Invisible again: Add 'Asian American Voices' to Huffington Post

A PETITION has been started by Daniel Lee of Seattle to add "Asian American Voices" to the Huffington Post. The petition is on Change.org. 

It always irked me that Huffington, a well-respected news/commentary website, had forgotten to include Asian/Americans among the communities or readers and topics. Huffington has  sites for  for Black Voices (their word). Queer Voices, Latino Voices and Women but once, again, AAPI get overlooked.

That's unfortunate because Huffington Post usually has interesting articles written by AAPI writers on topics of concern for our communities but not in one place. I used to be able to find them by typing in "Asian American Voices" in the site's search function but since they have eliminated that feature, I have had to resort to typing in "Asian American Voices, Huffington" in my search engine.

Considering AAPI netizens' proclivity to use the Internet more than other ethnic or racial groups, it seems that Huffington's oversight is a bad business decision.

RELATED: The Internet is an AAPI medium

The worst part about it is that non-AAPI people who don't go to the trouble of all that typing can't find the stories and issues that affect AAPI communities by stumbling upon them, rendering us - once again -  invisible.

Part of the problem is that in the six months the petition has been up, it has only collected 52 signees. Come on people! We can do better than that! Sign up and be counted!

Here's the letter:

Letter to the Huffington Post
Decades of Asian American underrepresentation, misrepresentation, and outright invisibility continues to this day. A toxic combination of complicity, exclusion, and ghettoization has perpetuated the marginalization of Asian Americans from various mainstream media from traditional to new media outlets. This fact represents the hushing of Asian American voices and even more problematically, characterizes an incomplete diversity in the media landscape in the U.S.

Unfortunately, The Huffington Post, an otherwise notably diverse publication, has failed to recognize the importance of Asian Americans in the public discourse of our nation. As a corrective, we demand the creation of an “Asian American Voices” section at The Huffington Post. 

The importance of mainstream spaces for Asian Americans to articulate, challenge, testify, redress, and stand together in the public cannot be understated. These spaces are essential if we are to finally crush the “model minority” mantle, to enhance the intersectional analysis that connects Asian American struggles with other social movements—including the Black Lives Matters movement, Transgender Rights, economic and environmental justice movements—and to profoundly contentious issues such as affirmative action and immigration reform, among others. Asian Americans must be rendered not just as tech drones, overachieving students, convenience store owners, Tiger Mothers, and music virtuosos, but to the full extent of our diversity as well. 

It is time for The Huffington Post to show leadership and commitment to acceptance, diversity, and inclusion by making “Asian American Voices” a long overdue reality.

To sign the petition, click here.