Asian American women find self affirmation in Olvia Rodrigo's new song: ‘all-american bitch’

Olivia Rodrigo screams in frustration in her song 'all-american bitch.'

Whether she intended to write an anthem for AANHPI women or not, some women are giving a deeper interpretation to Olivia Rodrigo's new hit, "All-American Bitch."

Upon initially hearing Rodrigo's lead song in her new album "Guts," it easy to understand that the song is against the ways women are expected to behave. But some Asian American women it is also a cry against the age-old stereotypes imposed on Asian women.

"It’s vital to remember that Rodrigo is, yes, sharing her experiences in girl- and womanhood, but she’s doing so from an intersectional perspective," writes Abby Sypniewski in Medium.

Sypniewski reminds us that 20-year old Rodrigo is Asian American, who grew up in California with a white mother and a Filipino American father. She is not the girl the Beachboys sing about classic ode "California Girls," because of her dual racial heritage.

When speaking to white journalists or a white audience, Rodrigo explains her song in more generic terms:

“I really love the song ‘All American Bitch,’” Rodrigo said in a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I really love the lyrics of it and I think it expresses something that I’ve been trying to express since I was 15 years old, this repressed pressed anger and feeling of confusion or trying to be put into a box as a girl. So yeah, I think that that’s one of my favorite songs on the record."

In an interview with The Guardian, Rodrigo expands on the inspiration for "All-American Bitch." Despite her fame and fortune, like other people of mixed racial heritage, Rodrigo experiences  moment's of self-doubt and confusion while trying to navigate between and through two different worlds.

"I’ve experienced a lot of emotional turmoil over having all these feelings of rage and dissatisfaction that I felt like I couldn’t express, especially in my job. I’ve always felt like: you can never admit it, be so grateful all the time, so many people want this position," Rodrigo tells The Guardian. "And that causes a lot of repressed feelings. I’ve always struggled with wanting to be this perfect American girl and the reality of not feeling like that all the time."

 In an interview with The Guardian two years ago after her debut album exploded onto the music charts, she explained: “It’s hard for anyone to grow up in this media where it feels like if you don’t have European features and blonde hair and blue eyes, you’re not traditionally pretty,”

“The reason why I think the song ‘all american bitch’ by Olivia Rodrigo is so powerful is how it reclaims the phrase ‘all-American’ for Asian American women,” Hannah posted on Tik Tok. “When you think ‘all-American’ you think blonde hair, blue eyed, right? … Well, she doesn’t just reclaim it, she also comments on the fact that oftentimes Asian Americans aren’t seen as American. We’re seen as foreigners or outsiders.”

The verses' simple, sweet lightness with a simple acoustic guitar playing behind Rodrigo's lyrics, alternating with the loud, screaming, raging chorus musically emphasizes the contradictions imposed by society's expectations.

The discussion about the song is trending on Tik Tok.

“The way you can literally feel all the feminine rage infused into this,” wrote Sarah Lockwood. When she first heard Rodrigo’s song, Lockwood was reminded of America Ferrera’s monologue in Barbie about how hard it is to be a woman. “It’s this constant balancing act,” she tells Elle. “And if you fall off the balance beam or even wobble a little bit, you’re called ungrateful, you’re told you’re complaining, or that you’re a b*tch.  We’re constantly walking on eggshells.”  

The difference between rage and feminine rage is that feminine rage must hide itself behind a perfectly polished and polite veneer. Don't show that you're upset, or they'll call you sensitive. Don't react, or you'll be considered dramatic.

“All-american bitch encapsulates the Asian woman experience and the expectations put on a hyper-sexualized but demure community,” writes Zhou (@maggie_zhou) on Tik Tok. “Love to see Miss Rodrigo dismantle the model minority trope. Go queen.”

"all-american bitch" lyrics

[Verse 1]
I am light as a feather and as stiff as a board
I pay attention to things that most people ignore
And I’m alright with the movies that make jokes ‘bout senseless cruelty
That’s for sure
And I am built like a mother and a total machine
I feel for your every little issue, I know just what you mean
And I make light of the darkness
I’ve got sun in my motherfuckin’ pocket
Best believe, yeah, you know me

[Chorus]
I forgive and I forget
I know my age and I act like it
Got what you can’t resist
I’m a perfect all-American

Verse 2]
I am light as a feather, I’m as fresh as the air
Coca-Cola bottles that I only use to curl my hair
I got class and integrity just like a goddamn Kennedy, I swear
With love to spare

[Chorus]
Forgive and I forget
I know my age and I act like it
Got what you can’t resist
I’m a perfect all-American bitch

[Bridge]
With perfect all-American lips
And perfect all-American hips
I know my place, I know my place and this is it
I don’t get angry when I’m pissed, I’m the eternal optimist
I scream inside to deal with it, like, “Ah”
Like, “Ah” (Let’s fucking go)

[Outro]
All the time, I’m grateful all the time
I’m sexy and I’m kind, I’m pretty when I cry
Oh, all the time, I’m grateful all the time (All the fucking time)
I’m sexy and I’m kind, I’m pretty when I cry

Not included in the lyrics that reprinted above is Rodrigo's primal scream which perfectly expresses the extreme frustration of women and girls trying to fit the prim and proper feminine image foisted upon them. We're not one to censor any of the lyrics, here it is: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Use when necessary.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Beyond diversity: Hollywood AANHPI creatives finding hurdles to inclusion

Thanks to the box office success and critical acclaim of some Hollywood productions like Crazy Rich Asians and Everything, Everywhere All At Once, more studio doors are creaking open for AANHPI creatives but they are finding more hurdles to the next step of influence and decision-making.

One in five Asian American talent are looking at other careers in the entertainment industry, according to a new report, Red Light, Green Light: Overcoming Roadblocks to Asian American Creative Executive Success in the Entertainment Industry"

“We must ensure the pathways from entry-level positions to creative executive roles are supported and fortified through mentorship, leadership development and access to opportunity,” stated Norman Chen, CEO of The Asian American Foundation, one of the partners of the report.

“To truly feel like we belong, we must see ourselves and our stories on screen. To do that, we must ensure that AANHPIs have the support to not only tell authentic narratives but also reach executive roles to greenlight those stories,” Chen continued.

        RELATED: Studios open gates for Asian American content

The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) and The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) today announced the findings of the study, which focused on the experience of Asian American creative executives, those who ultimately greenlight projects and shepherd them to screen, in the entertainment industry.

CAPE and TAAF revealed the results of the study last night at their inaugural Culture Change Salon: Greenlighting AANHPI Stories, the largest gathering of Asian American and Pacific Islander creative executives.

The report explores topics such as barriers to entry and promotions, day-to-day challenges, and factors that contribute to attrition and industry pivots for those at entry, mid, and senior levels of the entertainment industry. 

The report also shares recommendations on how to improve the experiences of Asian American creatives in the industry and foster an environment that will allow Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) creative executives to thrive.

A majority of the survey respondents described experiencing microaggressions, blatant racism, and tokenization. Moreover, 93.3% agree that representation on screen is similarly lacking. 

This first-of-its-kind study focuses on one of the most critical, but often overlooked, components of the creative story-telling ecosystem: creative executives. The purview of creative executives includes, among other duties, finding and acquiring intellectual property and other source material, hiring talent including writers and directors, casting, and ultimately wielding the power to greenlight projects and shepherd them to screen.

Both CAPE and TAAF are focused on leveraging this data to come up with strategies to strengthen pathways in all creative fields. CAPE has been fostering the next generation of senior creative executives since 2017 through the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, the only talent development program of its kind that builds leadership skills and creates networking opportunities for AANHPI creative executives in Hollywood.

The study shows that Asian American professionals working in entertainment are eager to greenlight more diverse projects helmed by AANHPI creatives. To address this, TAAF is also launching Lights, Camera, AANHPI! A Creative Development Directory, a centralized resource that supports and advances AANHPIs' careers and creative work in film and television. 

This directory currently hosts more than 200 talent development opportunities for creatives in front of and behind the camera, from fellowships and residencies to professional and script development programs to build sustainable pathways for talent. Moreover, CAPE's AANHPI talent database of working professionals in Hollywood is currently in beta.

Among the key Findings the "Red Light, Green Light" report:

• Respondents felt that their Asian American identity is a double-edged sword. Creative executives of Asian descent brought diversity and unique insights, but were also tokenized and seen as diversity hires.

• Asian American creative executives grappled with the expectations of fitting into Western norms or meeting high standards of Asian culture knowledge.

• Asian American women faced challenges in regards to the intersection of gender and ethnicity. This includes sexism, age-related biases, compensation disparities, and difficulties in career advancement, particularly for mothers.

• A majority of respondents across levels felt that they experienced different treatment because of their racial/cultural background or how they looked. Experiencing differential treatment because of how they look or their racial or cultural background was most acutely felt by entry (50%) and senior level (68%) staff.

• A majority (62%) of respondents across all ranks reported lack of mentorship as a challenge.Additionally, 88% of respondents expressed a desire to have mentors from their racial/ethnic background, echoing the adage: "You can't be what you can't see."

• Almost 1 out of 5 respondents across the industry expressed they were looking to pivot to a different capacity within the entertainment industry.Due to the all-consuming life of being in entertainment, stress, poor pay, slow growth, and resulting mental health considerations, respondents contemplated leaving or were forced to pivot for more work-life balance.

Among the recommendations are:

• Opportunities for senior-level executives: Establish paid internships, and full-time roles with benefits to attract more AANHPI talent and organize company-wide trainings on topics such as intersectionality, class, race, microaggressions, and racism.

• Opportunities for entry-, and mid-level staff: Proactively seek mentoring or advice even through cold calls and develop a personal voice rooted in their experiences and identity.

"Creative executives are critical in getting our stories greenlit and told with care. We must protect and support their upward trajectory into the upper echelons of power within the industry,"  said CAPE Executive Director Michelle K. Sugihara. "We must especially push for the hiring and promotion of more Pacific Islander creative executives whose numbers are currently extremely low, particularly in this time of upheaval and challenge for executives of color."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

History-making Kim Ng leaves her GM post with the Miami Marlins

History-making Kim Ng, former Marlins general manager, is looking for a job.

Kim Ng, the first female general manager in MLB history, is not returning to the Miami Marlins after three seasons with the baseball team.

Marlins chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman announced Ng's departure Monday. In a statement, Sherman said the Marlins exercised their side of a mutual option on Ng’s contract for the 2024 season but Ng declined her side of the option.

"Last week, Bruce and I discussed his plan to reshape the baseball operations department. In our discussions, it became apparent that we were not completely aligned on what that should look like," Ng told The Athletic on Monday. "I felt it best to step away. I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Marlins family and its fans for my time in South Florida. This year was a great step forward for the organization."

Sources told ESPN that the Marlin’s intention to hire a president of baseball operations over Ng led to her departure.

Ng's trades and late season acquisitions were largely credited for bringing the Marlins to the MLB post-season for the first time in two decades, The Marlins were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, three games to none in a best of five series.

“We thank Kim for her contributions during her time with our organization and wish her and her family well,” the Marlins wrote in that statement. “We will immediately begin a thorough and extensive search for new leadership as we continue to invest in the Marlins organization on and off the field. We are committed to our fans and the South Florida community and look to build off the momentum of the great progress of this year.”

ESPN reports that other baseball executives around major league baseball were surprised at Ng's departure since she was largely credited through a series of trades and acquisitions, for bringing the Marlins to the playoffs this year.

Ng made history three years ago when she became the first woman -- the first Asian American woman, at that -- to become the GM of any men's professional sports franchise (MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA).

“I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Marlins family and its fans for my time in South Florida,” Ng told The Athletic. “This year was a great step forward for the organization, and I will miss working with Skip and his coaches as well as all of the dedicated staff in baseball operations and throughout the front office. They are a very talented group and I wish them great success in the future.”

Born and raised in New Jersey, Ng's baseball career began as a member of the University of Chicago's softball team. However, her involvement in professional sports began as an intern in 1990 for the White Sox. The White Sox hired her on a full-time basis in '91, and by '95 she was the club's assistant director of baseball operations. 

She remained with Chicago through '96, at which point she started working for the American League as director of waivers and records, approving transactions and helping with the application of rules.

In 1998, she broke another barrier when the Yankees hired her as their assistant general manager. At 29-years old, Ng became the youngest person in that role at the time. She worked for the Yankees through 2001, winning three World Series rings as an executive. The team made the playoffs in all four years that she worked there.

After the 2001 season, Ng joined the Dodgers organization as vice president and assistant general manager. She worked for the team through the '10 season,

In 2011, Ng joined Major League Baseball as senior vice president of baseball operations, reporting to chief baseball officer Joe Torre -- becoming the highest-ranking woman working in the Commissioner's Office. She worked there until the Marlins hired her in 2020 as the team's GM.

Ng did not mention what her future plans will be. Some sports analysts suggest she may have vaulted to the top of the list for front office positions with the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

A Filipino American's death inspires police reform in California

SCREEN CAPTURE / KTVU

Angelo Quinto's death spurred calls for police reform in responding to mental health crisis.

A Filipino American's death has prompted new laws that reforms police arrest procedures and mental health treatment.

Gov. Gavin Newsom made California the first state to ban the citation of “excited delirium” as a cause of death.

It was very empowering knowing that what we have done is making a real major impact,” Bella Collins, the sister of the late Angelo Quinto, told NBC Asian America. “But we also remember why we’re there. We remember that my brother is not coming back to life.”

Navy veteran Angelo Quinto’s death has been compared to the death of George FLoyd, the Black man who died while being arrested, and spurred nationwide calls for police reform. Quinto's death motivated Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson, Watts) to author AB 360, banning the controversial term “excited delirium.”

“This issue was brought to my attention through very tragic circumstances," said Gipson. In 2020, Angelo Quinto, who during a mental health crisis, stopped breathing while two Antioch police officers knelt on his back and neck.

Before he lost consciousness, his mother recalled, he pleaded for his life: “Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me.”

As emergency med-techs transferred him to an amublance, it was noticed that Quinto had turned purple. The ambulance team tried to revive him using CPR. Three days later, the local hopital pronounced him dead.

"Mr. Quinto’s official cause of death was determined to be excited delirium,” Gipson said. “That is absolutely absurd.”

As a new law, California’s coroners can no longer use "excited delierium," a catch-all term as a cause of death in autopsy reports, and law enforcement agencies cannot utilize it in incident reports to explain why a suspect died.

The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against Antioch Police Department officers who restrained Quinto and held him facedown. His family had called police because the 30-year-old man was suffering a mental health crisis and needed help. A county pathologist concluded that Quinto died from “excited delirium.”

Quinto’s family later requested a private independent autopsy, and that autopsy concluded Quinto died from suffocation caused by restraint.

For years, the American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association has opposed using the term as a legitimate diagnosis.

“Excited delirium is not a reliable, independent medical or psychiatric diagnosis. There are no diagnostic guidelines, and it is not recognized in the DSM-5, which is the main diagnosis guide for mental health providers. The only place where this term is continuously used is to describe deaths that occur in police custody,” Gipson’s office wrote.

AB 360 defined “excited delirium” as a term used to describe “a person’s state of agitation, excitability, paranoia, extreme aggression, physical violence, and apparent immunity to pain that is not listed in the most current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”

It took a month after Quinto's death before the Antioch police issued an official report of the incident and only after it was pressed by local media.

After a prolonged investigation, the Contra Costa County District Attorney cleared the officers involved of any wrongdoing. The DA's findings provided motivation for the family and their growing number of supporters to continue their fight for accountability and police reform.

On Sept. 30, 2021, Newsom also signed into law the Gipson-sponsored Angelo Quinto Act, which bans all police restraint techniques that cause positional asphyxia, including the techniques used to restrain Quinto.

In May, 2023, the City of Antioch unveiled the Angelo Quinto Community Response Team, who in place of police, will respond to mental health incidents The Community Response Team is trained to calm chaotic situations like Quinto's, rather than suppress them by force.

“They’ve been there at every step of the legislative process,” Gipson said. “Even though the law won’t bring back Angelo, we want to make sure no family has to go through what his family has.”

For Collins, her brother's death also brings to light the need for the Asian American community to combat the cultural stigma mental illnesses. The AANHPI communities have been found less prone to employ mental health services or even to discuss it because of the public shame attached to the condition.

“My brother struggled with his mental health a lot and felt that he couldn’t express it because that might be a weakness,” she said. “As a society, we need to talk about it to normalize it and, in turn, decriminalize it.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Study: More anti-Asian bias likely in Republican-dominated states

It sounds so simple, familiarity tends to breed tolerance. There's new evidence to suggest that people are less likely to harbor anti-Asian bias once they get to know Asian Americans, according to a new study 

Racial biases against Asian Americans vary significantly across US states, influenced by such factors as the number of people of Asian descent and political leanings, say researchers at New York University.

Republican-majority and swing states showed indications of greater stereotyping of Asian-born and Asian Americans, with White Americans more likely to see them as foreign, said the study. Such states with high implicit bias included West Virginia, Iowa, South Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

At the same time, states with older median ages and greater percentages of Asians were associated with the less explicit bias against Asians and Asian Americans. These included Hawaii, the District of Columbia, California, Nevada, and Texas, according to the study.

“Our study shows that experiences of Asians and Asian Americans are likely to significantly differ depending on their state of residence, with residents of some states expressing more biased views that Asian Americans are not as ‘American’ as whites,” says Nari Yoo, a PhD candidate in the NYU Silver School of Social Work, who led the data-driven research, newly published by the American Sociological Assocition (ASA) journal Socius. 

The study is titled "Mapping Anti-Asian Xenophobia: State-level Variation in Implicit and Explicit Bias against Asian Americans across the United States." Coauthors include Professor Harvey Nicholson Jr. of the University of Toronto-St. George Campus, Professor Doris Chang of NYU Silver, and Professor Sumi Okazaki of NYU Steinhardt.

Violent assaults and verbal abuse against Asian Americans climbed during the peak of the COVID pandemic, bringing heightened attention as well as research to the problem. In order to improve understanding of Asian Americans’ diverse experiences of racism, Yoo and her coauthors in this study looked at state-level variations in implicit and explicit bias, as well as macro-level factors, such as racial density, political climate, and socioeconomic conditions that have been shown to influence racial attitudes.

A study finds that Republican-majority and swing states showed indications of greater stereotyping of Asian-born and Asian Americans, with White Americans more likely to see them as foreign. Click here for more details.

The specific factors that can contribute to high levels of bias at the state level are not fully known. “In some cases, under certain conditions” the study read, “growing diversity may increase bias due to perceptions of threat and competition, which may be amplified through anti-immigrant sentiment.”

That finding is consistent with a previously documented link between higher bias levels and the percentage of foreign-born Asian adults within a given state. 

In terms of the higher implicit bias in Republican and swing states, Yoo explains, “While our study is exploratory, one possible explanation is that anti-Asian bias is connected to xenophobic racial attitudes held more strongly among the political right.

 

"In some states, due to residential patterns, people may have fewer opportunities to have meaningful intergroup interactions to learn about the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities,” Yoo continued.

“Mapping Anti-Asian Xenpphobia” was conducted as part of the NYU ABRA (Asian and Black Americans, Racism, and Allyship) project whose primary investigators are Professors Chang and Okazaki. The project is funded by NYU Silver’s Constance and Martin Silver Center on Data Science and Social Equity, where Nari is a predoctoral fellow.

 “These insights should guide future research and interventions to address biases effectively at the state level,” says Yoo.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Hamas attacks force Bruno Mars to cancel concert and evacuate from Israel

Bruno Mars was looking forward to his second Tel Aviv concert when the Hamas attacks occurred.

Bruno Mars fans can breathe a little easier. Mars and his band are safe after being forced to evacuate from Israel because of attacks by the terrorist group Hamas.

Because of the Saturday surprise attacks killing thousands of people, the Filipino American performer, his band and an entourage of 60, were forced to cancel a scheduled concert in Tel Aviv and flew to Athens.

Days earlier, Mars' performed in front of a sold-out concert at Tel Aviv's Park HaYarkonn stadium. He was set to return to another sold-out crowd on Oct. 7.

After Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a declaration of war after the surprise attack early Saturday. By Saturday afternoon, Live Nation Israel, organizers of the concerts, issued a statement that the concert was canceled for safety concerns. 

Ticket holders to the canceled concert will be refunded, according to a statement from Live Nation Israel.

The evaduation happened so quickly that Mars reportedly left his band equipment behind in Israel forcing the cancellation of the upcoming concert in Doha, Qatar.

The expert showman didn't disappoint in his first first-ever concert in Israel. 

“Tel Aviv!” he shouted out to the exuberant crowd of more than 60,000 packed into Yarkon Park to see the performer’s first-ever show in the Jewish state. “The Hooligans (his band) have made it to Israel.”

“We’ve heard stories about this place, we heard that you sweat and we heard that you dance… we’ve been waiting a long time to play for you,” he declared as the crowd roared their approval. From that moment on, he had the Israeli audience in the palms of his hands.

The biggest surprise of the night came toward the end of the evening, when Mars took a brief break offstage and his keyboardist, John Fossit, played an instrumental version of the very timely classic Israeli children’s song, “Shlomit Bona Sukkah,” (Shlomit builds a sukkah) by Naomi Shemer, as the surprised and delighted crowd sang along, reports The Times of Israel.

After the trip to the Middle East, Mars is scheduled to return to the US for concerts in Florida followed by a run in Las Vegas where he'll perform through New Year's Eve. Mars, who just celebrated his 37th birthday, continues his world tour in January 2024 with seven concerts in Tokyo.

        FYI: Click here for updates on the war between Israel and Hamas

The current conflict has claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis. Dozens of Israeli citizens were kidnapped and are being held hostage by Hamas, an extremist group that controls the terretories known as the Gaza Strip and West Bank where Palestinians are allowed to reside.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Initiative offers reduced tickets for 'Here Lies Love' during Filipino American HIstory Month

Jose Llana plays Ferdinand Marcos in 'Here Lies Love.'

In partnership with The Gold House and The Asian American Foundation, the producers of Here Lies Love have launched an initiative to make tickets more affordable for students frontline workers and community advocates for the rest of October, Filipino American Heritage Month.

The initiative, "Democracy In Action," hopes to raise $1 million in tax deductible donations to subsidize 33% on tickets to the show during October. Normal ticket prices begin at $56 for balcony seats.

“We are extremely proud of this initiative and grateful to our colleagues at Gold House and TAAF (The Asian American Foundation) for recognizing the unique opportunity Here Lies Love creates to broaden the demographics of Broadway audiences,” said the show’s producers Jose Antonio Vargas, Patrick Catullo, Diana DiMenna, Clint Ramos, Kevin Connor and Hal Luftig. 

“This fund will work alongside the creatives and storytellers striving to diversify the narratives offered on our stages,” they said in a statement.

Attendees supported by the effort include high school and college students, health care, service and municipal workers, community centers and other nonprofits. 

 FYI: Groups eligible to apply for blocks of tickets  can visit                 www.HereLiesLoveBroadway.com/DIATI.

“The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) is proud to partner with the producers of Here Lies Love to make Broadway accessible to all audiences,” said Norman Chen, CEO of TAAF. “When authentic stories like these take space on a stage as big as Broadway, they have the power to impact the hearts and minds of people everywhere.”

The history-making musical from Tony-award winning David Byrne and Fatboy Slim took 10 years to get on Broadway.

The musical, the first to feature an all-Filipino cast on Broadway, follows the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos, the wife of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, from the bright lights of New York discoes to the darkness of the conjugal dictatorship when the couple ruled the Philippines for 20 years.

The production immerses the audience into the show where the theater-goers are taken for a ride as they are transformed from giddy fans to angry protestors.

It stars Broadway veterans Arielle Jacobs (Alladin) as Imelda Marcos, Jose Lllana (The King and I) as Ferdinand Marcos, Conrad Rocamora (How to Get Away With Murder, Soft Power) as Benigno Aquino and an all-Filipino ensemble.

“With Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, Here Lies Love provides an unprecedented immersive opportunity to acknowledge, critique and progress beyond our own histories,” says Bing Chen, CEO and co-founder of Gold House. “Democracy in Action will provide students and community members an impactful opportunity to learn more about that history through the power of art.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

President Biden proclaims Oct. 9 as Indigenous Peoples Day

October 9 is officially Indigenous Peoples Day.

You can tell President Biden had a special place in his heart in proclaiming today as  Indigenous Peoples Day last week. One of his first appointments as President was to name Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior.

She became the first Native American to be placed in charge of the federal agency  that oversees the United States' tribal nations, long ignored and shunted aside by too many previous administrations.

The lionization of Christopher Columbus has drawn a significant amount of criticism for his attitude toward the people who were already here. The "discovery" of the new world (He though it was India)  triggered the decimation of civilizations and millions of native people.

However, making Columbus a hero is not as big a sin as the centuries of the erasure of Native American history and culture and making European expansionism and the focal point of so-called "progress" and the manifestation of racial expansionism and colonialism.

Many of today's problems, including the surge of anti-Asian hate and the growth of the white supremacist movement, stem from this warping of history.

Indigenous Peoples Day is one attempt to course-correct the telling of history towards the truth.

        RELATED: Christopher Columbus, hero or villain?

President Biden also issued the following proclaiming Oct. 9 a federal holiday to observe Indigenous Peoples Day:

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the perseverance and courage of Indigenous peoples, show our gratitude for the myriad contributions they have made to our world, and renew our commitment to respect Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

The story of America’s Indigenous peoples is a story of their resilience and survival; of their persistent commitment to their right to self-governance; and of their determination to preserve cultures, identities, and ways of life. Long before European explorers sailed to this continent, Native American and Alaska Native Nations made this land their home, some for thousands of years before the United States was founded. They built many Nations that created powerful, prosperous, and diverse cultures, and they developed knowledge and practices that still benefit us today.

But throughout our Nation’s history, Indigenous peoples have faced violence and devastation that has tested their limits. For generations, it was the shameful policy of our Nation to remove Indigenous peoples from their homelands; force them to assimilate; and ban them from speaking their own languages, passing down ancient traditions, and performing sacred ceremonies. Countless lives were lost, precious lands were taken, and their way of life was forever changed. In spite of unimaginable loss and seemingly insurmountable odds, Indigenous peoples have persisted. They survived. And they continue to be an integral part of the fabric of the United States.

Today, Indigenous peoples are a beacon of resilience, strength, and perseverance as well as a source of incredible contributions. Indigenous peoples and Tribal Nations continue to practice their cultures, remember their heritages, and pass down their histories from generation to generation. They steward this country’s lands and waters and grow crops that feed all of us. They serve in the United States military at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. They challenge all of us to celebrate the good, confront the bad, and tell the whole truth of our history. And as innovators, educators, engineers, scientists, artists, and leaders in every sector of society, Indigenous peoples contribute to our shared prosperity. Their diverse cultures and communities today are a testament to the unshakable and unbreakable commitment of many generations to preserve their cultures, identities, and rights to self-governance. That is why, despite centuries of devastation and turmoil, Tribal Nations continue to thrive and lead in countless ways.

When I came into office, I was determined to usher in a new era in the relationship between the Federal Government and Tribal Nations and to honor the solemn promises the United States made to fulfill our trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations. That work began by appointing Native Americans to lead on the frontlines of my Administration — from the first Native American Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and dozens of Senate-confirmed Native American officials to the over 80 Native American appointees serving across my Administration and in the Federal courts. I restored the White House Council on Native American Affairs to improve interagency coordination and decision-making as well as the White House Tribal Nations Summit to bring together key members of my Administration and the leaders of hundreds of Tribal Nations.

Last year, I signed a new Presidential Memorandum that creates uniform standards for consultation between the Federal Government and Tribal Nations. And together, we are making historic investments in Indian Country. That includes $32 billion from the American Rescue Plan, the largest one-time direct investment in Indian Country in American history; more than $13 billion to rebuild infrastructure, the single largest investment in Indian Country infrastructure in history; and the biggest investment ever to combat the existential threat of climate change, including $700 million dedicated to climate change response in Native communities.

We are also working to improve public health and safety for Native Americans. That is why I signed an Executive Order that helps us respond more effectively to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. And when we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act last year, I was proud to include historic provisions that reaffirm Tribal sovereignty and restore Tribal jurisdiction. I have also requested a $9.1 billion infusion for Indian Health Services and asked the Congress to make that funding a mandatory part of the Federal budget for the first time in our history.

My Administration will also continue using all the authority available to it, including the Antiquities Act, to protect sacred Tribal lands. We have already restored protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument in New England. I have declared new national monuments at the Camp Hale-Continental Divide in Colorado, Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni in Arizona to protect lands that are sacred to so many Tribes. My Administration has also signed at least 20 new co-stewardship agreements with Tribes, and we are working on many more.

As we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, may we renew the enduring soul of our Nation-to-Nation relationships — a spirit of friendship, stewardship, and respect.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 9, 2023, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

California governor blocks bill banning caste discrimination

California State Sen. Aisha Wahab, center, introduced the bill that would have banned caste in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill Saturday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill  what would have been a precedent-setting law banning caste discrimination. 

SB 403, introduced by Sen. Aisha Wahab earlier this year, overwhelmingly passed the Assembly and State Senate earlier this year. It exposed deep divisions in California's South Asian communities.

Newsom, who was caught between Democratic progressives and civil rights advocates, and an influential conservative South Asians, said the proposed laws was "unnecessary" because existing law already prohibited discrimination.

“In California, we believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, no matter who they are, where they come from, who they love, or where they live,” Newsom said in a statement. “That is why California already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and state law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed.”

Newsom's veto was welcomed by Samir Kalra, managing director of the Hindu American Foundation, who stated: "With the stroke of his pen, Governor Newsom has averted a civil rights and constitutional disaster that would have put a target on hundreds of thousands of Californians simply because of their ethnicity or their religious identity, as well as create a slippery slope of facially discriminatory laws."

"We thank Governor Newsom for listening to the thousands of voices that contacted his office and seeing that SB-403 was premised on racist rhetoric, a baseless lawsuit, egregious Civil Rights Department misconduct, false claims about the Hindu religion and South Asian community at large, and the self-serving, methodologically flawed, caste survey by Equality Labs," continued the HAF statement.

Caste is an ancient, complex social system that regulates people's social status based on their birth. It's primarily associated with India and Hinduism, but caste-based divisions are also found in other faiths and countries.

Even though caste s illegal in India, the social construct is so embedded in South Asian culture, it still affects most aspects of life, including who one associates with, who one marries and employment opportunities. The immigrant workers brought to the US for their tech skills make up a significant number of employees in the high-tech industry. Members of the lower castes say the belief system also made the trip across the Pacific.

Caste issues have surfaced prominently in Silicon Valley, where Indian workers with bachelor’s degrees made up 27% of tech workers in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in 2021, according to CalMatters. Wahab's district covers part of Silicon Valley in the State Senate.

The state filed a lawsuit against Cisco two years ago in behalf of an employee who accused managers of bias because of his lower caste status. He alleged that he received lower pay and was denied career opportunities. While the state has dropped charges against the managers, the suit against Cisco is still being litigated.

Althugh Cisco is the poster child of caste in California, is not alone in its awkward dealing with caste, which is not a protected class in California, unlike race, ethnicity and religion. Other Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Microsoft and other companies, who employ large numbers of H-1B visa holders, most of whom come from South Asia, have also come under scrutiny. 

If the bill had been signed by Newsom, California would have been the first state to ban the caste system. The cities of Seattle and Fressno, Calif. have instituted bans on caste.

Wahab's office did not immediately respond to Newsom's veto, but several of the bill's supporters did not hesitate to express their disappointment.

Amar Shergill, former chairperson of the California Democratic Party’s progressive caucus which backed the bill, was undeterred in his support. He noted that past civil rights bills also took many tries, and many years, before they passed.

“It is a testament to the righteous energy in this movement that we came so far, so fast,” Shergill wrote on X. “Caste discrimination is a scourge which we have brought to the top of public consciousness and that new fact will spare many people from suffering. I am confident that this issue will receive favorable outcomes when it is tested in Court because we have successfully educated the legal world and won them to our side.”

"The Sikh Coalition was proud to sponsor this legislation, because we know firsthand the pain and trauma that comes with being targeted by hate, and the Sikh faith explicitly condemns caste discrimination," said Harman Singh, Policy & Education Director, Sikh Coalition. "Accordingly, we joined more than 45 Sikh organizations and gurdwaras in California urging Gov. Newsom to sign this bill. While we are frustrated by this failure to take a meaningful step forward for the civil rights of all, we will continue to fight for legislation that protects all communities—including the Dalit community—from hate and discrimination."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Filipino American History 101 being offered via Zoom, Oct. 7-8

For those interested in the history of Filipino Americans, this 2-day event is a good introduction to the  history of the third largest Asian community in the United States.

The online Zoom offering by the Filipino American History National Society this coming weekend, Oct. 7 and 8, is is being hosted by FAHNS co-founder Dorothy Cordova and journalist Emil Guillermo.

        FYI: 1898 is the theme of this year's Filipino American History Month.

There's no better time for anyone interested in knowing more about the complex relationship between the United States and the Philippines and the often overlooked  events that continue to affect Filipino Americans.

2023 marks the 125th Anniversary of the end of the Spanish American War and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1898. The latter event made the Philippine Islands an American colony and Filipinos became American “nationals” who could come here without passports – if their boat passage was paid. 

Participants can learn Filipino American history by the makers of this history with story tellers sharing family stories of why and when they came and interesting vignettes of parents or themselves.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Filipino American gymnast going to the Olympics for the Philippines

LSU gymnast Aleah Finnegan will booking a ticket to the Paris Olympics next year.

Filipino American gymnast Aleah Finnegan will be going to Paris 2024 following her performance at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championship last Monday. Although born in Missouri, she will be representing the Philippines.

Finnegan, who is also one of the stars of the Louisiana State University gymnastic team, earned an all-around score of 51.366 in her world championship debut.

“It was such an honor to compete for the Philippines on the world stage. To be able to represent my family and just knowing that I did everything I could out there was really special,” said Finnegan.

The 20-year old is one of several Filipino Americans who have chosen to represent the Philippiines. Besides Finnegan, UCLA's Emma Malabuyo, University of Alabama's Kylee Kvamme and Stanford's Levi Jung-Ruivivar, are members of the Philippines women's artistic gymnastic team.

Although the Philippines team did not qualify for the Olympics, the international gymnastic federation allows for individuals to vye for medals if they qualify.

Kvamme also competed for the Philippines in Antwerp but did not win enough points to qualify.

Finnegan's all-around score of 51.366 placed her fifth on the day out of the gymnasts on non-qualifying teams to secure her spot in Paris. The Filipino-American posted 13 points in vault, 12.433 points in uneven bars, 12.7 in balanced beam and 12.833 in floor exercise. Additionally, she can now serve as second alternate for the women’s individual all-around final at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 6.

Finnegan amassed 51.366 points for 32nd place in the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships’ qualification in Antwerp, Belgium, which gives her enough credentials to take one of 14 spots for the highest-ranked eligible athletes for the Olympics.

The Filipino American posted 13 points in vault, 12.433 points in uneven bars, 12.7 in balanced beam and 12.833 in floor exercise.

Finnegan is the first Filipina gymnast since Evelyn Magluyan in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to participate at an Olympic Games.

ALEAH FINNEGAN

Finnegan, who is from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, got a call after her freshman season to see if she would be willing to represent the Philippines internationally. 

She follows in the footsteps of her older sisters. Her older sister Hannah did so in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, while her other sister, Sarah Finnegan, a former LSU All-American, was an alternate on the US team for the 2012 London Olympics.

“I’ve been wanting to go to the Olympics since I knew what the Olympics were,” says Finnegan. “I was kind of calculating how old I would need to be and what years that would be. I never really thought growing up that it would be 2024, but here I am with this opportunity.”

A native of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Finnegan earned her spot at worlds after finishing as one of the top eight all-arounders at the Asian Championships in June to continue her journey with the Philippines at this year’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Filipino American History Month: 1898 was a wathershed year for the Philippines and Filipino America

Filipinos were excluded from the Treaty of Paris that which Spain ceded the Philippines to he US.

Filipino American history did not begin well 125 years ago. It began with an act of betrayal.

The significance of 1898 is the theme of this year's Filipino American History Month. That year the US and Spain schemed behind the Philippines began with an act of betrayal and blatant racism by excluding the Filipinos in the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

The year of 1898 is a "watershed year for both the Philippines and the United States," states the Filipino American National History Society, which lobbied for making October Filipino American History Month since it was the month in 1587 when the first Filipinos set foot in the US as crew of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza.

Careful not to use the words "celebrate" or "commemorate, in their statement, the FANHS, recognizes that "this history was integral to our trajectories as Filipino Americans, and we encourage critical thinking about the impact of 1898 specifically, and American colonialism generally, in our lives," as Filipino Americans.

For a measly $20 million, the agreement between Spain and the United States ended the Spanish American War and led to the US annexation of the Philippines as part of the American empire along with Puerto Rico and Guam. Cuba was also granted independence from Spain.

The year 1898 also marks an important year in Philippine history. After centuries of Filipinos fighting against Spanish colonizers – with the most successful uprising being the Philippine Revolution (1896-1898) – the people of the Philippines declared their independence on June 12, 1898. 

Filipinos were militariily successful against Spanish forces and were on the verge of capturing Manila, the last Spanish stronghold, when the US declared war against Spain. The Spanish colonial government preferred to surrender to the American naval forces that had just decimated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. To accomplish this, the US an Spain stagd a mock battle in which Spain was "defeated" by US Marines, even as Filipino revolutionaries were kept on the sidelines outside the city.

However, both Spain and the US ignored the Filipinos' declaration of independence  and signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898 – without including any representation from the Philippines in the negotiation. In fact, Filipino diplomat Felipe Agoncillo traveled to Paris but was not allowed into the negotiating room.

Because the Treaty of Paris meant transferring control of the archipelago from one colonial power to another – completely ignoring the efforts of the Philippine Revolution – Philippine insurrectionists continued to fight the US, unsuccessfully, in what would later be referred to as the Philippine American War. This uprising is historically documented as transpiring from 1899-1902, though regional efforts (like the Battle of Bud Bagsak) endured until 1913. The Philippines did not become a fully independent nation until the end of World War II in 1946.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

American media actively encouraged American imperialism as an act of "benvolenct assimilation" as this cartoon from "Puck" Magazine depicted.

US President William McKinley justified the colonization of the Philippines as an exercise in “benevolent assimilation” – or the notion that the nation was in need of civilization and that it was the American government’s responsibility to colonize its people. William Taft (who served as Governor-General of the Philippines from 1901-1904 and later as President of the U.S. from 1909-1913) referred to the Philippines as their “little brown brothers”, and American propaganda portrayed the Philippines and other colonized nations as children in need of being saved.

Birth of Filipino America

As a result of the Treaty of Paris, Filipino people gained access to the US during an era when other Asian countries were prohibited from doing so, said FANHS in a statement.

First, while federal immigration laws severely restricted the immigration of people from Asian countries from 1882 to 1965, Filipino migrants were considered US Nationals – allowing them to migrate to the US (and its territories) without restrictions. This made them an attractive (and cheap) labor force to American agricultural corporations in Hawai’i and the west coast of the United States.

Second, the Pensionado Act of 1903 also allowed for many pensionados (or Filipino students) to attend prestigious American universities between 1903 and 1943; while many students returned to the Philippines to apply their degrees in the new infrastructures created by the US government, some pensionados settled in the US.

Third, American curricula and educational systems were introduced to the Philippines, resulting in English proficiency among its citizens and the recruitment of Filipino nurses, teachers, and other professionals to the US. Finally,

Additionally, Filipinos were also encouraged to enlist in the US military – especially the US Navy – creating pathways to citizenship for thousands of Filipino families.

FYI: You can click here, or visit on Instagram for more information.

How to mark 1898

Focusing on this year's theme on the significance of 1898 in Philippine and US history, FAHNS suggests possible activities to consider for Filipino American History Month:

Engage in “Filipina/x/o American imaginations” regarding 1898. Speculate what life would be like if US colonialism never occurred in the Philippines, in Hawai`i, and in the United States. Would your family have migrated to the US? What would the Philippines be like without this history? What would the Filipino American community be like today without this history?

Conduct and share oral histories that highlight how 1898 affected people’s life trajectories. For instance, how did immigrants make the decision to come to the US and how might their motives have been influenced by American colonialism and capitalism? How were specific regions influenced differently by 1898?

Have a critical discussion of what the Philippines and Filipinos have gained and lost since 1898. Given the American influence on the Philippine government, education system, language, business practices, military, food, sports, visual arts, performing arts, and others, were there any benefits of benevolent assimilation?

Curate panels that analyze how other ethnic groups (e.g., Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Chamorros, Native Hawaiians) were affected by 1898. Critically discuss the similarities and differences between the historical influences and ramifications on the groups.

Read and analyze the text of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, as well as President McKinley’s Benevolent Assimilation proclamation. Describe how these documents influenced the American government – particularly related to systemic racism and other foreign policies.

Host screenings of Nurse Unseen, Delano Manongs, Lingua Franca, or other films that depict the diverse reasons for migration from the Philippines, and how American colonialism influenced these motivations.

Watch Here Lies Love on Broadway (the first Broadway show with an all-Filipino cast) or other media depicting anti-martial law movements. Discuss how American colonialism influenced political corruption in the Philippines and beyond.

Read U.S. propaganda from 1898 and beyond. For example, consider political cartoons from Harper’s Weekly or Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” and anti-imperial works like Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer.” 

Discuss the influence of this media on people’s justification of colonialism and stereotypes of Filipino people. Explore how such depictions may have influenced colonial mentality for Filipino Americans – back then and even today.

With the recent public threats to ban Ethnic Studies and to challenge Critical Race Theory, the month could be used to advocate for more accurate inclusion of Philippine and Filipino American history into higher education and K-12 schools. Both educators and students can question why Philippine-American relations are often erased when they are so integral to US History. Relatedly, advocates can reflect on ways to advocate for an increased formalized Filipino American curriculum. For example, the state of Hawai’i and the city of Seattle have recently passed legislation that includes Filipino American Studies classes as required courses in high schools. Perhaps other cities and states can follow suit as a way to promote and preserve Filipino American history.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.