Empathy for Haiti's sake. Empathy for Humanity's sake

As you may know, it's a hot field day for the media with the earthquake devastation that has taken place in Haiti. With over 200,000 dead, millions wounded and/or homeless, reporters and journalists are flying in from all over the world to cover the debacle that will guarantee them sensational imagery of the chaos that they see before them.  Eight such sensational images stand before you now.

 

     

Now I ask of you to look at each and every one of these pictures but forget what the media is trying to tell you. I ask you to forget any notion that may be in your head that these poor Haitian people demand your sympathy. I ask you to drop any prejudiced thoughts you may have when you look at the pictures of looting and violence and think that this is the inherent nature of black people. I am not saying that you as the reader may actually have these thoughts, but if you do, I ask you to look at this from a different perspective.

The Crash drinking game

Words can't describe how much I get annoyed when I hear people praising how amazing Paul Haggis's "Crash" is. Described to be a "mind-blowing" film about racism in America, this "mind-blowing" film is really just a badly-written story where you take multiple characters, have them say the most racist/stereotypical/ignorant things possible, hash in some drama, and voilà. If anything, this is a literal crash (harharhar) course for people who believe racism is dead or believe that multiculturalism only applies to the black & white binary. Also, considering that the movie is set in LA, the portrayal of Asian Americans is incredibly minimal and relegated to the background. I mean, hello, did anybody remember the Los Angeles riots back in 1992?? The movie does portray a Korean couple who smuggle illegal Asian immigrants but for the life of me, I can't even comprehend how realistic that is. If the film-makers actually met Koreans who did that, well, I'll be damned.

With that said, to honor how ridiculously silly this movie is, I developed a drinking game for this movie where you take a shot every time a character says something outrageously racist/stereotypical/ignorant. My theory is, halfway through the movie, you should be absolutely trashed.

I'm gonna try this game out sometime next week and possibly film myself (and possibly other volunteers) while I watch the movie and take my tequila/vodka shots. Stay tuned.

Reflecting on MLK Day and APA activism

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to everyone!

It doesn't need to mentioned here how things are so incredibly different it is today compared to what it was like over 50 years ago. Initiated by Rosa Parks and propelled into motion by MLK, the Civil Rights movement significantly transformed the landscape of America as the courage and determination of our Freedom Fighters stood strong in the face of extreme prejudice and hatred.

As Asian Pacific Americans, we owe a huge debt to the efforts of the African American community as they led the way to create a more just life for all who live in the United States. From the Civil Rights movement came the Yellow Power movement and it was during the 1960's that we first made an effort to do away with the "Oriental" label that we have been called ever since the first Chinese immigrants came to the United States around the 1850's. From this revolution, the term "Asian American" was created as a political gesture for Asians to make their stance that they are Americans just like everybody else.

My Asian Pacific American Heroes (OUTLINE)

This is only a bare outline of my upcoming entry for my APA heroes. The entry itself will be uber lengthy, filled with pictures, videos, and the most important thing, lots of love and respect.

Fighting a losing battle on ignorance & Asian ethnic slurs

"WELCOME TO THE GREATEST JAPANESE GAME SHOW! CHING CHONG BEAUTIFUL!!!"

Newgrounds.com, a Flash animation website that was created by Tom Fulps and started ion.  July 6, 1995. It was a website that I looked forward to for finding flash animations that are beautiful works of art and highly entertaining.

But everything changed when I found "Ching Chong Beautiful" featured on their front page.

The HanSarang Game Plan

"matter of fact: breaths, steps - take them, and make them meaningful. make a choice, and stand by it. then run with it. what choices are you going to make today to be the person you want to be? when everything seems to be falling apart, the unpredictable power of one choice can remind us of our ability to control our lives. i was inspired this morning by things i couldn't imagine. and it all started with one choice."

Mo T, my spiritual twin brother, your words speak the truth.

The purpose of this entry is to firmly put down in coherent words what I plan to do for the rest of my life, or at least, what I think I know I'll be doing for the rest of my life. I will look back at this entry and never forget the path I want to take.

If anything, I know for damn sure who I am and what I am most passionate about. I know I want to never forget to love myself and to love others, and to encourage others to do the same. I want to fight for what is right and always remember to be humble, to be thankful, and to always keep an open mind and open heart.

But I need to get down to the specifics before I get distracted.