Positive Asian American Male Role Models

It's been a while since I blogged here. However, the time is right to make a return and comment on a pressing issue. On a Facebook group that I participate in, someone discovered an e-book that was being sold on Amazon. The author was an Asian-American male who wrote the book in an attempt to teach Asian (and other) males how to get Hong Kong girls to have sex with them. A lot of females members from the Facebook group took offense at the book and started a petition to have the book (and others promoting the same general idea) removed from Amazon (see below):

Ban Books Advocating the Sexual Exploitation of Women in Asia

However, there are some Asian-American males who have vocally opposed this petition.  They feel that Asian-American males are oppressed enough in the media and this book (among other things) will serve as a positive encouragement for males.

As a Asian American male, I have to respectfully disagree with my brethren.  I fully understand that Asian males don't have the most positive image in the media and in public.   Despite the negatives, Asian American males are still dating, getting married and having kids.  So if some males can overcome why not others?

Why do we want to support something that makes our Asian sisters (who may be our friends, sisters, mothers, etc) be objects to conquered instead of being treated as real people?  We can do better than that.

Instead of allowing these books to be out there, Asian American males need to be better role models around our friends, families and communities.  If you the talent and skill to go beyond your local community (think Wong Fu Productions, KevJumba, etc) that's even better.

The way to a better life is not to take things at the expense of others.  Instead, be an positive and encouraging role model and you'll see it will take you much further than some book on sex will.

Psy (Gangnam Style) - Unexpected Asian American Superstar

If you've been living under a rock or some remote island without Internet access, it may be news to you that there's a major new dance sweeping the world by South Korean rapper Psy:

Gangnam Style - Psy

I had read about the song when it was released in July but I never really paid attention.  As much as I like reading things, I'm not the most up to date on the latest pop culture.   I finally gave in and checked the song / video when it had just hit over 100 million views.  I thought it was a bit silly but as a fan of dance music, it had a bit of charm that made me wanted to listen to it.

Initially, I admit that I compared Psy to American Idol's William Hung.   The only reason I noted that was no other Asian-American born individual performed has garnered as much attention as Psy did.   William Hung was liked (sort of) because of geeky nature and not because of he had great musical ability.

Upon further research though, I found that I was incorrect in my comparisons.  Psy is a well known rapper in South Korea and had released six total albums.   In watching some of his other videos lately, he has a bit of swagger about him and at least one of his other songs is pretty good.

What was most surprising to me was that Psy went to college in the United States.   Thus, his English is very good and he gives great interviews.   He is down to earth but has a great sense of humor and doesn't mind making fun of himself.

There has been a push by South Koreans to push K-POP into the United States but most of the efforts have been only mildly successful.  Psy probably doesn't fit the traditional mold of K-POP but that may be exactly the reason why he has broken through.  Gangnam Style has a charm that has obviously caught on.  But like Yao Ming in the NBA, Psy's ability to express himself in English will endear him greatly to the world.  For many Asian born performers, their lack of English skills hinder them a bit as something always gets lost in the translation.  Psy will not have that problem.

Psy doesn't quite realize it yet, but he has given Asian-Americans a face in the entertainment industry that has been sorely lacking.  The Far East Movement had succeeded previously but I don't think they have garnered world wide attention as Psy did in the past few months.

To be fair, Psy is Korean born and I doubt he will be speaking on Asian-American issues anytime soon.  But an Asian face hitting the top of the charts around the English speaking world is definitely note worthy.   Let's hope that Psy is not a one-hit wonder and he can continue to be in the public eye for years to come.

The conundrum of Asian-Americans in sports and entertainment

With Jeremy Lin bursting onto the scene, there is a lot of focus already on the NEXT Jeremy Lin.  For example, there is some buzz over Chris Tang, a 6'3' high school sophomore.  Tang was born in China though has lived in the US for the past three years.  He is currently playing basketball in Virginia and high on scouts radars:

Meet Chris Tang:  The Next Jeremy Lin?

It is quite unfortunate, but until Asian Americans start regularly playing in the NBA, almost every good Asian-American player will be looked as the "next Jeremy Lin".   As has been explained many times over, Jeremy Lin was overlooked.  Some may call it racism or stereotyping.  Whatever is was, the fact is that scouts / coaches had no frame of reference for an Asian-American basketball players.  Now that Jeremy Lin has shown up, there is a frame of reference and that will be (at least in the short term) what future players will be measured against.

That is definitely NOT a good thing if you look at the entertainment industries.  For example, the biggest ever Asian-American movie star today is still probably Bruce Lee.  Even thought Lee's been dead for years, he remains as the standard with which Asian / Asian-American actors are measured against.  Asian stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li have been unfairly measured against Bruce Lee due to their martial arts backgrounds.   The fact is that Hollywood has been looking for the next Bruce Lee for years and still has not found him.   Yet they continue on the search while Asian-Americans languish in supporting roles.

It is somewhat the same in the music arena.  Before the Far East Movement broke out last year, there had been no major Asian-American music stars.  However, after having two solid songs, Far East Movement has faded somewhat into the background though their single with Justin Biebber is set to break into the Billboard Top 100 next week.

This reminds me of something I saw a few years ago.  There was an Asian American band called At Last.  They were competing on the show America's Got Talent:

At Last - American's Got Talent Semi-Final

As you can see on the video, they are pretty good.  Ultimately they didn't win the competition but had a small following and even released a few independent albums.   After the competition, I followed the band to see how they were doing.  The band kept busy with new albums and tours but otherwise were not signed by any major labels.

I remember reading something online where one of the band members stated:  "Producers told us they didn't know how to market us".  The implication was that Asians aren't seen as music stars and American audiences wouldn't support them.

That indeed is the conundrum that faces Asian-Americans wishing to pursue careers in sports, music, movies and TV.  Jeremy Lin forced the NBA (and  now the basketball world at large) to take a second look at Asian-Americans who may have been previously ignored.  Now, the entertainment industries need to do the same.

I firmly believe American audiences are not dummies.  Like the many different ethnicities that support Jeremy Lin, I believe American audiences CAN and WILL support Asian-American stars in movies, music and TV.  The problem is the entertainment industry wasn't willing to take a chance in the past.  Jeremy Lin's success may have some indirect impact. Once the door is open, it cannot be closed again.

In the meantime, Asian-Americans should continue to pursue their dreams.  It may not be the easiest or smoothest ride but as Jeremy Lin showed, your opportunity may just be around the corner.

How Could Bay Area Colleges pass on Jeremy Lin

(This was a response to something on a Jeremy Lin blog):  


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You know, getting passed by all 300+ schools is an interesting point that has been noted over and over again. However, it never dawned on me until Anonymous / Sydney posted just how big a deal that was. But let's take a step back and only tackle certain schools (to be fair). 

Jeremy Lin sent tapes to the Patriot and Ivy league schools. Only Brown and Harvard showed interest so boo to all the other schools. Jeremy himself said he was interested in UCLA, Stanford and Cal which all didn't work out. I personally wouldn't discount most of the other schools not on this initial list. It seems that Jeremy was looking for good academic schools with athletic programs and not just basketball powerhouses. There may have been lower tier schools that could have used Jeremy but who knows if Jeremy would have attended just because a school offered a scholarship. 

But I don't gave the other Bay Area colleges a pass. Among the Bay Area schools that are Division I, how many of them are "good"? University of San Francisco (USF) and Santa Clara have been mediocre in the WCC. San Jose State is not that good in the WAC. The only team that has been pretty good is St. Mary's. If Jeremy Lin has broken out while playing in the Bay Area, imagine all the attention he would have brought to the programs (then and now that he is in the NBA). 

There are other smaller colleges in CA (UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, etc) that probably could have used Jeremy. But there's always complaints about how CA loses it's star basketball players to other schools. They had a chance to keep one and missed badly. Now that is pretty inexcusable.


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Asian American's Finding Their Voices On the Internet

Recently, Alexandra Wallace's "Asians in the Library" video was the subject of a huge discussion on the Internet.  For those who were fortunate enough to miss this wonderful (sarcasm intended) piece of work, click on the link above to view the video and see why it was the subject of so many discussions among many Asian-Americans. 


The reason why the video was the subject of so many discussions was that fact that it was posted on YouTube.  Many people don't seem to realize that just about anything you post on the Internet is fodder for the public.  Miss Wallace's mistake was underestimating the impact her message had on the Asian American community.  Because of the Asian-American's response to the video, UCLA had to address the issue of the video.   Miss Wallace was forced to apologize and later withdrew from UCLA due to the video.

With the prevalence of the Internet these days, Asian-Americans are flexing their voices on issues like never before.  According to some studies, Asian-Americans are the heaviest users of the Internet among all other ethnic groups.  This would explain why Miss Wallace's video went viral almost as soon as it was posted.  Besides the fact the video was posted on a public website, many Asian American's are connected to many of the friends world wide via social networking sites like Facebook.

With the ability to connect to so many people via the Internet,  videos like Miss Wallace's are easily distributed to thousands of people from all around the globe.   Obviously, it wasn't just a few people who were offended, otherwise Miss Wallace or UCLA could have easily ignored the uproar.

I am proud that Asian-American's are using the Internet to flex their political voices.  In the days before the Internet, Asian-Americans had to rely on word of mouth, Asian-American media sources or other news distribution sources that were limited in scope.  That made it difficult to contact certain segments who not have had access to these media sources and get the word out on issues.

These days, the Internet is a good equalizer.   Asian-American groups and organizations are taking advantage of the Internet to get news such as Miss Wallace's video out to large number of people.   With more Asian-Americans engaged, more and more people are speaking out on the issues that face the community.

For too long, Asian Americans have been too quiet over the many injustices that have occurred over the years.  From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Japanese American Internments (and others), Asian-Americans have never been able to gather significant numbers to show a unified voice on issues.

I believe those days are over.  The Internet is great for information research and exchange.  For Asian-American's in the 21st Century, it's gives us a voice that we've never had.  Let's USE IT!

If you ever wondered why I post the stuff on Facebook that I post.....

On Facebook, I tend to post a lot of links to things I like to my wall, which in turn goes out to my friends home pages.   There is one trend that I am sure most people have noticed.  A good number of those links are Asian or Asian-American themed.    They may be about Asian athletes (Jeremy Lin, Ed Wang, Yao Ming), Asian-American movies (usually independent stuff), or music videos by Asian-American performers (Far East Movement, etc).

Why do I do that?  Considering that Asian representation in the movies, TV, music and the professional sports arenas are fairly sparse, I want to take advantage of the Facebook platform to promote all things Asian.

That might seem odd to a degree.  However,  one should not underestimate the power of the media to influence people of all ages.  The people who see my postings may enjoy what they see and that is good.  But maybe some young kid who hadn't thought of pursuing interests in acting, music or athletics might be influenced by what he sees and give it a shot.

Asians families are a practical sort.  They encourage their kids to focus on careers that are solid, stable and earn money.  Acting, music and professional sports are not always guarantee of that.

However, I would hope that Asian families learn to encourage their children to follow their passions to wherever it takes them.  After all, the Jeremy Lin's, Ed Wang's, John Cho's and the Far East Movement's of the world have been able to do it.  Your child may be able to do it as well.  Even if he fails, it's not the end of the world.  That is one aspect of life that is so great.  Mistakes are usually not fatal and will teach you to do better in your next endeavor.  

Jeremy Lin: Asian American Role Model

Last night, at the Leavey Center on the campus of Santa Clara University, a throng of 4,700 fans showed up to watch the basketball game between the Harvard Crimson and the Santa Clara Broncos. The game was a sell out and the largest crowd ever to watch a Santa Clara non-conference basketball game.

While there was a solid throng of Santa Clara students, cheerleaders and band members there, one can safely say that the majority of the other people in attendance were there to watch one person: JEREMY LIN of Harvard.

The 6'3" guard from Palo Alto made what is likely to be his final home appearance in a collegiate uniform. Besides his family, a huge throng of Asian Americans made their way to Santa Clara to watch the best Asian-American college basketball player play.

However, expectations of Lin may have been a little too high. Santa Clara focused their defense on stopping him. Lin did not try to score much throughout the night and finished with 6 points (2-5 FG, 0-2 3PG, 2-5 FT), 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 4 turnovers. Lin played like he usually does and contributed in every single category. However, after huge scoring games against good competition, the 6 points may have been a let down for the crowd.

The game itself wasn't that great. Both Harvard and Santa Clara struggled in the first half. Both teams went through a scoring drought of 5+ minutes which left the crowd restless. The good news was that Harvard played better in the second half and eventually won the game 74-66. Lin seems like a low key kid and his own personal statistics don't matter to him much as long as his team wins. At 11-3, Harvard is doing well and will begin their Ivy League season in a few days.

Looking past the game itself, I'm very proud that Asian-Americans came out in large numbers to support Jeremy Lin. This fact was noted by many media outlets both local and national. Jeremy Lin, whether he likes it or not, is now a role model to many young Asian-American athletes.

Whether the industry is movies, TV, music, athletics or otherwise, Asian-Americans have had minimal role models to emulate in the past. There have always been foreign born Asians like Yao Ming (basketball) or Jackie Chan (movies). While having some Asians are better than nothing, people like Yao and Jackie Chan do not understand the challenges of growing up Asian in America.

However, I feel like this is the calm before the storm. Jeremy Lin has suddenly stormed into the public spotlight in college basketball. John Cho has gained exposure in movies and TV with Harold & Kumar, Flash Forward and Star Trek. Far East Movement, an Asian-American hip-hop band, garnered national exposure in 2009 with their hit song "Girls On The Dance Floor".

All the people above have given Asian-Americans a slice of the positive representation we've always yearned for and role models in which to emulate. This bodes well for the future as young Asian-American kids grow up. They may decide to be an athlete, actor or a musician all because of Jeremy Lin, John Cho and Far East Movement.

No matter what happens to Jeremy Lin in the future, he has left a legacy for others to follow his footsteps in the future. All one has to do is not be afraid to take those steps. In time, I would hope that it is no surprise that Asian-Americans do well in sports, movies, TV, and music.

15 years of the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors

I have been a fan of the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors for a long time. The Warriors are a Asian American comedy troupe that was formed back in San Francisco around 1994. Over the past 15 years, they have performed all over the world and won several awards for their efforts. The first time I saw the troupe perform was at San Francisco State university around 1995 or 1996. Since then, I have followed the troupe heavily and attended many performances.

Several years ago, the troupe decided to perform in Southern California exclusively. I don't remember the exact reason for this. However, it's not hard to imagine that the troupe wanted to be closer to Hollywood and perhaps get bigger gigs than what was available in the San Francisco Bay Area.

However, as the troupe was celebrating it's 15th Anniversary, they made a return appearance to their home in the Bay Area after a three year absence. There were three shows scheduled for this weekend (Friday 7 PM, Saturday 7 PM & 10 PM) in San Jose.

As soon as I found out the troupe was performing this weekend, I asked a friend to go. We attended the Saturday show at 7 PM. Overall, the show was entertaining though it felt short to me (running around 1 hour and 20 minutes or so). There were a few skits that were great and a couple of that felt flat to me.

However, I'm not here to review the show. I want to commend the group for staying together for fifteen years. I don't know how much money the various members of the group make for each show they perform. My friend and I agreed that the performers probably don't make much. Most of them probably have regular jobs and do these performances as a labor of love.

From what I saw tonight, even though the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors have been around for 15 years, they still have the creativity to create new skits and retain a great passion for their work. As someone who watches many Asian-American independent films and listens to underground Asian-American musicians, I appreciate the work that the Warriors do. I fully support the many people who work to present more positive representations of Asian-Americans in the media.

Congrats on 15 years and here's to many more!

What Jeremy Lin means to Asian-Americans

Palo Alto, CA native and current Harvard basketball star Jeremy Lin had a great weekend. He hit a running 3 pointer at the buzzer to allow his Harvard team to stun William & Mary 87-85. Interestingly enough, he was also just featured in an article on Slam magazine's website.

Links here:

Jeremy Lin - Buzzer Beater highlights

Slam Magazine Feature on Jeremy Lin

As an Asian-American AND a basketball fan, I am thrilled that Jeremy Lin is having success on the basketball court at Harvard. I am definitely curious if Jeremy can play in the NBA in the future. While it's unfair to put a lot of burden on Lin's shoulders, I think his success at Harvard (and hopefully in the NBA in the future) will indirectly help Asian-Americans in many ways. Here are some of the ways:

- Changing media representation and stereotypes about Asian males

For whatever reason, Asian males have been stereotyped in the media as geeky and unathletic. Why this is the case is unknown. The fact that Asian representation in major college and professional sports (baseball, basketball, football) is not all that high does not help. When it comes to athletics, Asians are usually not the first people that come to mind.

Jeremy Lin breaks a lot of these stereotypes. First he's playing basketball, a sport that is sometimes looked at as a primarily African-American sport. Secondly, he isn't your typical "short" Asian standing at 6'3" tall. Third, he isn't just a bench warmer. He is a starter for the Harvard team and earned All-League and MVP honors.

- Changing Asian's perceptions about sports

Asian families are really practical. Parents are usually found encouraging (pushing might be the better word sometime) their kids to study hard, get an education, find a job and earn a lot of money. The downside to this is that when the academic demands become too great, parents force their kids to drop some activities. The first activities that usually get dropped are sports. For some reason, certain Asian parents feel that sports is for fun but is not a priority when compared to education. As many Asian kids can attest to, Asian parents always encourage kids to study practical subjects like Accounting, Finance or something in the medical field.

Thus many kids who may have a talent for sports get pushed to study instead. They never get a chance to develop their talents. Jeremy Lin's success in basketball at Harvard may help change that. Harvard is an elite university that DOES NOT offer athletic scholarships. While Lin is a gifted basketball player, the fact that Harvard accepted him into the school means he was a smart kid as well. While I don't know how Lin is doing at Harvard, I think he has proven that sports and academics CAN co-exist, even in college. Asian kids should not longer aspire to simply be an accountant or doctor. They could also dream about being a college basketball (or other sport) player like Jeremy Lin. I would also hope that Asian parents allow their kids to pursue professional sports as a career as well.

I'm going to talk more about this point in a separate post later this week.

- Asian-Americans DO EXIST!

It has been great that Asian-born players like Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian (among others) have made their way to the NBA. As great as it is to have Asians represented in the NBA, these players do not have share or understand the Asian-American experience. Those of us who were born in the United States have vastly different experiences than someone who has lived in China their whole lives. When Yao or Yi speak, they represent "China" but not "Asian-Americans". Yao or Yi cannot understand how it is to be a minority in a country. They don't understand how racism and stereotypes about Asian-Americans exist. The Asian-American experience is one thing that is nearly invisible in the United States. Fortunately many schools have Asian-American Studies courses and many books have been written.

Jeremy Lin could be the bridge to shed light on these experiences. Jeremy may look Asian like Yao or Yi but he is a full-blooded American. If Jeremy can make it to the NBA, he may have a platform that allows him to discuss how it is to be an Asian-American that no other person has ever gotten (short of Bruce Lee).

DC Comics: The Great Ten

DC Comics Blog recently announced that a ten issue mini series featuring a group called the Great Ten would be published in November of this year. Why is this significant? It is significant because The Great Ten is a group of Chinese superheroes based out of the People's Republic of China. The group first made an appearance in DC's weekly series 52. They reappeared in last year's Final Crisis as well.

See the announcement here:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/08/11/some-tuesday-news-the-great-ten

For more information on the Great Ten, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ten

While Japanese manga has become a big part of mainstream American culture, there have not been many Asian characters that had their own comic book series in the American comic industry. One of the few (in recent memory) was a character by the name of Ryan Choi who assumed the identity of an existing hero, The Atom. Unfortunately, the series was canceled after 25 issues.

With China being a growing economic power and wielding influence in an increasingly global culture, it makes sense that a group like the Great Ten would be developed. However, to many Americans of Asian descent, this has been a long time in coming. Asian-Americans are always fighting for fair representation in media. While the Great Ten will be considered a foreign group because they are based in China, just having any type of representation in the comic industry is a big plus.

As for me personally, I like this group because they will (hopefully) be different than other comics I've read growing up. The fact that they are Asian is a bonus. Ultimately, if the mini series had a good story and good characters, that's all I care about. I'm all for diversity in the media but the product has to be good as well.

Speaking of Asian Americans in comics, I should promote an anthology of comics featuring Asian-American heroes called Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. The anthology is available at online retailers like Amazon and bookstores like Borders.

For more information, go to the website here: http://www.secretidentities.org