacific Islander organizations: the Asian American Justice Center, East West Players, Japanese American Citizens League, OCA and Media Action Network for Asian […]

Young people take over Chinese American Council of Colorado’s annual fuddy-duddy fundraiser, talk about identity

The Chinese American Council of Colorado usually hosts an annual year-end banquet in December, at which the umbrella organization notes the accomplishments of its many subsidiary community groups and projects, from the Chinese Language School to the annual Double 10 Celebration (to mark the founding of the Republic of China, currently in Taiwan), and recruiting […]