Asian-Nation : Asian American News, Issues, & Current Events Blog

Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.

Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.

December 4, 2004

Written by C.N.

Politics Make for Strange Bedfellows

Originally posted Oct. 2003

California isn’t the only state where strange things are going on politically. As this article on CNN.com points out, Indian American Republican candidate for Governor Bobby Jindal is running against a female Democratic challenger to be the next Governor of Louisiana.

If elected, Jindal would only be the second mainland Asian American Governor, after Gary Locke Read More →

Written by C.N.

New Spy Allegations

Originally posted Sept. 2003

As news articles like this from CBS News describe, Yee was employed as a Chaplain for the U.S. military and was assigned to counsel Muslim prisoners at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

After a recent flight back to the U.S., he was detained and arrested for allegedly passing classified information onto the terrorist suspects. Read More →

Written by C.N.

Asians Go Banzai Over Fox’s Attempt at Humor

Originally posted September 2003

Earlier this summer, Fox premiered the show Banzai!, which they described as an irreverent parody of Japanese game shows. Originally a British series, Banzai! was meant to appeal to a young audience, including Asian Americans. The problem was, many Asian Americans didn’t find it funny at all. Rather, they saw it as another media Read More →

Written by C.N.

Abercombie & Fitch in Trouble Again

Originally posted June 2003

Salon.com reports that a group of Hispanic and Asian plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch, alleging that the company, in its efforts to “cultivate an overwhelmingly white sales force,”

systematically discriminates against Hispanic and Asian employees and applicants. You might remember that last year A&F got into trouble with the Asian American community after Read More →

Written by C.N.

Here We Go Again

Originally posted Mar 2003

As a recent article by the Associated Press details, many Arab Americans, Muslims, and Sikhs in the U.S. fear that they will be the targets of another wave of hate crimes and racism, similar to what many of them experienced after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Recent actions by the Immigration and Naturalization Service directed against the Read More →

Written by C.N.

In Defense of Ignorance

Originally posted Feb 2003

During a radio call-in program, Rep. Coble (Republican from NC) said that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was right to send Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II because “some [Japanese Americans] probably were intent on doing harm to us,” according to the Associated Press. “Just as some of these Arab Americans are probably intent on doing Read More →

Written by C.N.

Hate Crimes Are So Funny, Aren’t They?

Originally posted Jan 2003

In the February 2003 issue of Maxim, there is an article, alleged to be “humorous,” that has enraged many Asian Americans. As described by the Southern Poverty Law Center,

“The article, attempting to show how fighting can bring fitness, calls for ‘a healthy regimen of violent assaults’ and urges readers to ‘teach those pacifists a lesson about aggression.’ Read More →

Written by C.N.

Unity, Brotherhood, and Murder

Originally posted Jan 2003

On January 22, 2003 members of two Asian American fraternities from San Jose State University and U.C. Santa Cruz — Pi Alpha Phi and Lambda Phi Epsilon — settled an earlier dispute at a pool hall with a bloody brawl in a suburban park near SJSU. In the end, four students were stabbed and one died Read More →

Written by C.N.

Bush’s True Colors

Originally posted Jan 2003

As many of us within the Asian American community and communities of color in general have suspected all along, President Bush has publicly stated his opposition to the University of Michigan’s affirmative action program, which is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In this program, UMichigan assigns certain points to different criteria that if they Read More →

Written by C.N.

Shaq is Struggling in More Ways Than One

Originally posted Jan 2003

AsianWeek Magazine recently released a commentary on Shaquille O’Neal’s comments about Yao Ming (the Houston Rockets’ rookie center from China), which many have called hostile and racist.

In these comments, Shaq frequently said things like, “Tell Yao Ming, ‘ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh”‘ and also included several mock “kung fu” moves. CNNSI has Shaq’s response to these criticisms in which, not surprisingly, Read More →

Written by C.N.

North Korea Stirs Up Trouble Again

Originally posted Dec 2002

North Korea is threatening half the world with its nuclear weapons. First, North Korea admits that it has been working on building nuclear weapons, then it kicks out all U.N. inspectors, and then it says that it will no longer abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty that it signed earlier, in which it pledged not to sell Read More →

Written by C.N.

A Review of “Blue Crush”

Originally posted August 2002

Missed Opportunity: How “Blue Crush” Continues the Tradition of Cultural Theft, by Jeff Park.

What comes as no surprise is that “Blue Crush” is a surfing movie that is based in Hawaii, has a female blonde, blue-eyed lead, her love interest is a White quarterback, and the villains are island boys, here a hodge podge of “other” ethnicities – Read More →

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Viet Nam

December 4, 2004

Written by C.N.

Politics Make for Strange Bedfellows

Written by C.N.

New Spy Allegations

Written by C.N.

Asians Go Banzai Over Fox’s Attempt at Humor

Written by C.N.

Abercombie & Fitch in Trouble Again

Written by C.N.

Here We Go Again

Written by C.N.

In Defense of Ignorance

Written by C.N.

Hate Crimes Are So Funny, Aren’t They?

Written by C.N.

Unity, Brotherhood, and Murder

Written by C.N.

Bush’s True Colors

Written by C.N.

Shaq is Struggling in More Ways Than One

Written by C.N.

North Korea Stirs Up Trouble Again

Written by C.N.

A Review of “Blue Crush”