This Sunday I'm reading: A WWI hero; fighting sexual stereotypes of Asian American men and women

Here I am again, in my quiet back yard, sitting on my deck reading in the shade of a big-ol' tree that I planted decades ago. It's early morning before the breezes pick up but you can tell it's going to be a warm day. It's quiet except for the Vietnamese music being played by neighbor as he enjoys his back yard. 

Funny, I'm reading a piece about a line in Full Metal Jacket (1987) by Stanley Kubrick, that has become a rallying point for Asian American women about the Yellow Fever held by some American men's way they view AAPI women. "Me love you long time." is one of the lingering after-effects of the Vietnam War where Americans viewed the Vietnamese people as "others" in their own country. By calling them "gooks," (a word originating from the Philippine American War) thus making them less than human, it became easier to kill them: men, women, elderly, children.

Thuc Nguyen writes in Flaunt Magazine, "'Me love you long time:' Sticks around a long, long time," a phrase from the movie uttered by a Vietnamese prostitute to an American GI.  

"Over time, the phrase has entered various areas of pop culture, school yards and the music and apparel industries, often called out by people who know that it's racist and sexist. It's used to reduce Asian and Asian American women to sex objects. "

A scene from 'Full Metal Jacket.'

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The last line in Stevie Wonder's song “Black Man,” asks: “Who was the soldier of Company G who won high honors for his courage and heroism in World War I?" The answer is Lau Sing Kee. He was an American hero from World War I, but he was also mocked as a “Chinese boy” in his California home town. He was a civic leader, but he also became a convicted criminal for skirting anti-Chinese immigration laws. The New York Times has an article about this unsung (Until Stevie) war hero entitled: Overlooked No More: Lau Sing Kee, War Hero Jailed for Helping Immigrants."

Lau Sing KeeL from war hero to immigrants' advocate.

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"If you were an Asian guy, there was nothing out there to look up to. Nothing. Until Bruce Lee. It was like growing up in a dry, empty desert, then one day you walk over a hill ― and there’s the Pacific Ocean. That was Bruce. He was the ocean." -- KWONG LEE, Be Like Water

As an Asian guy, I took umbrage at the recent depiction of Bruce Lee in the Quentin Tarantino movie, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

Lee was not a perfect human being but he was one of very few role models for Asian Americans that wasn't weak, asexual and the "best friend" of the white lead role.

One screen and off, he defied the old stereotypes and spent a lifetime trying to change the image of Asian males. So when Tarantino presented him as arrogant, a punk, really and unable to convincingly beat an aging white stunt man, naturally Asian men were upset. Certainly, Tarantino could have achieved his cinematic point in some other creative way without taking down one of the few "heroes" of a generation of Asian American men.

Brittany Wong writes a thoughtful piece for HuffPost: "The Radical Way Bruce Lee Redefined Asian American Masculinity."

For those who are interested, here's my some of my own thoughts on the Legend.

In the movie, ' Way of The Dragon," Bruce Lee fights another martial arts legend, Chuck Norris.

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